HMS Charybdis Underwater Photographs By Leigh Bishop
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Images taken at a depth of 280ft/85m during the 2001/ 2002 expeditions led by Keith
Morris English Channel North France. Click each image to see a larger version.
All images ©Leigh Bishop 2002 All rights reserved.

Left; Ammunition boxes still remain intact filled with shells, I shot this image just above the aft
quadruple pom pom guns.

Right; Live torpedo tubes lie in their half encasements exposed to the divers.

Left; HMS Charybdis starboard anchor exposed to the elements of the channel, the wreck
lies over on her port side so this anchor pictured here is on top of the wreck.

Right; Expedition diver Chris Hutchison examines a set of quadruple anti-aircraft pom pom
guns located aft of amidships. The entire rotary system these guns rest on has fallen back
on themselves and now rest on the wreck itself.

Left; 2002 Expedition diver Steve Parker moves into the viewfinder to examine
on of Charybdis's 4 inch gun barrels.

Center; Again the diver puts scale to one of the huge spotlights located amidships.

Above Right; A distant diver comes into view behind what we originally understood to be a depth charge launcher. We had not seen one of these before on any wreck and were not quite sure what it actually was, that was until survivor Neil Wood whilst watching fresh video pointed out that it could have been a launcher. After the subsequent 'After the Battle article' in issue 132, Daniel Taylor, who wrote the Villers-Bocage story identified the 'depth-charge launcher' on page 52 of that article as in fact the mount of a 20mm Oerlikon. To prove his point, Daniel sent in the attached sketch (right). He adds: 'The pedestal and the trunnion have survived. The only reason I know about the beast is through my work as a Naval Model maker. I made a 1:75 scale model of a Hunt type II around 1995 for a Museum in Plymouth Click Daniel's on sketch to your right to see a larger version.

Left; Directional finding radio receiver.
These were available to the MOD at the time this vessel was afloat. The procedure was quite simple and is still in use today, however, a little bit more technical and usually automatic.The circular wheel as shown to the front would be turned by the operator until the incoming radio signal was at its strongest/loudest, to the rear of the dial would be a card marked with degrees in relation to the ships head. A note would be made of this bearing and also a note of the ships heading. This would then be passed to the operations centre. on its own the message would be useless, however, include the details from another couple of ships or indeed a shore station or two listening to the same broadcast, the sender's location could be plotted quite accurately by triangulation.
Thanks to Robert Armitage-Walker for this kind information.

The speaker on the top is most likely for open listening by the radio operator so he did not have to maintain a headphone watch constantly, and could get on with other radio officers tasks.

Right; Again staying within the mess location we discovered this silver terrine complete
with lid. Many interesting artifacts of our rich maritime history such as this lie exposed to
the harsh English channel were they slowly deteriorate. It is only through photographic
expeditions as that of Keith Morris's Charybdis & Limbourne projects that we are able to
somehow preserve at the very least a small proportion of this history for the future.

Left; Yet another image from the mess location or even quite possibly a mess storage
area, the image clearly shows a ceramic flagon and a stack of beer bottles.

Right; Today Chris Hutchison dives a Megladom rebreather although during the
early 2002 expedition he was loaded with huge cylinders to guarantee maximum
bottom exposures of well over half hour on the wreck. Here he examines the exterior
side of a fixed porthole. Chris has been a strong dive partner of mine for almost a decade
not to mention a diver who has a full understanding of what I want from a dive model
at depth hence why he may appear more than not.

Left;On the very stern tail of Charybdis the divers discovered three exposed propellers
again a diver puts a little scale to its true size.

Right; Weymouth Skipper Ian Taylor pauses for the camera as he moves over a huge
Charybdis porthole. The porthole lies outside face up the side that would have been
seen from the exterior hull side of the ship, below the porthole is a small ceramic capacitor.

Left; Forward of the bridge this sold heavy duty porthole was seen its Deadlight
fixed shut as would have been procedure on the evening hours of Operation Tunnel.

Right; With sections of the wreck blown out it is possible to see within where artifacts
amongst ammunition can be seen such as these 4ich shell cases.

Left; One of the only images that exist of Charybdis's main bridge construction, here
a section of forward bridge window frame with a pothole fixed within has dropped to
the seabed. The bridge itself lies almost intact although a heavy amount of shingle
has today built up inside, although it is possible to see speaking tubes & navigation instruments.

Right; Twin 4 inch guns immediately forward of the bridge section of the wreck face the
seabed and out to the east, as the image shows the wreck is blessed in compete darkness
at a depth of 280ft on the bottom of the English Channel, the worlds busiest waterway.

Left; The divers discovered many interesting artifacts alongside so obvious war time
supplies that were stored deep inside holds. This images clearly shows spare porthole
glass lying amongst brush heads, cables and other unidentifiable objects.

Right; Amidships across the seabed the divers were confronted by the main head mast
that lies out across the seabed and running the length of the mast is a ladder that can be
seen within the image. Many cables also run out alongside the mast as do various gantry's.