The attempt to located dumped restraints failed.

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Good luck on the diving endeavor. Hope you find some interesting things.
I am curious about the air hose and connection to the wet suit in the middle chest area in the second picture. I am guessing that it is a BC device or buoyancy compensator. I have not seen an internal flotation device and it seems like it would be uncomfortable if that is what it is. If not, please explain what it does. Thanks
mark
O--O

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Click to expand...

Mark,

I have no notion about the function of that device since I'm not scuba diving myself, I'm only financing the project. I'll talk to the diver and ask him next time we meet.

Lars

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Click to expand...

Mark

The suit with the hose is not a wet suit, it is a dry suit. Unlike a wet suit it should not fill with water during the dive, and you wear thermals or a 'woolly bear' undersuit inside it for warmth. As you descend, increased water pressure compresses the air in the suit causing you to lose insulation and bouyancy. To compensate, you inject additional air into the suit using the valve, which is usually on the chest. Some divers use argon instead because it has better thermal properties, however this requires an additional cylinder, and great care to ensure that argon does not find its way into the breathing system - particularly a problem with a full face mask.

As you ascend at the end of the dive it is necessary to vent air from the suit - this is done with a 'dump valve', usually located on the shoulder or a wrist.

A thermal protection provided by a dry suit is far superior to that provided by a wet suit. I only use a dry suit in Northern European waters. I think you live somewhere warmer - I don't have a pool in my back yard!

I think it is optimistic to try and find an item of this size merely from a recollection of the surface position. A magnetometer and echosounder search may help to locate areas of interest which could then be dived on - the sacks of restraints should be very clear on a magnetometer, but meybe less so on an echosounder depending on how they are lying. It is also possible that other divers have beaten Lars to it, and not reported their findings. Thorough underwater searches take a lot of time and patience.

Good luck Lars. Out of interest, what sort of depth are the divers working in?

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

You are right, the divers are using dry suites. The temperature this weekend was only 12 degress Celsius and a wet suite would have been much too cold.

Maybe a magnetometer or a echosounder would help us to locate the goods. As you say, there is also a risk that other divers have been there before us. On the other hand I'm sure such a finding should have got to my ears. There are only a few collectors of restraints in Sweden and Scandinavia.

First I have to swallow the defeat of not reaching the goal but we will probably make a new attempt with technical aid.

Cheers,

Lars

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Click to expand...

Forgot to tell, about 20 meters deep. /Lars

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Click to expand...

Hi. Thanks Mike for the explanation. I was looking at where the gloves fit the sleeves and it loked as though they were not connected as I have seen in other dry suits. I have never tried one on nor have I seen a diver suited up in one. Just seen ads in Skin Diver magazine. The ones that I have seen had the gloves attached to the sleeves and the boots as well so it did not seem like this could be a dry suit.
Wonder if this suit would be acceptable as proper attire at the Magic Castle.

mark

O--O

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Click to expand...

Mark,

I think that suite would be proper in a golden version

As some of you already knows I'm leading a project to located and salve vintage restraints that were dumped in the water (sweet water) outside a very old (250 years) Swedish prison in 1952.

We know a man who worked as a prisoner guard at the time and he has pointed out the location as far as he remembers.
According to him, they dumped 6 - 8 big sacks filled with restraints. The total weight should be about 400 – 500 kilo. I have talked to people at a museum and they say the condition of the dumped restraints would be very good according to low levels of oxygen in the water.

The project started on July 18:th when two divers tried to locate the goods. They didn’t find anything since the sight under water is zero and the bottom of the lake is covered with mud.

Last weekend we made a second attempt, this time with four divers. We hoped the sight would be better in autumn but it wasn’t. Despite very careful searching by pointing sticks to the bottom they divers were not able to locate any restraints. At this time I don’t know if we will make any further attempts. Using a metal detector could be one way but there is also a lot of metal garbage and the detector would probably make a lot of false indications.

Lars

www.holstcollection.com


The diving team, I'm to the left.


Ready for searching.


View from the sea, the yellow building in the back ground is the prison.


The prisoners rest area. The former prison guard to the left.

Click to expand...

I have tried using dry gloves, but found them bulky and difficult. They are often used by commercial divers working in very cold or polluted waters, but not often by sport divers. I'm quite happy with my drysuit and wet gloves in 10 deg C for an hour or so. Wet gloves work like a wetsuit - they trap a layer of water which warms from body heat.