Dive Scapa Flow is a comprehensive and practical guide to the spectacular and famous Orkney wrecks – the colossal, intact remains of the scuttled German fleet, U-boats, steamers, tugs and Churchill’s extraordinary ‘Blockships’.

Since this book was first published, there have been huge advances in diving technique and with the new wave of ‘technical diving’, wrecks previously beyond the realm of the air diver can now be reached. This updated and revised edition incorporates these, particularly HMS Hampshire, which took Lord Kitchener to his doom in 1916. Rod Macdonald’s intimate knowledge of the dives is supplemented by up-to-date information on characters, travel and accommodation in the area.

An essential companion for discovering the underwater secrets and intriguing naval history of Britain’s most popular dive site, Dive Scapa Flow comes complete with new illustrations, photographs and charts.

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Scotland's rugged coastline is littered with almost 20,000 wrecks. Rod Macdonald has selected 14 of the most famous of these lying within the realm of the scuba diver, from the Sound of Mull wrecks such as the Hispania, Rondo, Thesis and Shuna to the Breda off Oban and HMS Port Napier off Skye. Rod also covers some of the world famous Scapa Flow wrecks such as the German WWI battleship Kronprinz Wilhelm and the light cruiser Coln. 

A full chapter is devoted to each wreck with a historical account of the vessel and its sinking followed by a detailed description of the wreck as it lies on the seabed today and essential information for the diver planning a visit. An indespensible aide to anyone interested in Scottish wreck diving.

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British history is irrevocably tied to the sea. The progress and very survival of this island nation has depended in large part upon the development of its naval fleet and on maritime engineering and overseas trade. For centuries Britannia did indeed rule the waves and at one time a huge percentage of all ships made in the world were constructed in Britain. While those days are now largely over, a tantalising sunken treasury of Britain’s glorious naval past lies waiting to be explored at the bottom of the sea in the countless wrecks that lie around Britain’s shores.

Dive England’s Greatest Wrecks is the perfect companion for any diver interested in exploring England’s most exciting shipwrecks, preserved as time capsules of an era of sea power and majesty that has now passed into the history books. Among the ten featured here are the Salsette off Weymouth, arguably England’s most famous shipwreck; the SS Kyarra off Dorset; the British submarine M2 and the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Hood, both lying off Portland; the American Liberty ship James Eagan Layne off Plymouth; and the fabulous P&O liner Moldavia.

Along with the history of each vessel and the dramatic account of how it was wrecked, there is essential diver information detailing how the wreck lies today, along with depths, tides and other points of interest. Each of the wrecks is vividly brought to life by specially commissioned stunning paintings showing the vessels as they lie on the seabed today.

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To many people, simply leaving the comforting security of dry land an d stepping onto a boat can be a terrifying ordeal. And to deliberately journey 10-20 miles offshore into hostile, powerful waters before diving down into those waters seeking untouched, virgin shipwrecks - often in the pitch blackness of deep water - seems incomprehensible. For Rod MacDonald, however it has been an all-consuming passion since he first started diving in 1982.

Into the Abyss charts the dramatic highs and lows of MacDonald's diving career; one that has been packed full of incident, drama and excitement and has taken him to all of the great shipwreck sites of the world. From the sunken Japanese Fleet at the bottom of Truk Lagoon and Palau in the Pacific to diving into the third largest whirlpool in the world - The Corryvwrecken Whirlpool off the west coast of Scotland - MacDonald's work has taken him on a spell-binding journey beneath the seas, one that is now remarkably chronicled in this enthralling collection of diving experiences. Along the way, the excitement, the successes and the near tragic failures are reflected upon, and MacDonald urges readers to overcome some of Man's deepest fears as he takes them on a journey deep into the abyss in search of long lost shipwrecks around the world.

Read the Introduction here!

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Scapa Flow is a dramatic and windswept expanse of water some 12 miles across and almost completely encircled by the islands of Orkney.  For centuries it has been a safe, sheltered and heavily defended anchorage for the Royal Navy. Great warships have come and gone. Dramatic deeds are an integral part of its past. Countless military man hours have gone into  defensive planning and endeavour to render this great naval anchorage safe and impregnable to our war time enemies. Those enemies in turn have gone to similar lengths in attempting to find a way through those defences to attack valuable Allied shipping.

Even today more than half a century after the end of World War II all around the sea passages into the Flow empty gun emplacements and barracks bear silent witness to its war time role. In the dark depths of Scapa Flow lie countless testaments to man’s inhumanity to man. U-boats attempting to penetrate into the Flow to attack Allied shipping have been depth charged,  or sunk by a controlled mine explosion after the sound of their engines had been picked up by detector cables laid across the seabed. Countless other vessels have come to grief in the Flow. Others have been sunk deliberately in attempts to block the minor sea passages.  The seabed is littered with the legacy of its maritime past.

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