A Rare Privilege: Diving Princess of the Orient

Photos by Dennis Champ.

How two Philippines-based tech divers made history

By Mike Taylor and Matt Reed

September 19, 1998: Tropical Storm Vicki was beating the northern Philippines with 45 mph winds when Princess of the Orient left Manila at 8 p.m., bound for Cebu, about a day's journey to the south. A storm warning prohibited ships of less than 500 tons from sailing, however this did not apply to Princess. She was the largest ferry boat to ever sail the island nation’s waters—13,734 tons, 200 meters (656 feet) long and capable of carrying 3,900 passengers in her three decks of dormitories and cabins.

Four hours later, her captain reported that the ship was listing, a state from which she was unable to recover. Survivors said the ship sank in less than an hour—highly unusual for a vessel of her size with no apparent damage. Princess should have handled the storm with ease. Authorities now suspect that cargo shifted leaving her vulnerable to the churning sea.

Her crew did an admirable job of saving more than 200 of the 388 passengers on board that night, but the survivors spent 12 hours at sea before they could be rescued.

Although the cause of her demise remains a mystery, her whereabouts have been known for some time. She rests peacefully on her port side just outside Manila Bay in 125 meters, or approximately 410 feet, of water. In the early 2000s, John Bennett, the first man to break the 1,000-foot barrier on open circuit, and Ron Loos, were the first two explorers to dive her.

In April 2008, Mike Taylor and Matt Reed, two Philippines-based tech divers, were first divers to reach the massive ship’s bow. Here is their account of the expedition.

DIVE 1

At last, it was “go” time.

Matt Reed and I, both of Triton Tech, were in the water, nerves tingling with anticipation and a maybe a hint of trepidation. This was a big dive by most people’s standards, 125 meters is a long way down and three hours decompressing makes it a very long way up.

When John Bennett and Ron Loos, both friends of Matt, made their first dives, they were faced with a very difficult decompression due to vicious currents and worsening surface conditions. However, our conditions seemed clear and we were confident of our preparation.

Matt introduced me to tech diving some years before, and at the time of the dive we’d been diving and working together for nearly four years in the Philippines. GUE training with Martin Lorenzo and Gideon Liew in addition to our previous certifications had set the bar high and showed us the true meaning of team diving and situational awareness. Having aimed at this goal for a number of years we felt ready.

We were taking all of the gas that we’d need on the dive plus two spare bottles of deeper gas. Support divers would provide spares if needed once we hit the shallows. This meant carrying two 80-cubic-foot tanks on the left side and three behind us on a leash from the left hip D-ring. There were a lot of failure points and three hours was a long time to be in an unpredictable ocean, much longer than generally recommended. But we had planned and trained for all of this, and the weather forecasts looked good. We had the right team and now it was time to enjoy. With final OKs to the support team and big grins all round, we began out descent.

Matt had always said that one of his motivations for tech diving was the thrill of exploration. He loved the fact that fewer people had been to a wreck like the Princess than had been to the moon. As we reached 80 meters and the blurred darkness below began to take on the form of a wreck—a really big wreck—I totally understood what he meant. A surge of excitement hit me, and the emotions were overwhelming as it dawned on me that we were finally diving Princess of the Orient. The previous three years had been a steady build-up to this moment, and now she was right there, taking shape below me.

As we reached the wreck, the sense of excitement and adventure gave way to some very somber feelings. It is difficult to describe the thoughts that go through your mind when you see a life jacket caught in the ship’s railings—a very poignant reminder of the tragedy that had taken place here and of the people that would never see their families again.

These feelings were quickly followed by another wave of excitement. John and Ron were the first two people to dive her, and prior to our dive, only seven others had ventured to the wreck. We were going to be the first to dive her with scooters, and therefore we would see more of the vessel than any of her previous explorers. That put a pretty big grin on my face and as I looked over at Matt I could see he was smiling too.

As we hit the wreck we saw that the line was hooked in just aft of the rear smoke stack. Our aim over two dives was to reach the bow, where no one had dived before. We quickly got on with the job at hand and began our exploration of the huge ship. The first dive involved taking a look at the twin smoke stacks lying at 115 meters. We scootered to the forward smoke stack and had a good look around her. The depth and the fact that the sinking was a relatively recent event meant that there was very little growth on her. As a result, the paintwork was still showing and clearly visible on each smoke stack was the familiar, red emblem of Sulpicio Lines, a diamond-enclosed S. We knew from videos of the previous dives that she was lying on her port side and had been told that the bow was to the north. At about 15 minutes into the dive this was causing a little confusion as our reckoning indicated that the bow was to the south. Maybe our compasses were being affected by the huge chunk of metal? We would have to have a bit of a chit-chat on the surface before the next dive. For now, we agreed on a nice leisurely scooter back to the rear smoke stack.

As we explored the wreck, it was a strange feeling seeing the artifacts of the vessel’s topside life. Upturned beds and TV sets brought home the realities of the tragedy. We scootered past the rear smoke stack and towards what my mind said was the stern and my compass said should be the bow. All too soon it was time to go home, so I thumbed it and we headed back to the strobe at the top of the wreck. The ascent and first switch went smoothly, although it is noticeable on a dive like this that as you ascend, a certain amount of tension goes away, an indicator of the additional edge our brain needs to take on for dives of this complexity.

At 40 meters I looked to my left and was faced with the sight of a strange man hovering upside down taking photos of us. (Note to self:  More helium needed in the 57 meter bottle.) Then I remembered that Dennis, one of our support divers, had a reputation for taking photos this way. We had a great giggle, which was probably as much to do with release of tension as anything else. I’ll hand the narrative over to Matt now. — Mike Taylor

DIVE 2

For the second day and second dive we reviewed the video and decided that we’d been correct and that we needed to head south to find the bow. We started scootering in that direction at 85 meters into the descent and hit the wreck at 4.5 minutes. We quickly passed the forward smoke stack, and hovered over the radio mast on top of the wheelhouse, amazed that there was an anemone growing at 110 meters. As we moved on toward the bow, the superstructure dropped away and the scale of the ship became very clear. Passing over the forward deck, everything seemed to slow down in my mind. The lack of white paint on the deck meant the whole scene took on a slightly eerie atmosphere, and as our lights picked out bollards and other machinery in the void, a trevally shooting past my shoulder gave me a shiver.

The massive bow sticking up into the water column easily evoked images of the ship crashing through the waves almost 10 years earlier, and a “king of the world” moment was only narrowly avoided by me signaling to Mike that it was time to move on. As we moved over to the starboard side of the hull, which lay virtually horizontal, we spotted one of the massive anchors and then started looking for the name on the bow. We saw raised lettering of the word “Flower”—the ship was originally named Sun Flower—which must have rusted through the paint. Above this we found the green-colored letters spelling out Princess of the Orient, and we paused to catch this on video and to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction. Years of planning and preparation had paid off, and now we were the first divers to reach this point of the wreck.

Mission accomplished, we headed back towards the line, and since we were still within the planned dive time, we stopped to explore the wheelhouse. There were some glassless windows and the urge to become the first people to penetrate was strong, but training and discipline took hold—penetration was not in the dive plan, and with scooters, video gear and a lot of tanks, it wasn’t even feasible!

Soon it was nearly time to go, and at 18 minutes we started our ascent. We collected the strobe and ascended the line side by side. At about 80 meters we looked at each other as the wreck faded from view. We were both grinning from ear to ear. Conditions were again ideal and the deco passed with ease. The support team said that we didn’t stop smiling during the whole three hours.

It seems clear that due to the fairly extreme depth, and the open-ocean positioning of this wreck, we will never know exactly why she sank; and that only a privileged few will get ever get to see the wreck. She is, however, an incredible dive in warm, clear water for those who need a challenge a little bit beyond the normal weekend trip. —Matt Reed

The authors would like to thank their support divers and the crew and captain of Rags 2.

Technical Details

Gear:

DUI TLS350 drysuits

Double manifolded 18l steel tanks (130 cubic-foot doubles)

5 x 80 cubic-foot aluminum deco bottles

Gavin short body scooter

Mixes: 

Bottom gas (120 meters) - 10/65 Trimix

First deco gas (66 meters)  - 18/50 Trimix

Second deco gas (36 meters) - 35/25 Trimix

Third deco gas (21 meters) - 50/25 Trimix

Fourth deco gas (6 meters) - 100 percent oxygen

Mike carried an extra bottle of 10/65. Matt carried an extra bottle of 18/50 in case of gas loss or equipment failure. Support divers carried additional 35/25, 50/25 and 100 percent oxygen. Surface-supplied oxygen was also available at 6 meters.

Dive Plan:

Planned on Vplanner using the VPm B/E algorithm 

• 18 minutes at 115 meters
• Ascend 10 meters per minute to first stop
• First stop at 87 meters to slow the ascent to 3 meters per minutes until 60 meters. Gas switch on the go at 66 meters
• From 57 meters to 42 meters:  1-minute stops every 3 meters
• From 42 meters to 27 meters:  2-minute stops every 3 meters
• Lengthened stops in shallows until 6 meters
• 60 minutes on oxygen at 6 meters

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The Divers:

Matt Reed is now the owner and manager of Evolution Diving in Malapascua Island, Philippines. He is busy gaining experience in closed-circuit rebreathers to be able to complete these deep dives with less gas!  Matt can be contacted at matt.reed@evolution.com.ph or through his website www.evolution.com.ph

Mike Taylor has returned to the UK to pursue other interests and to refill his pension fund. Mike now heads up a large division of a multinational company in Nottingham and is busy guiding his colleagues to a great future. To discuss diving with Mike, e-mail him at mike.taylor@evolution.com.ph

Watch the Video

See the video shot during the record-setting dive here. No flash? Click here to watch it via Vimeo.com.

 Diving the Princess of the Orient from Triton Technical Diving on Vimeo.