This boat was so old and rusty it would never have been allowed to work anywhere else other than Nigeria!!!

Air-conditioning had never been heard of and in Nigeria it was hot ….. there were six of us cramped into one little cabin. Our bunks were similar to the type I imagine you would get in a prison. There were lots of cockroaches running around all over the place; you can imagine the atmosphere down there in a cabin next to the anchor chain locker clinking around all night with only a port hole for ventilation.

This Barracuda had been shot with a powerful spear gun for dinner (and not for our protection), as there were hundreds of them.

We would do our decompression stops on our way up to the surface, and some times hundreds of barracuda would be swimming around you so close that you could touch them. They could be very nasty swimming fast around you showing their supremacy in the water, I have been knocked hard a few times as they passed me.

 We were the visitors!

Welding was my job

Working in the Swindell helmet was not always comfortable, but it was good head protection when, in the middle of the night, you were working underneath the mooring buoy.