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AUG 18 1998 Dive expedition to film WWII submarines
A Singapore team will film two sunken Dutch submarines on the Pulau Tioman seabed and offer the footage to the Singapore History Museum By CHANG AI-LIEN A SINGAPORE dive expedition is preparing to film and document two Dutch submarines lying on the seabed off Pulau Tioman in Malaysia. The O 16 and K 17, relics of World War II, are the watery tombs of about 70 officers who drowned when the submarines were sunk in the South China Sea by Japanese mines. Both submarines were based in Singapore under the British eastern fleet command when they were sunk in December, 1941. The O 16, which was responsible for sinking several Japanese ships, was struck by Japanese mines as she exited the Gulf of Siam. The N 17 hit the same line of mines about a week later, after an unsuccessful attack on a Japanese submarine. Of the 75 people on board the two craft, only one man survived. He is a Dutchman but his name is not known. Expedition leader Michael Lim, 32, director of Technical Diving International, told reporters on a training barge off Tuas yesterday: "No one is certain what we will find in the submarines. "If they have been air-locked, then we really will not know what to expect." The submarines could still be completely sealed or air locked. The group of 18 highly-trained technical divers will begin their four-day expedition on Thursday. They will dive to depths of about 60 m. Recreational divers can dive only to depths of 40 m. The expedition divers will use time-tested methods, as well as the newest gadgets, to ensure their safety. For example, they will unravel lines as they dive so that they do not lose their way if it gets very dark or murky. They will also be talking to people on the boat via an underwater transmitter set, and using up-to-date dive software, which will calculate the best mix of gases to place in the tanks and how fit the divers are to dive. Mr Lim, who was also responsible for a recent salvage operation on the Empress of Asia which was sunk by Japanese bombers in 1942, said that the film footage will be offered to the Singapore History Museum. The $35,000 expedition is sponsored by Unilever Singapore, which markets Brut Actif Blue, a men's fragrance. Mr Ignatius Francis Danakody, 21, is one of two men selected to enter the submarines because of his small build. Heavier men would not be able to squeeze into the submarine's hull. The salvage officer with Singapore Salvage Engineers, who started diving when he was 10, is a veteran with more than 1,000 dives under his belt. Mr Danakody weighs 58 kg and his equipment, which includes a video camera and double tanks, weighs almost as much as he does. He said: "At that depth, everything is so different. Your movements are slower and you even think slower."
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