The evening of Wednesday 18th August was very wet. We were recovering an anchor and a grapple from the Thames. The dive team for recovery was Keith Lewis, my backup safety diver and me, the recovery diver. The surface team was Keith Dick and Jo Dick. Guess what, the surface team got wetter than the dive team.

On my way to the anchor I came across a rope and followed it to discover the grapple. It was caught between two large flagstones and had turned with one prong under the stone. I released it and recovered it to the surface. I was aware of the stones on the bottom because I had positioned the entry ladder. So the first dive was done without fins.

Having sampled the current I used fins for the second dive where I discovered the anchor and formed a release plan. On the next dive I took my camera down. (Unfortunately, after seeing the results, the memory was inadvertently cleared.) On return to the surface I asked for my crowbar. The anchor had fallen into a hole left by a broken up flagstone and turned upside down. This made a normal anchor release impossible. The harder you pulled the firmer the anchor became in the hole. I used the crow bar to chip away about 1cm of concrete that proved sufficient to release the anchor. I sat the anchor upright on the bottom, surfaced and invited a person on the boat to raise the anchor. The chain jammed after a short time. I discovered it had also jammed between two stones. A tug in the correct direction shifted it and the anchor was recovered to the boat. Job done.

The owner made a generous donation to club funds. He also provided tea, coffee and biscuits. We viewed some of the photos taken and then retired to a local hostelry.

Hopefully this dive will put us in a favourable light with the Environment Agency, who asked us to do this dive. This may enable us to do more favours in the future. Thanks to all for their support and a job well done.