The Mary Rose on display

King Henry VIII’s flagship to get COVID-19 emergency funding

On 18 March 2020, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard issued the following tweet. "It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to close all of the sites of The National Museum of the Royal Navy. This is a difficult decision but we've done so with the wellbeing of our staff, volunteers and visitors in mind." Director General Dominic Tweddie

Image

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England stated "Our historic places bring us together. It is vital that they survive intact. Our emergency grants are providing a much-needed safety net to organisations and businesses that are helping to save our most precious heritage.”

The grant from Historic England is very timely and much appreciated. Mary Rose Trust

Getting Lined Up: Troubleshooting Sidemount Tank Configuration

A pair of divers wearing cleanly-configured sidemount kit. Cave photo by S.J. Alice Bennet.

I like sidemount. I will frequent­ly, jokingly, disparage the configuration, but I do like it. It can be comfortable and streamlined. It can be very flexible. There is an argument to be made for completely isolated redundancy. Mostly, it is good for moving through places no bigger than the space below your coffee table.

Photographing American Crocodiles in Cuba

American crocodile in the Gardens of the Queen marine park in Cuba. Photo by Vladimir Gudzev.
American crocodile in the Gardens of the Queen marine park in Cuba. Photo by Vladimir Gudzev.

The Gardens of the Queen is a popular and iconic dive location in Cuba for those underwater photographers who have creative ideas for documenting or capturing artistic images of sharks, groupers, crocodiles and other fauna of the Caribbean Sea. Here, it is possible to film life in the mangroves, and if one is lucky, meet a crocodile. Vladimir Gudzev reports.

Southern New Britain: The Secret Place in Papua New Guinea

Aerial view of Linden Harbour, New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Aerial view of Linden Harbour, New Britain, Papua New Guinea

The southern coast of the large island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea is a truly remote location isolated from the northern coast by high, rugged mountain ranges with no real roads through them. There are no commercial airports here—only landing strips and old WWII airfields used for small-scale charter flights. Practically, the only way to get to the southern coast is by boat from Rabaul, on the eastern tip of New Britain.