Wessex Archaeology has three newly qualified commercial divers. The trio, Nic Bigourdan, Andrea Hamel and Kevin Stratford - all Archaeologists in our Coastal and Marine team - have spent five weeks at Fort Williams’s Underwater Centre in Scotland training for their HSE Surface Supplied commercial diving qualification.Although we have supported several staff carrying out such training in previous years, this is the first time that Wessex Archaeology has fully funded the commercial course. Wessex Archaeology has been a registered commercial diving contractor since 1996 and is a full member of the Association of Diving Contractors.
Our diving team includes two supervisors, one of whom is also qualified as a Diver Medic. Equipped with surface-supplied equipment, digital video and acoustic tracking, WA carries out many forms of archaeological diving work. Investigations range from detailed surveys of historic shipwrecks for government heritage agencies, to checking suspected archaeological sites amongst anomalies identified by marine developers.