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Graham Balcombe |
Black Keld History Of Exploration 11949 - 1975
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"Ah yes, young man, but you must remember that on every dive we absolutely shat ourselves!" Graham Balcombe speaking in 1998 to Bryan Schofield. The first explorations at Black Keld took place on the 1st and 2nd October 1949.
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| Don Coase in 1948 in Peak Cavern. His peculiar stance is probably due to the lead boots he is wearing for bottom walking! |
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"The first divers were Davies, Davis and Thompson of the Derbyshire section of the CDG, together with Balcombe and Coase.
Basically their findings consisted of 110 feet of underwater passage to an airbell, from which an underwater continuation was followed for 50 feet to a submerged 'pot' 17 feet deep. The floor of the pot was found to be 28 feet below the local water table. Here a tight slot with a strong current emerging was found to lead on downwards but it was quite clearly out of the question to attempt this using oxygen (the depth limit for re-breather apparatus is 30 to 35 feet due to the danger of oxygen poisoning). At the airbell a bedding plane was noticed, but they don't seem to have explored it, quite possibly because getting out of the water here is rather difficult due to the depth and the sharp undercut. ... It represents a remarkable achievement considering the equipment available then to cave divers."
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Geoff Yeadon1979 Descent Magazine (41) April 1979 |
"Diving was resumed at Black Keld on 3rd August 1970, nearly 21 years after the initial explorations, when M. J. Wooding reported that he had passed the slot at the bottom of the flooded pot found by Davies, but had unfortunately lost the way shortly beyond due to poor visibility.
On 5th May 1974 Alf Latham and Geoff Yeadon failed to find the flooded pot, but did locate an area of 'interleaved flakes' in which sense of direction and visibility were lost. Two dives were reported by L. Radcliffe in October 1973 and on 4th August 1974. On the first of these he discovered a six foot 'submerged hole' with a bedding at the bottom in which a current was felt, but unfortunately he was unable to find this again on his second dive. It could be that the submerged hole and Davies' flooded pot are one and the same."
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Alf Latham revisited Black Keld again in 1998, after his first dive there twenty four years earlier. This particular dive caused not a little anxiety, when he had trouble getting back through a low bedding, before finally emerging at the entrance with almost no air left in his tanks!
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| I am grateful for the above history of exploration, which has largely been compiled from reports written by Rob Shackleton.
History of Exploration 1975 - 1997
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