Croquis (French): a rough draft, sketch or drawing, before any precise dimensions are taken, which helps to indicate each point of measurement and what feature it corresponds to.
After a year of intensive research entailing countless hours in front of a computer, the time has come for yet another dive of the wreck at Kalamitsi* in the hope of gleaning some clue to its identity. Many equate SCUBA diving with recreation. This is undoubtedly true, but in the world of shipwreck hunting and investigation, sustained effort is also required. Everything must be examined – from its most obvious features to the smallest bolt, if there is any chance of a shipwreck giving up its secrets. Only then, when the data is collected and compiled, can reasonable conclusions be drawn.
If the features and form of a shipwreck are to be understood at all, a basic sketch – or croquis (as it is referred to by surveyors) – is of fundamental importance. Indeed, this became the objective of our early dives of the Kalamitsi wreck.
Knowledge leads to broader horizons of understanding, while exponentially raising more questions, to which a researcher anxiously seeks answers. Our very first dives of the wreck were with ignorant eyes. To us, the two boilers seemed to be funnels. However, as the investigation proceeded and we learnt more about maritime engineering and the like, the value of the croquis as an investigative tool was also revealed to us. Through considerable effort, we were able to piece together our own croquis of the remains. In combination with video and photographs taken during our dives, it now serves as our indispensable guide for further exploration. Indeed, if the identity of the Kalamitsi wreck is to ever be revealed to us, it is to the humble croquis that a good deal of the credit should definitely go.
The croquis of the Kalamitsi wreck rendered by Stavros:
[*] Ross J. Robertson is an Australian who has lived in Greece for the past thirty years. He has a BSc (Biology) and is an EFL teacher. He is the co-owner of two private English Language Schools and instructs students studying for Michigan and Cambridge University English Language examinations. He has written various English Language Teaching books for the Hellenic American Union (Greece), Longman-Pearson (UK) and Macmillan Education (UK). He published his debut novel (fiction/humour) entitled ‘Spiked! Read Responsibly’ in 2016. Moreover, he has written several spec screenplays and a number of newspaper articles, including an extensive series on the 75th anniversary of the WWII Liberation of Greece. A keen AOW and Nitrox diver, he is also a shipwreck and research enthusiast and has written features for UK Diver Magazine, US Diver and the Australian newspaper, Neos Kosmos. Ross continues to combine his expertise in English with his love of storytelling and local WWII history to produce exciting materials.
