We were invited to the vernissage in Pula (Croatia). There is now a permanent exhibition there about the passenger steamer BARON GAUTSCH, which sank in 1914. The model of the undamaged ship and the wreck can now be viewed at the same time.
Christian Harzhauser and I dived the wreck last year and I digitized it.
A ‘vernissage’ is the ceremonial opening of an art exhibition at which the works of a living artist are exhibited.
(I personally particularly like the word ‘living’ !)
This year I was finally able to accompany Ingo Oppelt and Reinhard Öser on their tour to the Baltic Sea. I had been trying to get one of the prestigious seats on board for years and now it finally worked. We started our week-long diving expedition on the tall ship Ryvar in Rostock. In total we were 27 divers plus two ship crew and cook Willi.
The trip went into Danish waters and we dived six wrecks, all of which I was able to scan.
You can find the 3D-files (STL) for a 3D-printer here: Download
She was on my ‘Bucket List’, since we dived her in 2018. Not far from the Thistlegorm, but at least as beautiful. I never in my life thought we would come back six years later to digitize her!
This is a dive for experienced divers. If you are on a liveaboard nearby and have inexperienced divers with you, then the dive guides will definitely not suggest the wreck. And if you ask about it, they will answer “No, because of weather…”.
Link to the model here: Rosalie Moller
You can get the 3D-Files here: Link
What does a wreck have to have to achieve a legendary reputation in diving circles? It must be below the depth that separates the purely holiday diver from the experienced recreational diver, but not so deep that it is only accessible to a handful of people. It needs an exciting story and a fateful sinking.
The condition of the ship should be largely intact, inside and out: divers still have to come across those small details that together give the impression that they are looking at an almost virgin ruined ship – and not a looted one. For a wreck to become legendary in diving circles, it must above all appear mystical and mysterious: like the “Rosalie Moller”.
We dived the wreck early on the trip. The timing was such that Nicola and I were alone at the wreck and the others only dived when we were already in the deco. It was an option that we could come back on the end of the trip, just in case I missed one spot of the wreck. So, I processed the rendering of the wreck during the time on board. But the model came out almost flawless and would be good enough for a nice 3D print.
We dived the ROSALIE during the 2 weeks trip of the Red Sea Wreck Academy in the Red Sea with Peter Collings (https://www.deeplens.com/). We went with the MY CHARLOTTE. This was our best wreck trip in Red sea ever! No crowded places and we concentrated on wrecks only. Peter is a legend in wreck diving and his briefings were exceptional.
My wife an I joined one trip of the Red Sea Wreck Academy in the Red Sea with Peter Collings (https://www.deeplens.com/). We did 23 different wrecks in the north and Sues Channel that are rarely dived. We avoided the crowded places and were always the only livaboard at the diving spot. We went with the MY CHARLOTTE. We also spent a lot of time searching for new targets.
We 3D scanned as much as possible and it will take weeks to process all the data and building the wreck models.
This is the list of wrecks we dived.
I will update the list every time I finished a model
My buddy and I traveled to Rovinj in Coratia for wreck diving. We were invited from Marko from http://theolddiver.com/ to dive and scan all the famous diving spots of that area.
You can find my 3D-Models here: Croatia
…no, it is not Marko that is meant by “the old diver”. It’s just the Name of the diving center. It is located at the beach in a nice camping area.
Marko has a nice diving boat with space for max. 12 divers. (Or 8 technical divers – if they carry so much equipment like we did).
There are nice diving spots like reefs and rock walls, but we were just interested in WRECKS!
You can find the 3D-Models here: Croatia
Opening of the exhibition “Examples of best practices in the conservation of underwater cultural heritage” in Zadar (Croatia).
The aim of this exhibition is to present UNESCO examples of good practices in underwater cultural heritage from Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Mexico and Croatia, replicas of the most interesting finds from Spain and Croatia and video materials.
I made a large model of the Baron Gautsch for the exhibition, which really shows off there.
I am proud that two of my Italian models are shown at the Science festival in Rome. I’ve built bigger models of Pasubio and Bettolina for this Exhibition. It took 180 hours printing time for twelve pieces. The level of details is amazing. You can even see the steering chain that goes from the bridge to the rudder in the back and to the rudder quadrant
The 3D wreck prints are having a huge success especially from elementary and middle schoolers. Two 3D anaglyph prints are also very beautiful and make a very nice visual effect of depth to see. The Pasubio and Bettolina wrecks, given their beauty, have been protected by a glass case to avoid being damaged.
I’ve developed and built a measurement station to measure the water temperatures of the lake Kreidesee Hemmoor. It measures in different depths up to 50m. You can find the measurement-page with live-data here: tms.dive3d.eu
And my 3D-models of the UW-objects here: Hemmoor
You can find some history data and graphs here: Link
It is an own development. The sensors (Dallas 1-wire bus) are connected in a bus system and read out by the microcontroller. The data is sent by a GSM modem using SMS. At home my server receives the SMS by an other GSM modem which processes the data and sends it to my website: tms.dive3d.eu
I tested and calibrated each sensor in ice-water, because ice-water has a temperature of exactly zero degree Celsius.
Lars Konrad and I installed the measurement system in April 2024
I am very honored that my Red Sea models will now be exhibited in the famous Great Library in Alexandria, Egypt. Yesterday Dr. Emad Kahli, Dr. Marwa Elmakil and I opened the exhibition with two lectures on underwater archeology and photogrammetry.
You can find my Egypt models here: Link
Dr. Emad Khalil:
” Today we had a unique event, and one of the most successful events ever organized by the ACHS and AlexMed in the Bibiotheca Alexandria. “Echoes of the Deep” is the first shipwreck 3D printed model exhibition to take place in Egypt. It presents our amazing maritime cultural heritage of modern shipwrecks that have been attracting divers from all over the world.
The event was an example of collaboration between different sections, departments and individuals at the Library of Alexandria and beyond. However, the entire management of the event including writing the proposal to the Honor Frost Foundation to get funding, organizing the entire trip of Holger Buss and his lovely wife, sorting out all the printing details of the posters, handling every single detail, working late everyday, all this and more was done by my colleague and student Nada Kamel.”
I am honored to be our radio station’s Person of the Week
–> “Mensch der Woche”
In two short interviews I was talking a bit about wreck identification, 3D-Models and my job in real life. It was fun and I am pleased that I was chosen for this unusual honor.
We had a great few weeks in Greece and we scanned a lot of wrecks. But this wreck was our personal highlight: The Burdigala ex. fast steamer Kaiser Friedrich. It is 74m deep and 200m long. It’s a miracle that I managed to scan the wreck completely and without any failures. The model turned out fantastic and is the most beautiful model so far.
Link
The paddle steamer Patris in Greece was built before screw steam machines were invented. It had two paddle wheels and sails. On February 23, 1868, and with 400 guests on board, the ship hit the Koundoudos reef near Kea and sank. We scanned the wrack and the entire reef in September 2023. The scanned area reaches from 1m to 54m and it was quite a challenge to scan it, because of the currents in the shallow waters.
Continue here: PSS Patris
The video also shows Alex aka DerWrackzeichner while creating the pencil art of the wreck www.wrackzeichner.de
I was in the Maritime Museum Rostock to hold a presentation about wreck identification and 3D modeling. There I handed the model of PASUBIO over to the head of the museum: Kathrin Möller.
The steamer PASUBIO was built in 1903 as MIMI HORN by the Neptun Werft in Rostock – so, the model found its perfect place in the exhibition!
My wife and I were invited by Roberta and Francesco from Megalehellas. We met at the BOOT in Düsseldorf and we went to Calabria (Italy) to scan two wrecks and the famous Scilla rock. The wrecks are from World War 2: the Steamer Pasubio and a wreck that is not identified, yet. Looks like it was transporting gas or gasoline.
You can find the collection here: Italy
My big model of the BARON GAUTSCH found its perfect place: in the GALLERION exhibition in the Aquarium Pula / Croatia. They have an extensive exhibition of ship models from the First World War and before. The BARON GAUTSCH hit a mine off Pula in 1914 and is now a famous diving spot with 8,000 divers per year.
Here a report from Istra24
I gave a presentation there about the BARON GAUTSCH and photogrammetry
