It was quite a long trip, but very interesting and successful! We went to Chuuk Lagoon in February 2025 to scan the most famous wrecks. For sure it will take weeks to process all the data and print the 3D-models of the wrecks.
Truk Lagoon was the site of a major U.S. attack against Japan during Operation Hailstone in February 1944.
“The Chuuk lagoon is the final tomb for more than 100 ships, planes, and submarines—the legacy of a fierce World War II battle between the Japanese Imperial Fleet and Allied [primarily the United States] carrier attack planes.” As a tourist website reports, “It is a rare opportunity to find so many shipwrecks so close together and so completely intact.”
PSS Patris was a passenger paddle steamer that sank off Kea (Greece) in 1868.
Paddle wheel
One of the two driving wheels of the paddle steamer Patris stands in the courtyard of the museum. It was recovered by divers for the museum. The other paddle wheel is still at the wreck.
Letter from the Muesum:
“ Dear Mr.Buss ! We wish you a good and creative year, with health and.. explorations. We send you, albeit belatedly, our thanks again for your donation, along with photos from the Industrial Museum, where your model was placed with reference to you. We inform you that your model attracts the interest of many visitors !!!! With respect, On behalf of the Friends of the Technical Culture center Association, M.K. “
The model
Ouless, Philip John; Paddle Steamer Entering Naples; Jersey Heritage; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/paddle-steamer-entering-naples-137327
We are proud to announce that we have been able to identify another wreck using photogrammetry: the cargo steamer “Lotte Halm”, which sank in the North Sea in 1941!
On October 5, 2024, three divers from our group “Die GEZEITENTAUCHER – The Tide Divers” dove for the first time at a wreck position classified by the BSH (German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency) as a “submarine.” The wreck lies in the North Sea, approximately 37 km north of Norderney. Instead of a submarine, we found the 71-meter-long wreck of an iron steamship with two propellers, which is almost completely capsized and lying upside down. The wreck was examined during the dive and digitally captured using photogrammetry. By comparing the wreck with ships reported missing in the vicinity, we identified it as the steamer Lotte Halm. This assumption was definitively confirmed by the ship’s length, a comparison of the steam engine with data from Lloyd’s of London, and the description of the sinking found in war diaries.
The steamer Lotte Halm was originally built in 1914 as an oil tanker for the German Navy during World War I. Later, the ship was converted into a freighter. In 1927, it was acquired by a Cologne-based shipping company and renamed Lotte Halm.
The Sinking: On August 14, 1941, the ship was loaded with sawn timber and en route from Brunsbüttel to Papenburg. From Cuxhaven, it followed the Norwegian freighter Marvel, which had an escort officer on board. A storm was raging. Off the German North Sea coast, north of Norderney, they were attacked at 6:45 PM by British aircraft. Machine gun fire and incendiary bombs caused explosions in the superstructure, and the cargo caught fire. Four people lost their lives. The survivors managed to board a lifeboat. They were rescued by the Marvel and brought to Borkum. The minesweeper M572, the patrol boat V1105, and the tug Atlantik rushed to the burning ship during the night and managed to anchor it. All day long, efforts were made to extinguish the fire to tow the ship to the Weser, but these attempts failed. On the evening of August 15, 1941, the ship was abandoned, and an attempt was made to sink it using artillery fire and depth charges. However, the ship remained afloat on its burning timber cargo. The next day, only a drifting mast with a cargo boom was found. Four minesweepers searched for the wreck using sonar over the following days. The search was abandoned after six days without success, and the wreck was classified as “no danger to navigation.”
We identified a German paddle steamer in the Baltic Sea!
In August 2024, our diving expedition in the Baltic Sea led to the identification of a previously unknown paddle steamer wreck. Through careful measurements and digital reconstruction by photogrammetry, we identified the ship as Express I, a sternwheel paddle steamer built in Bremen in 1911 for the Weser River. Originally designed for shallow water, it was unsuitable for the open sea.
The ship’s tragic end came on May 8, 1945. With World War II nearing its end, the Express I was used by German soldiers fleeing Danzig to avoid Soviet capture. Overloaded and unsuited for rough waters, the ship struggled against heavy waves, which strained its hull and caused it to take on water. Near the Danish island of Møn, the ship suddenly broke in half and sank. Survivors were rescued by the sister ship, Express III, which was also overloaded and barely seaworthy. They sought refuge in a nearby Danish port, where the soldiers continued on foot in secrecy. Express III was later found abandoned and looted in Præstø, a small Danish village.
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.
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
Legendary
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”.
Photogrammetry
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.
The team
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.
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.
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
Temperature vs depth
You can find some history data and graphs here: Link
The electronic
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
Testing and calibration
I tested and calibrated each sensor in ice-water, because ice-water has a temperature of exactly zero degree Celsius.
Installation
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.
