Adapted from an article on www.news.bbc.co.uk                                                             March 2004

Thousands of people watched as HMS Scylla was sunk in Whitsand Bay near Plymouth to become Europe's first artificial reef. It's taken five years and £1m to plan, but could generate around £1m a year for the local economy.

The former Royal Navy Leander Clas frigate has been scuttled off the South West coast to create Europe's first artificial diving reef. (Saturday 27th March 2004).

Devon schoolboy Daniel Green joined environmentalist David Bellamy in pushing the plunger that sent HMS Scylla to her watery grave. The pair stood side-by-side on board a press boat as they set off the charges that sank the decommissioned Royal Navy warship.

FThe explosives were set off just after 3.30pm. Many of the thousands of people watching sounded their boats' horns as the bow of the vessel sank slowly below the surface half a mile off the shore.

It took only three or four minutes for the ship to disappear beneath the waves after a series of controlled explosions were triggered on board the vessel.

Among those observing the Scylla's final descent was Captain Mike Booth, the Scylla's last commanding officer.

"Scylla has been sitting at the top of Portsmouth dockyard for ten years rusting away. Now she will be a useful vessel for the next 30 or 40 years."

HMS Scylla was built in the late 1960s and was the last warship built in Devonport. She was taken out of active service in 1993.

Similar projects to create artificial reefs across the world have generated millions for their local economies and the team behind this project are confident the same will happen here.

The ship will be used for divers to explore, as well as for it to be colonised by local species of fish.

The Director of the National Marine Aquarium thinks the first animals will start investigating the ship within 24 hours of her hitting the seabed. "Maybe we'll see conger eels coming to have a look - and the crabs and lobsters will soon start to move in.

[ Conger Eels like smaller tube-like homes. Picture Paul Naylor ]

SIMPLY THE BEST - THAT'S THE SEA CADETS !