Captain Carlsen & the 'Flying Enterprise' complied by Leigh Bishop
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Discovery of the Flying Enterprise June 2001

The re-discovery of the actual resting place of the wreck of the Flying Enterprise made its place in history in June of 2001 during the close of an expedition by the Starfish Enterprise on return from exploration of the famous treasure ship Egypt. In brilliant visibility the team became the first to explore the wreck in almost 50 years a monumental dive that made news headlines in the UK magazine DIVER.


Above; A heavy open circuit expedition diver makes entry to the water below awaits the Flying Enterprise.

During the early 1990’s Chris Hutchison & I had met up with an old sea dog by the name of ‘Mally’ off the coast of Cornwall England. Mally was a dive boat skipper with a seafaring background who enlightened me on the saga of the Flying Enterprise. As we looked out over the Cornish coast he told me of the story of the ship and Carlsen's fight to save her. Of course back then the trend of deep mix gas diving was lending itself to venturing further offshore in an attempt to discover new and interesting shipwrecks. I was thrilled to hear of a classic shipwreck story from somebody who actually remembered the ship actually sinking. As a result I set about researching the story of the ship and to assume the whereabouts of her last resting place, if I could locate where she sank our dive team the Starfish Enterprise could go in search of the wreck. Needless to say back then around 1994 dive boats would not venture that far offshore and boundaries to the limits of just how far we would push exploration would exceed themselves. Interestingly enough like anything time pushes the progression of limits and nowadays a day boat charter some 40 miles offshore is becoming the normal although back then this wasn’t the case. At the time we were happy to explore wrecks to depths of 90m up to a distance of some 25-30 miles offshore, requesting a journey longer would have been madness in the eyes of a skipper. On top of this my research showed no results as to where the wreck was, if she was out there she was 30 or more miles offshore. At this time I had not heard of or come across anyone else that knew of this wreck or her story, back then there was of course just a whisper of something called the internet and access to archives was perhaps not as easy as it is nowadays. It was as if the moment the Flying Enterprise sank the world turned its back to the next current affair and the story became nothing more than a footnote to history. Little did we know that when we would eventually discover the wreck how much interest would be instantly generated? Of course now the information highway brings together leaders in every field to provide that information without actually meeting them in person.

So as it were Flying Enterprise was backlisted to my research folders and if truth has it I almost forgotten about her altogether what with so many other virgin shipwreck discovery's going on. As the team and their adventures advanced over the next few years it was historic research as such that would drive the next expedition and by 2000 we were discovering new wreck after new wreck weekend after weekend. By now I had grasped the true nature of wreck research learning from the masters of old Kingston, an established relationship with the UK Hydrographic office meant that an exchange of information was occurring on a regular basis.

By now we had moved our operations of exploration of virgin wrecks to the offshore Plymouth area, my old friend Richy Stevenson of deep blue diving had established a working relation for offshore trips and unlike other boat charters of the area was not afraid as such to venture further than the Afric (approx 20 miles offshore) in search of new wrecks. We had also imported Brighton dive charter skipper Tim Benetto to the area each year to allow us that power of a serious offshore day boat. It was on another occasion that I was staying at Christina Campbell's house in London, whilst browsing one of Christina's shipwreck books I found yet another chapter referring to the Flying Enterprise. My memory was jogged and once again I set about research into the ship that is what was available to research. At this time I still was unaware of the real story that was about to unfold, I knew however that the Flying Enterprise sank under the command of a man regarded as one of the last true Captains of time now gone.

Chris Hutchison was a guy that had picked up on my research and it was the next move that Chris would play his part in the discovery. Leading an expedition to the famous gold ship the Egypt off Ushant our route back across the channel took us directly over what should have been the Flying Enterprise wreck site. Chris had chartered Rich Stevenson's expedition vessel Loyal Watcher and the journey back across the channel to Plymouth gave us a window to take advantage and dive an unknown wreck that would normally represent itself as a long way off shore in day boat terms. Chris had consulted me as to what we should investigate on the journey back home I therefore analyzed the data and decided to research data off shore I had not previously considered possibly for examination. As I studied hundreds of information printouts I came across a possibly position for the Flying Enterprise. Chris agreed with me that we would make this number one target and so on a brilliant day in June 2001 our team became the first divers to swim the decks of the famous Flying Enterprise. I had give the location position to skipper Steve Wright who of course then went on to play perhaps the next biggest part in the discovery of the wreck and it would be Steve that would anxiously be awaiting Rich & I as we surfaced. Given the task of securing the down line meant a personal privilege of being the first to set eyes on her was something very special for me. That day in amazing visibility my dive partner Richard Stevenson and I swam the entire length of the wreck along the seabed and taking time to just look up at her towering above us. Of course it was one of those days I just didn’t have my camera at hand, something of a rarity now. The opportunity was there in fantastic visibility and I missed it, but that isn't to say Rich and I returned on many occasions soon after to continue to shoot film, as did the team themselves going on to provide Danish Filmmaker Lasse Spang Olsen the valuable footage he required for his documentary. Since the discovery of the wreck by the Starfish Team in 2001 other persons have laid claim to her discovery even 12 months later and after it was documented in DIVER magazine.

The team that discovered the Flying Enterprise that historic day in June 2001 were the Starfish Enterprise. · Alan Boness · Christina Campbell · Richard Stevenson · Geraint Ffoulkes Jones · Bob Hughes · Robin Benford · Chris Hutchison · Rob Royal · John Adams · Alex Vassallo · David Wilkins · Leigh Bishop · Paul Kent

Above; Skipper Steve Wright worked with his old mate Leigh Bishop on Location of the Flying Enterprise to discover the wreck in June 2001.

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