Leigh Bishop
Encyclopedia
Leigh Bishop is an explorer and deep sea diver known for his deep shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....

 exploration and still underwater photography
Underwater photography
Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while snorkeling or swimming.-Overview:...

.

Background

Born in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, England in 1968 he began diving at the age of twenty one where he established himself on the technical diving scene during its infantile years. Utilizing mix gas to explore deep wrecks around the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 since the beginning of the 90s his later 1997 expedition to search for the lost King Edward VII class battleship
King Edward VII class battleship
The King Edward VII class was a class of pre-dreadnought battleships launched by the Royal Navy between 1903 and 1905.-Armament:By 1901, the 29 British battleships of the Majestic, Canopus, Formidable, London, Queen, and Duncan classes then in service or under construction, all following the same...

 off North Scotland became the first of its kind to explore shipwrecks beyond 100m/330 ft depths in European waters. With little material available on the subject of deep 35mm stills he took to photography specifically for the HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic was the third and largest of the White Star Line. She was the sister ship of and , and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. She was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders in Belfast for many months before...

 98 expedition carving his own path in a specialized field. Concentrating towards lost 20th Century Ocean liners steered him to some of history's most famous shipwrecks, photographically cataloguing each one as he explored them.

Examples of his photography have been extensively published on magazine covers in national newspapers as well as countless magazines of varying types. His published works on the subject of shipwreck exploration over two decades clearly dictated his active roll in shipwreck exploration since the late 1980s. He is known mostly for his pioneering ambient light monochrome images of shipwrecks, which use natural light & long time exposures utilizing a tripod to capture images of shipwrecks that are impossible to light using man made lighting effects.

As an internationally renowned deep shipwreck explorer and a fellow member of the Explorers Club
The Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is a professional society dedicated to scientific exploration of Earth, its oceans, and outer space. Founded in 1904 in New York City, it currently has 30 branches world wide...

 he has been involved in many notable & pioneering scientific shipwreck expeditions from famous Ocean liners to sensitive War losses as well as deep and historically important sites of archaeological interest.

Leigh Bishop has worked closely with government departments in finding shipwrecks and over the years published hundreds of periodicals and photographs on the subject of shipwrecks globally as well as lecturing on the subject around the world. He is known to have undertaken extensive research into London archives, which led him to the identification of many dozens of previously unknown shipwrecks around the British Isles. During the 1990s along with his dive partner Chris Hutchison the two men are said to have explored no less than 400 virgin shipwrecks.

Working with the UK Customs & Excise Receiver of Wreck government departments Leigh Bishop worked with various diving teams to legally recover artifacts from deep shipwrecks that went on display in various maritime museums.

Leigh Bishop is a known professional HSE qualified diver and has worked on consultancy for several television documentary's and has been involved in the commissioning of documentary's shown on several major network channels. In addition to this he has worked as an underwater cameraman where his film footage has been cut into countless underwater television documentaries for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, History Channel and most major UK networks. In order to overcome depth & gas logistics of deep exploration he utilized closed circuit technology (rebreathers) from the early days of technical diving to explore deep shipwrecks. His experience with a multitude of various rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...

 systems led him to become a development diver for certain rebreather companies.

In 2008 he established the Eurotek technical diving
Technical diving
Technical diving is a form of scuba diving that exceeds the scope of recreational diving...

 conference with his late diving partner Carl Spencer. Leigh Bishop remains a director of Eurotek, which has established itself as the leading diving conference for advanced, and technical divers in the Northern Hemisphere. The event is held bi-annually at the (ICC) International Convention Centre, Birmingham
International Convention Centre, Birmingham
The International Convention Centre is a major conference venue in central Birmingham, England. The centre includes Symphony Hall and it faces Centenary Square. The building has another entrance leading to the canals of Birmingham. The Convention Quarter area, which includes Brindleyplace, is...

 England.

During several expeditions to the Lusitania
Lusitania
Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...

 he accumulated almost ten hours physically on the wreck building the most extensive collection of images of the wreck to date. At that time he also photographed the liner SS Transylvania (1925) sunk in 135m/445 ft in the north Atlantic. During 2001 along with fellow members of the internationally renowned deep wreck diving team 'Starfish Enterprise' he brought back the first images of the lost gold treasure shipwreck the SS Egypt sunk in deep water off the edge of Biscay (Western Atlantic). Also in 2001 he made the discovery of the Captain Kurt Carlsen famous shipwreck Flying Enterprise
Flying Enterprise
SS Flying Enterprise was a 6,711 ton Type C1-B ship which sank in 1952. She was built in 1944 as SS Cape Kumukaki for the United States Maritime Commission for use in World War II...

 lost in 1952. He went on to be involved in countless expeditions more notably as a leading photographer on expeditions to the HMHS Britannic (Titanics sister ship) in 1998, 2003, 2006 & 2009.

Notable Publishing Merits

Leigh Bishop has successfully published articles, features and photographs in many magazines globally as well as American & English published books and major newspapers. He has written over 200 full feature articles and his creative underwater imagery has been used in many advertising campaigns for the promotion of diving manufacturers equipment and popular publications. He has contributed to all of the UK's diving magazines although specifically contributes to the UK’s DIVER magazine and the US based Wreck diving magazine. As well as the UK market his material has been published extensively across Australasia, United States of America and Europe. Underwater images of shipwrecks and divers taken by Leigh Bishop have appeared on covers of various magazines.

Public Speaker & Conference Merits

Leigh Bishop has made many public presentations about shipwreck exploration, these include sell out lectures at the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

 in London, The Australian technical diving conference Sydney, National Exhibition Centre
National Exhibition Centre
The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...

, London Arena
London Arena
The London Arena was an indoor arena and exhibition centre, on the Isle of Dogs, in East London, England...

 and several notable conferences in the USA.

Being involved in ground breaking deep shipwreck explorations he has been able to relay the story's behind shipwreck discoveries as a public speaker, lecturer and conference adviser to thousands of people. His presentations were a direct result of successful image creation and as he admitted himself something that made his job as a public speaker somewhat easier to audiences of up to 5-600 people.

His credits as a public speaker to date include the NEC DIVE show on numerous separate occasions, conferences in Scotland and Wales, Warwick University, Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...

, Birmingham University as well as many UK dive clubs. In February 2003 he was invited to speak at the International shipwreck conference at Plymouth University and later in 2003 made his first appearance as a speaker at the European photographic seminar 'Visions in the Sea' at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

. Today he continues to attend conferences worldwide were audiences continue to enjoy his presentations with evocative images from the wrecks as they are today.

Known Expeditions / Projects include

  • HMS Hampshire (1903)
    HMS Hampshire (1903)
    HMS Hampshire was a Devonshire-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear and commissioned in 1905 at a cost of £833,817....

    (1995)
  • HMS Pheasant (1996)
  • King Edward VII class battleship
    King Edward VII class battleship
    The King Edward VII class was a class of pre-dreadnought battleships launched by the Royal Navy between 1903 and 1905.-Armament:By 1901, the 29 British battleships of the Majestic, Canopus, Formidable, London, Queen, and Duncan classes then in service or under construction, all following the same...

     (1997)
  • HMS Affray (P421)
    HMS Affray (P421)
    HMS Affray , a British Amphion-class submarine was the last Royal Navy submarine to be lost at sea, on 16 April 1951, with the loss of 75 lives...

     (1998)
  • HMHS Britannic
    HMHS Britannic
    HMHS Britannic was the third and largest of the White Star Line. She was the sister ship of and , and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. She was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders in Belfast for many months before...

     (1998,2003,2006,2009)
  • HMS M1
    HMS M1
    HMS M1 was a submarine of the British Royal Navy, one of four vessels of her class ordered towards the end of the First World War. She sank with the loss of her entire crew in 1925....

     (1999)
  • RMS Lusitania
    RMS Lusitania
    RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...

     (1999,2000 & 2001)
  • SS Tuscania (1914)
    SS Tuscania (1914)
    The SS Tuscania was a luxury liner of the Cunard subsidiary Anchor Line, named after a town in Italy. She was torpedoed in 1918 by the German U-boat UB-77 while carrying American troops to Europe and sank with a loss of 210 lives.-Commercial career:...

     (2001)
  • RMS Egypt (2001 & 2002)
  • Flying Enterprise
    Flying Enterprise
    SS Flying Enterprise was a 6,711 ton Type C1-B ship which sank in 1952. She was built in 1944 as SS Cape Kumukaki for the United States Maritime Commission for use in World War II...

     (2001 & 2002)
  • Northern Atlantic deep wreck expedition (2001 & 2002)
  • HMS Charybdis (88)
    HMS Charybdis (88)
    HMS Charybdis was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Cammell Laird Shipyard , with the keel being laid down on 9 November 1939...

     & HMS Limbourne (2002)
  • RMS Titanic (2003)
  • MV Wilhelm Gustloff(2003)
  • Black Sea expedition (2004)
  • SS Transylvania (1914)
    SS Transylvania (1914)
    The SS Transylvania was a passenger liner of the Cunard subsidiary Anchor Line, and a sister ship to SS Tuscania. She was torpedoed and sunk on May 4, 1917 by the German U-boat U-63 while carrying Allied troops to Egypt and sank with a loss of 412 lives.Completed just before the outbreak of World...

     (2004)
  • RMS Andania (1913)
    RMS Andania (1913)
    RMS Andania was a passenger and cargo ship from Great Britain launched 22 March 1913. She was 13,405 tons and built in the Greenock Dockyard Company by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd and completed 13 July 1913....

     (2004)
  • HMS Vandal (P64)
    HMS Vandal (P64)
    HMS Vandal was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, yard number 838. The submarine had the shortest career of any Royal Navy submarine, being lost with all 37 onboard just four days after commissioning....

     (2005)
  • RMS Niagara
    RMS Niagara
    RMS Niagara was an ocean liner launched on 17 August 1912 and owned by the Union Steam Ship Company. She was nicknamed "the Titanic of the Pacific", but after the sinking of the real RMS Titanic this was dropped in favour of "Queen of the Pacific"...

    (2007)
  • Exploration of the deep wrecks of Truk Lagoon
    Truk Lagoon
    Truk Lagoon, also known as Chuuk, is a sheltered body of water in the central Pacific. North of New Guinea, it is located mid-ocean at 7 degrees North latitude. The atoll consists of a protective reef, around, enclosing a natural harbour 79 by 50 kilometres , with an area of . It has a land...

     (2008,2009,2010)
  • Cocklebiddy Cave diving expedition, Nullarbor Plain
    Nullarbor Plain
    The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...

    dessert Australia (2009)

External links

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