NASAC is a volunteer run archaeological dive club affiliated to the Nautical Archaeology Society and is run by NAS members for NAS members.

Our purpose is to provide project-based archaeological diving opportunities for NAS members.

NASAC is affiliated to the British Sub Aqua Club(BSAC Branch 2574). We welcome divers from all the training agencies. We do not teach diving, but we aim to develop members’ skills through specific dives and projects that will initially be based along the South Coast.

Club diving is run under BSAC guidelines and club members are required to be members of the BSAC. Guest divers are welcome on club dives and do not have to be a member of the BSAC, but must show proof of 3rd party insurance prior to diving with NASAC.

Annual Membership (as of January 2022) - £7.00 per month or £70.00 per year one off payment.

Club members are required to be current members of the Nautical Archaeology Society - Join NAS here

Several club members are licencees of Protected Wreck sites, affording us unique project opportunities. Guest divers with archaeological interests are welcome to join in club activities.

Club Officers

• Chair - Ray Dickinson
• Diving Officer - Mark Beattie-Edwards
• Treasurer - Chris Birkhead
• Secretary / Membership - Sara Hasan - can be contacted on [email protected]  
• Marketing Mistress - Karen Moule
• Equipment Officer - Alby Hall

Dive Costs

• Shore Dive - no cost
• RIB Dive - close to launch site - £10.00 Members - £25.00 Guests
• RIB Dive - further afield - £20.00 Members - £40.00 Guests
• Hard boat dives - charter fee divided by the number of divers - approximate £55.00 - £60.00 per day

Why join the Nautical Archaeology Society Diving Club?

NASAC member Karen Moule has been a member of the Nautical Archaeology Society for the best part of 24 years with many of those years also as a member of the NAS diving club.

Why join any club? Surely a club with a core purpose that shares your own interest or hobby is a good enough reason.

If you have an interest in any of the following, then joining NASAC, could be the opportunity you’ve been looking for. Are you interested in:

• Our seafaring heritage with the triumphs and tragedies that happened over the centuries
• Our shipbuilding history
• Our Naval history – perhaps in sea conflicts worldwide
• Being a diver that wants to dive ‘with a purpose’
• Returning to diving after the kids have flown the nest
• Local history
• Being a student of maritime archaeology, wanting to access protected wrecks
• Being a dive centre/shop that can offer your customers a unique dive experience
• Being a sailor with an interest is ships and shipwrecks
• Being a dive club, offering your members access to protected wrecks
• Archaeology in general
• UK history in general

When Karen joined NASAC she had been the Training Officer for a local British Sub Aqua Club dive club in Aylesbury. Having spend a few years taking novice divers into inland dive sites for 6 metre training dives to get student divers through their qualifications, Karen was so bored with it, that she considered ‘hanging up her fins’.

Following a visit to one of the dive shows and ‘stumbling’ across the Nautical Archaeology Society stand at the show, she realised it wasn’t quite the time to stop diving. If anything, it was the time to start – start diving with a purpose.

Karen had a keen interest in history, our seafaring past and the tragedies that had created so many shipwrecks – along with the allure of sunken treasure! Having spoken to the team from the NAS, it fired a desire to understand more about our maritime heritage, the different types of ships that existed, their evolution over the centuries, the different armaments and what the shipwreck ‘crime scene’ could tell you about the ship itself and the circumstances of its wrecking.

Becoming a member of the Nautical Archaeology Society is something for divers and non-divers alike, but the affiliated diving club – NASAC – is just for divers; divers who have an interest in accessing protected wrecks and being with a bunch of people who share a common interest, and who have the added advantage of a range of skills and knowledge specific to maritime archaeology.

Being Portsmouth-based, with its own boat, NASAC has the ability to dive in a wide range of locations across the UK. It’s a small and friendly club with ambitions to grow its membership to include more students from Bournemouth and Southampton Universities, divers returning to the sport seeking a purpose to their diving, as well as other local diving club members who can join dive trips for a good day’s diving.   

As we slowly return to ‘normality’ after COVID, do you feel you want some purpose in your life? Want to add a new dimension to your diving activities? Or share a common interest with likeminded people?