Between 1959 and 1983 Heriots pupils and FPs explored underwater life with the school Sub-Aqua Club.  Club members carried out pioneering marine biological surveys in Scotland and the Canary Islands after learning to use diving equipment in the school swimming pool.

Ian Maxwell collected information about the club from Herioter reports and other sources, including the 1965 expedition report stored in the Integrated Marine Data Repository of the Canary Islands.

School pupils joined the club tempted by the chance to go scuba diving like Jacques Cousteau.  Getting changed in December snow showers in the car park at St Abbs didn’t quite match up to the coral reef adventures in Silent World, but it was still magic to be able to swim weightlessly through kelp forests and watch sea anemones and fish in their own habitat.

Why was such an unusual activity carried out at Heriots?