Plans to sink the HMS Ark Royal warship and create a diving reef at the bottom of the English Channel have received a boost.
The decommissioned Tyneside-built aircraft carrier was put up for sale and bidding has now closed.
It was listed on the Ministry of Defence auction website and many weird and wonderful ideas have been put forward by groups who want to buy the ship which was built at Wallsend’s Swan Hunter yard.
Wreck the World is proposing to turn the 210-metre vessel into a reef off the coast of South Devon and has already received £6.5m from two companies who are backing their bid.
The 22,000 ton Invincible Class carrier could be a diving hotspot as soon as summer 2012 if the bid if accepted. The two companies who are supporting the plan are defence engineering firm A&P Falmouth and Scrap metal firm GH Newbery and Son.
40 year old Michael Byfield and 31 year old James Doddrell run Wreck the World. Michael hopes that the boat can be used to boost the economy in Devon.
“If it goes for scrap, especially to a foreign country, there will be no social and economic benefit,” he said.
“With our project, once she is in the water she will keep on giving.”