He used website to outline his mission, hopes and fears

Dave Shaw's final, fatal mission is detailed in his own words on his website.

In a message posted before leaving for South Africa, he explained how he planned to bring the body of Deon Dreyer back from the depths.

'I have to cut Deon out of his dive harness, place him in a body bag (custom built), hook a strong wire line to the dive gear, get back to the drop line with the body bag and the other end of the line fastened to the dive gear, hook that line to the drop line, and then start my ascent, with the body - quite a lot to achieve in five minutes.'

Recalling how he found Dreyer three months ago, Shaw wrote: 'When I saw him, I swam to him. He was lying on his back with his dive equipment on. He was in a wetsuit and he still had his fins and mask on. His face was bone. His arms were floating.

'My first thought was to try to bring him up. I knelt next to him but he was stuck in the silt. I started to puff and pant, which is not a good thing at that depth. I tied my reel to him, and the important thing is that Deon was no longer lost.