Greg’s diving career has focused primarily on the filming of deep shipwrecks. He is a highly experienced underwater videographer and has provided film footage for many historical documentaries in North America, Europe and Asia.
He was involved with documentary footage for a program about the discovery of the German U-boat U-869, formally known as the U-Who. The name of the film is “Hitler’s Lost U-boat” and aired on NOVA/PBS in November 2000. This was an account of the discovery and identification of this vessel by renowned east coast wreck diver John Chatterton and the crew of the Seeker.
Greg was also a member of the 1998 Britannic Expedition to Greece which explored the sunken remains of the sister ship to the famed Titanic. He filmed many pertinent areas on the shipwreck which have led to further knowledge of why she sank. This film work appeared on the TLC program Lost Sister’s of the Titanic.
The Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria sank off the Nantucket Shoals in July of 1956, this tragedy claimed 57 lives and with the advent of current diving technology used to visit her remains, she continues to claim lives. Greg’s footage of the Andrea Doria has appeared on NBC Dateline and Discovery Channel News. These documentaries detailed the risks and obsessions associated with diving this infamous shipwreck and the quest for her elaborate artwork and treasures.
Human technology is allowing us to push the limits of the deep further and further with tools such as closed circuit rebreathers. Mossfeldt recently filmed a segment for the program EXTREME MACHINES which portrayed the use of this modern technolgy on prolonged dives to deep shipwrecks.
Greg is actively involved in educating aspiring dive adventurists requiring mixed gas technology to reach their goals and also leads exploration charters in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada.
In Search of The Struma
Escaping the massacres in 1941 Rumania, 778 Rumanian and Russian Jews embarked in Constansa on a tiny vessel of 45 meters, bound for Palestine. She limped to Istanbul over three days where the tiny, woefully inadequate engine finally gave up.
There she remained for 70 days. The British refused to grant permission for them to enter Palestine and the Turks would not let them repair the engine, disembark or remain in Turkey.
With only the food and water supplied by the local Jewish community and no sanitary facilities, conditions on the unbearably cramped, little ship rapidly deteriorated.
On the evening of February 23rd 1942, Turkish police seized control of ship and towed it out into the Black Sea. With no engine, she drifted overnight, when at first light a Russian submarine sank her with a single torpedo.
103 children, 269 women and 406 men died. There was one survivor, David Stoliar.
The Ship’s name was Struma.
Greg participated in this British led journey in hopes of documenting the discovery of the lost vessel. The team was formed by British explorer Greg Buxton, who had lost his paternal grandparents on the Struma on the fateful day of February 24th, 1942.
The team traveled to Istanbul, Turkey in late August of this year to begin diving on hopeful sites which side scans had located during previous research.
Although the Struma has not yet been discovered, the expedition did happen upon some very interesting shipwrecks in the process of searching. Four members of the team went down on a previously undiscovered submarine at a depth of 300 fsw in the Black Sea just outside of the Bosphorous. They also explored a shipwreck claimed to be the Struma by the SAAD (a Turkish dive team). After exhaustive efforts to positively identify this wreck, it was found to be a luxury steam yacht and not the Struma.
The Struma Project was accompanied by the Canadian film production company Associated Producers. Associated Producers are currently pursuing further clues to the mystery surrounding the sinking for a film to air in the near future pertaining to the ship and the Jewish Holocaust.
The team of the Struma Project encountered many interesting obstacles and experiences on their quest for discovery, which Greg will share with you and fellow divers at the show.
