Tributes paid to tragic diver Carl

At Spencair Ltd, the firm 39-year-old Mr Spencer, of Kings Bromley, ran in Keys Park, Hednesford, service manager Keith Grant and a friend for 20 years, said that Mr Spencer's wife Vicki was too upset to talk.

"One thing she has said is that she wants the company to continue. She says that there are too many people relying on it and she wants to keep it going," he said.

Serviceair, which employs 16 was started by father-of-two Mr Spencer in 2003, and is a heating and air conditioning business.

Mr Spencer died in a naval hospital in Athens after convulsing and losing consciousness while exploring the wreck of the Titanic's sister ship the Britannic in the sea near Greece.

He did not regain consciousness after the incident which happened as he was part of aNational Geographic expedition.

Mr Spencer previously lived in Tutbury Close, Hawks Green, and former neighbours today paid tribute to the expert diver who took part in numerous dives, including recovering the body of world water-speed record holder Donald Campbell from the waters of Lake Coniston.

Jacqui Probert, 38, has lived opposite Mr Spencer for 11 years and last night said she was shocked to learn of his death. She said: "We all knew that the type of diving he did was dangerous. It was the nature of the diving he was into and the depths he used to go down to.

"Even though we knew that you never think anything like this would ever happen."

Ben Mellor, 17, who also lived opposite Mr Spencer added: "His son Ben used to play with my sister. He was always very pleasant and to be honest I wouldn't have a bad word to say about him."

Mr Mellor remembered seeing MrSpencer on TV during an earlier diving expedition and added: "Its a real shame."

Another resident of Tutbury Close added: "It is awful. They were such a nice couple and your heart goes out to his wife and children."

Mr Spencer is thought to have suffered an attack of the bends, which can occur when divers surface too quickly and nitrogen forms bubbles in their blood supply. The wreck of the Britannic is thought to be 120 metres down and only experienced divers can safely dive there.

Mr Spencer began diving at the age of five and had dived in oceans around the globe.