Shipwreck Douro? Slave ship? or Custos

First click on this link and watch this short  but entertaining video about this shipwreck:

 (7) Illegal slave trader, Manilla Shipwreck site, Isles of Scilly. - YouTube

The video tells the story but after seeing it now I have to add that whatever ship this was it was not necessarily an 'illegal slaver' It was only carrying the currency accepted in Nigeria at that time and this alone does not mean it was dealing with Nigeria for buying slaves after the abolition in 1808. - they may simply have been using the then traditional currency of manillas and beads to purchase other unrelated goods in that country. Its an easy mistake and I too have made the same 'slaver' assumption because of the cargo here in this video. Unless the ship was actually carrying slaves, or fitted out to take that cargo, then it can not be called a slave ship or an illegal slaver. Further to this, Slavers had lots of iron shackles and lots of other related ironwork for imprisoning its human cargo below deck- none of which has been encountered on the site yet to date. 

Much has been made over this wreck in modern times and I have been trying to put the record straight regarding this story. I am not saying I am right but the evidence does back up my theory. Certainly, had my theory been put forward before the scant evidence of this wreck being the Douro, then I feel it would be called the wreck of the Custos today on this new evidence. I have not seen any evidence to date that shows this is the wreck of the Douro lost in 1843. The only connection is that the Douro has a report of it being lost in the area-“This vessel, registered at 400 tons’ burthen, with a valuable cargo on board, was totally lost, with all her crew, on the night of Thursday last, the 28th of January, upon the rocks at the westward of the Scilly Islands. At an early hour on the following morning the ill-fated vessel was discovered by some fishermen, with her mast gone, and thrown on the rocks upon her broadside, with the sea making a complete breach over her. They immediately bore down to the spot, but there was no one on board to give them the slightest information; every soul belonging to her had perished. In the course of the morning the vessel bumped so heavily upon the rocks that she soon went to pieces, and part of her cargo came ashore. Several bales of cotton twist, marked ‘K’, in a diamond, 832, Queen-street, Miles, S. and B., 24 Manchester, have been saved from the wreck, also some bales of printed goods, and bundles of hemp. On Saturday, the log book was found about two miles from the spot where the ship struck, from which it appears that she was bound to Oporto, and had reached a number of miles to the westward of the island, when a severe leak being discovered, obliged the crew to put her back, and was no doubt making all possible haste to England when the sad disaster occurred. On the same day four bodies were washed up on the beach, which have been proved to be belonging to the vessel. One of them is supposed to be her unfortunate commander, Mr. Gowland, and others his seamen. The rock upon which the vessel struck is called the Crekavesthan, and is situated about a mile from the beach. The vessel is reported as to be fully insured.”

The above narrative of the Douro states Crekavesthan which must mean Crebawethan. One modern writer states the douro cargo as being  “baled goods and brass stops” However I have never been able to find the reference regarding these- "brass stops" to verify the existence of the narrative.  If the reference does exist then "Brass stops" could mean- hinges- as hinges were once referred to by that name, or even some other items of ironmongery. However Manillas are referred to as such when regarding the Custos cargo as the narrative below shows-and it is the most telling evidence yet seen and is found in the West Briton 19/9/1856 Auction on St. Mary’s, 2/10/1856.

"Also among the goods reported salvaged and sold from this wreck by Francis Banfield, on the 2nd October, were “191 muskets, 2 casks of musket flints, 136 barrels of gun powder and 4 bags of Manillas.” 

As I state in the video above, all these things can be encountered on the sea bed at this wreck site.   

Bassenthwaite tokens.

 Over this nice period of weather I did a few drops on the Bassenthwaite. This is a wreck I found out by the crim in deep water a few years ago and I like to visit it from time to time to see what turns up after winter storms. It was the finding of a copper half penny token that determined the identity of this wreck and I said to my mates at the time that if I was correct, and this was indeed the Bassenthwaite, then we should find more of theses same tokens as they were being shipped over to alleviate a small currency problem in Quebec. Either that or we would locate the dies that these coins were made with- or even both those things. Sure enough I have just found some more. After doing some research I learned that there were not many of these in circulation. They were only minted in 1837 and withdrawn that same year. Collectors tell me that when these coins do turn up they tend to be well worn as a result. They are not worth much unfortunately but interesting nonetheless. Many of  ours are in perfect condition because they were never circulated but instead ended up on the sea bed where many have been preserved by the large iron cargo they are found close by. (many have not!) 

J.Shaw & co. Importers of Hardwares. Upper Town. Quebec.

This also means that we are creating history in one small way- the history above can now be pushed back by one year because the finding of these 1837 coins on a wreck that sank in 1836 means that these tokens should have gone into circulation one year earlier - had the tragedy not struck this ship by hitting the Crim reef on her way to Quebec.  I said there would be more of these tokens and I was proven correct.  This is the same wreck we found all the small bells and thimbles on. We have even found a couple of jewish harps. It was described as a very valuable cargo , however the ship sailed uninsured. Coins that were never circulated. Bells that would never ring. Harps that were never played and thimbles that never found a finger.  (All Declared to the RoW or to be so soon, even though thy never clear up my droits)

More of Shaws Tokens

A Jewish Harp stell part has rotted away.

Thimbles

Small Bells

"We just have to go again"

We have done five deep drops looking for the Royal Oak or even Romney. Both those wrecks are reported as lost in at least two very different places. Romney close to Association at the Gilstone or on the Crim & Royal Oak off Pednathise or by Gorregan.  That is assuming that any unidentified wrecks we know of nearby in the shallows of those rocks are not those two wrecks found already. We were diving what could be considered prime shipwreck country given the amount of wrecks in that area. Amazingly we saw very little in the way of wreckage but the terrain was pretty spectacular at both Pednathise and Gorregan. We only encountered bits and bobs of iron which we assumed came down from the wreck of the Antonios.  The lads would drop in on one area together then I went in on another a bit further away.  Some days I just looked after the boat as there wasnt always time for two drops. We have to do the deeper areas because the shallows have mostly been done hereabouts already. Not only that, but years ago and not far away from Pednathise, in 46m, I found intact onion bottles in deep sand and also a few coins on rocks nearby.  I also encountered items of iron wreckage but whether this was all from something as yet undiscovered, or had come down into the deep from something already found higher up  the nearby reefs and rocks, is unknown as yet. (Just for the authorites -I declared those finds to the RoW at the time of finding them.) At the time, I was retrieving lobster pots for a local fisherman friend of mine.  I dropped onto the first pot in 32meters between the Gilstone and Pednathise but the snag was further  along down in over 40meters. So I cleared it and noticed the iron bits and bobs when I got there. I then saw quite a bit of broken glass just a bit deeper so investigated that too in 46m. Here is where I found the intact onions. I was cock-a-hoop at the time but carrying them up without breaking them, while trying to decompress from that depth was quite a challenge as I didnt have a goody bag with me at the time- (didnt think I'd need one!) Keeping them intact among the caffuffle on the fishing boat afterwards was a challenge too!!. I rather suspect that the items I found were from the Association site high up on the nearby reef called Eastard ledge- I think this because the prevailing surge would push items down into deep water and this is bore out by the fact that cannons are all around  the very top of eastard ledge and down the eastern side of it in 30m along with anchors too. (It is possible that its Romney on Eastard ledge almost alongside Association which is on the nearby Gilstone ledges. Anyway I only went back to the same spot once as im getting too old to dive these depths alone any more. So I return to such places now with friends instead. However its not somewhere that can be dived easily and Pednathise is not a place for the feint of heart either. You need very calm weather,  neap tides, and at least three of us who can all go together at the same time, when the right conditions prevail. One needs to be boatman to follow the two divers. It is seldom that all these things come together at once. It was only perfect out there on just one of the days we visited the area recently. It was a tad breezy but we kept at it and got some searching done over 4 different days. We drifted all around Pednathis Head in 35+m and with some great viz we could see down to over 40m but sadly didnt find anything new thus far. We also did a couple of shallower drops at Goreggan and still no luck there either. So as I always say in my relentless searching- "we just have to go again"  The weather gods and work commitments will always dictate it tho.  There has to be more wrecks out there somewhere. Not all stay where they hit and the water gets very deep very quickly off both Pednathise & Gorregan . All one can hope is that a wreck will get stuck in a gully before it gets pushed further down and out of our reach.

 The lads about to drop in deep water off Pednathise

Nothing under there

These things can be a hindrance while trying to search!

Phoenix rising from the ashes.

Possible Keel timber 

Here are a couple of images I took today of some timbers that have come to light on the wreck of the Phoenix.  It looks like it could be a piece of  her keel timber and a couple of associated bits. The bigger bit on the left is about 9 to 12 inches wide and has a thin outer planking board running along it the same way and coming out at an angle to it- with a smaller infill timber between the two. The wood looks like it runs right underneath the ballast mound and in the image directly below you can see this as the wood disappears under the ballast guns concretion, which has formed a void between the ballast guns and the keel wood.  I checked at the other end of this tunnel to see if the timber is there too but the stones were so tightly packed there that its impossible, without greater effort of excavation, to see if the timber continues onwards but I very much doubt it and dont feel the need to excavate it to find out.  I have evidence enough. My doubt is bore out by the fact that after this tunnel ends- the other ballast guns are lower down  on the seabed than those creating the void.  

Void beneath the ballast gun mound

The timber runs the same way/direction as the ballast guns there and also runs as the site does overall,  roughly north to south, which again would fit a possible keel theory. As for relative position of this wood to the ballast mound,  its right in the middle of the main mound and at the extreme south end of the site. The whole site is about 60 meters long in total thus far that I know about. I m currently checking out numerous magnetometer hits I have further away from the main site but nothing new from the wreck has been encountered thus far.  Its hard going as being a shallow wreck there is very thick weed and items can easily be missed.    This new timber find proves that the ship itself lay here- rather than the guns having been moved to here, off the site from somewhere else nearby, by Thomas Ekins during his salvage work in 1680. This is where she fell.  As you can see in the images- this timber must have been exposed quite a bit over time, long before I found the site, as there is clear extensive torredo worm damage to it. (the big hole making kind of worm rather than the smaller gribble kind) Many of her timbers could well have ended up in the building of St Agnes Islands first original wooden church. This worm eaten keel timber could be all that is now left of this 30 gun ships actual wooden structure- and it is only just still in existence today. So I got here just in time to see it before its gone forever too. Like the proverbial Phoenix from the Ashes - Slowly the wreckage gives up its secrets to me.

Some of the ballast guns from above

 A reminder- Some of the artifacts that dated the site.