Thomas W Lawson stern.

 

Video about the wreck- (23) tw lawson - YouTube

One of those strange idiotic anomalies I came across while diving at Scilly. The position of stern of the TW Lawson. I spoke to older divers about this and was told it broke away and lay way off  to the South West. I asked one of them, who supposedly knew the wreck well, for the exact position of the stern-but he clammed up and wouldn't say. I found this secrecy very odd as this wasn't an old treasure wreck or anything like it- no- the TW Lawson was just an old iron oil tanker. Imagine the stern was still attached to the main wreck? noone would be secretive about it, you would just dive it along with the rest of the wreck. So why be secretive when its detached? Some of the divers here can be a bit odd and I simply thought - ok, going to be a numpty about it, I'll one day go take the time to find it anyway. Not like its difficult. The Lawson main site does tell of the stern being broken off as a part of the keel is suspended in mid air with no evidence of the steering gear or rudder around it.  This was not my sort of wreck, being sunk in 1907 the Lawson held no interest for me other than to get its remains all solidly nailed down on my chart. Years later a book about the wreck gets published with the help of the same local I spoke to-and in that book was an image of where that local must have told the author of the book where the stern lay.

The books drawing showing the relative position given of the stern end of the Lawson.  

and below about where they give on a chart

If the above drawing/information was taken literally one would be searching the south west of the Ranneys by about half a mile distant. The person who told the author where the stern was situated, either didnt actually know where it was- or was possibly giving false information? -or more than is likely- the author just had to guess like I was left to do. This is sad, because when a guy was trying to write a book he should be able to get the right information from those whom are supposed to know!  Otherwise the false information just gets perpetuated. This kind of thing abounds in local books about shipwrecks here. Just read my page featuring Mr Richard Larn (OBE) for more of this kind of infuriating unnecessary type of thing. Scroll down by the figureheads section to find it.

The stern steering gear of the TW Lawson still stands. heres a video I took of it on the day I located it.-

click on the link-  TW Lawson shipwreck. (stern) - YouTube

 I went looking for the stern merely to get its position so that I dont accidentally find it while looking for something else entirely. Its always good to know where all the known wrecks are when you are in fact a wreck hunter yourself.  This became all the more relevant when I started looking  for what remains there are of the wreck of the 'Shaftesbury' lost at scilly in 1678- as my research put this wreck in the same area as the T W Lawson.....possibly somewhere around the Ranney rocks. It was entirely possible that the T W Lawson could even be over the top of the shaftesbury. I magged the outer part of the Ranneys when weather allows but the biggest hit I got in the area, warranting further investigation with a dive, was still on the north side of those same rocks near the known Lawson site. The hit was indeed just a short distance away from the T W Lawson but only about 60meters away at most. I dived it and found the mysterious secret stern of the Lawson. Its huge steering gear standing high off the sea bed and its rudder laying nearby it and just off to the south by about 15meters away.  The rest of the stern lay scattered about it. All of it was still on the north side of the Ranneys in 15 to 18m of water. Not only that but a wreckage trail connects the stern to the rest of the wreck. Any diver worth his salt can reel off the main site and find the stern on the same dive. So why all the secrecy? why say that its way off to the south west of the Ranneys?  I find this kind of thing odd behaviour! At least now the Lawsons stern is off my list and wont any longer be in my way. I just feel sorry for the guy who wrote his book with the 'help' of the wrong guy.

Where the stern actually is. I will try to remember to give the big  "secret" away by putting up an accurate GPS of the stern section below soon.

(Watch this space) 😆

Stern position in Datum is WGS84: -N49-53-732. W006-22-882