Tribute to Ed.

Ed Cumming RIP.

It dawned on me recently that I had not made any personal tribute to the passing of a good friend Ed Cumming. I wasn't doing this blog when he passed so thought I'd like to do something now. Ed  truely was a lovely man. He was a huge force behind the excavation of the Earl of Abergavenny wreck in Weymouth bay. When he moved to Scilly in about 2005, he and I teamed up and bought a boat together. We then worked together well on various projects during his time here. His research skills shined through on the wreck of the Nancy Packet shipwreck project where he unveiled the real story of that disaster. He taught me an awful lot about research. On that project I wrote the book and did everything to do with the light house and the facts behind the ghostly tale in the story- and Ed did a wonderful job uncovering the story of the Captain and Ann Cargill who was an illustrious passenger on board. Our collaboration was such that we published a small book about that wreck called 'Ghosts of Rosevear' and we won the adopt a wreck award for our work on the whole project. I did all the diving and he was boatman as he could no longer dive due to heart problems. We also worked together on our Scilly shipwreck reference book where again his skills in research and trudging through heaps of dross shone through. I researched everything from 1800 back to medieval times and he did from 1800 onwards. Mine was less material but harder to find- whereas his part was vast with much dross and modern inaccuracies to deal with. He was retired and had the time- whereas I was working full time. Evenso, he was relentless right up until he died. I dont like to mention the name 'Rich Larn' but I will and Ed Im sure would approve as he found him to be as difficult as I have. (see my page on Mr Larn) Mr Larn, the self professed  -"Authority on shipwreck Research" - had the audacity to publish himself as such. He got an OBE for his work to 'Maritime archaeology.' Hmmm- is all I wish to say on that one!  He was also given the Lloyds archive and paid a substantial fee to transfer it into book form. It should have been a very worthy project but sadly, for me, Larn has always seemed far too subjective in his approach for such an honorable undertaking- as Ed and I often found out when researching past publications for our own reference book.- Oh- and noone paid Ed or I to do our book!  In fact we sold our reference book at cost price so we never made a penny from it. I could easily say that was Ed's influence  but that was the way both Ed and I ultimately liked to work. We just wanted to get the information out there for all to read, for free, if at all possible. 

                              It was a pleasure to work with him. We became very firm friends.

 Another example of Ed mind set was when he set up an internet site called 'Scillypedia'. It was a huge undertaking a fabulous ongoing archive of work. That site started because Ed had seen another internet site about Scilly Shipwrecks that charged people for research. This kind of thing made Ed angry and so Scillypedia shipwreck site came into being- and it just grew and grew into a site about Scilly as a whole.  And while I fed Ed with lots of material for the site, it was he who again did all the day to day leg work.  To my mind Ed was a far, far, better researcher than Richard Larn could ever hope to be. He was simply more thorough and always Objective rather than Subjective.

Ed was retired and lived on Scilly for about 5 years and we never stopped talking when together. My only regret is that I had to work, which meant that Ed had to fill his days elsewhere until evenings and  weekends. He was a good boatman at Weymouth but not so confident to use our boat at Scilly alone. Too many obstacles and tides to learn about in his short time here. He so wanted to help the museum here but was unfairly thwarted there at every turn, which was so very sad as he had so much to give.. So, to fill his time, he set himself to research at home instead but you cant do the same thing all day, every day. There wasnt enough for him here- so in the end - he made a return to his beloved Weymouth- where he still had so many old friends and family. I missed him dearly when he left and was so very sad when I heard he had suddenly passed.  Maybe he knew it was coming. 

                                                                            Ed and me.
 

As was typical of Ed, he was researching right up until the end. Just before he died he told me of an new branch of research he had uncovered and when I was writing reports to him about 3 new wrecks I had found for an update to our reference book, he said he had come up with 60 more pages of scilly shipwreck related material noone else had yet seen. That was Ed and he did it all for the love of it. If anyone deserved an OBE for his work to maritime archaeology it was ED Cumming. He did it all for nothing in return.

 To the outside world he and I must have seemed an unlikely pairing but we just seemed to fit. It just worked. Put the two of us together and we just clicked. Rarely do you meet people in your life who are just right for you. Kindred spirits. We never stopped talking and thus learned a lot from each-other. In some way he made up for the loss of another dear friend. Not long before Ed and I met I lost, Francis Bliss, another dive buddy who I just fitted well with. It was like someone had sent me a replacement buddy in Ed. I do miss you both- Frank & Ed. Hope you two have met where ever you are now. I know you would get on famously. Thank you both for blessing me with your presence. Ed Cumming. RIP.