Daisy Dog.

 

                                                                        

                                                                       DAISY DOG 

Im not usually one to put my inner most feelings on the internet- but-We wake up to an emptier house today. This tiniest cutest little doggie came into our lives in 2010 and died yesterday. We are utterly broken hearted. Daisy wasn't just a dog, she was our child. My wife couldnt have children and so Daisy has, for fourteen years, partly filled that void. We called her Daisy because she was so small. She was a divers dog. She loved being on the boat. Even though as a puppy she fell into the sea and had to be rescued, and from that moment on she hated anything falling off the boat like us divers, or the anchor, a shot line, or us just going for a swim, anything. She knew the sea was a dangerous place and let you know it!

 She has been on the boat over every wreck we have found or dived since 2010.  She knew every inch of Scilly as she was so small she could get into every little nook and cranny on every Island here-even the small ones like Rosevear Crebewethan etc etc. She was never any trouble to us. Didnt bark much; never begged or harassed anyone for food or treats. She always sat patently knowing we wouldn't forget her. She was very loving. She never really licked you, she preferred to gently touch the tip of your nose with her tongue, which was a kiss, but we soon learned it was a signal to gently go forehead to forehead with her -and when you did she gave out a little loving whimpery type squeak every time- and it was always you that ended each loving contact, not her -which was so very sweet.  

She didnt need a lead- as she faithfully followed us about like a shadow never leaving our heals.  You couldnt wish for a cuter tinier more faithful loving little companion and we thank god for bringing her into our lives. Goodbye and God bless little Daisy Dog. You will be so very missed by us both. We love you so very much. Thank you for being so cute and loving. It was just what we both needed in our lives. You filled our home and made it a home too.  Wish we could have had just one more group hug.

                                                     Rest in peace now Daisy. 2010 -2014.

Scilly Wrecks on film.

I got a gopro for my birthday last year and have been having a go at making short shipwreck videos.  Heres a few of numerous on my youtube channel-  Shipwreck Princess Maria (youtube.com)

  

                                                         Merchant Royal  (Part 2.) 

In 2022 I was asked by team leader Nigel Hodge to join the latest team to look for the wreck of the Merchant Royal. Looking for this wreck has always been top of the list around here so, naturally, I accepted. Time I have; the wherewithall I also feel I have- (after finding 18 new sites of my own on a small budget so far) - but with this wreck its always been about the finances that stops any search from going ahead. And even if you do get the backing the weather is the next obstacle- so for a loner like me the Merchant Royal has really only ever been a pipe dream. In 2023 Nigel and one of his investors came to my home in Scilly for a meeting. Subsequently, as I write, other investors are gathering and meetings are being held with Nigel to get his project fully off the ground. I can only hope they will be successful. My skill set will be shipwreck historian/researcher and wreck material identification. I also have good experience in interpreting sonar data and shipwreck artefact identification and dating. I also own the biggest digitised database of shipwrecks in over a 100 mile radius of this area that has ever been assembled and it grows daily- it could prove a very useful tool in a search such as this- as we should encounter many targets out there.

There were two big factors that I feel certain Oddessy Marine missed in their search for this wreck. Two facts that also played a part in wrecking 4 British Warships here in 1707 among many, many, others before them. I prefer to keep these two factors off facebook and between myself and the team at present but these things place Odessey's search a minimum of 15 miles out. I have plotted all my findings onto a chart and came up with a viable target area and how I would go about the search. Maybe it will be used by the team, maybe it wont, but the insightful input can not be ignored. This is not an easy wreck to find. It is a small target in a very large area of sea. Chances to get out there each year are few and far between - but with a team like the one Nigel has assembled- there is a chance of finding her. I'm looking forward to the day when we set sail from Scilly to help Nigel look for the Merchant Royal. Someones gotta do it!

Heres a link to the project: https://www.facebook.com/nigel.hodge.54/videos/957957382197786

Future generations?

The top two silver coins are from the Wreck of Hollandia 1743. (Not salvaged by me)  The lower two copper coins were salvaged by me from the Wreck of the Bassenthwaite 1836.  These are a couple of examples of how stupid the British Heritage authorities current no take policy is. (even though they do it all the time)  They have this ill thought out policy that everything on shipwrecks should remain on the sea bed for future generations to enjoy.  But if you look at the image you can clearly see the deterioration occurring.  When items land on the sea bed they immediately start to deteriorate, that is a fact. If they get buried in an anaerobic environment they are better preserved but even in that environment the deterioration is just slowed down.  Metal objects like coins only survive for any length of time if they are either concreted in big heaps- or become concreted to iron objects. Coins in these two situations deteriorate too though -just more slowly. The outer coins in a heap just act like an anode for those deeper inside the heap. So the longer they stay on the sea bed then more of them will become exposed to the deterioration on the outer layer- until the middle of a heap is reached-thus eventually all the heap will inevitably disappear in time. 

If a coin or metal object is concreted to an iron object like, say, a cannon, then the cannon becomes the anode for the coin. Eventually the cannon gets softer and softer inside its concretion-until eventually- the cannon turns to mush inside its own concretion and thus all its integrity as a solid object is lost. Once that occurs all that is left is the sea bed concretion itself in the shape of a cannon with the coin stuck inside the remaining crust layer. Now without the iron as its anode- the coin becomes exposed to more rapid deterioration-especially if the concretion will eventually become dispersed by the actions of the sea and sea bed material movement.  This happens to everything on the sea floor in time- especially around very violent sea places like Cornwall and here at Scilly. 

The coins in the image above both survived in little heaps. The good coins shown were just deeper inside that heap when found. The worn thinner coins were to the outer of those heaps and thus acting as the anode for those further inside-which is why they are in such a sorry state. But all in the heap eventually suffer the exact same fate in time. So will someone please tell me how this is leaving it all to future generations? Its a myth created by university students now sitting behind a desk who no nothing of the sea. They did a course in marine archaeology then got a nice little desk job where they come up with rubbish ill thought out policies that sound great!- but are totally impractical.   

The good news for the treasure hunter today- is that some good coins still exist as not enough time has passed yet to destroy all. All the treasure hunter has to do is find where the anode coins loose on the sea bed are -and look carefully at the sea bed below where they lay. If he is lucky, that is where he will find the concreted heap of more coins looking like the surrounding sea bed & or bedrock. Many people would pick up the odd anode coins and not realise what is right there by them.  It takes a trained eye with the knowledge above to know and see whats hidden there to find.  My advice is if its legal to do so  then get it all up- because if left there it will inevitably be lost in time until no one gets to enjoy it.  This 'leave down there' policy they currently have- may work in brackish waters like the black sea or the Baltic but its of no use off  Englands coastline where the sea bed is granite or sand and the sea often violent.
 

Wreck of the Thornliebank

 

Thornliebank. built in glasgow in 1898 and wrecked on the crim here at Scilly in 1913.

Her skipper was lost and thought he was off the french coast. Then he sighted the red light of Round Island lighthouse and became confused. His dead reckoning of his position was miles out. His ship then rumbled onto the Crim and was lost. He later learned from those whom saved the crew where he had  become wrecked. He then wrote how Scilly was a good place to loose your ship as his treatment by the locals had been so good.

This is one of those wreck sites that I had to illiminate from my ongoing search for where the wreck of HMS Romney lies. There are various places the Romney could be and one of those is somewhere around the Crim reef. Thus I often find myself searching all around this reef for her.  I dived all the known sites at that reef to gain the positions of each. I magged and found the positions of the cannon site in 39 to 45m on the west side of Zantmans rock and the Sushannah in 30m on the north western side.  I then discovered the wreck of the Bassenthwaite off to the south east of the Crim in 30m. Somehow I felt proud  to have added my name to those privileged few who had actually discovered a wreck at this mysterious, treacherous, place.... the most western part of Scilly.  One day I was magging to the south of Zantmans when I had another hit to look at. I read that the Thornliebank was the other side of the rock so had to investigate to see what this hit was. Sadly the hit was not the Romney but the Thornliebank. (Mr Larns book was wrong again) This was years ago that I dropped straight onto her stern south east of Zantmans and after a short look around I found and recovered the brass boss to her helm above. (ships wheel). On surfacing I could see her name 'Thornliebank' embossed into the metal. Above is an image of it after I painted the letters back in. The finding of it just proves how little this wreck has been dived otherwise it would have been recovered long ago. I never went back but often think I should to see what else is about. Hopefully one day I may find the time but this isnt really my kind of wreck. Im into sites much older, preferably with lots of cannons laying about. Not sure who discovered this wreck but it was reported that someone raised her bell intact in 1988 ish

Frustration.

 Been searching all around the Wreck of the Phoenix to see if there's any more of her about. (See other posts about this wreck. )Did some more magging further afield and dropped on a couple of the hits recently. One day, which was rather a lovely day-we decided to base ourselves on the Western Beach of the uninhabited Samson Island for the day. From there I went out, did a dive, then returned the short distance to Samson to have lunch. Found nothing. In the afternoon I went out to the Roaring ledge to look at a hit on that reef. This was a bit far away from the Phoenix but as it was such a positive hit I had to take a look at it during the slack tide.  It was in shallow water, just 6 meters at most. I was actually full of expectation-hoping for a gully with guns in it- but sadly, I returned to the surface in disappointment. The mag hit turned out to be an 18th century anchor about 7 feet long-which isn't very big as anchors go. Nothing else of note was found or seen around the area. Either some small vessel had been lost there and now its all long gone- or the anchor was once the weight that held a channel marker buoy in place. I found the same sort of thing on the inner side of the Spanish ledge. An old anchor in the shallows on the top of the reef and nothing else. Very frustrating.  Well after the dive we returned to Samson for a walk and a swim. Then we had a picnic and watched the sun set. Absolutely stunning! Here's a couple of pics from the day on Samson between dives......

Phoenix is between the middle and far islands.

The wild and natural Western beach of Samson.

The wife. Her ancestors lived on Samson and one was the last to be born there.

                                                                  Bumming on the beach.

Hunt the Hurricane

Hunting a Hurricane.
Years ago I was told by an old guy here called Wilf (RiP) that as a boy he watched a Spitfire go over the town and go down in St Marys Roads. I spoke to others about this at the time but no one else seemed to know of the incident. Thus the story went into the back of my mind. One day I contacted a local about her archive of the local rag. Sarah looked into the year of the incident but still drew a blank. At the time I thought this was odd as the local rag records what socks people are wearing! However, on reflection, I came to understand that it was war time and thus reporting such incidents was forbidden without express permission. I then visited the RNLI station to see if they went out to save the pilot. Still nothing. Then one day I met Graham. This was a guy who went about the south west finding crashed aircraft sites. He even has a museum full of stuff from such sites. I told Graham the story and eureka! he knew about it and gave me the scant details. However, It wasn't a Spitfire,- it was a Hurricane. This was great news. It meant that there is indeed a war time plane out in St Marys Roads. So, as a result, , whenever I go magging I do a row or two in the Roads. Similarly, whenever I go out to dive in that area I'm on the look out for it. It will probably only appear as a big pile of weed and hidden beneath that will be whats left;which wont be much. The plane was made of plywood on an aluminium sub frame. The plywood will be long gone and much of the frame will have fizzed away in the salt water too. But the Engine, undercarriage gear, machine guns and some of the cockpit and its canopy, and some of the propeller should still all be present. No gold or silver involved here but sometimes the treasure is in simply uncovering a little bit of local history. Rest assured I'm now onto it.- (Hurricane MKIX BW949 of Flight 1449 flight based St Marys, crashed in the sea on approach to land between Tresco & St Marys.)