A little bit about me.
I was born in east London and grew up there. Im from quite a big family with 3 brothers and a half sister and a couple of stepbrothers. I was a typical street urchin- always bunking off school and in trouble. I'm a big hammers fan and have been since I was taken to see them play by my best mates big brother in about 1972. Also love Leyton Orient whose ground was just down the road. It's fair to say I fell into terrace warfare during my teenage years but it was the learning to dive that eventually straightened me out. I loved mud larking and was always walking with my head down to the ground and finding things. That sort of thing has always been in my blood. We were forced to move away from London and ended up in Northampton- here is where I met a great guy- Frank Bliss- (sadly Rip) and he and others taught me to dive. I was in the sea doing my first wreck at 17 years old. Still diving today and I'm now 62. Dived all around the country every year with my new found friends at Dalgety Buswell sub aqua club. (latterly known as Nothants 955 BSAC) Here I got to Advanced Diver qualification and ended up the diving officer for 4 years before I moved to the Isles of Scilly in 1999. Been hunting shipwrecks here ever since then and found 18 new wrecks thus far. I am mostly out at sea on my own when hunting. I've always been a bit of a loner really, happy in my own company mudlarking; beachcombing; or out towing a magnetometer or sonar behind my boat -or diving the hits I find alone. I just love finding things. My first real wreck find was the stern area of HMS Colossus in 1999. Since then I have found 19 new shipwrecks here at Scilly, two have since been protected by the government; and one is now a national monument. All these and some others are written about in the pages and posts of this blog. I have researched and written 4 shipwreck books so far, two of those were co- authored with another diver and lovely man- Ed Cummings. (also sadly Rip) I take other mates out to dive the wrecks I find now and have taught a couple of those mates the sport from scratch. Im a joiner/carpenter by trade and builder in general and do most things to do with those trades but I specialise in planning and making and installing staircases. Retiring from building though.
