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!
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