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.

Iron Cargo wrecks

Towing a magnetometer behind a boat for days on end nearly always yields results-but not often the results you wanted. Quite often the hits turn out to be rubbish but occasionally another wreck entirely from the one you are looking for shows up. In this case its ships with an iron cargo. These kinds of hits always gets the treasure hunters juices flowing. This is because you are looking for a similar size hit. An iron cargo mound will give off a similar sized hit as a decent cannon site. This has happened to me quite often and it always makes me wonder if I should employ a reverse psychology, by looking for these iron cargo ships -because then maybe I may find the actual cannon site wrecks Im looking for.  Lets take a look at a few of these below. All are wrecks I have inadvertently found over the years. The first three images are of a wreck I found south east of the Crim reef. It turned out to be the Bassenthwaite lost in 1836. I found this one while looking for HMS Romney. At the time it was very disappointing. But in time it turned into quite an interesting wreck in its own right. I quite like diving this one now as you never know what it is going to reveal next. It is in 30+meters and has a very eclectic cargo surrounding a huge iron cargo. It was copper nailed and copper bottomed.

The whole sea bed here seems made of iron

My torch picks out  cannons on the Bassenthwaite

 The next two images below is what I believe to be the wreck of the Padstow lost in 1804.  I found this iron cargo wreck while hunting around the Spanish Ledges. The images look like rock but it is all iron items in a huge solid concretion. Again I was hoping for an old spanish cannon site but got this instead.  I remember the first dive on it when my eyes told me what I wanted to see. It is in a very strong tidal zone in 20m of water. I wanted it to be a cannon site so much that in my excitement I had convinced myself I was looking at guns all concreted together and I said as much to a friend later that day.  The second dive proved the reality of simple iron castings like rail tracking and pig iron and instead of a 17th century site it was an early 19th c or late 18th c at best. The anchors were of that period around 1800 and English.  The debris trail was towards the Spanish ledge so she must have glanced off that reef and sank nearby.

 A big conger lives under the iron mound.

Padstows iron mound 

The two images below are of an unidentified site I believe to be the wreck of the Plenty. I found this one on my birthday in 2005. I had read a passage in a book written in 1852 regarding an indiaman lost in that area where the wreck now lays. I magged all day for the indiaman and got this juicy hit off little ganinick island. I thought it was going to be a cannon site and a fab birthday present. The wreck was another iron cargo vessel. This time it was carrying replacement mining equipment. There were numerous wheels on the site so I dubbed it the 'Wheels wreck.' as I had no positive ID of the ship then. Since then research I think has proven it to be the Wreck of the 'Plenty' lost in 1840. This is because a narrative placed its loss in 44ft of water just 1 mile away from St Marys. This wreck fits that description and date.. Its an interesting site but not my kind of wreck and certainly not what I was hoping it to be.  To cut a long story short the site received a government protected order over it-this was as a direct result of a request by the Trevithick society in Cornwall and not anything of my doing. Not quite sure what it is being protected from though?, and as a result of the government order noone ever dives it.  The trevithick society thought it was an important find and this was the result. Sadly, I have not dived it since as I cant be bothered with the unnecessary paperwork needed to visit it.

A couple of the many wheels found on the site

My wife measures one of a few iron clack valves found on the 'Wheels wreck' site.

Shipwreck videos.

A good friend of mine makes some great little shipwreck videos and he came over last summer and we made a couple featuring 2 Scilly wrecks for his channel.  All the treasure and artifacts in this video is currently held by the Receiver of Wreck until its release and then will, as the law dictates, be sold off at a public auction in London.  Enjoy!

Phoenix?

 Custos or Douro?

Check out Bens youtube Channel- Ben o Cam. Hes a real thrill seeker. He dives old mine shafts and caves as well as a wreck hunter like me. He even flies a microlight. One time he flew from Lands End to Scilly. Then, when Bear grills did the same, and /bear thinking he was first to do it and published as much- Ben put him straight. Ha ha ha

Humpbacks & Finns

 We have had Humpback whales and Finn whales about the islands over the last couple of months. The Humpbacks have been coming in close to shore but the Finns stay further out. Lots of Dolphins too. I aske how can you tell a finn from a humpback and was told that the finns water spout is much higher. Boy it is too. We were watching a couple about  miles off shore and their spouts must have been going up 20 feet or more.  We had not had many whales for quite a while here but when lock down occurred a couple of years back the Humpbacks must have seen it as a signal to come into the islands. One we could see from our lounge window just across the way. I was working at a house right by the shoreline at the time  and it came within a 100m of the shore just off the Newman.  It was also seen just a few meters away between the Woolpack rock and the garrison shore by a friend. I have dived in that gap and the water is not very deep there but there he was swimming through the gap so that people on the shore could get a good close view.  At present they are hanging about just south of St Marys and between St Marys Island and the Gugh.  Not sure what is kepping them here and coming back each year but it must be food. They seem to hang about in the very tidal areas here the most. Long may the sightings continue.