Shipwreck Treasure

Shipwreck treasure.

It is inevitable after being in diving and visiting many treasure wrecks over 44 years, that i am going to come across shipwreck treasure. I have dived the Campen; Admiral Gardender; Earl of Abergavenny; Coronation; Association; Eagle; Hollandia; Phoenix; Colossus; Schiller and many more. Below are a few items of treasure I have come by as a result but for differing reasons. 

My trail of shipwreck treasure finding started with the Colossus and Schiller. I found my first ever shipwreck coin on Colossus. It was this copper portuguese coin. After it, I found a few more similar and my first silver on the wreck too. 

Colossus sank in 1798.

Then I dived on the Schiller for a while and found my first gold coins and boy what coins to find as your first gold- they are huge and very heavy.  The Schiller sank in 1875 with 30 barrels of these coins on board. Most were salvaged but some still turn up time to time.

                                                                          Schiller gold.

Some of the Treasure from the Phoenix. This is one of 18 wrecks I have found pretty much on my own over the years. I can see this site from my lounge window.  After diving the wreck for two years I had no idea this treasure was there, until one day I turned up to find all the sand over the site had disappeared. This lead to finding the first bit of treasure which then lead me to the rest. Later the sand returned again- but had I not bothered that day it could all still be down there today and me no one any the wiser. Until that point the wreck had been a bit of a disappointment in regards to artefacts.  I believe this is contraband gold jewellery- and also in the picture Im holding a hoard of Charles II gold coins. I found many silver coins too. This is all set to go to auction by law.

 The Phoenix sank in 1680

 I covered the story in another post. Diving in very deep water away from the wreck on East'ard Ledge. I was clearing pots for a fisherman when I came across some old onion bottles dating from circa 1710. I picked up a few coins from the spot too, which  date from the same period. The closest wreckage was up on eastard ledge which is east of the Association. Some beleive the wreck on Eastard ledge to be the Romney but this has never been proven. Others believe it is just more of the Association which is on the nearby Gilstone Ledges. There have been so many wrecks around those rocks that its hard to pull one from another. I believe I have found a trail to either the stern of Association or to the Romney itself.  Some believe that the stern of Association went off into deep water and going by the few items I found and where I found them -it is either debris simply pushed down from above- or as I like to believe- the trail to something much bigger even deeper down. My items were found in over 40meters of water but whatever else may be down there is going to be in over 50m.  Theres a lot of sand out there so it could be nearby but just buried.  Time will tell. These wrecks sank in 1707.

                                                I declared these as (Possibly) Association 

When I first started diving Scilly in the early 90's  I helped the salvage team to place moorings on the Hollandia and other jobs. They had found a large mound of silver pillar dollar coins on this wreck years beforehand. I was gifted a couple of these coins for my help at that time as a thank you. These were the world currency of the time.  I never actually found any coins on this site so I cant really include them but I did spend a lot of time on this wreck helping out and since then have produced a site plan of it- upon during which I found a nice part of her ornate ships bell. Nice big silver coins these.

The Hollandia sank in 1743

Copper ha'penny coins from the wreck of the Bassenthwaite. This was a wreck I found in 2017 and these coins helped to date and thus identify the wreck. These coins were minted for one year only- which was 1837. The Bassenthwaite sank in 1836 carrying these coins as part of a large cargo consignment to Quebec. They never made it.

                                                                      Bassenthwaite 1836

Assume nothing.

Crim Wreck site plan

I used to dive this unidentified wreck a lot when I was younger. It was an interesting site and one that Roland Morris thought was English and part of HMS Romney. However, I dived it extensively to find out for myself what it was. My findings were that it was a small frigate from the Mediterranean area, possibly even a Turkish vessel from the  mid 1600's. I found 3 types of pottery on the site that were identified as either Spanish or eastern Mediterranean and all dated into the 17th century. The anchors looked Spanish to me also. The oddity was that I kept finding clay pipes like the one pictured below. These were identified to be ottoman empire and mid to late 17th century. I was informed that these dated to no earlier than 1630. However, these particular clay pipes seem to be unchanged in their use for a long time- and that seems to be the case as one exactly like the ones seen on my wreck were recently found on another dateable wreck  that sank in 1682. Oddly that wreck was English but the information was still interesting. They only found one pipe like mine and many English ones which makes their one out to be more of an anomaly than a norm for that wreck. Whereas I only found Turkish pipes and no English ones. So my ship seems to be from the Mediterranean and sank here sometime between 1630 & 1690. So the new information is merely that my wreck could be a bit later in date than I first thought. Every little bit of information helps. This is why I regularly visit museums and shipwreck displays all over the world. You can often see something you have seen before but didn't know the date or context or nationality of the object. Then you spot something in a display that is from a known historical context and bam! -suddenly, one day, things begin fall into place. It really annoys me when I watch on TV (usually in America) they find one thing on a wreck and call it conclusive proof of something when it can merely be an anomaly or even contamination. In this game one must always keep an open mind.  I had that lesson reinforced upon me when we found a large naval Anchor near the wreck of HMS Colossus. Being so close to that wreck I naturally assumed it must be her long lost missing anchor. Made perfect sense to me! Over the years I have even found the odd item from the Colossus in the vast areas between the wreck and that anchor. But blow me down if the anchor didn't turn out to be mere contamination. It was dated to 1707 but arrived there on the sea bed after the Colossus sank in 1798. An easy mistake to make given the prevailing circumstances at the time. However, it was only my own research into the naval records that proved the case conclusively for me -as other peoples published research on this anchor (namely that of Mr Richard Larns) was so contradictory and unreliable that I had to totally ignore it and go back to the very beginning. I not only found a record of the navy putting the anchor in that exact spot  themselves in 1967, I even found a written record of a third party who witnessed the navy as they salvaged it off a wreck 7 miles away from where we found it.  A third more local record even gave me the reason why the navy put it where we then discovered it  over 40 years later. This was all hard conclusive evidence- whereas this little clay pipe is merely trying to tell me a little something. Another small piece of evidence in a very big aquatic jig saw puzzle out at the Crim. And another small lesson is being learnt. This is one of the reasons why I love this diving wreck hunting game- Im always learning something new... even if its by my mistakes. Assume - makes an ASS of U and ME.

Ottoman Empire clay pipe. 1630 to 1682 -and possibly beyond.

 

Bit Lively.

 Been a bit lively over the last few days with very strong winds and high seas. I had a few people set to come over for a meeting but they have had to postpone until the gale has abated. Still, it all looked very dramatic out there and when the sun came out to light it all up- it looked just beautiful! Anyway, I was walking the dog around the Garrison near my home and as I passed by one of my wreck finds at low tide, I watched the waves going over the spot. Realising there was a anchor from the wreck right on the end of the out crop, I stopped to study it for a while. This was because at low water, a snorkeler can simply reach an arm down and touch that anchor without diving down below the surface. Therefore, as the the rollers came across the spot, the huge troughs that precede them should expose that anchor to the fresh air- thus I should be able to catch sight of it laying flat there. Sure enough, as the biggest waves went by, I'm sure I could  just make out the anchor. Sadly, this is an old image above as I didn't have a camera with me. Must try and remember to take one the  next time. Below is a photo I took of the anchor while snorkelling there once. I have found 3 cannons not far from it and all are part of a wreck I discovered and have been investigating there over the years. Nothing else of any note has turned up yet, unfortunately. It all very big boulders down there burying the guns, and thus what ever else remains of the wreck, are all buried underneath the boulders- making it hard to locate anything at all, let alone anything new.

Buchaneer Survey

 My old tub needed a proper survey recently. It was at the request of my insurers who wanted to know it was still all ok- in reality they just want to know what its worth today. £900 later it was deemed to be in good shape. I had a few minor things to take care of like- a bit of floor under the bench in the cabin needed a minor repair and they wanted make sure the sea cock was ok. Yes she is an old tub and even looks tatty by the end of a season but the things that matter are always kept on top of. So I did what was asked and am still working on getting her back on the water. Slapping some new paint on at present; fiddling with a minor steering issue and looking at the engine stuff as usual. Wont be long now and I'll be afloat again. No rush as I'm full of cold and snot at present and feeling a tad miserable because of it.  Hopefully be better by the time Im rubbing down the hull for anti fouling-a miserable job but worse if you have a stinking cold.

Below is a link to her coming alongside the quay here last summer.

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Phoenix lookalike

So what did the Phoenix look like before she sank. Well all I can do to answer this is to place up a few images of east indiamen of the similar period. The image above is of a slightly bigger east indiaman coming under full sail. She is even flying the flags of the Company. This one shows a round house on the stern but im not sure she had one. This is a 36 to forty gunner by the look of her.

These two images are closer in size and style for the Phoenix and the one below even looks like she is sinking by the bows. I really like the image below and may even have it painted with a golden Phoenix on her bows as a figurehead.  Must have looked awesome sinking behind Samson Island. That is  where I found her remains in 2017. Very little of her left on the sea bed today. Just paint some waves coming over her starboard side and the island of mincarlo rising in the background and there you have the scene in the deep winter of 1680.