A cannon on the wreck
Discovery of the wreck of the Bassenthwaite which sank in 1836. It was a good year for me as I found 3 more previously undiscovered shipwrecks. This is the tale of one of them. During a spell of good calm weather I was out at the western rocks with Peter Carrs looking for the illusive wreck of HMS Romney. It was nothing new, we had both individually been at this same task for years, then decided to work together. Peter was on his boat Scavenger and I on mine- Buccaneer . We were of course assuming that the Romney was not lost on the Gilstone alongside the Association, which is probably the reality, but had hit the Crim as shown on the Gostello chart produced near the time of that huge disaster involving four ships going to the bottom.. My theory was that the reason no one had located the last of those 4 wrecks, was because maybe she had come off the rock she hit and came to rest further away in deep water. The result of this hypothesis lead us to search a large area east and south east of the Crim reef where she was also reported to have struck, and as the prevailing waves always come from the north west out there, thus we were towing our magnetometers up and down that area. Like ploughing a huge imaginary field east of the reef, relentlessly, we motored back and fourth getting thoroughly bored. (Magnetometer- or Mag for short -detects disturbances in the earths magnetic field caused by the presence of iron or steel on the sea floor or even caused by naturally occurring iron deposits) The Romney was a warship of around 40 iron guns and with her ballast blocks ,anchors, and many iron shot aboard- the target signal on our equipment should, if all the archaeology had remained close together, be quite a substantial reading. It was a long shot but at Scilly you never know what you may come across under the water next. Maybe the theory would lead us to find something else entirely. Indeed, after about 4 to 5 hours of the utter tedium; and with hardly any readings of note to show for it, suddenly my Mag gave off its alarm telling me that the tow fish below had passed by something of note. The next thing was to see if the anomaly was small and close by, or something bigger that was just off to one side. Back and forth I went until the fish passed right over the top of the target -or hit as we call it. Until you are directly over a hit you cannot gauge how big the target is. This all takes time but eventually a very good reading was gained. At its best, or should I say strongest point, the signal from the anomaly appeared large enough for the ship we had been hunting for. Consequently, I got really quite excited and wanted to immediately drop onto the sea bed to take a look. However, slack water wasn't due in that spot for another 2 hours but the tide was soon to begin slowing down. It needed to, as the target was found to be in over 100 feet of water. I made the decision to radio over to Peter the good news and my intention to dive the spot. Along with a- "Good luck" Pete agreed to keep a watch over my boat while I dropped in to ground truth the anomaly. It was a welcome respite. I pulled the long cable and mag fish back aboard and anchored Buccaneer over the spot. The anomaly was approximately 350 yards east of the Crim reef. Trying to quell the excitement, I tried to get my act together and kit up. This was difficult when your heart is pounding in your chest, not just from the excitement but also from the trepidation of the impending solo dive ahead. There was a whole procession of thoughts and feelings going on while I was trying to concentrate at the task in hand. Had my theory been correct? -and is this what had found the Romney at long last? What will I encounter down there? Will the tide slow down enough in time? 'Concentrate, Todd, for gods sake concentrate!'' With those words I took a deep breath, gained a little composure brought my kitting up procedure to the foremost in my mind and took a bit more time to get ready properly. The tide needed more time to slow, so time I had in abundance. Being alone I couldn't afford to make any mistakes with the equipment. Yes Peter would be watching Buccaneer as she hung there on her anchor with the tide flushing by but he couldn't help if I ran into any difficulties below. Eventually, I was ready and I took a look at the swirls coming off the stern of the boat to try and gauge if the tide had dropped sufficiently to get in the water. It mattered not. I was ready and thus convinced myself it had slowed. Whatever the situation I would simply have to cope.
. One thing was for sure, any decompression stops would probably be in the slack period; which was a blessing. I had about 25 minutes to investigate the wreck without incurring to much of a penalty. Every minute that passed by on the seabed after that only increased the length of decompression stops I'd have to do on the way back up. 25 minutes was plenty of time to tell whether or not it was a vessel like the Romney. With camera in hand I dropped over the side. Making my way to the anchor line I was thinking -'in 30 minutes time, I could have the first images of that long lost illusive ship of the 1707 disaster. Mine could be the first images of it the world had ever seen' It was exciting stuff. Wreck hunting has two extremes, copious amounts of utter boredom tinged with the odd moments like this-times of sheer excitement! I pulled my way down the anchor line against the flow of the now slowing tidal stream. Nearer the surface the water was clear and bright and numerous jellyfish came drifting by. Then going deeper down where it gets gradually darker and the accompanying sea life becomes far less until you reach the bottom, the sea bed starts to come into view. At about 70ft I could see the bedrock and small boulders and flatter areas of small stones. Then, as the eyes begin to adjust, I could make out a trail of iron ballast blocks running away from me and off into the distance. This was good news. It was an obvious trail leading to a wreck. Had the Romney hit the Crim as the old chart suggested? and in a slowly sinking state spilled her ballast blocks as she drifted helplessly; her decks filled with men in utter panic. On the bottom I clipped my reel line to the anchor line of Buccaneer and made off following along the trail of ballast. To my mind the wreck must be a short distance to the south east. And so it was, as the trail lead to a large wreckage mound. Yes there were many more ballast blocks; yes there were even a few cannons about too, but no, it wasn't the Romney.
This felt strange. I have found around 15 new wrecks at Scilly in the last 20 years but never had I been disappointed about any of them. Instead of taking the wreck as I found it, I had built it up to be something else. For the first time ever a wreck was going to have to grow on me. And grow it did. There was so much to see down there. So much archaeology. It was a large iron cargo mound, not unlike the Wheels wreck, a site I found in 2005 that was later protected by a Government order. That cargo was mining equipment, whereas this mound consisted of all sorts including some old cannons. There was even a couple of anvils one of which is perched on top. All sorts. The area was strewn with copper nails; these were all that was left from the now long gone ships hull. Colourful Pottery was strewn about everywhere. Before long, I was darting about trying to take it all in. The 20 odd minutes soon ran out, so I picked up the remains of a bronze rudder gudgeon I'd seen from the stern to take to the surface with me. It's difficult, trying to ascend with a heavy object tucked under ones armpit but performing decompression stops in such a manner certainly wasn't a new experience. On the surface I relayed the somewhat disappointing news to Peter- "We had not found the Romney!". I upped anchor and then carried on with our survey. On later dates I returned to the site a few times; always hoping to find the ships bell to identify the wreck. However, thus far, like the Romney, it too has still alluded me. Not to be out done I did find bells though; well over 40small bells so far to be more precise. What were they for? The scullery in stately homes or perhaps meant for Victorian high street shop entrance doorways?
The cargo of this wreck is very diverse and consequently the wreck grows on me every time I visit it. It is that kind of site- You never know what you are going to find on it next and that has become its appeal. So what wreck do I think it is? My first guess would be the Eagle lost in 1848 as it seemed to fit the bill but as with an awful lot of wreck sites of these islands- it was difficult to tell its true identity; and I don't really have the time to investigate every wreck I find properly- as it deserves. The Eagle is reported to have struck the Crim and drifted off a mile to the west where she is supposed of have gone down- however, had any captain known where they were then their ship would not be wrecked - my reasoning was that the Eagle may have actually struck the Gunner and then drifted a mile west-which would place her roughly where this wreck is now. The cargo is the best clew to this ships identity.
Move on a year and friends and myself had been regularly visiting this wreck trying to uncover its mystery. During that time we have been witnessing lots of hardware items on the wreck including 4 anvils of differing sizes; copper ingots; ornate brass curtain tie backs; many different furniture fittings; thimbles and toy marbles. None of these things helped with the ID of the ship until one small item found gave us a probable destination for this vessel, a destination port that fitted with a ship that was lost in the immediate area in 1836. The artefact in question was a small damaged copper token about the size of a half penny. On one side, the token depicted many hardware items such as a wood saw; a kettle; a knife and fork and a spade etc etc. On the other face of the coin are the words:- "J. Shaw. Importers of hardwares. Uppertown Quebec" Sadly, no date is on the coin. This token suggested that all this cargo of hardware items was possibly being "Imported" to Quebec, rather than going away from there to somewhere unknown. 
So we were looking for a ship that hit the Crim on its way to Canada. However, when researching this token later at home, I found that in Quebec at that time, there was a shortage of small denominations of coinage and that an importer of hardwares, a Mr, J Shaw, had brought out his own half penny tokens in Quebec to help alleviate with the obvious problem. However, Mr Shaw was roundly criticised for profiteering, an accusation he roundly and firmly denied; stating that he was just trying to fill another local need and his action was no different to selling shovels or pick axes. As it happened, the bank of Quebec was about to issue half pennies of its own at a similar time, in a stroke this then took away the need for Shaws' tokens. As a direct result of the bank issuing its new coins, Shaw withdrew his tokens from circulation. History now shows that these tokens were issued for one year only: 1837. So now we had a positive period in time with which to work with. So what was all this telling us? Well, among the many ships that were lost in the immediate area, the records show that a ship called the Bassenthwaite, of Maryport, from Liverpool, under the command of Captain Mitchenson, struck and sank at the Crim in 1836. Further to this, the Bassenthwaithe was carrying a valuable cargo of unspecified hardware items to Quebec when she sank. Everyone aboard escaped the wreck apart from one man and a boy who clung to the rigging rather than taking to the boats. It just goes to show how sometimes the smallest thing found on the sea bed can be the biggest asset when trying to identify a shipwreck. In this case a single small, rather damaged, half penny copper token carrying a large amount of information could suffice. The Bassenthwaite was a brand new ship at only a few months old when she was lost at Scilly. She was built with no expense spared. She was copper sheathed, copper nailed and sturdily constructed, but she was uninsured at the time of her loss and so many of the small companies, who had made all the things we were now finding on the sea floor, suffered greatly at this loss or in fact went bust entirely.
This felt strange. I have found around 15 new wrecks at Scilly in the last 20 years but never had I been disappointed about any of them. Instead of taking the wreck as I found it, I had built it up to be something else. For the first time ever a wreck was going to have to grow on me. And grow it did. There was so much to see down there. So much archaeology. It was a large iron cargo mound, not unlike the Wheels wreck, a site I found in 2005 that was later protected by a Government order. That cargo was mining equipment, whereas this mound consisted of all sorts including some old cannons. There was even a couple of anvils one of which is perched on top. All sorts. The area was strewn with copper nails; these were all that was left from the now long gone ships hull. Colourful Pottery was strewn about everywhere. Before long, I was darting about trying to take it all in. The 20 odd minutes soon ran out, so I picked up the remains of a bronze rudder gudgeon I'd seen from the stern to take to the surface with me. It's difficult, trying to ascend with a heavy object tucked under ones armpit but performing decompression stops in such a manner certainly wasn't a new experience. On the surface I relayed the somewhat disappointing news to Peter- "We had not found the Romney!". I upped anchor and then carried on with our survey. On later dates I returned to the site a few times; always hoping to find the ships bell to identify the wreck. However, thus far, like the Romney, it too has still alluded me. Not to be out done I did find bells though; well over 40small bells so far to be more precise. What were they for? The scullery in stately homes or perhaps meant for Victorian high street shop entrance doorways?
The cargo of this wreck is very diverse and consequently the wreck grows on me every time I visit it. It is that kind of site- You never know what you are going to find on it next and that has become its appeal. So what wreck do I think it is? My first guess would be the Eagle lost in 1848 as it seemed to fit the bill but as with an awful lot of wreck sites of these islands- it was difficult to tell its true identity; and I don't really have the time to investigate every wreck I find properly- as it deserves. The Eagle is reported to have struck the Crim and drifted off a mile to the west where she is supposed of have gone down- however, had any captain known where they were then their ship would not be wrecked - my reasoning was that the Eagle may have actually struck the Gunner and then drifted a mile west-which would place her roughly where this wreck is now. The cargo is the best clew to this ships identity.
So we were looking for a ship that hit the Crim on its way to Canada. However, when researching this token later at home, I found that in Quebec at that time, there was a shortage of small denominations of coinage and that an importer of hardwares, a Mr, J Shaw, had brought out his own half penny tokens in Quebec to help alleviate with the obvious problem. However, Mr Shaw was roundly criticised for profiteering, an accusation he roundly and firmly denied; stating that he was just trying to fill another local need and his action was no different to selling shovels or pick axes. As it happened, the bank of Quebec was about to issue half pennies of its own at a similar time, in a stroke this then took away the need for Shaws' tokens. As a direct result of the bank issuing its new coins, Shaw withdrew his tokens from circulation. History now shows that these tokens were issued for one year only: 1837. So now we had a positive period in time with which to work with. So what was all this telling us? Well, among the many ships that were lost in the immediate area, the records show that a ship called the Bassenthwaite, of Maryport, from Liverpool, under the command of Captain Mitchenson, struck and sank at the Crim in 1836. Further to this, the Bassenthwaithe was carrying a valuable cargo of unspecified hardware items to Quebec when she sank. Everyone aboard escaped the wreck apart from one man and a boy who clung to the rigging rather than taking to the boats. It just goes to show how sometimes the smallest thing found on the sea bed can be the biggest asset when trying to identify a shipwreck. In this case a single small, rather damaged, half penny copper token carrying a large amount of information could suffice. The Bassenthwaite was a brand new ship at only a few months old when she was lost at Scilly. She was built with no expense spared. She was copper sheathed, copper nailed and sturdily constructed, but she was uninsured at the time of her loss and so many of the small companies, who had made all the things we were now finding on the sea floor, suffered greatly at this loss or in fact went bust entirely.
