Diving the Anchorage

 Diving the anchorage after the cruise ships have left is something I do when I either dont have time to go anywhere else or when the sea conditions force it to be so. These huge ships cut large swathes in the sea bed with both their propellors when they move and their anchors when they haul them in.  Heres a link to a video of a typical dive out there in one of our many anchorages -with a montage of finds from over the years at the end. https://youtu.be/FkHBUe0vhSE

Shipwreck Zeelilie

Video about the wreck of the VOC ship Zeelilie which was wrecked at Scilly in 1795

Diving the Schiller.

 

A dive on the wreck of the DTDG German passenger Liner SS Schiller that sank here at Scilly in 1875. The Retarrier where this ship sank is a real nasty place. Its like diving in a very tidal washing machine. As a result theres not a great deal left of this ship but in this video I show you some of whats left of this rivetted steel steamer.  We also bring up a few items from the wreck. Use the link below to view the film.

https://youtu.be/mRG-pSuEw2o

Search for the Merchant Royal.

From the full Merchant Royal narrative held in the Bodelian Library.

First a short bit about who I am. - I am a wreck hunter I have been diving since 1979  I have found over 20 wrecks on a very small budget since 1999 and numerous other sites of interest here too. 3 of my finds have received government protected status. I have located the exact positions of many other historic shipwrecks here too. I have found treasure. Wreck hunting and research are hobbies of mine. I have also worked at sea commercially. I have compiled and authored the most comprehensive shipwreck listing for my area. It makes the Lloyds list for around Scilly look like a kids homework project because my list includes the use of far more archives than just Lloyds.  Its a must for anyone searching for wrecks around here-and its still growing. It is in digital form at present but I may publish it one day. My point is this- Scilly is my back yard; no one knows the wrecks of this area better than I do. And no one knows the waters around here better either-simply because I dive the rocks and places other people only ever pass by in a boat. I am not what you call an academic- I only have qualifications and experience related to diving and the sea. The maritime history of Scilly and it wrecks are a passion. Merchant Royal is one of them.

The Merchant Royal is a ship that was lost in my back yard. However, it is far enough away and deep enough down that it needs real finance, that I do not have, to find it. There have been a few searches for the Merchant Royal. German dentists searched for this wreck in the 1990's but concentrated their efforts too far east and closer to the Lizard. I spoke to one of the crew involved and whilst I understood their reasons- their choice simply did not fit the historical evidence. They covered a large area but failed to find the wreck. In more recent times, American team- Oddessey Marine, made a much bigger effort to find the Merchant Royal but again its obvious that their researchers put them in the wrong areas. I live on the isles of Scilly and tracked their progress as best I could. How I wish I could have been on board, I may have been able to assist to point them in the right direction. Anyone who reads my full report on this wreck would have to take it seriously.  I recently read a publication by an American researcher, a naval Commander, who published that because the ship was taking money for soldiers in flanders then she must be lost along the french coast line. And just like with the German dentists there was nothing to back up this theory. His idea, for that is all it is, totally ignores all the actual historical evidence.  I came to my conclusion of where this ship sank based solely upon actual historical evidence. No guessing involved. No preconceived ideas to cloud the issue. I simply put every fact I found together and let it tell me where I should search. Historical narratives of this wrecking like, Sad News from the seas, gives some clues but its just one piece in the puzzle. I firmly believe the puzzle was incomplete for both the German dentists and Oddessey. I am now certain that I have that vital clue that all the others must have either overlooked or it simply never came to their hands. I know that any search for this wreck must include this evidence; because once you include it, all the other narratives make perfect sense. My belief is that the teams above could not have seen the missing piece. Obviously, I cant simply give that information out over the internet but what I uncovered would have totally changed their perceptions of where they should have been concentrating all their efforts. 

I was asked to join a team to look for this wreck in 2021-2. It looked for a while like it was going to happen. Sadly, the UK economy crashed so Im not so sure those financiers are there any longer. It was someone elses project. Its all gone very quiet. At that time I was still researching and found my evidence after the event but it totally changed my perception! I am happy to be part of any team that looks for this wreck as its like a thorn in my side-but here I am looking for an investor of my own. I have this to say to anyone wanting to finance this search- Its Your money - its your treasure!  All I want is crew mans wages and the chance to look for the wreck and hopefully put someone on the right spot.  And if we are successful, maybe a bonus for my effort and to gain a few nice gold coins as a momento for my trouble and research. I also want 50% of the kudos for getting this site found. This does not have to be a huge multi million pound effort-  all  I am talking about is a big enough survey vessel equipped with the latest multibeam sonar and survey equipment in order to gain the targets and identify them with fuel and expenses all covered. I can pilot it out and back and during the surveys. I have the perfect search pattern too.  You can either contract hire the vessel and equipment or buy it all. It can all be sold or returned after the project is over. Your choice.  And there will be many targets uncovered to look at during the search. Even when going out and back to the target area we can find interesting targets. Luckily, because of my 40 odd years of experience in this field, I can quickly eliminate most targets by dating what is on the seabed. Any sites of historical interest can be looked into more closely. There are other treasure wrecks out here. This project could be partially financed by a TV company as they could follow the search and make a very interesting series as we go- seeing the discoveries and identifying each target.  Even during times when the sea wont allow us to look for the Merchant Royal they could film my dives on other very interesting wreck searches closer to my home here at Scilly and we can tell the tale of each one in turn. Many have direct links to these beautiful remote islands.  Theres some very fascinating tales here that I have already uncovered and more wrecks I am still looking for. These searches can be covered too.  C'mon rich people- what is more exciting than a shipwreck hunt worth billions in gold treasure? Much more exciting than playing golf or sitting on a beach getting pissed!                                       

                                                   Drop me a line- scillydiver@gmail.com

                                                               

Finding the wreck of the Bassenthwaite.

 Bassenthwaite.

In Canada in 1835 the banks in Quebec were suffering from a lack of small denomination coins. As a consequence a Hardware retailer, J. Shaw, in that town set about to fill the void. He placed his usual hardware order with his supplier in England but this time he added a request from the producers to send him a consignment of small copper half penny coins. These coins were to show his business on one side and the kinds of things he sold, shovels, utensils, saws, kettles, etc, etc, on the reverse. By 1836 Mr Shaws'  order was packed and loaded upon a brand new vessel fresh of the blocks of Maryport. This Brig was heavy with iron and what was described as a "very valuable cargo" when she sailed from Liverpool at the very beginning of April 1836. By the seventh of that month the ship emerged from St Georges Channel amidst a westerly gale blowing and a heavy sea running. By 7pm that evening, after sun set, the Bassenthwaite passed the Isles of Scilly to the north. 

When Captain Mitchinson thought he was safely west of the islands he then turned south. Within the hour the Bassenthwaite struck the far western Rocks of Scilly and went down in deep water immediately.  The cook and a cabin boy drowned but the captain and the rest of the crew took to the ships boats and landed safely four miles east on St Agnes Island. Everything had gone down with the ship, including the "valuable cargo" and Mr Shaws hardwares along with his newly minted copper coins. Unfortunately the vessel was uninsured, however, Shaw had seen fit to insure his own part of the cargo. When he received the news that the Bassenthwaite was lost he contacted his insurers and re-ordered his hardwares to be delivered on another vessel; which arrived at Quebec in 1837. Shaw immediately put his new coins into circulation but within a matter of weeks, the banks of Quebec openly criticised Shaw of "profiteering"  Under pressure Shaw withdrew his coins from circulation. They had been used in the town for less than a year.  Later reports stated that Bassenthwite had struck the Gunner Rock and history showed that Shaws coins were minted in 1837. 

An 1830's Brig of Maryport.

Nearly two hundred years later I was searching for the wreck of HMS Romney; a 40 gun warship that sank at Scilly along with 3 others in 1707. A fleet under command of Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovel had come among the western rocks of Scilly in late October and the Admirals 100 gun ship Association was wrecked on the Gilstone Rocks; the 60 gun Eagle was lost on Crebinick Rocks and the 8 gun Fireship, Firebrand, was lost on the Menglow rock. There was only one survivor from all four wrecks and he had escaped from the 40 gun Romney, which was lost in an unknown location. One historical report is that Romney had struck the Crim-another that she was lost elsewhere-closer to the Association. All of these shipwrecks, except the Romney, have since been found by divers. The Crim has been searched for the Romney but she has never been found on that reef. I dived an old 24 gun ship there but that wreck turned out to be a dutch ship called the Slootwick. Interestingly, the three other naval wrecks were all found to be on south eastern sides of their respective rocks; which kind of matched a naval historical narrative that, when the fleet found itself standing into danger- those ships which turned north were lost, while all those that had turned south were saved.  I came up with a theory that if the Romney had done the same thing and struck the Crim on its inner side, then she may have been pushed by the prevailing heavy sea off the reef to sink in deep water to the south east of the reef.  As a result, I set off out to  that  particular area employing a grid search pattern using a magnetometer to find iron objects on the sea bed.  To cut a long story short, I detected a few anomalies on the sea bed, one of which matched the amount of ironwork the Romney would have had on board. The anomaly in question was in 30 meters depth at about two hundred yards south east of the Crim. At the time, it felt as though a plan had come together. There was a large amount of iron down there and  I couldn't wait to get in and take a look. Was it the long lost Romney? At slack water I anchored my boat Buccaneer on the spot and diving all alone, I dropped over the side to ground truth the anomaly below.  At first sight of the sea bed I saw a trail of iron ballast blocks. This was a very encouraging sign and typical naval practice to have on board; so I followed the trail. Within seconds I ran into a heaped mound of ironwork with a huge valley running right through the middle of it. This valley is where the ships keel had been but long since rotted away. There were a few cannons within the cargo mound, but I had expected to see many more. There was also a few anvils but most of the mound was a heap of general iron objects all concreted together into one solid thing. I have to say I was rather disappointed- it was clearly not HMS Romney.  At that depth I only had half an hour at most so I surfaced with an artefact to declare to the Receiver of Wreck to register the discovery. 

Later I returned to the site with friends to try to locate objects that would date or even identify the site. Overtime, we came up with all kinds of objects. Brass candlesticks; Jewish Harps; Copper ingots; brass thimbles; lots of small bronze bells and one small seemingly insignificant copper coin. I researched the coin and came up with the story of J Shaw above. I then realised that if this was the Bassenthwaite heading for Quebec then the coin wasn't a single chance find- there should be hundreds of them hidden down on the wreck somewhere. We went back to look, and sure enough I came across an area where the coins were buried to the side of the main cargo mound and many were still in the stacks as they were packed. We have found 300 so far. From this I knew this had to be the wreck of the Bassenthwaite which was heading for Quebec. She had not been lost on the Gunner as all reports had stated- she had struck the Crim and the sea had pushed her off to the South east just as I guessed may have happened to the Romney. The theory was sound and the Romney could still be in that area but probably in even deeper water. The wreck had also pushed the history of these rare copper coins back by one year. They were not minted in 1837 they were first minted in 1836 but had been lost in the wreck of the Bassenthwaite.  

link to a video of this wreck:-   Wreck of the Bassenthwaite - YouTube   

 This was a wreck I found years ago but not dived it for a long time. The viz isnt the best but the total lack of weed more than makes up for that. Just a bit of winter fun. Wreck of Man-o-War Colossus. Just click on the image to Enjoy this short video!

 

Video of the Wreck of the Bassenthwaite. Use the link below to view the short film.

Wreck of the Bassenthwaite - YouTube

 Heres my latest shipwreck video. Its a wreck I found while towing a magnetometer on my birthday in 2005 and it got protected by the Government.

                          click on the link   -  (36) Wheels Wreck? - YouTube

                                                                                  Or 

                           copy and paste this -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh8mIDuZHSo&t=1s

Daisy Dog.

 

                                                                        

                                                                       DAISY DOG 

Im not usually one to put my inner most feelings on the internet- but-We wake up to an emptier house today. This tiniest cutest little doggie came into our lives in 2010 and died yesterday. We are utterly broken hearted. Daisy wasn't just a dog, she was our child. My wife couldnt have children and so Daisy has, for fourteen years, partly filled that void. We called her Daisy because she was so small. She was a divers dog. She loved being on the boat. Even though as a puppy she fell into the sea and had to be rescued, and from that moment on she hated anything falling off the boat like us divers, or the anchor, a shot line, or us just going for a swim, anything. She knew the sea was a dangerous place and let you know it!

 She has been on the boat over every wreck we have found or dived since 2010.  She knew every inch of Scilly as she was so small she could get into every little nook and cranny on every Island here-even the small ones like Rosevear Crebewethan etc etc. She was never any trouble to us. Didnt bark much; never begged or harassed anyone for food or treats. She always sat patently knowing we wouldn't forget her. She was very loving. She never really licked you, she preferred to gently touch the tip of your nose with her tongue, which was a kiss, but we soon learned it was a signal to gently go forehead to forehead with her -and when you did she gave out a little loving whimpery type squeak every time- and it was always you that ended each loving contact, not her -which was so very sweet.  

She didnt need a lead- as she faithfully followed us about like a shadow never leaving our heals.  You couldnt wish for a cuter tinier more faithful loving little companion and we thank god for bringing her into our lives. Goodbye and God bless little Daisy Dog. You will be so very missed by us both. We love you so very much. Thank you for being so cute and loving. It was just what we both needed in our lives. You filled our home and made it a home too.  Wish we could have had just one more group hug.

                                                     Rest in peace now Daisy. 2010 -2014.

Scilly Wrecks on film.

I got a gopro for my birthday last year and have been having a go at making short shipwreck videos.  Heres a few of numerous on my youtube channel-  Shipwreck Princess Maria (youtube.com)

Future generations?

The top two silver coins are from the Wreck of Hollandia 1743. (Not salvaged by me)  The lower two copper coins were salvaged by me from the Wreck of the Bassenthwaite 1836.  These are a couple of examples of how stupid the British Heritage authorities current no take policy is. (even though they do it all the time)  They have this ill thought out policy that everything on shipwrecks should remain on the sea bed for future generations to enjoy.  But if you look at the image you can clearly see the deterioration occurring.  When items land on the sea bed they immediately start to deteriorate, that is a fact. If they get buried in an anaerobic environment they are better preserved but even in that environment the deterioration is just slowed down.  Metal objects like coins only survive for any length of time if they are either concreted in big heaps- or become concreted to iron objects. Coins in these two situations deteriorate too though -just more slowly. The outer coins in a heap just act like an anode for those deeper inside the heap. So the longer they stay on the sea bed then more of them will become exposed to the deterioration on the outer layer- until the middle of a heap is reached-thus eventually all the heap will inevitably disappear in time. 

If a coin or metal object is concreted to an iron object like, say, a cannon, then the cannon becomes the anode for the coin. Eventually the cannon gets softer and softer inside its concretion-until eventually- the cannon turns to mush inside its own concretion and thus all its integrity as a solid object is lost. Once that occurs all that is left is the sea bed concretion itself in the shape of a cannon with the coin stuck inside the remaining crust layer. Now without the iron as its anode- the coin becomes exposed to more rapid deterioration-especially if the concretion will eventually become dispersed by the actions of the sea and sea bed material movement.  This happens to everything on the sea floor in time- especially around very violent sea places like Cornwall and here at Scilly. 

The coins in the image above both survived in little heaps. The good coins shown were just deeper inside that heap when found. The worn thinner coins were to the outer of those heaps and thus acting as the anode for those further inside-which is why they are in such a sorry state. But all in the heap eventually suffer the exact same fate in time. So will someone please tell me how this is leaving it all to future generations? Its a myth created by university students now sitting behind a desk who no nothing of the sea. They did a course in marine archaeology then got a nice little desk job where they come up with rubbish ill thought out policies that sound great!- but are totally impractical.   

The good news for the treasure hunter today- is that some good coins still exist as not enough time has passed yet to destroy all. All the treasure hunter has to do is find where the anode coins loose on the sea bed are -and look carefully at the sea bed below where they lay. If he is lucky, that is where he will find the concreted heap of more coins looking like the surrounding sea bed & or bedrock. Many people would pick up the odd anode coins and not realise what is right there by them.  It takes a trained eye with the knowledge above to know and see whats hidden there to find.  My advice is if its legal to do so  then get it all up- because if left there it will inevitably be lost in time until no one gets to enjoy it.  This 'leave down there' policy they currently have- may work in brackish waters like the black sea or the Baltic but its of no use off  Englands coastline where the sea bed is granite or sand and the sea often violent.
 

Wreck of the Thornliebank

 

Thornliebank. built in glasgow in 1898 and wrecked on the crim here at Scilly in 1913.

Her skipper was lost and thought he was off the french coast. Then he sighted the red light of Round Island lighthouse and became confused. His dead reckoning of his position was miles out. His ship then rumbled onto the Crim and was lost. He later learned from those whom saved the crew where he had  become wrecked. He then wrote how Scilly was a good place to loose your ship as his treatment by the locals had been so good.

This is one of those wreck sites that I had to illiminate from my ongoing search for where the wreck of HMS Romney lies. There are various places the Romney could be and one of those is somewhere around the Crim reef. Thus I often find myself searching all around this reef for her.  I dived all the known sites at that reef to gain the positions of each. I magged and found the positions of the cannon site in 39 to 45m on the west side of Zantmans rock and the Sushannah in 30m on the north western side.  I then discovered the wreck of the Bassenthwaite off to the south east of the Crim in 30m. Somehow I felt proud  to have added my name to those privileged few who had actually discovered a wreck at this mysterious, treacherous, place.... the most western part of Scilly.  One day I was magging to the south of Zantmans when I had another hit to look at. I read that the Thornliebank was the other side of the rock so had to investigate to see what this hit was. Sadly the hit was not the Romney but the Thornliebank. (Mr Larns book was wrong again) This was years ago that I dropped straight onto her stern south east of Zantmans and after a short look around I found and recovered the brass boss to her helm above. (ships wheel). On surfacing I could see her name 'Thornliebank' embossed into the metal. Above is an image of it after I painted the letters back in. The finding of it just proves how little this wreck has been dived otherwise it would have been recovered long ago. I never went back but often think I should to see what else is about. Hopefully one day I may find the time but this isnt really my kind of wreck. Im into sites much older, preferably with lots of cannons laying about. Not sure who discovered this wreck but it was reported that someone raised her bell intact in 1988 ish

Frustration.

 Been searching all around the Wreck of the Phoenix to see if there's any more of her about. (See other posts about this wreck. )Did some more magging further afield and dropped on a couple of the hits recently. One day, which was rather a lovely day-we decided to base ourselves on the Western Beach of the uninhabited Samson Island for the day. From there I went out, did a dive, then returned the short distance to Samson to have lunch. Found nothing. In the afternoon I went out to the Roaring ledge to look at a hit on that reef. This was a bit far away from the Phoenix but as it was such a positive hit I had to take a look at it during the slack tide.  It was in shallow water, just 6 meters at most. I was actually full of expectation-hoping for a gully with guns in it- but sadly, I returned to the surface in disappointment. The mag hit turned out to be an 18th century anchor about 7 feet long-which isn't very big as anchors go. Nothing else of note was found or seen around the area. Either some small vessel had been lost there and now its all long gone- or the anchor was once the weight that held a channel marker buoy in place. I found the same sort of thing on the inner side of the Spanish ledge. An old anchor in the shallows on the top of the reef and nothing else. Very frustrating.  Well after the dive we returned to Samson for a walk and a swim. Then we had a picnic and watched the sun set. Absolutely stunning! Here's a couple of pics from the day on Samson between dives......

Phoenix is between the middle and far islands.

The wild and natural Western beach of Samson.

The wife. Her ancestors lived on Samson and one was the last to be born there.

                                                                  Bumming on the beach.

Hunt the Hurricane

Hunting a Hurricane.
Years ago I was told by an old guy here called Wilf (RiP) that as a boy he watched a Spitfire go over the town and go down in St Marys Roads. I spoke to others about this at the time but no one else seemed to know of the incident. Thus the story went into the back of my mind. One day I contacted a local about her archive of the local rag. Sarah looked into the year of the incident but still drew a blank. At the time I thought this was odd as the local rag records what socks people are wearing! However, on reflection, I came to understand that it was war time and thus reporting such incidents was forbidden without express permission. I then visited the RNLI station to see if they went out to save the pilot. Still nothing. Then one day I met Graham. This was a guy who went about the south west finding crashed aircraft sites. He even has a museum full of stuff from such sites. I told Graham the story and eureka! he knew about it and gave me the scant details. However, It wasn't a Spitfire,- it was a Hurricane. This was great news. It meant that there is indeed a war time plane out in St Marys Roads. So, as a result, , whenever I go magging I do a row or two in the Roads. Similarly, whenever I go out to dive in that area I'm on the look out for it. It will probably only appear as a big pile of weed and hidden beneath that will be whats left;which wont be much. The plane was made of plywood on an aluminium sub frame. The plywood will be long gone and much of the frame will have fizzed away in the salt water too. But the Engine, undercarriage gear, machine guns and some of the cockpit and its canopy, and some of the propeller should still all be present. No gold or silver involved here but sometimes the treasure is in simply uncovering a little bit of local history. Rest assured I'm now onto it.- (Hurricane MKIX BW949 of Flight 1449 flight based St Marys, crashed in the sea on approach to land between Tresco & St Marys.)

Double standards

 Already we have had around ten cruise ships in the Roadstead of Scilly.  Good for me but very bad for the wildlife.  As usual I have been diving where they anchor and I see the devastation they leave behind and thus I get to see any interesting items they uncover as a consequence. The other day I followed along a huge swathe one of these ships had cut in the sea bed and it drove right through one of the protected Eel grass beds. Not my problem but I will say this -If I were to go down there and find a wreck or something else of interest I would have to apply for a licence through the MMO to try and uncover it.  However I know for certain that they would never grant such a licence if the thing I wanted to uncover was anywhere near any Eel Grass.  If I went ahead and worked without a licence I would be prosecuted and at the very least heavily fined. I could dig for a month and not destroy anything like what these vessels do in just one day. I'm not complaining as I benefit from them coming in here-its just the double standards from Government bodies that grinds on me.Yet its ok for one of these things to utterly destroy the same thing and no one gives a toss. In this picture- The small blue ship is right in between two areas of Eel Grass and is ok there. The stern of the big white one is right over an Eel bed. The big blue one is ok as she is over sand although she is ever so close to a protected shipwreck  there and a swing of her stern to north would probably be encroaching into the protected zone. Much further over and her keel would knock over the standing guns that are there. Its logical for captains to want to anchor in the lee of Samson Island as their ships are protected from the sea swell there. In the old days of sail they did the exact same thing,-they anchored all around the south and east of Nut Rock.  To be fair, its hard to anchor in that area and not be destroying Eel grass beds-however-all the rest of the Roadstead is free of this protected growth but then they would be anchoring more in the sea swell. However the biggest cruise ships should anchor more south as they are so large the swell wont really affect them much.  

Mud lark up-date

 I covered a bit of my mud larking on here before. But here is an image sent to me by the Mersea Island Museum of their newly reformed Roman pottery display. It contains all the finds I have made over the years while mud larking there. All my items are on the two middle shelves on the right hand side. If you zoom in you can even see my name on the labels. I never asked for this but its nice that they did it. Not that anyone over that way will know who I am except my mum who has lived there for the last 30 years.  My connection with that Island goes way back to the 1960's.  My family had a very small caravan on a farm there called Waldegraves farm. We used to go there for all our summer holidays. Dad would drop us off then pick us up six weeks later. It was brilliant! Back then the island was so quaint and charming. We knew most of the others who had caravans there too as there were few. We also had my grandparents and some aunts and uncles cousins etc with caravans there too-all close by. It was like our whole family took up half of that area in summer.  You could count the number of caravans on the site back then. There was a tap where we queued to get our water and a small toilet block. It was primarily a farm with fields and farm animals all around. However, today the quaint feel has long gone and Waldegraves is now a huge sprawling holiday complex with pub restaurants showers the whole sorry shebang. Sad really.  I remember the wildlife was fab there when I was young. Fire flies, glow worms. Badgers, foxes, hares, birds of all kinds and swans on a huge wild pond where I used to catch eels.  I loved going out on the mud when the tide was out. I would get up in the early morning while everyone else was asleep- silently stepping over my brothers I would creep out and quietly shut the caravan door.  Then out on the mud to get to the sand banks further off shore. Out there I would find all sort of things. This was how my love of finding things started and my now love of history and nature grew from it all too. Without Mersea Island in my childhood I think I would have gone crazy in East London. Dont get me wrong, I loved all my mates there and I still do. But who knows what I would have become had the influence of my summer holidays not shown me there was a beautiful natural world out there. In a way, the small display above is like a small thank you from me. Thank you Mersea and please look after my dear ol mum!

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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