News
Mark Milburn’s Cornish Wreck Ramblings, Part 2: Shifting Sands
I mentioned the subject of wrecks appearing and disappearing again in Part 1 of Cornish Wreck Ramblings (which you can read here). It can be quite a big problem, but at the same time it can also be a useful aid.
One wreck that is noticeably affected by this is the SS Grip. This late nineteenth century steamship ran aground in thick fog on a sandy beach at Gunwalloe. There was no damage. At the time they decided they would wait until a bigger tide came in a few days later so they could simply float it off.
What they hadn’t considered was the fluidity of the sand. Over the next few days it was sucked down into the sand and was stuck fast. For years, all that was seen of it was the top of the boiler. One day I decided I wanted to dive the Grip, but I found a lot more than a top of a boiler….I found a complete wreck on rock! WOW!
However… I went back a couple of months later with a group of divers, and guess what? There was nothing. It had been covered with sand. Since then though the boiler has re-appeared.
The protected site of the Schiedam is another such site. For five years we looked for it, and found nothing but sand. Then one day, a cannon appeared, then another, and another. Then some other pieces started to show up, like a musket barrel, musket shot and even a grenade. A few weeks later and the sand had buried the grenade and musket barrel. On the day of writing this, I have just got back from the Schiedam site. The waves were crashing in, the in water visibility was zero. Yet, on the beach, was a really old rudder and a dead eye. We had never seen these items underwater…. perhaps the site has been uncovered by the recent storms? It has certainly removed lots of sand from the beach. We will have to wait for the vis to come back before we get back in.
During stormy weather, shallow wrecks come and go, and we can’t visit them all in the small window between the sand going and then coming back. One site we found when the sand went is still not identified. We found an iron cannon sitting on the sea bed, but few weeks later, there was just sand. How can you identify a wreck when it is mainly buried? A few months later all the sand had gone, and we managed to get some photos of the gun but couldn’t find anything else. There is a wreck known to be there, and the cannon is of the right age to suit the wreck. Will we ever work out what it is? If the sand was to move some more, we just might, one day.
What we have found out, in regards to one section of the Cornish coast, is which direction we need the storms to come from to move sand. We then need the wind to die down and the surf to stop, which will give us a chance to see what is down actually there.
Find out more about Mark and Atlantic Scuba at www.atlanticscuba.co.uk.
News
Dive Worldwide Announces Bite-Back as its Charity of the Year
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Gear News
Scubapro Free Octopus Promotion 2024
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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