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Mark Milburn’s Cornish Wreck Ramblings, Part 8: The digital age
As an early adopter of the internet, I have watched it grow over time and the last twenty years has seen it expand exponentially. Yet, only over the last few years or so, has this helped the wreck researcher. You still can’t beat going to the local county records office, or The National Archive but not everyone has the time for that. As more and more information becomes digitised, wreck information becomes more widely available on-line. Photos, newspapers archives and all sorts of information, new and old, just appears before your eyes, as you search.
Today, I received a notification from You-Tube that someone had commented on a video of mine. It was a few clips I put together from a dive on the wreck of the Caroni River, near Falmouth. It stated “RIP Captain Thomas Anthony Watson, age 99, on 15/01/17, 3rd officer on Caroni River when she was mined.” A previous comment on the same video by Sven, asked “If anybody finds an alarm clock in the central deck house, my uncle would like it back as he lost it when the Caroni River was mined in 1940 and he had to abandon ship.”
A remaning piece of the Caroni River
The Bay of Panama is a local shallow wreck but the hydrographic office’s co-ordinates were not right. Comparing the Google aerial view against the Bing view, you can see a shadow of the right size and shape on one of the views. The images were taken at different times, with different sand levels, the wreck was exposed with the low sand level. Another feature of Google Earth are the images. Every now and then there is an image of a shallow or exposed wreck. Most of the time these are recent images; the odd one is contemporary to the date of the wrecking.
Historic England (prev. English Heritage) have a website called PastScape. PastScape has thousands of historic records for sites on land and underwater. The underwater sites include anything which may be submerged including old quays etc., as well as wrecks. The wreck information isn’t 100% due to some of the sources and there are also duplicates, but there can be some great information that would normally be hard to find.
Whilst researching the Dispatch (1809), a new piece of information appeared. The Dispatch was originally reported as running aground near Lowland Point, near the Manacles. Within no time at all, the Dispatch was listed as being on Black Head. Survivors climbed up the rock face at Black Head; victims and horses washed ashore around Black Head. Years later, a cannon of the right age and type was found just below Black Head. The new piece of information that appeared on the PastScape website was from Lloyds of London. After running aground on Black Head, the Dispatch floated across Coverack Bay nearly full of water. That would have been in the direction of Lowland Point, where the original report stated that the Dispatch ran aground.
This photo was sent into me via email, it is the UB112.
In Cornwall we have many photo resources, which are being updated on a regular basis. One such site is www.cornishmemory.com. At the time of writing it has 31554 items and growing, not all the items are photos, there are also recorded interviews. Using the search keyword of “wreck” brings up 456 items, on the day of writing.
On the local BBC News today, there was an item about the sale of a silver cup, presented to a well known smuggler and a publican. Henry Cuttace ran the Ship Inn at Gunwalloe, now called the Halzephron Inn, a famous haunt of smugglers and ‘salvors’. The Halzephron has several posters with stories of wrecks and the ‘salvage’ of the cargoes. One night there was a shipwreck and the customers drank up and went salvaging. They returned later and paid their bar bills with some of their ‘salvaged’ coins. The silver cup on the news was presented to Henry Cuttace for his bravery in saving three crew from the wreck of the Norwegian brig, ‘Elizabeth’. PastScape has a record on the ‘Elizabeth’ but it is not listed anywhere else.
PastScape has thousands of wrecks, the trouble is, knowing what you are looking for in the first place!
Find out more about Mark and Atlantic Scuba at www.atlanticscuba.co.uk
Fire on Monroe Bravo is the latest book in the Jack Collier series by Fred Lockwood. Our story begins with our lead characters, Jack and Sandro, owners of Marine Salvage & Investigation Company, arriving on the Monroe Bravo Oil & Gas Platform in the North Sea. Having secured a contract for their vessel the MV Stavanger to act as support ship to the platform for TransGlobal Oil, our protagonists are on a celebratory visit.
However almost as soon as they arrive a series of explosions rock the platform, causing huge damage, loss of life and the very real danger of a massive human, ecological and financial disaster.
As the danger mounts for both our heroes and the surviving workers, Jack and Sandro will have to escape the inferno, all while trying to save the platform and the men still trapped unable to help themselves.
The disaster sets the scene for the unfolding story lines following the fate of the platform and our main characters, the police investigation into a suspected terrorist act and the actions of TransGlobal Oil as they attempt to navigate the pubic outcry and financial repercussions.
In his eighth book, Fire on Monroe Bravo, Fred Lockwood delivers an explosive thriller, with plenty of above and in-water drama, and our heroes fighting for survival, what more can you ask for?
We thoroughly recommend this read and look forward to the next in the series. For more information about his book series, you can check out the reviews of his previous books here on Scubaverse.
- Title: Fire On Monroe Bravo
- Author: Fred Lockwood
- ISBN: 979-8325324536
Available in a paperback version and for Kindle from Amazon and book stores.
In June we were incredibly fortunate to be invited to dive in Alonissos, a small Greek Island in the Sporades island chain located in the North Aegean Sea. While I have long been a big fan of the Greek Islands as a great holiday destination, I had not had the opportunity to do any diving on previous visits and Mike and I were extremely excited to see what Alonissos had to offer both above and below the surface!
The Sporades are easily accessible via the airport in Skiathos (the first island in the chain), which is served by Jet2 flights from all major UK airports from May through October. Numerous ferries and charter boats make island hopping from Skiathos Town a breeze. After an hour boat ride, the picturesque port of Patitiri was a wonderful introduction to Alonissos, where we were met by our gracious hosts Kostas of Albedo Travel and Dias of Alonissos Triton Dive Center. Mike and I were delighted to be staying at the Paradise Hotel, aptly named for its stunning views over the sea and great location for walking to the waterfront.
Alonissos is beautifully situated in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades, the largest marine protected area in Europe. The surrounding seas offer fabulous marine life, including incredibly rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal. They boast deep walls covered in gorgonians and sponges, stunning topography with caverns, swimthroughs and pinnacles, and the first accessible ancient shipwreck from 500BC!
In locations where historical sites have been reported, the waters are largely restricted, but with collaboration between government, underwater archeologists and dive centres, incredible underwater museums are being created for a truly unique diving experience. Alonissos is home to the first of these, the Ancient Shipwreck of Peristera Accessible Underwater Archeological Site. The chance to dive into history (along with reports of healthy reef life and amazing underwater topography) meant Mike and I were keen to get in the water.
Our introduction to the diving around Alonissos was at the Agios Georgios Pinnacles, in the channel between Alonissos and Skopelos. This fantastic site was named “The Chimney,’ and proved to have a huge amount to see. We got to a decent depth here (over 25m), and marvelled at a colourful reef wall with a wonderful swim through whose rocky walls were absolutely covered with life. As well as brilliant topography there was no shortage of macro life here. We saw numerous nudibranchs, five different species in total. The second dive at Mourtias reef nearby was a shallower dive along a nice wall with lots of crevices. Several moray eels and grouper called this site home. We enjoyed looking in the crevices for lobster and smaller benthic life, such as cup corals and tunicates.
Our itinerary allowed us two dives a day with afternoons left to explore the island with our hire car and evenings to enjoy the famous Greek hospitality. This proved to be a lovely mix of in-water and land based diversions.
The next days diving to the Gorgonian Gardens and Triton’s Cave was to be even better! These two stunning sites are nothing short of fabulous. The Gorgonian Gardens was a deep wall near to the Agios Georgios islands. The ever-present currents in this deep channel meant that the sea life was amazing … the namesake Gorgonian sea fans dotted the wall at a depth of 30 to 50 meters, getting ever larger the deeper we went. Above 30m was by no means less beautiful, with sponges, corals, scorpionfish, moray eels and some rare and colourful nudibranchs.
The second shallower dive of the day was to Triton’s Cave or the Cavern of Skopelos, on the east side of that island. The spectacular rock formations had wild striations both above and below the water making a truly epic topography. The cavern entrance was at 14m, and big enough for a buddy pair, winding up to 6m and passing two beautiful windows out into the blue. Emerging from the cavern, the light at the shallower depths and the incredible rock formations made for a fantastic gentle swimming safety stop and we all surfaced by the boat with massive grins.
Check out our next blog :Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 2)” to hear about our amazing dive on the 2500 year old Peristera Wreck!
Thanks to:
Alonissos Triton Dive Center https://bestdivingingreece.com/
Albedo Travel https://alonissosholidays.com/activities/
Paradise Hotel https://paradise-hotel.gr/
Alonissos Municipality https://alonissos.gr/en/
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