In what proved to be a life-changing moment, Nick Lyon discovered a cache of disturbing artifacts in the Isles of Scilly
The author in his element
Nick Lyon
A terrible purpose
In what proved to be a life-changing moment, Nick Lyon discovered a cache of disturbing artifacts in the Isles of Scilly
Briefing: It’ s often said that intellect is water soluble, when trying to excuse an embarrassing mistake underwater. But sometimes, submersion can bring a rare moment of clarity. My story is just such an occurrence. The dive took place near the Bishop Rock lighthouse, off the Isles of Scilly on a mirror calm and cloudless day in the early 1990s.
hand and some dark timber appeared. More wafting revealed what looked like a rusty metal band, which suggested that this was a sea chest. I had heard of gold fever, the delirium resulting from a life-changing discovery of riches, and here was what looked like everyone’ s idea of a treasure chest! The wafting was now frantic. As the cloud of sand settled, so did my breathing rate, because what was revealed was no chest, but a barrel, albeit an intact one. I tried to move it, but it was incredibly, almost impossibly, heavy.
This was the era of the huge, calf-mounted dive knife. I withdrew my( t) rusty‘ Excalibur’ from its sheath and with unexpected ease, prised open the barrel. Hundreds of manillas tumbled out onto the sand. Time stood still. My first instinct was to reach for my goody bag and start gathering up the haul, as most wreck divers worthy of the name would have done at that time. But, to my surprise, I couldn’ t do it. I looked at the manillas and with absolute clarity, the misery of their terrible purpose coursed through me.
The emotion was profound and drove me to act. I quickly shovelled the sand over the pile of bronze and swam over to my buddy, signalling for us to ascend. I will never know why my conscience was so profoundly stirred during that dive, but from that day, I have never lifted anything from a wreck without an archaeological purpose.
Debrief: The Douro is a fine example of a wreck with a deeply tragic and mysterious past. Its cargo is not its treasure, rather its value lies in its history and the lessons we can learn from it. It made me view all wrecks through a different lens from then on. �
The dive: In the shallows between the Western and Crim rocks lies the wreck of the Douro, which sank in 1843 en-route from Liverpool to Oporto. And that date is a problem, because among her cargo were thousands of manillas, bronze C-shaped tokens. In West Africa, each one could be traded for an enslaved person, despite slavery having been illegal for 36 years. This was bewildering and sinister.
The wreck site was a series of gullies, sparsely fringed with kelp and filled with white sand. Piles of timbers, ropes and a large anchor were randomly scattered and made for a fascinating rummage. As I swam over a patch of sand, an incongruous mound caught my eye. I wafted it with my
Bronze manilla tokens were used in the slave trade
39