UKDIVING
text on the subject , Shipwrecks of the Isle of Man . With them were Allison Fox and James Proudfoot from Manx National Heritage , who had accompanied Allison to film our afternoon dive as part of the story for the 200 year commemorations in December . We took both RIBs out to the site , where Pauline spent 10 minutes carefully deciding where we needed to drop in to have the best chance of re-finding the gullies ( poor Pauline was worried we wouldn ’ t find it again !).
Then it was time to dive . We dropped in , me once again buddying with Jon , and we swam north towards the Skerranes . We came into a gully that headed off to the east , but I checked my computer and realised that we were at a depth of 14m , which was much deeper than Pauline had said the wreck gully was . So , I signalled to Jon , and we went up
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Metal artefacts in a crevice above the main gully
A dSMB close to the rocks of the Skerranes , the site of the wreck
Photogrammetry showing cannon balls , ballast weights and lead sheeting
and over the wall in front of us and kept heading north . Then , wow ! I looked down and below me in a crevice were several bits of metal , green copper coloured pieces , and what were immediately obvious as grey lead musket balls .
I had no doubt these were artefacts from HMS Racehorse and once my excitement
had calmed , I photographed this crevice . A diver ( Lara ) then appeared at my shoulder , beckoning me to follow her . I beckoned her instead to look at what I was looking at . This comically went on for a few seconds , and after I ’ d finished the filming , I followed Lara down into the gully which was littered with ballast weights , cannonballs and other large artefacts such as the lead sheeting and an anchor . This was it . Definitely . Lara did a little jig in the gully to celebrate !
In the meantime , Jon had commenced his filming to create the 3-D photogrammetry model and I followed him , filming the camerman ! I picked up a random piece of metal and immediately realized it was the brass trigger guard from a musket . Double wow ! The hour dive went far too quickly before surfacing and excitedly sharing our experiences back on the RIBs . It was a perfect dive on a perfect day and all of us were buzzing as we headed back into Port St Mary , where we did more on-shore filming with James .
Jon processed his footage the following day , and on the evening of 22 April the dive team – Brian , Allison , Michelle Haywood from Discover Diving , and other IoMSAC club members – attended the Manx Wildlife Trust office for a feedback session . What Jon had achieved on the back of just a single dive on the site was fantastic , and the 3-D models are now available to explore , with the complete 3-D model on the Manx National Heritage website , and videos of a journey through the different sections of the 3-D model also available online . Now everyone can explore the gullies and the mysterious debris they hold .
Commemorations
December 2022 saw various commemoration events and gatherings spread across eight days . The first event took place on Saturday 10th December , when Brian King , Allison Fox and I delivered a talk to the Manx Natural History and Antiquarians Society at the Manx Museum in Douglas . Allison gave an overview of the MNH work on IoM shipwrecks , while Brian told the story of the work in the 1960s and 1980s ; I gave a summary of the rediscovery of the site this year and the photogrammetry produced by Jon Chamberlain . As well as several photos I also played film clips I had taken of the site and a film of the 3-D model made by Jon . After the talk Brian and I were interviewed by Catherine Nichol , a Senior Journalist from BBC Isle of Man .