Dom Robinson , BSAC ’ s Head of Diving and Training , jumped at the chance to dive one of the South Coast ’ s most important historical wrecks
HERITAGE
The Cannon Run
Dom Robinson , BSAC ’ s Head of Diving and Training , jumped at the chance to dive one of the South Coast ’ s most important historical wrecks
Many divers dream of dropping in on a previously unknown site and discovering a virgin shipwreck of real historical significance . This is exactly what happened in 2019 , when excited divers discovered ship ’ s timbers , marble , galley bricks and bronze cannon off the East Sussex Coast . Subsequent investigation by the Nautical Archaeology Society ( NAS ) has resulted in the wreck being identified as that of the Klein Hollandia , which was sunk in 1672 by a small English fleet led by Admiral Holmes .
The site is now protected and can only be visited with permission from Historic England . The NAS BSAC branch ( NASAC ) organises regular dives and I was very pleased to join one . These depart from Eastbourne on the ‘ Our W ’, operated by Dive125 . co . uk and skippered by David Ronnan , the man who found the Klein Hollandia . The other divers were a mixture of newbies and the NAS regulars who investigate new discoveries , record the site in more detail and show the best bits to visitors like me .
To prepare us for the dive , Mark Beattie- Edwards , CEO of NAS , delivered a brief brimming with enthusiasm and knowledge , which enabled us to put everything we saw into context . He also provided all pairs with a map of the site on a slate that we could take on the dive . The map had been constructed from a photogrammetry survey in 2021 so was guaranteed to be accurate and proved really useful underwater , on what is quite a complex site . Many of the cannon also had numbers on them , which was also very useful in orientation during the dive .
Studying the site plan for the Klein Hollandia
Mark Beattie-Edwards of the NAS with Alice Roberts in Digging For Britain , which featured the wreck ’ s story
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