My first efforts at marine archeology were not particularly brilliant as they consisted of finding a bugle in a wreck near Bahrain (The Gulf) which was also full of whisky. I kept the bugle, drank some of the whiskey, but was transferred before I managed to find out what the wreck was. (still don’t know)
I was then lucky enough to meet Alexander McKee before he found the Mary Rose. He came on board H.M.S.Rhyl and gave us ships divers a talk on her and what he was trying to do. I thought I would be bored to tears, as McKee, then, was considered something of a bore on the subject. Well he wasn’t, and when he saw that we were all hanging on his every word, he told us the full story over a couple of hours, enlisted our help.(You can read about that later) and gave me an interest that has lasted years
Many people make this subject totally boring, but, at its simplest, its a lot of rattling good tales,a lot of luck, some heartache, and a lot of hard work to which many devote their whole lives too.
I have never done that, I have not got the commitment, but I have been on the sidelines of some big finds, and their stories are below.
Many of these discoveries happened a long time ago and now most are in museums.Some of the more interesting ones are detailed in this section.