In 3 years archaeologists have discovered over 100 wrecks on the Scottish coast!

Over the past three years, archaeologists have recovered over a hundred wrecks from ships and aircraft during archaeological investigations along the Scottish coast. The project has been extensive and the archaeologists say it has been made possible by the help, information and support received from local communities.

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Among the wrecks found are metal and wooden wrecks of vessels, flying boats and other aircraft, but also smaller but equally interesting and valuable finds such as cannons, cannonballs and ancient anchors. One of the most interesting discoveries was the finding near Argyll of wreckage belonging to a group of World War II flying boats. As it turned out this wreck site was not known to anyone and no one had ever investigated or documented the site.

All the discoveries were made as part of the Samphire Project. The whole project was carried out by archaeologists from Scotland and Australia with extensive support from local communities and covered mainly the area between Cape Wrath in the north and the Solway Firth in the south of Scotland.

The whole operation was funded by the Crown Estate – the de facto British monarchy. The search relied heavily on information from local people and checked sites identified by fishermen, port workers, divers and others with some connection to the water.

The identified sites were checked using sonar and remotely operated drones, and the most interesting and promising of these were inspected by teams of volunteer and professional underwater archaeologists.

Among the vessels explored and documented were the wrecks of the “Yemassee” – an American cargo ship that sank in 1859, “Hersilla” an armed iron sea yacht lost in 1916 and “Sheila” a ferry sunk in 1927.

The whole exploration project was started by WA Coastal & Marine – Historic Scotland in Edinburgh and their colleagues at Flinders University of South Australia.

“The findings from the project will enable us to expand our knowledge and heritage of Scotland’s maritime history and national heritage. This will enable us to properly manage and protect these assets for future generations. However, the whole project could not have been carried out without the enthusiasm and considerable help of local communities. And I mean everyone, from divers to people scouring beaches with metal detectors. In addition to the knowledge and documentation we have gathered, we have established a network of great contacts along the coast which will certainly pay off in the future.” – John McCarthy of WA Coastal & Marine said.

“Although this project has now come to an end, we intend to see it as a prelude to something much larger and nationwide.” – McCarthy added in conclusion.

Source: bbc.co.uk