Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2014/January 2015 | Page 13

INTERVIEW
are intact, but not very often. The majority
degrade in the water. “It’s a bit like a
scrapyard down there,” he said. “Every
wreck has its conger eel, but don’t let
anyone tell you they are vicious. They are
if you try to catch them on a hook, but
underwater they are quite docile, unless
you start poking them around. There was
one off Bembridge I used to feed by hand;
it was about 7ft long. I have been attacked
by conger eels twice, but that was my fault.
They usually share holes with lobsters, and
I was trying to get to this lobster, and the
conger had a go at me. The second time
one hit my arm - it was like being punched.
The biggest one I ever saw was in the War
Knight; about 90lb in weight and 9ft long.”
He continued: “Other finds include a
gold seal ring dating back to the 1300s
with a Coat of Arms on it, which I am still
trying to track down. I also found a 1600s
seal ring with three dragons on it, and
managed to track down the person who
was actually wearing it, through the local
Family History Society.
“I have found artefacts from ships going
back 2,000 years including a rare Roman
gold coin. The strange thing is with gold
it is like someone threw it into the sea
yesterday. Gold coins are pristine when

you find them because nothing grows on
gold. Coins don’t inspire me, because they
were something that went from person
to person. I much prefer something like a
slave token, which is just a worthless bit
of bronze, but was used for trading slaves.
I found one from one of their earliest
recorded slave shipwrecks in the 1680s.
“I have found rings that are over 700
years old, and coins minted in Spain and
South America. I also found a collection
of sovereigns and thought it was weird,
and also proved sad. A boat had gone
down in 1879, and when I looked at
the records, I discovered the ship was
floundering on rocks, and the carpenter
said to the ship’s boy, who was 14, to go
below and get the bag with his money in.
“The boy went below, came up but got
swept off the boat by a big wave. His
body was found a few days later, and the
money he was carrying was scattered on
the sea bed some distance from the ship.
There are stories behind every wreck.”
Next edition: Martin’s amazing deep
sea diving trips, and more tales of wrecks
around the Island.
www.visitilife.com

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