Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2015 | Page 13

INTERVIEW

Portsmouth Dockyard. In the end it was
found purely by accident a few years ago.
It was built in 1737 and was the finest
ship in the world at the time. I would loved
to have found it, but that was one that
got away. It was wrecked off the Channel
Islands in 1744, north of Alderney, and was
eventually found by an American company.
“There are a few I would still like to
find, but they are not easy because they
are way out in the English Channel. It is
a question of perseverance because the
records might be wrong and wrecks could
be 10 or 12 miles away from where they
are supposed to be. I do it for fun, and
because I like doing it; putting stuff in
the museum so people can enjoy it. If
artefacts were still tucked way on the sea
bed under five feet of sand no one would
ever see them.”
Martin opened his first museum in 1978
in Bembridge, and was there for 28 years,
before moving to Arreton Barns. He said:
“My philosophy is that as long as I can pay
wages and don’t make a loss, I just grin

"At the end of the month
you did five days of
decompression before
you returned to normal
life. But it was like any
other job to me.”

and bear it. As a one-man business with
no funding it is a struggle.”
He added with a laugh: “But we
are keeping our heads above water!
Sometimes I wish I hadn’t bothered but I don't wish that for very long. It is
gratifying that people come and see the
things I have found, and appreciate I have
been out there, found the stuff and put it
in the museum. It’s local histor