What's it all about?
The Shipwreck Project is on a mission.
- Promoting diving and wreck research in the British Isles.
- Actively seeking like minded researchers and divers from around the globe.
- Carrying out research to identify wrecks as yet unknown.
- Searching for and identifying new wrecks.
- Raising awareness of continuing damage to wreck sites.
- Recording and investigating wreck sites, some of which will be lost forever due
to trawling dredging and natural deterioration.
- Bringing to life the stories of the ships, the men that built them, the sailors
that sailed them and remembering those that perished in them.
Primary objectives
To locate pre-twentieth century wreck sites using sidescan sonar, dive and
record. Depth range 20M plus.
Over the last twenty years we have dived several sailing ships that have so far
defied identification.
Work will continue with further diving and research.
Depth range 40M plus.
The nineties was in this part of the world the hay-day for diving new wrecks
even charted wrecks had never been dived mid-channel. On our travels we left
many wrecks unidentified. These wrecks are seldom if ever dived. We shall be
returning in an effort to identify them.
Depth range 60M plus.
Over the centuries the area between Stennis Ledges and Chesil beach has seen the
loss of literally hundreds of ships. Apart from a small, dedicated band of local
enthusiasts very little work has been done to locate and document the sites.
Depth range 15M / 30M.
During the Second World War many aircraft were lost at sea. We have discovered a
few and intend to try and locate more. In recent times we have learnt much more
about identifying various types of aircraft and the individual aircraft itself.
We may be able to provide some answers for living relatives.
Depth range 20M plus.
The battle of Portland. This is a huge undertaking to try and find evidence of
ships sunk during the first Anglo Dutch war. We have already spent much time
researching this and initial sidescan data needs to be investigated.
Depth range 50M plus.
Photograph and document the condition of wartime and modern day wrecks and carry
out a sidescan survey of each site. Depth range 15M plus.
The driving force behind the shipwreck project is Grahame Knott.
Grahame has owned and operated several charter boats in the Weymouth area,
the most well known being the Wey Chieftain.
After many years locating and diving Channel shipwrecks Grahame has become more
and more involved in the research and history behind them. Diving in Grahame's
eyes has become a little stale; the same format of a wreck and reef dive on the
popular tourist wrecks has not changed over many years. Some divers dive for
diving's sake and although there is nothing wrong with that Grahame sees diving
as the vehicle to get him where he wants to be namely a wreck and then a whole
world beyond diving exists in discovering the wrecks identity, how it got there,
who built it, who was on it, are there any survivors or relatives with a story
to tell etc. etc.
Beyond this again he sees a necessity to record, document and monitor sites many
of which are of historical importance. Grahame has set up the shipwreck project
to share his knowledge and experience with others and give them the chance to
help undertake essential research before history is lost forever.
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