27th June 2010
The aim of the day’s diving was to explore a cannon site off the Farne Islands . Usually this site is best dived on slack water. With an ebbing tide decreasing at the approach of slack water, Richard and John entered the water first and explored the NE area of the reef.
The area is generally heavily covered in a thick layer of kelp and no obvious debris from the wreck was found on this particular dive. Moving around the reef however, the two diver’s eventually encountered a nice little picturesque wall covered in marine life which dropped down to 14 metres with the added bonus of numerous inquisitive young seals who repeatedly tugged at their fins and followed the pairs progress around the reef.
Andy and Fiona concentrated their dive efforts on the main area of the cannon site. Again this area is quite shallow with the cannons being quite difficult to locate under the heavy canopy of kelp that covers this area.
A total of eleven cannon however, plus a number of concentrations of cannon balls were eventually located scattered across the site, making for a fascinating dive back into the history of shipwrecks on the Farnes.
Who knows what other stories lay behind this mystery wreck site…?
