Shipwrecks – there’s an app for that

Hampshire archaeologists have created a mobile phone app listing shipwreck sites around the Isle of Wight.

The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology (HWTMA) mapped sites around the western end of the island. The ‘Sunken Secrets’ app uses the Wikitude map facility to mark out the locations.

Archaeologists aren’t a cash-rich lot as you can imagine, so lucky then that lottery funding was provided. The Trust hopes the free-to-download app is just one of many new techniques it can use to make underwater sites known to the public.

Launch the app on a Smart Phone and the user can instantly see where a shipwreck or submerged landscape is, and access information about it.

As well as Wikitude, the Sunken Secrets project has produced an online interactive map of sites. And there’s also a downloadable podcast and a full-colour 25 page booklet that is available in local retailers and online.

HWTMA Project Officer Christin Heamagi said: “This is a wonderful way for people to explore underwater heritage through modern media.

“With Wikitude they can also stand on the coast and, by pointing their phone out to sea, see where a shipwreck is and instantly access information online.”