Podcast: wreck of the London
Meet the man who recovers 350-year old artefacts in a shipping lane in zero visibility
By some estimates there are approximately 40,000 shipwrecks lying on the seabed around Great Britain. Many were lost in wars, and many more struck rocks or foundered in storms, each one representing financial loss and an all-too-often human tragedy.
In this episode we hear that account of a diver who knows one shipwreck better than most: a ship called the London. She sank in the Thames estuary almost 350 years ago during the turbulent period called the ‘Interregnum’, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of Britain between the reigns of the executed Charles 1, and the return of Charles II from exile in the Netherlands.
I spoke to trustee Steve Ellis about what it’s like diving in the river Thames, and asked him what kind of ship was the London, and what do we know about her construction?
Running time: 27 mins
Image gallery – all pictures courtesy of/copyright Steve Ellis
To see more images, visit www.thelondonshipwrecktrust.co.uk
Book review – Shipwrecks of the Dover Straits
World’s busiest shipping lane is a mecca for scuba divers
Book review – Scuba Diving Operational Risk Management
Risk is something all diving agencies train divers to plan for every time they enter the water
