NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: UNK
Date: 2015 Jun 5, 22:39 +0100
Still desperately searching for old log books to answer your questions. I will find them! I remember the first dive on Association in 1983 as one of those life changing moments. Clear “viz” ( as divers say in England )about 15 meters, neap slack, so tide not too bad, depth 15-30 meters on ledges. Could still see the odd cannon not salvaged in the 1960s. Not much wreckage left above , but plenty if you dig. 2 blue sharks swam by as we dived, plus some grey seals .Plus hundreds of wreck fish. Magical.
Altogether a magical experience. It is now a “protected wreck” which means you can dive ,but not take. (back in the bad old dark ages, plenty of treasure hunters took! . Luckily, most of the gold and silver were treasure trove and remains in the museums.
I researched the whole story afterwards and therefore became hooked on cel nav,/ longitude etc. Found Hewitt’s and Letcher’s books in a Falmouth bookshop, then life descended! (Obsessed with Cel Nav etc ever since. Joy!)
NavList has kept the whole thing going in my Autumn (probably winter!) of life. Thanks for that.
Francis
From: NavList@fer3.com [mailto:NavList@fer3.com] On Behalf Of Frank Reed
Sent: 03 June 2015 19:57
To: francisupchurch@gmail.com
Subject: [NavList] Diving on the "Association" site in the Scillies
Francis,
You mentioned in your latest reply to the 'pick a book, any book' exercise that you dove on the wreck site of the "Association" in the Scillies in the 1980s. That sounds like an interesting adventure! Could you tell us what it was like? I know the site was heavily exacavated decades earlier. Was there much left to see on the bottom? Were you able to collect any simple souvenirs, even a rock from the bottom? What were the currents like there? How about visibility? Thanks.
Frank Reed
