Yesterday the SAMPHIRE team travelled to Great Cumbrae, one of the inhabited islands in the Firth of Clyde. The main town on Great Cumbrae is the port of Millport. Millport has a distinguished history of marine science, dating back to 1897 when Sir John Murray, considered the father of modern oceanography by many, established the Millport Marine Biological Station. Today, the station is still in operation though under different auspices. It has recently been reborn as the Field Studies Council Millport Field Station, and is still dedicated to promoting and teaching marine research and marine sciences. Dr. Philip Cowrie of FSC Millport gave us a warm welcome and discussed several shipwreck sites in the region that are known to the research staff.

Following our visit to Millport we stopped into C&C Marine Services Dive Centre in the Largs Marina where we addedx more potential sites to our list. The final stop of the day was at the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats. Today we’ll be heading south from Ayr to Stranraer.