Tag Archives: Loch Laxford

Loch Laxford

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The SAMPHIRE team had reports of two previously unrecorded wrecks in Loch Laxford. One of these is reported to be a slate wreck. Local divers have reported seeing the outline of a ship with its timbers projecting from the sand between two of the islands in the loch. The second wreck lies at the north side of the loch and we were able to find the sandy gully in which it lies. There are a variety of artefacts in this gully, including lead scuppers, a large anchor, bottles and machinery. As well as the images and video in this post, you can see our blog from the day we surveyed the location.

There have been few wrecks recorded as lost in Loch Laxford and these include the Phoenix  the Helena  and the Charlotte Mackenzie.

Equipment

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No dive survey can be undertaken without a serious amount of kit. This blog entry will show some of the equipment we have used for this year’s SAMPHIRE survey.

SAMPHIRE Principal Investigator Dr. Jonathan Benjamin on duty as dive supervisor in the wheelhouse of the MV Nimrod. Our communications system allows us to maintain a continuous two-way verbal contact with divers in the water.

The divers wear full-face masks allowing them to speak to the dive supervisor and also carry cameras, buoys, scales and other equipment to record anything they find. It is vital to check over all of the equipment before making the dive. Here the volunteers and archaeologists kit up with help from the tenders while the underwater camera is double-checked ahead of a dive in Loch Laxford.

The remote location of the dive sites also meant that it was necessary to bring our own compressor. Unfortunately the noise did not drive off the midges!

 

Loch Laxford – 2nd August 2013

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Volunteer and WA Coastal & Marine divers preparing to make a dive this week from the Kinlochbervie boat MV Nimrod

Local knowledge has been the key to Project SAMPHIRE. All of the information gathered for the project has been shared with us by the maritime communities of NW Scotland. We were very fortunate this week to be joined on the dive vessel and underwater by volunteers. Many of the volunteers have spent thousands of hours on or under the water for work and pleasure and have an unrivalled knowledge of the seabed. We are slowly building bridges with these communities and it is clear that there is a huge potential for enhancing our knowledge and appreciation of our seabed and Scotland’s underwater cultural heritage.

An anchor on the seabed at Loch Laxford

We have undertaken several dives on this site in Loch laxford during the last few days and have taken accurate GPS coordinates of the site location. There are only a handful of recorded losses in this area and we are optimistic about making an identification. This image shows an anchor lying in a gully at around 20 metres depth.

WA Coastal & Marine diver John McCarthy encounters a jellyfish loitering near a reported wreck site near Kinlochbervie

We’ve enjoyed meeting some of the local inhabitants of the area over the last week of dive surveys!

Loch Laxford – 1st August 2013

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Divers pinpointing other wreck sites

Divers pinpointing other wreck sites

For the past two days the SAMPHIRE team has been diving in Loch Laxford, south of Kinlochbervie. We are diving alongside local divers to search for the remains of two unrecorded shipwrecks. We first heard of these wrecks during our community outreach trip earlier this summer. We have also had the opportunity to spend more time with the divers going over maps to pinpoint other wreck sites for future survey.