Is She, or Isn’t She?

Whilst this was the catchphrase from a woman’s deoderant advert from the early 1980s, it has a much greater local relevance, and relates to an ongoing maritime saga that’s happening just off our immediate coastline in Pevensey Bay.

The ‘She’ in question is the HMS Resolution (known to have foundered in Pevensey Bay during the Great Storm of 1703), or could it be a Dutch Warship (lost during the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690)…

The mystery deepens…

The story started in April 2005 when 3 local scuba divers were diving to free some snagged lobster pots, stuck in Norman’s Bay.

What they discovered was to change their lives, and is likely to be the topic of many a new chapter in the maritime history books.

Paul Stratford, one of the divers has led the subsequent investigation into this previously undiscovered wreck of a wooden ship surrounded by at least 45 iron guns (cannons).

His unrelenting passion for this has led to him becoming the official licensee for the wreck, as he deals with the many diverse organisations in an attempt to get to the bottom of this fascinating story.

His progress so far is charted on the Resolution Project website which I highly recommend  (it is also featured as a ‘related link’ from this blog’s home page).

For 2007, Paul hopes that a number of interested divers who belong to Planet Divers Dive Club  will go through the appropriate Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) courses to become proficient enough to be allowed to dive on the protected wreck.

This will then be the start of a painstaking underwater survey effort to sift through the evidence and hopefully get to the point of being able to put a proper name to a maritime conundrum.

I for one hope to be one of the lucky divers, and I’ll report back as soon as there is something to tell ;-)

Let me know what you think,

Wishing you health, success and happiness in everything you do,

Jon