In August 2001, Chris and Georgina Baker, Graeme “Spotty” Hastings, Chris Dorrell and I travelled to Cornwall for three days boat diving with Porthkerris Dive Centre. Unfortunately for me I had caught a cold and so was unable to dive on our first day. On the second day I was fit enough to do a shore dive with a local diver, Bob Daley. This dive site was Drawna Rocks in Porthkerris Cove. Bob and I entered the water at the eastern edge of the shore and made our way in 7 metres visibility to a passage between a small rock close to the shore and some larger rocks. Finning through kelp fronds, I saw rock cooks, corkwing wrasse, goldsinnies, wrasse, a few crabs, two common cuttlefish, common prawns and spiny squat lobsters. I had little trouble equalising and felt confident that I would be fit enough to go boat diving the next day.

And so on the third day of our trip, with Chris B. babysitting, I joined Georgina, Spotty and Chris D. for a day aboard Celtic Cat. Built in 2001, the Celtic Cat is a large and fast catamaran. Our first dive site was The Manacles, an offshore reef over one mile square. Not wishing to alarm Spotty, we felt it best not to tell him that 112 ships have sunk on the reef. The most popular local wreck is the 7,000 ton liner S.S. Mohegan which now lies on the easternmost edge of The Manacles at a depth of 22 metres. We planned a drift dive to culminate at this large wreck. Chris D. & I buddied up leaving Georgina lumbered with Spotty. Dropping down from the surface of the sea, we drifted in visibility of 5 metres at one point crossing a ridge only 5 metres below the surface. During this drift dive I saw corkwing wrasse, goldsinnies and rock cooks. After about 20 minutes we reached the wreck. She had set sail from London on 13 October 1898 bound for New York. Aboard were 97 crew and a further 6 men to handle cargo expected on the return trip. 53 first-class passengers were picked up at Tilbury. As they sat down to dinner the next evening S.S. Mohegan headed straight for The Manacles. The Coastguard tried to alert the vessel by sending up warning rockets but it was too late. Within 15 minutes of the inevitable collision, she had sunk with the loss of 106 lives.

Our second dive of the day was another wreck. The wreck of the Hera is located just north of Gull Rock, east of Falmouth. The Hera was a four-masted 280 foot steel barque built in Germany and which sank when she struck the Whelps reef on 1st February 1913. Chris D. was again my buddy as we explored this wreck in visibility of 8 metres. We saw common dragonet, blackface blenny, corkwing wrasse, goldsinnies, rock cooks, wrasse, bibs, pollock and all too briefly, a conger eel. A very enjoyable dive which concluded my short stay in Cornwall.