Evita's Revenge

For most of the year, our boat Stingray, mainly takes divers out to various dive sites around Falmouth Bay. Sometimes it takes groups of people out for a wildlife watching trip, as a WiSe wildlife safe operator, we are recommended for this sort of activity. Once in a while we do survey work, towing a magnetometer or a side scan sonar tow-fish. Our latest charter was as a safety boat for a German film crew. FFP New Media GmbH were filming their latest adaptation of one of Rosamunde Pilcher's novels, "Evita's Revenge" or “Evitas Rache”in German. The films appear on ZDF, a TV channel in Germany. These films of Picher's novels are extremely popular in Germany. Rosamunde Pilcher was brought up in Cornwall, where most of her novels are based. She received a tourism award for her film's adaptations, bringing tens of thousands of German nationals to Cornwall, to view the locations used in the films. This film involved the use of a Riva Aquamarine boat, brought down from Fowey to Falmouth for a few days of filming. We were there for safety, to save the actors, should they fall out of the boat.

We turned up at 7:30 for breakfast. At 8:00 we took some of the crew, presumably the director, producer and cameraman, out for a recce of the area. I asked what they wanted for a background, houses and hotels or cliffs? They wanted to see the cliffs first and settled on the area around St Anthony's lighthouse.

We had been told that only the safety divers/lifeguards were allowed to be on our boat, so a slight change already after taking the crew out. After returning, I was asked if we could take two of the cast out with a couple of the film crew. No problem, the boat is coded for ten plus two crew. It had been decided that Stingray was going to be used for the close up shots, it was at the right sort of height as the Riva, unlike Wave Chieftan, which is much higher. Whilst we waited, a scaffold pole and some stands were placed on board, creating a bench seat. Then the big camera, batteries, lighting, sound and the crew. I had to count the crew on to make sure we weren't over loaded, we had to use Wave Chieftan as the safety boat as room was tight for the lifeguards on Stingray. We headed out, the camera was on the lead male actor, played by Francis Fulton-Smith. They said their lines, I accelerated on cue. We did it again, then again but just audio with the boat stationary. Once they were happy we went back to base. The camera position was changed and was now on the other character, played by Sam Carrack. We headed out and did the same sequence again. Back to base. The camera was moved to the Wave Chieftan, we now had the lifeguards on board. Out we headed, this time doing what we were contracted to do, staying in contact with the 'star' boat but not in shot, not always an easy thing to do. After a while we went back to base. They shot some footage on the quayside while we sat around and chatted. We were then taken for a catered lunch.

The weather played ball, the morning was overcast and dull, in the afternoon the sun shone. It was like a different day, exactly what they wanted. The camera was back on my boat, with the two lead characters, Francis Fulton-Smith and Elizabeth Lanz. The same crew as before as well as another crew member. We went out in a similar routine as the morning, lines spoken twice, back to base, camera moved, back out, same again.

All the equipment was then taken off of my boat and put on Wave Chieftan, we were back to being the safety boat. Out we went for some sunshine shooting with the two main characters in the star boat. The weather was glorious and the final scenes were shot as the sun was going down. Back to base. Everyone seemed happy.

A 12 hour day, interesting and fun. Great to see how it's all put together, handy for any other projects we may get involved with. The film is due to be shown in Germany in January or February 2014.

BBC 1 News, 11 - June - 2018. The President wreck.

Divers off Cornwall have
discovered cannons and an anchor thought to be from one of the richest
ships ever to wreck against these shores.

 

In 1684 the English East Indiaman the President came
to grief against Loe Bar, carrying down most of her crew as well as a
‘very rich lading, modestly judged of no less than a hundred thousand
pounds … with much treasure of pearl, and diamonds.’ Her loss was so
great that she was even marked on the map of Cornwall produced at this
period by the famous Dutch cartographer Van Keulen. The rediscovery of
the site thought to be this wreck opens up a whole new chapter in the
maritime history of Cornwall, linking these shores to a time when huge
fortunes were made and lost in the ‘Enterprise of the Indies.’


David Gibbins, who heads the organisation Cornwall Maritime Archaeology along with Mark Milburn, takes up the story:


“The
site was first reported by divers twenty years ago and was designated
under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Mark and I are licenced by
Historic England to monitor the wreck, but for many years it has been
covered by sand. The recent period of calm weather has allowed us to
dive off Loe Bar for the first time in months. We were thrilled to see
seven cannon and an anchor, and quickly realised that we were looking at
a new part of the site that had never before been recorded. You might
think that all the important wreck artefacts off this coast have been
found by now, but that is not the case. With every storm the sand can
shift to reveal new treasures. It was incredibly exciting to see
something that nobody has seen before.”

View of Loe Bar. Photo: David Gibbins

The
location of the wreck of the President marked on a map of Cornwall by
Van Keulen of the late 17th century. Photo: David Gibbins

The President
has a remarkably detailed backstory because a pamphlet was published
that year based on the accounts of the survivors: ‘A full ACCOUNT Of the
late Ship-wreck of the Ship called The PRESIDENT: Which was cast away in Montz-Bay in Cornwal On the 4th of February last, As it was deliver’d to HIS MAJESTY, (both in Writing and Discourse) By William Smith and John Harshfield, the only Persons that escaped in the said Wreck.’

It
tells of a desperate sea battle off the Malabar Coast of India with six
pirate ships, in which a roundshot from the President penetrated the
powder magazine of one of the pirate vessels and blew it up. Gibbins
continued:

“Cannons are common finds on the wrecks of merchant
ships from the Age of Sail, a time when most ships were armed. But its
very unusual to know that guns on a merchantmen were actually used,
especially in such a colourful action and on the very voyage on which
the ship was wrecked. It gives a special excitement to seeing these guns
for the first time underwater.”

Two cannon on the wreck. Photo: Mark Milburn

Further diving is planned at the site. To follow the team’s progress and see more photos and video, go to www.facebook.com/cornwallmaritimearchaeology.

BBC 1 SW Inside Out Lost Minesweeper Teaser

Watch the full program on BBC SW or BBC HD on November 5th 2018, 19:30 on Inside Out.

During the filming I used #lungfishdivesystems rebreathers, #bigbluelights, #northerndiverinternational drysuits, #forcefins and my trusty #sanyo HD 2000 camera with the #patima housing

Maenporth Parachute mine discovery and disposal.

While diving around
Falmouth Bay recently, looking for the old WWII degaussing field he
had seen before, Mark Milburn came across what he thought was a
possible bomb. He had seen a similar one before, which he had
reported to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit (EODU), who then
came to detonate the device. The co-ordinates were stored, there was
no way of acquiring an exact position without attaching something to
the device, with a straight line to the surface. Mr Milburn returned
with some volunteer divers, to help re-locate the suspected bomb.
They would also film, photograph and measure it. Then the images
could be shown to the EODU, in the hope they could identify it.

They waited until some
favourable weather came along. Conditions were not ideal, but the
divers descended to look for the object. The device took a while to
relocate, due to the in water visibility. Once relocated, the
remaining dive time was short, the visibility wasn't great and the
surface conditions were worsening. The dive was called off, they
would have to return.

A few days later, the
weather forecast was good, so they planned their returned. On
arrival, the surface conditions were greatly improved compared to
their last visit. Mr Milburn and his buddy, Sue Barnes, descended to
the sea bed. Within five minutes they were on the device, they
photographed and filmed the object before Mr Milburn marked the site
with a buoy. After their dive, the second buddy pair of David Gibbins
and Katrina Mace, went down, to take even more photographs. After the
dives, they all discussed what they had seen. They all believed it
was highly probable that it was a parachute mine, possibly a type GC
with it's end cap still in place. They arrived back late that
evening, so waited until the following morning to contact the
authorities.

Early Wednesday
morning, Mr Milburn called the MCA, they requested some photographs.
The MCA then passed them onto the EODU. On seeing the images, the
EODU contacted Mr Milburn and stated that it needed looking at, to
see if it was indeed a potentially dangerous device. They were
loading up and would be down within two hours.

The EODU arrived at
Maenporth Beach, the closest place the device to launch their boat.
After some starting issues, they made their way out. One of their
divers went in. We all waited to find out what the device was. Time
passed slowly on that cold afternoon. Eventually the diver came up,
the boat returned. The C.O. stated that it was in fact a parachute
mine, type GC. There was not enough daylight to continue with a
disposal, they would have to return the following morning.

On Thursday morning,
the EODU left Falmouth on their boat, followed by the RNLI, the
harbour master and the harbour pilot. The EODU sent a diver down,
while the other boats kept all other vessels at bay. On the shore at
Maenporth, several dozen people waited patiently for the detonation.
The EODU's boat moved away. A small column of water shot up, followed
a few seconds later by a short bang. Everyone looked at each other,
“was that it?” was heard echoed amongst the onlookers. Surely
not? Compared to the last detonation five years ago, this was a bit
of a damp squib. Everyone kept watching and recording. The EODU
returned to the location, a diver descended. Fifteen minutes later,
all the boats were off, that was it. The MCA told us, that the EODU
had declared that it was now safe.

Bemused about the
events, we discussed what had happened. We can only assume that the
mine came down so fast, without the parachute deploying, that it
damaged the internal working and cracked the watertight casing.
Seventy five years of salt water ingress, may have caused the
explosives to be harmless.

After the detonation Mr
Milburn said “I suppose I should now go and look for the other two
I have previously seen now”.