Divers hand over Asgard II artefacts

Earlier this month the six-strong technical diving team raised the wheel, compass and bell from the 27m-long brigantine.

It lies in 83m of water, on a sandy part of the Bay of Biscay’s Continental Shelf.

The finds were reported to Ireland’s Receiver of Wreck and arrangements were made to hand them over this week to Coiste an Asgard.

The group operated Asgard II on behalf of the Government, as Ireland’s national sail training organisation.

The diving expedition was funded through sponsorship raised by Capt Gerry Burns, a former master of the ship.

Burns has told The Irish Times that he hopes the raised artefacts will be offered to the National Maritime Museum in memory of the ship's long and successsful career.

Asgard II was commissioned in 1981 by the Irish state and sank in September 2008 after springing a serious leak.

All 5 crew and 20 trainees abandoned successfully.

Surveys have revealed damage to the timber hull which suggests that the ship could have hit an unidentified object, such as a lost cargo ship container.