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Shipwrecks of the Channel Islands by John Ovenden and David Shayer
Shipwrecks of the Channel Islands by John Ovenden and David Shayer
A very pretty example of the expensive books that we used to describe as 'coffee-table' - that was my first impression of the heavily illustrated, glossy-paged Shipwrecks of the Channel Islands, by John Ovenden and David Shayer.
On more detailed examination, it became clear that these 202 A4-size pages were not aimed at those divers who expect their books to detail hundreds of wrecks for their diving holidays. That guide book to the Channel Islands remains to be written.
Of course, this book will be of great interest to wreck-divers. There are only 23 wrecks in the book, two of which, the Guernsey Roman ship raised from the harbour of St Peter Port and the Alderney Elizabethan ship, are of great archaeological importance.
Two other ships covered still have divers looking for them. These are important too. The Vierge de Bon Port was laden with gold and jewels when sunk in 1666 within four miles of Guernsey's west coast, and the second was the Royal Navy's flagship Victory (the one before Nelson's) and is a 100-gun first-rate, sunk on the Casquets in 1744.
Heading the search for this Victory is the famed Isle of Wight diver and archaeologist Martin Woodward, whose priority wreck list it tops.
Most of the other wrecks include interesting diving detail, but the real pleasure comes from the years of research which have gone into this book.
The extensive reports on wartime casualties such as USS PT509, sunk in 1944, and HMS Charybdis and HMS Limbourne, both lost in 1943 off the Brittany coast some 50 miles from the Channel Islands, are classic examples of research brought to life by good writing. Superb underwater pictures are another bonus. This is the first of a planned series.
Kendall McDonald
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Shipwrecks of the Channel Islands by John Ovenden and David Shayer (Underwater Video Services, ISBN 0954395506). Hardback, 202pp, £29
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