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Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and Lyme Bay by Nigel Clarke
Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and Lyme Bay by Nigel Clarke
It's always nice to be in at the beginning of something new, though I doubt whether author Nigel Clarke entirely appreciates my interest in his work, The Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and Lyme Bay For Divers and Skippers.
Indeed, he wrote to me to say that he thought some of my criticisms in Diver of the first edition of his book were unfair. I think not. Even so, it is clear that Mr Clarke has taken a great deal more trouble with his research for this second edition.
This is a vastly improved booklet. Photographs are included, the number of wrecks is increased from 120 to 203, and the pagination is up from 39 to 108.
Also included are local divers' views about their 'most interesting' wreck and their 'most disliked' wreck. Top five of the most interesting list are: HMS M2, HMS Buccaneer, the Salsette, St Dunstan and Kyarra.
And top five of the most disliked are the Aeolian Sky ('tangled mess'), Pomeranian ('blown apart, silty'), Marguerite ('heap of junk'), Gibe Ham ('lots of nets and poor viz'), and, popping up again, the M2 ('too many dive boats').
However, I hope Mr Clarke will not think me unfair if once again I point out more improvements he might consider for the third edition.
He should include more detail about how ships listed were lost, and far more diving detail. Take his treatment, for example, of the Free French sub-chaser Carnelian, a good dive in Dorset waters. Mr Clarke merely notes that she foundered during a storm in1943. The loss of the Carnelian is a dramatic story that any diver should know before he or she dives her.
And they would also want to know what they will find when they reach the bottom in 32m.
Henry Kay
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Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and Lyme Bay by Nigel Clarke (Nigel J Clarke Publications, ISBN 0907683819). Softback, 108 pages, £10
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