Duo-Divers

Knacker Hole contains loads of blue fineds, that is to say Common Lobsters (Homarus gammarus) it really is a case of picking a hole and waiting until the monster emerges!

You can get all manner of brass raging agents, I went with a vinegar fume bath and I am more than happy with the results.

Dropping into the main gully one of the first things that you notice is the rust stained sand and then larger pieces of wreckage start to appear.

Arty-farty alert!

A shot looking up the wall of the Point in about 9m of water, the kelp which lives on the vertical face is obvious, the barnacle band not so.

Looking up at the side of the wreck you can see that plates, in this case' have fallen away or in some instances blasted to get at more valuable metal within enclosed spaces.

C - Getting it cut was a chew but I knew that it was dried after a year in the shed

The point where the gun meets the turret

Drop over to the 'hull side' of the vessel and it's still pretty messed around.

Debris all around and most unidentifiable, in this case it's a section of hull plating.

A grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) the reason loads of divers visit the islands

A valve identification plate, interestingly this one has raised lettering rather than details stamped in. This means that it must have been cast, a rather strange and expensive way to make simple ID plates!

Looking up through a hole in the bottom of the boat, the surface is about 14m away, boy it's clear!

Compare and contrast a real cannon with the claimed cannon on the Hopper!

Cascabels, trunions and the taper of the barrel!

Move a short distance from the wreck and the bottom is coated with brittle stars with arms 'waving' in the gentle current hoping to catch dinner.

Think that this is a Montagus Blenny (Coryphoblennius galerita) there were always plenty warming themselves on the steps. The fact that the seals are fed fish there and there will be 'bits' also probably attracts them!

The Sea hare (Aplysia punctata) a common enough critter around the uk coastline but we tend to get explosions of them every couple of years.

Following questions to experts they are all agreed that it was a 'porpoise' with the natural history museum going a bit further and saying 'probably' a harbour porpoise.

Keep heading North or factor in a tad of West and you will reach an area where the sea-bed is 'more stable' with larger stones, here you start getting kelp and dulse on the bottom and much more life.

Side shot all done and pre-mounting.

A common hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus), this one was a tad larger and seemed to have eggs around the rim of the shell.

Atmospheric shot of a Lions Mane Jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) come late summer there are more and more close to shore, watch out that pack quite a sting!

How on earth this lobster (Hommarus gammarus) managed to get both claws through a single hole in the pot I have no idea!

Back quarter shot all done and pre-mounting.

The cock-pit, you can see that all removeable bits have gone, that's the good old UK diver for you!