The complete story of a "Find of a Lifetime".

In the Beginning

Like all clubs, we were strapped for cash. Money was needed to replace our ailing inflatables and to buy some sets of training equipment. At a Committee Meeting someone came up with a bright idea.

During World War II Larne Lough was used as a Royal Navy mooring area for some of its vast fleet. These moorings consisted of a huge float, or buoy, anchored to the bottom via huge chains. 

After the war, rather than expend time and money lifting the moorings the Navy removed only the buoys, leaving the chain behind. As scrap these chains, we thought, might raise some much needed revenue, so the following Sunday's dive was declared a 'Club Scrap Hunting' dive. A work colleague of John Houston's (Derek Mathews) suggested a likely spot to dive. 

On 6th October 1985 two boat loads of eager divers left Ballylumford slipway and headed into the Lough. After a quick visual scan, the suggested area was selected and the anchor was thrown over the side. 

All the divers descended. Within minutes one pair (Billy Brown and Colin Boyd) surfaced shouting that they had found a cannon. This was received with the to be expected sarcasm and bawdy comments from the Cox. 

However the humour ceased instantly when another group (Davey Russell, Simon Cosbey and John Houston) surfaced exclaiming that they too had found a cannon. Due to the lack of air, bad visibility and failing February light it was decided that they would abandon the dive, take transits and report back to the rest of the Club for advice and assistance. 

That night all likely interested members were invited down to the Club Rooms where they were sworn to secrecy about what they were about to hear. Various ideas were put forward as to what was our next step and how were were going to recover the cannon before they became public knowledge. 

A handful of members volunteered to take the next day off work and armed with two boats, miles of rope and every conceivable plastic container and lifting bag, they descended on Ballylumford. At this time we still didn't know how far apart the cannon were, or if there were actually two of them. Visibility had been bad on the Sunday and there was a possibility that the same cannon had been found twice. 

Note. The exact location has never been made public. The GPS marks quoted in Underwater Ireland's "Guide to Irish Dive Sites" are incorrect. 

The Raising

Armed with a 8mm cine underwater cine camera, Randal Armstrong was the first in to capture the cannon on film before the rest stirred up the silt. On descending the shot line he saw lying on the seabed what at first looked like an old cast iron gas lamppost. Surely the boys hadn't made a mistake! 

Once beside it he knew it was a cannon for real. On reversing way from it to get its full length in the view-finder he kicked something with his fins - it was the other cannon, lying approximately 12 to 15ft away from the first. Both cannon were parallel and pointing in the same direction. Was he looking at the submerged gundeck of a ship? 

A quick scout around the immediate area revealed nothing more. By this time the recovery team (Tom Snowdon, Kenny Humphries, Davey Russell and Henry O'Neill) had descended armed with rope and lifting bags. Tom and the team put together a cradle of ropes and inflated the lifting bags. Slowly our first cannon headed for the surface. 

Our Chinook dive boat towed the cannon to the nearest beach where it took 10 of us to lift it into the boat with much puffing and panting littered with a few swear words. Of course things don't always run smoothly - the engine wouldn't start again so we had to tow it back to Ballylumford behind our Dory. Again much puffing and swearing as we unloaded it into the back of David Cunningham's horsebox where it was secured while we returned to retrieve the other cannon.

Having struggled with the first cannon, it was decided that once the second cannon was raised it would be towed behind the Dory back to Ballylumford slipway. We watched the lifting bags anxiously all the way back to the harbour. If the cannon had sunk during the tow we would have had a terrible job relocating and lifting it. 

Thys Pese

That night saw us in Davey Russell's garage constructing a freshwater bath for the cannon. This was the first time we were able to examine the cannon in decent light. They were solid bronze Elizabethan Falcons dated 1559 measuring 7ft. 8in.long with a 3in. bore, weighed in at approximately three-quarters of a ton each. 

It would appear that for most of their time on the seabed that they had been covered in silt as there was remarkably little marine growth. The Tudor Rose was as clear as day on both of them, but the inscription was clearer on one than on the other. It read in old English :- 

Elysabeth Regina 

Thomas and John Owyn 

made thys pese anno dni 1559

The Receiver

By common consent, and to keep us within the law, it was decided that Randal Armstrong should inform the Receiver of Wreck and see if the site could be designated in order to keep other divers off it. 

Word of our find made the Belfast Telegraph and our secret was blown. Then, out of the woodwork appeared a counter claim of salvage and an attempt to ban us from the site from an individual who, unknown to us, had recovered a cannon two years before if the same area. 

This cannon was earlier than ours and had Queen Mary's name on it, making it a very rare piece indeed. However, he had not reported his find and had illegally sold it in England to the Tower of London where it still resides. The reporting of our find to the Receiver and our counter claim to salvage right (plus the fact that we still were in possession on the cannon) was enough to establish our rights. 

The Museum

The Ulster Museum was an obvious choice for initial conservation to be carried out, and who knows they might even buy it at the end of the 'year and a day'. Ralph contacted them and six days after finding them, they were transported to the Museum/QUB Conservation Laboratory. 

Several visits were made during its stay with the Conservation Lab, and photographs were taken for the Belfast Telegraph. Meanwhile research was being carried out on how the cannon got there, and an extensive survey was carried out in the immediate area. 

To cut a story short, we were unable to come to any definite conclusion as to their source, and the survey proved equally fruitless, however Derek Mathews was able to throw some light on the makers of the cannon. 

The Heavies

Bad vibes were coming from the Receiver during the following months. We were concerned that he was not acting in the best interest of the club. A distinct "you'll do what I tell you" attitude was present in every conversation with the department. Time to bring in the heavies! 

Some months prior to our find, the Nan King Treasure had been auctioned off by Christie's of London - they'll do for us we thought. On contacting them they put us in touch with their solicitors Messrs. Stephenson Harwood of London. 

Ralph McBride proceeded to explain the whole saga to their whizkid Mr. Richard Olsen. The result was that they took us on-board, and immediately wrote to the Receiver putting him straight on his position and our rights. 

Instead of being treated with the 'little boy' attitude, it was 'Yes Sir, No Sir' from then on - its great the power of the legal profession! 

A Year and a Day

As the 'year and a day' slowly came to a conclusion we costed out various options as to where and how to sell the cannon. At the end of the day the Ulster Museum was really the only sensible option in order to keep the cannon in the country. The price they offered us was very near the figure that Christie's estimated they were worth, so the Ulster Museum became the proud owners of two Elizabethan Falcon Cannon. 

How much did we get? - £15,000. 

The Receiver took his cut (we also paid Derek Mathews £1000 fee) and after we had paid Christie's bill (£1,150 well spent) we were left with £11,725. The money purchased 3 RFD inflatables, trailers and engines, and the rest was invested for a rainy day. 

And the cannon? - They are in storage somewhere, unlikely to see the light of day in our lifetime due to lack of display space and money (and not in the Tower of London as stated in Underwater Ireland's "Guide to Irish Dive Sites") .

Lessons to be learnt? - Report the find and don't allow yourselves to be bullied - get proper legal representation. Be professional in your approach. Follow up the find with research. Be patient. Spend the proceeds wisely.  

Personnel involved

Billy Brown, Davey Russell, Kenny Humphries, Tom Snowdon, Simon Cosbey, John Houston, 

Colin Boyd, Henry O'Neill, Roy Reid, Derek McCall, David Cunningham, Ralph McBride and 

Randal Armstrong. 

History of Events

For those Anoraks amongst you who are interested, Click Here for a History of Events as they happened. 

End