It is difficult to imagine what it was like to round the Horn in either direction and be battered and bruised and either come limping into Stanley or be smashed against some reef or cliff face. In fact on many occasions the ship had disappeared beneath the South Atlantic waters before rescue was able to arrive.

Although Stanley went through a boom time the port became so expensive that shipping masters would try to avoid it.

The opening of the Panama Canal and the demise of the sail towards steam marked the end of the ship repair era and the number of ships visiting fell away.

Today the Falklands has been revitalised and is a key port of call for Antarctic expedition ships, a large number of cruise liners, a bas4 for the Royal Navy and an important fishing area for ships of many nationalities. What the future has in store is anyone's guess, but a future offshore oil industry could provide another key factor in the development of the Maritime History of the islands.

Besides Stanley, there are a number of hulks in the Camp that had also put back storm damaged from Cape Horn and were also later condemned. Notable among these are the VICAR OF BRAY at Goose Green, the CRAIGE LEE at Bull Point and the GLENGOWAN at New Island.

The main task of the Wreck Survey Group is to :-

1. Locate the numerous shipwrecks that have been lost
around the Falklands coastline.

2. Carry out a visual and photographic survey of each shipwreck and site.

3. Establish the historical importance (locally and world wide of each wreck.

4. Record all information for the production of a definitive book entitled 'Shipwrecks Around the Falkland Islands'.

5. Prevent the systematic destruction of our Marine Heritage by Souvenir hunters.

To date we have located 16 shipwrecks and established 4 sites that have a protection order on them. All competent divers military and civilian are welcome to join the W.S.G. and participate in the survey work

1. One of the biggest problems with shipwrecks around the world is that many of them have been stripped clean by profiteers and souvenir hunters and much of their historical wealth and knowledge has been lost.

It is mainly due to my commitment to preserving the shipwrecks and wreck sites and the action of the W.S.G. that this aspect of plundering has not occurred in the Falklands.

2. We have located a number of shipwrecks and have established 4 Protective Areas which need some extensive survey work carried out to fully assess their historical importance not only with respect to the Falklands Maritime History, but to those historians genuinely interested in Marine Archaeology.

3. Some of the shipwrecks that have been located are as follows:
Three on the Billy Rock including the ORAVIA.
CONCORDIA
G.F.HAENDAL
JOHN R. KELLY
ROBERT FULTON
MALVINA
PERSERVERANCE
LUIGRAY ( LUIGI - S)
CONQUIMBANA
HELEN A. MILLER
GOVENORN
URANIE

Seven of these wrecks have been recorded on Hi-8 Video and now that I have purchased a new digital camera system, it is hoped to take some better still photographs of each wreck site.

4. Local divers are involved in this work and one or two of the civilian contractors and military personnel from M.P.A. have shown an interest in our work and have dived with us.

5. There is some potential with regards Adventure Diving in the Falklands and we should be able to designate areas that are suitable for this type of Tourism.

6. Finally I have written two articles about the work of W.S.G., one in a prominent U.K. Diver magazine and also an article for the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

Future Work

Since 1970 I have been diving around the islands and through the Wreck Survey Group (W.S.G.) we have located and dived on over sixteen wreck sites.

With the new 14m Catamaran, we will now be able to travel further afield in comfort and safely dive on some sites that have never been seen by man.