Rovarch - Marine Archaeology & Exploration

06/03/2026

Yesterday Thursday I was selected to attend as a guest to celebrate 125 years of the Carnegie Trust for Universities, held in the Dovecote Studios, Infirmary Street Edinburgh. I was one of 10 Carnegie Trust Alumni chosen to be highlighted. My story was shown on large TV panels. It was a good event and great to speak to the people that gave the grants and those who benefited from them. I took my youngest son Harris with me as he will be looking for grants in the future for his career journey.

01/01/2026

Happy New Year everyone. Slainte.

18/12/2025

To all my friends and colleagues at home and world wide, have a safe and wonderful Christmas.

12/09/2025

168 years ago, tonight, the 12th September 1857, about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in 2195m of water the SS Central America was caught up in a Category 2 Hurricane. This American side-wheel steamer built in 1852 was owned by and operated by the United States Mail Steamship Company and sailed between Panama and New York on the last leg of a regular route from San Francisco to New York during the American Gold Rush.
Winds and heavy seas had shredded her sails, she was taking on water, and her boiler could no longer maintain fire. Steam pressure had dropped, shutting down both the pumps and the paddle wheels stopped. The ship was now on the verge of foundering. Commander Herndon managed to hail a passing ship, the brig Marine. 100 passengers, mostly woman and children were safely transferred. A bucket brigade of passengers and crew fought a losing battle against the rising water. Conditions worsened and at 8pm the SS Central America with 425 people sank beneath the waves.

I had the privilege of being part of a team that did the final gold recovery and artefact recovery from the wreck. I thank Robert Evans and his team for the privilege to spend 5 months working on a truly amazing shipwreck. We made some amazing discoveries and recovered many amazing artefacts that represented life in Gold Rush America.
Known as ‘the ship of gold’, tonight I take a moment to remember the loss of those who did not survive that fateful night.

03/09/2025

Today is Merchant Navy Day—a time to honour the men and women who kept our island nation running during war and peace, bravely facing the dangers of the sea. The photo montage shows my late father a Marconi Radio Officer on the SS City of Edinburgh, and myself a Deck Officer on the TSS City of Edinburgh at a similar age. Remarkably, we both served on ships with the same name and visited many of the same ports. Fifty-two years after joining my first ship, I am now a deep-ocean marine archaeologist and salvor still working at sea. If you're near the coast or harbour today, please take a moment to remember those who served.

05/08/2025

For those that have an interest, the Titan Submersible report. I was fortunate to do my first manned sub dive on the SS Republic , 518 meters (1,700 feet) in the Atlantic Ocean, about 100 miles southeast of Savannah, Georgia, back in 2004.
https://media.defense.gov/2025/Aug/05/2003773004/-1/-1/0/SUBMERSIBLE%20TITAN%20MBI%20REPORT%20(04AUG2025).PDF

06/07/2025

A day of remembrance for me. 6th July 1998 the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster. I was on a jack up in the southern North Sea on that day. A survey friend of mine left my rig and went to the Piper Alpha and never returned. It sent a shock through all of the oil industry. Most of us who worked offshore then would have known a friend, colleagues or somebody from your town who lost their lives that day. For me years later I was privileged to be part of a team with RGIT at Dundee who designed and implemented the UKs first freefall lifeboat training courses from recommendations from the Lord Cullen report. Spare a minute or two today to remember those that lost their lives.

06/06/2025

Spare a minute or two today to remember all those who were lost and those who served in the D-Day Normandy Landings. Your bravery and sacrifice will not be forgotten. My late father served in the Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer for the whole of WWII. On this day in 1944 he was Radio Officer on the SS Alt based in Scapa Flow. His ship was used for Royal Navy radio communications. I wonder what messages he sent and received on that day.

28/05/2025

BBC 2 screened the one hour documentary, Implosion, The Titanic Sub Disaster. I am sure many on here watched it or will watch it. Very interesting. A sad event that could have been prevented.

08/05/2025

Today is the 80th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day). Please take a few moments to remember all those who lost their lives and the remaining veterans and thank them for their sacrifice and service. My late father was a British Merchant Navy Radio Officer. He served the whole of the war on many cargo ships mostly on routes down to South Africa across to South America and up to New York and Halifax and across to the UK. He even survived an Arctic Convoy. He was attacked many times and was shipwrecked once. As a designated gunner on some of the armed merchant ships he served on, he did open fire on the enemy a few times. The black pouch my dad made from a barrage balloon. He kept his documents in it, and it kept them dry when he took to the sea when abandoning his ship. His discharge book documents all the ships he served on. The letter confirms his ribbons for the Africa Star and the Atlantic Star. I am proud of my dad and what his generation had to endure. I followed my dad and served my apprenticeship as a Merchant Navy deck officer with the Ben Line.

14/04/2025

Today many will pause to remember the loss of the RMS Titanic and the crew and passengers who lost their lives. I am reminded of some words from a local of my town St Andrews, the home of golf. George Bruce (1825-1904). A local businessman, poet, naturalist, town benefactor and social reformer, He was an active town councillor who devoted a great deal of time, labour and money to his native city. He wrote these words:

"The sea is the largest cemetery, and its slumbers sleep without a monument. All other graveyards show symbols of distinction between great and small, rich and poor; but in the ocean cemetery, the king, the clown, the prince, and the peasant are alike undistinguishable." (George Bruce, St Andrews, 1884).

01/01/2025