Martin Woodward on Diving

Lisa: About how many wrecks do you think we have around the Island?

Oh, over 2000 really.

Lisa: And how many have you dived on?

Ha ha, that’s a common question. I’ve never counted them up, but the estimate that I’ve come up with is probably around 700 I think, a lot, because I’ve been doing it for 50 years so I’ve dived a lot of wrecks and I’ve found a lot of uncharted wrecks that have never been found before which is always a thrill because you never know what you’re going to find.

It’s a very complicated procedure because obviously everything you find, I’m really strict on that, is that you declare everything because obviously me having my own Museum, anything I put in there, the whole point of it is for other people to see it.

It’s not about the monetary value, it’s the fact that it’s out local heritage and people should be able to see it and understand it and be educated by it.

But, coming back to the declaration thing, you have to declare everything because it’s the way to record it in one way, but also it’s a way to legalise it in another.

Everything I’ve got in the Museum has gone through the system. I’ve got files and files and files of paperwork declarations. They probably curse me over at the Receiver of Wrecks because I even declare, you know, copper nails and things that are worthless because if you retrieve them, theoretically you should declare them. It’s a long process.