It was literally diving into our history, says Armada expert

A DIVER who explored a Spanish Armada wreck off the Irish coastline and helped shed new light on one of history’s turning points says it was worth all the effort and expense.

Dave Atherton conducted underwater archaeology on one of the 16th-century invasion force vessels sunk off the coast of Donegal, a disaster for Europe’s superpower at the time which heralded the rise of the British empire.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the remains of La Trinidad Valencera in 1971; its bronze cannon has pride of place at the Tower Museum in Derry city as part of a new exhibition.

The Armada galleon sank in 1588 off Kinnagoe Bay in northeastern Co. Donegal. Mr Atherton was not among those from the City of Derry Sub Aqua Club who first discovered the wreck, but he became a club member some time later and helped with the archaeology work.

He recalled: ‘It was an excavation conducted to the same standard as a land excavation... It is like volunteering for a land excavation, it is just that you are wearing diving gear.’

He said the process was a great pleasure over many years.

‘You felt you were doing something worthwhile,’ Mr Atherton added.

He dived the site until excavation stopped in 1983 and subsequently wrote a book about the discovery. La Trinidad Valencera was stranded on a sandy sea floor, and as a result many of its more delicate materials, such as Ming Dynasty ceramics from China, were preserved.

The Tower Museum’s digitised exhibition – An Armada Shipwreck: La Trinidad Valencera – can be viewed at towermuseumcollections.com.