Divers Warned Not to Disturb Key Wreck Sites Off Northern Ireland’s North Coast

15th August 2021

Afloat.ie Team

Painting at the Ulster Museum that depicts the sinking of La Girona in October 1588 Credit: Wikimedia

Shipwreck divers have been warned not to disturb two protected sites off Northern Ireland’s North Coast, as the Newry Times reports.

Wreck diving has become a popular pastime this summer due to prolonged periods of sunshine and calm seas.

But suspected diving activity at a restricted site near Portballintrae has prompted an advisory to anyone tempted to explore Northern Ireland’s shipwrecks.

Divers are reminded that access to the wreck of La Girona, a Spanish Armada warship sunk more than 430 years ago, is restricted to licensed dives only on threat of prosecution.

Meanwhile, explorers of the HMS Drake, a WW1 cruiser sunk by a German U-boat in Rathlin Bay in 1917, may not remove artefacts from the wreck without prior consent. The Newry Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Diving, Northern Ireland Waters

Published in Diving

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