Shadows of a distant past

An exploration of ship wreckages off the unforgiving southern coast

There are an estimated 250,000 shipwrecks around the British Coast. Cornwall and the surrounding southern coastline are notoriously unforgiving to weary marine travelers with over 6000 unfortunate tragedies over the years. This project will uncover the shipwrecks of past and recent times, showing what reminants of these once great ships are left after decades of abuse from the unrelentless ocean. From World War 2 ships, to container ships that caused unreversable damage, to the surrounding ecosystem, or stories of love and freedom of people escaping the monotonies of daily life to seek a simpler life on the Cornish coastline. Through these photographs I hope to transport the viewer back in time to witness the stories of how these ships ended up where they did. To show the true scale of these wrecks, I will be using the latest in aerial imaging technology: drones. These allow me to get to places that would be seemingly impossible usually, to get a closer look than ever before on the wrecks. This unique aerial perspective is what I hope will be eyecatching with this project. The research for this project was the most difficult part and in total it took about 100 hours of deep diving through the internet archives along with talking with experts in this field to determine which sites were still visible. Many of the shipwrecks of past times have unfortunately been lost forever into the past. Even these wrecks that are still visible will be completely taken by the sea in 50 years, to be lost but not forgotten. For now they serve as a painful reminder of the respect we should all give to the sea and how it can snap away everything you’ve ever known in an instant, without judgement or remorse.