Shipwrecks can earn tourist dollars

This was the message coming across at a well-attended National Trust lecture earlier this week on “Tobago’s Underwater Archaeological Heritage” at the Chamber of Commerce Building, Westmoorings.

The lecture was given by the Tobago Museum’s expert on underwater cultural heritage, Derek Chung, a dive centre owner of 25 years experience who is now compiling a registry of Trinidad and Tobago’s shipwrecks. He has located seven 20th century wrecks, three 19th century wrecks, three 18th century wrecks and remarkably three from the 17th century, the latter over three hundred years old. Six of these lie in Tobago’s waters and do not include those wrecks in Scarborough Harbour.

In concluding his lecture, Chung urged the development of heritage tourism as a viable sub sector, although warning that this activity is not a magic bullet for the country’s economic choppy waters.

National Trust interim CEO, Valerie Taylor, echoed these sentiments, saying that local shipwrecks can provide work for artists, film-makers and writers to document TT’s underwater archaeological heritage.

Among the shipwrecks highlighted by Chung was the SS Kioto, a British merchant ship sunk in 1942 by two torpedoes from German U-boat (submarine), U514, under Captain Hans Auffermann, (documented in Gaylord Kelshall’s book, “U-boats of the Caribbean”). Chung also noted the presence of the wrecks of sailing ships from the 1797 British invasion of Trinidad at which time the tiny Spanish fleet in defence — being hugely outnumbered — was scuttled by its Rear-Admiral Don Sebastian Ruiz de Apodaca.

A ship, the Pandora, now lies off Nelson Island, with its passengers of 250 indentured labourers having been saved, related Chung.

Lamenting evidence of looting of the timbers of one shipwreck, Chung sounded a general warning, “All heritage is at risk, because if it is lost it is lost forever.”