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Recovery of second anchor from Crompton.
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Paschal Dower  Inbher Sceine Kerry SAC
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The Crompton was built in1890 by T. Royden And Sons of Liverpool. A four masted steel sailing barge of 2180 tons, her length was 278.5 ft. with a beam of 40ft and a draft of 24 ft. The ship had a crew of eleven. On 23/11/1910 the ship was sailing from Tacoma to Limerick with a cargo of grain when she hit rocks at Dromgower Point near Portmagee in Co. Kerry. The weather was calm with slack winds but foggy. Without any casualties the crew scrambled up the rocks and made off the houses of Johnny O’Sullivan and Sean More Devane where they were fed, cleaned up and shaven. The next day they were met by the Harbour Master Shanahan and brought to Caherciveen where they were put on a train to begin their long journey home.   They also had a Jack Russell terrier with them which was in pup. The dog was left behind and taken in by a local. The Crompton lasted about two years on the rocks but eventually was lost to the sea and remains badly broken at 12 to 20 metres.
The first anchor was raised in the Summer of 1971 and is displayed at Knightstown on Valentia Island. It weighs about 2.5 ton and is 12 ft. long.
The dive crew were:
Tom Shakespesre, Dublin.
Ray Rogers, Liverpool.
John Small, Liverpool.
Frank McMahon, Dublin.
Seamus O’Reilly, Belfast.
Jos Audenaerd, Antwerp.
Charles, Vermeirn Antwerp.
Assistances:
Keith Falvey, Valentia.
John O’Reilly, Cork.
Liam McMahon, Dublin.
Diving Boat:  M.V. Beal Bocht.
Skipper:Â Â Des Lavelle, Valentia.
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In October ’09 Gearoid Moran a Leading Diver with Inbher Sceine Kerry SAC and living in Portmagee took on the project of raising the second anchor from The Crompton, which was at 18 metres deep. The first dive was to devise a plan of what was required to lift the anchor weighing 2.5 tons, which would later be displayed in the village. The divers were Gearoid Moran, Nigel Kelleher. Carol Devlin and Sue Weatherill.
It was decided to bring down an assortment of 40 gallon plastic barrels and fill them with air at the bottom. Garoid along with Ray Garavan also a Leading Diver with Inbher Sceine SAC and local man Mike Golden as cox went to the site and dropped some dive bottles, various ropes and a crowbar to the anchor. Ten 40-Gallon drums were filled with water and sunk to the bottom. The drums were tied to the anchor, filled with air which displaced the water but the anchor did not move as one of the flukes was wedged under rock.
On to plan B. Three 2-ton lift bags were hired from a company in the UK. When the lift bags arrived Garoid and Paschal Dower another club member along with Mike the cox motored to the site confident that the lift bags would work.  More tanks of air and the three lifting bags were dropped to the anchor. We also dropped some heavy chain, light chain and an assortment of shackles. The heavy chain was wrapped in a figure of eight around the flukes and through the hole at the top of the anchor and shackled together. The three 2 ton bags were then shackled onto the chain and filled with air and the anchor still would not lift. Six ton of lifting power and not a budge from the anchor. It was obvious that the rock was holding the anchor from lifting. As our dive time was almost up we allowed some air out of the bags, ascended to the surface and did a long safety stop. Not much talk going back to Portmagee in the boat. Garoid did not get a lot of sleep that night thinking that if the anchor lifted during the night, bags worth about £1,500 each and the anchor could be lost at sea.
On to plan C. The next evening we recruited another club member Dave Doherty for the dive. Skipper Pat Joe Murphy, Johnny Golden were on board the Skellig boat to tow the anchor back to Portmagee if we could raise it. Dave, Gearoid and Paschal descended carrying more air, two sledgehammers and an assortment of crowbars. It was decided before the dive that Paschal would start filling the bags. Gearoid and Dave would start breaking the rock. This was once again a working dive and we planned our dive time appropriately. After about 10 mins of sledging, suddenly the 2.5 ton anchor took off for the surface with the three boys finning away as it rose. After we ascended, a strong rope was attached from the anchor to the trawler and the tow to Portmagee began. When we got ashore the anchor was lifted by machine and put into fresh water for curing. The curing will take about 12 months and the anchor will be displayed in Portmagee.
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Dive crew were:
Gearoid Moran, Portmagee.
Paschal Dower, Killarney.
Dave Doherty, Killarney.
Ray Garavan, Athlone.
Nigel Kelleher, Tralee.
Carol Devlin, Cork.
Sue Weatherill, Portmagee.
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Boat Crew were:
Mike Golden, The Glen.
Pat Joe Murphy, Poermagee.
Johnny Golden, Portmagee.
MichaelO’Connell, Portmagee.