We recently received a request re the supply of a photograph that featured on the front page of The Advertiser about 20 years ago, around 1995. I happened to have kept a copy of the newspaper on file for such occasions.
This is the photograph in question: –
Three divers and the bell from the Sir Wilfred Lawson
(Photo courtesy of Greg Adams, The Advertiser & DEWNR)
It features three divers along with the bell from the wreck of the Sir Wilfred Lawson. (According to my article titled “The Wrecks of the “Kona” And “Sir Wilfred Lawson” in our May 1999 newsletter, the Sir Wilfred Lawson was wrecked on Gilbert Reef at Port Moorowie on 20th March 1908. She was a 22m-long wooden, 2-masted ketch built in 1878.)
Although I was able to scan the photo on the front page of The Advertiser (circa 1995), the results weren’t the best. I contacted Greg Adams, the photographer, via Facebook and enlisted his help in acquiring a better photo. Greg tried in vain to find the negative for the (pre-digital) photo. He also tried to get a copy of the photo from The Advertiser (his former employer).
A bit of a story about the photo developed (no pun intended) as Greg revealed that four people involved in the recovery of the bell of the Sir Wilfred Lawson, apart from Kim Bray, were Cosmos Coroneos, Stuart Moody, Bill Jeffery and Terry Arnott.
I was able to contact Bill Jeffery (in Guam) via Facebook to seek his assistance, but I ended up providing him with a copy of the photo instead.
I eventually acquired a high resolution version of the photo through DEWNR, but so too did the person making the initial enquiry to us.
It turned out that the three divers in the photo were Cosmos Coroneos, Stuart Moody and Terry Arnott. Both Bill Jeffery & Kim Bray were up in the boat that was being used on the day. Greg Adams was, of course, behind the camera lens.
Terry Arnott died in 2007, aged 53, whilst he was SA’s Senior Maritime Heritage Officer. Stuart Moody is the author of the book “Port Victoria’s ships & shipwrecks”. Cosmos Coroneos is now the Director for Cosmos Archaeology . Bill Jeffery is now in Guam. I still have a 2008 newspaper report stating that the Sir Wilfred Lawson’s bell had been placed in the Edithburgh Museum.