Shipwreck researcher given top cultural award

A researcher who has dedicated more than three decades to bringing the stories of shipwrecks in Manx waters “to the surface for everyone to discover” has been given the island’s highest cultural award.

Adrian Corkill was awarded the Reih Bleeaney Vanannan for compiling a database documenting more than 2,000 historical shipwrecks.

In 2022 he transferred the database, which contains more than a million words, to the Manx National Heritage (MNH) collections, making it publicly available.

Mr Corkill said it was “a legacy I’m very pleased and proud can be taken forward by others in the future”.

The wrecks included a Viking longship lost in AD 1228, the 1787 herring fleet disaster, and the loss of HMS Racehorse off Langness, which was thought to have been a catalyst for the founding of the RNLI.

That research is now available online as part of MNH's Isle of Man Historic Environment Record.

'Diligent research'

The Reih Bleeaney Vanannan, also known as Manannan’s Choice of the Year, is given to people who work to promote and support an aspect of Manx culture and recipients are chosen by a panel of organisations.

Ruth Keggin of Culture Vannin said: “Although most of the shipwrecks documented no longer have a physical trace on the seabed, the lives of over 3,000 people known to have been lost around the Isle of Man are recorded and not forgotten thanks to the diligent research of Adrian Corkill.

“It is most fitting that an award named after the sea god Manannan goes to someone that has spent so much time in the sea and working on the archives that it has inspired.”

Adrian Corkill (right) was presented with the award by Jonathan Hall of Manx National Heritage

Thanking the panel for “appreciating the significance of maritime history to our island”, Mr Corkill said he was “very happy to be able to share my research”.

“It’s always been important to me to make sure that the fullest accounts of shipwrecks are presented,” he said.

“Thousands of lives have been lost in the sea around our nation, and hopefully my Shipwrecks of the Isle of Man project can help at least some of those people be remembered.”