The Reih Bleeaney Vanannan cultural award has been awarded to Adrian Corkill for over three decades’ work on the maritime history of the Isle of Man.
All but one parish on the island has a coastline.
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.
Adrian’s work has effectively brought the stories of shipwrecks in Manx waters to the surface for everyone to discover.
Over 2,000 historic shipwrecks are recorded in his database, with references and bibliography for each vessel. His research has involved newspapers, port records, crew and shipping registers, insurance and court records, Admiralty archives and burial registers.
The shipwrecks documented date from a Viking longship fleet lost off Peel in AD 1228, ships involved in the slave trade in the 1700s and 1800s, and the ship thought responsible for introducing longtails to the Calf of Man in 1781.
Adrian said: ‘I’m very happy to be able to share my research through the IOMHER and MNH. I’d like to thank all those who have helped me in this research over the past thirty years, as well as the RBV Panel for appreciating the significance of maritime history to our Island. It’s always been important to me to make sure that the fullest accounts of shipwrecks are presented. 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.’
In 2022, he offered to transfer his research freely to the national collections cared for by Manx National Heritage, to be incorporated into the Isle of Man Historic Environment Record (IOMHER) database.
Adrian’s research and dataset can now be accessed and searched by researchers worldwide at: https://isleofmanher.im/
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