REPORTS THAT SEVERAL items were stolen from the wreck of the Tall Ship Astrid have turned out to be untrue.

A group of divers from Ocean Addicts, Sub Sea Marine and Blue Ocean carried out a dive on the wreck close to Kinsale Harbour yesterday, and recovered the ship’s bell, compass and wooden wheel.

There were numerous reports last week that the items had been stolen in the wake of the Dutch training vessel’s sinking over two weeks ago. However, no complaint of the theft was ever made to gardaí.

“Yes, I can confirm the bell, the wheel and the compass were all recovered,” Graham Ferguson of the Kinsale-based Ocean Addicts told TheJournal.ie last night. He added:

The items were all turned over to the Revenue Commissioners in their capacity as Receiver of Wreck afterwards.

The dive was carried out with the cooperation of the coast guard, who have been in close contact with the 95-year-old vessel’s insurers over the last two weeks.

All aboard were rescued in a multi-agency operation after the craft’s engine failed and she hit rocks on 24 July.

Read: Plan for salvage of Tall Ship Astrid “nearing completion” >