Diver's unusual Facebook purchase is a bit of a wreck

Adrian Collis speaks to diving enthusiast Dom Robinson about buying his very own First World War shipwreck off the coast of Cornwall via an online advert

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A DIVER who bought a shipwreck from the First World War for £300 on Facebook Marketplace said he did it because he “fancied owning one”.

Dom Robinson, 53, first discovered a passion for exploring shipwrecks as a child and has been diving for more than 40 years.

He has identified many wrecks over the years and says he loves the history that goes with them.

In January he came across an advert on Facebook Marketplace for the SS Almond Branch, lying on the seabed off Dodman Point, near Gorran Haven.

After some haggling he bought her for £300 before diving down to explore his new purchase.

The wreck is in Dom's name, but most of the valuable materials he might once have been able to salvage and sell are long gone.

Dom, a project manager from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said: "Even though I own the shipwreck, there's nothing to stop anybody diving it. The Government stopped selling shipwrecks 20-odd years ago, but I always quite fancied owning one.

"I was like, 'Bingo; this is my opportunity to own a shipwreck!"