Huddersfield diver Sean Ryan finds buried treasure

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HE has been working in the murky seas around Britain’s coast for 25 years.

But now commercial diver Sean Ryan, of Huddersfield, has struck gold – quite literally!

The 45-year-old from Crosland Moor has found a hoard of buried treasure.

Okay, it may not be a rotting wooden chest full of gold doubloons and goblets.

But the haul of coins, cutlery and medals he uncovered 120 metres down on the sea bed of the English Channel is worth a few thousand pounds.

And it brought a touch of excitement to the daily life of Sean, who is working on a seabed exploration project for an oil company.



Some of the coins and cutlery found by diver Sean Ryan“I have been working as a commercial diver for 25 years and never found anything like this before.

“I was once diving off Cornwall and found a wrecked ship, and I was able to salvage an old brass porthole which looks pretty good mounted. But the find off Dover was something else.

“It’s not a fantastic haul but it certainly cheered me up.

“I have been working in the seas for many years and never found anything like this.

“I am doing some survey work for an oil company about plans for a possible terminal near Dover and was about 120 metres down. Conditions were not too bad and I found a few coins on the seabed and then the remains of a chest.

Some of the coins he brought to the surface are thought to be Victorian, while other material salvaged includes several gold rings, brooches and pins.

Intriguingly, there was also a medal inscribed to the Yorkshire Riflemen, who were predecessors of the Prince of Wale’s Own regiment of Yorkshire, now part of the Yorkshire Regiment.

“It was a wonderful moment” said Sean, of Crosland Moor.


“I have been told I can keep the things I have found but they are not apparently worth a great deal.

“If there is a museum or a collector who would like to have them, they can have them for nothing.

“It was just the thrill of finding something that could have been lost so many years ago”.

Sean has done some research with historians in Dover and believes the jewellery and coins could have come from one of the many ships that sank in the approaches to the port during World War I.

He said there were a number of ammunition rounds also on the seabed but no indication of a wrecked ship itself.