Grahame Anderson - townhall of Grootegast NL, 2001 (Abel Tasman, born Lutjegast 1603)

Http://www.abeltasman.org

Http://www.grootegast.nl

Grahame Anderson believes he has located the anchor Tasman lost from his ship just off Tasmania's coast in 1642 and he is hoping to bring it back to the surface. Tasman left an enduring mark when he visited here over 360 years ago naming much of this country and Australia. Now a 20 year search could uncover another link to the Dutch voyager.

"Recovering precious things from the seabed is a strong urge I guess and it certainly is for me," says Anderson. According to Tasman's diary, it was lost off the coast of Tasmania, an island named after the man himself. Anderson says he knows exactly where that anchor is lying there and he is aiming to salvage it."Apart from pieces of paper, there is nothing from the voyage, except this anchor," he says.

Those other pieces of paper, maps drawn by an officer on the ship, Isaac Gilsemans. Anderson believes Gilsemans was the merchant on the voyage and also the coastal illustrator. Those illustrations took Anderson to Tasmania's east coast in 1994. Using a global position system and magnetic equipment, he is certain the anchor is lying 45 metres below the surface."It's fascinating, the seabed is the depth that Tasman said it was and his journal said it was gently sloping sand and that's what's there," Anderson says.

He has been to the location twice already, failing due to technical and weather problems and he is hoping this will be third time lucky. If it is, he will then have to give it away."The Tasmanian state government said it belongs to us, it's Tasman's anchor, this is Tasmania, so that's where it will stay," he says. Anderson has however made them promise it will make a visit or two to New Zealand. He leaves for Tasmania next month.

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NEWS TASMANIA :

TAS-NEWS (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=56726)

NZ man tries for Tasman anchor again

A New Zealand man will travel to Tasmania this week as part of his decade-long quest to recover a largely forgotten artefact from one of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman's ships.

Architect and author Grahame Anderson will go to Tasmania on Saturday in his third attempt to retrieve what he believes to be part of the anchor of the Heemskerck.

Anderson's two previous attempts to retrieve the anchor, in 1997 and 2003, were hindered by bad weather and temperamental equipment, but he is hopeful it will soon be recovered.

"The word is when, not if."

The loss of the anchor at North Bay was described in an journal written during Tasman's historic voyage to Australia and New Zealand in 1642.

Using magnetic measuring devices and global positioning system data, Anderson has already detected a metal object in the area where he predicted the anchor would be, 46 metres under water.

He will spend 10 days with two divers, a maritime archaeologist and a geophysicist in his bid to retrieve the anchor.

Funding for the expedition has come from an organisation set up to commemorate the visit of the ship to Australia.

Anderson said the recovery process, which will use inflatable air bags, had been well planned to protect the anchor, as the corrosion process would begin as soon as it was moved from its position.

If the recovery mission is successful, the anchor will have to remain in Australia by law, but Anderson is hopeful a special exemption will be given for it to be exhibited in New Zealand.

He said his passion for raising the anchor was "like playing an expensive sport"."I won't stop trying."

©AAP 2005

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