The rocky coast of Divers’ Bay

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Part of The Crown Beneath the Waves Project (2026)

The Last Passing
Divers’ Bay Lighthouse Tradition

Among the stories told by the keepers of Divers’ Bay was one known simply as The Last Passing.

It held that on the night before the great storm of 1682, a large ship was seen standing off the southern coast, laboring in heavy seas and failing to make the northern approach to Brighthaven. The vessel was never positively identified, and no wreckage was found nearby. When a cannon later believed to belong to the Trinco was recovered near the continent, the story was dismissed as misremembered or mistaken.

The tale survived only as local lore, repeated by lighthouse keepers as a warning about the currents and sudden weather of Divers’ Bay.

One version, remembered by later generations, ended simply:

“She passed once, trying for home. The storm took her before morning.”

Only after the discovery of the wreck in the late twentieth century did the story gain new meaning, and the old name — The Last Passing — enter the island’s written history.