Holyhead's hidden shipwrecks,

brought ashore in AR

.

The waters off Holy Island hold dozens of shipwrecks, lost to storms, collisions and wartime torpedoes, resting up to 65 metres down where almost nobody will ever see them. Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences had mapped many of them in detail through multibeam sonar surveys, but that data was locked away in survey files. The Holy Island Landscape Partnership, part of the Isle of Anglesey County Council, wanted to turn that research into something residents and visitors would actually go out and use: engaging for children, substantial for adults, and fully bilingual in Welsh and English.

We worked with the Bangor University researchers to turn their sonar data into 3D models of the wrecks on the seabed. Users walk to real locations around Holyhead's coastline and, through their phone camera, see the wreck that lies offshore in front of them. Each point of interest tells a short story, written with the researchers and Holyhead Maritime Museum, from the Spanish cargo ship VIVAR, lost in a collision in 1876, to the ARNO MENDI, torpedoed by a German submarine in 1918, with images and narrated audio in both languages. To keep families moving along the trail, there are 40 collectables to find across maritime history, ecology, geology and the sea, plus levels, badges and AR models to place and photograph. Every screen, story and audio track is available in Welsh and English.

Beneath the Waves (Dan y Môr) launched at Holyhead's Market Hall in July 2023 and is free to download on the App Store and Google Play.