Bermudian William Gillies, 80, is a self-taught diver, and has published a book about his experiences. Here The Royal Gazette lifestyle reporter Jessie Moniztalks with Mr. Gillies, about a lifetime submerged.

Growing up, Mr. Gillies never thought much about Bermuda's maritime history.

It wasn't until he started diving as an adult that he learned about the mysterious aquatic world that lurks beneath the ocean.

Today, at the age of 80, he is forced to stay on land, but he still has many fond memories of being one of Bermuda's earliest wreck divers.

He recorded some of his memories in a book called 'Reefs, Wrecks & Relics — Bermuda Underwater Heritage'.

"I have learned a lot about Bermuda's marine heritage through diving," he said. "Before I started diving, I never gave a thought to shipwrecks."

One of his earliest memories of shipwrecks was the Spanish luxury liner Cristobal Colon that wrecked on North Rock on October 25, 1936, when Mr. Gillies was six-years-old. After being wrecked it was left where it was, for some time.

"We were living at Mount Hill, Pembroke," said Mr. Gillies. "We lived in a two storey house, and upstairs you could see North Rock on a good day.

"On a calm day we could see it sitting up there on North Rock," said Mr. Gillies. "During the war the Americans bombed it for target practice. This was because another ship came in, saw it and thought that was the channel, and they wrecked also."

"Following a long tradition, nearly every Bermudian who owned a boat went out to see what they could salvage. Some found its way into the hands of the authorities, much did not."

Mr. Gillies father's had been a sailor in his younger days, working on luxury cruise ships.

"When I was a child, he earned extra money by making bumpers and fenders for boats out of old bicycle inner tubes that he then beautifully plaited with rope," said Mr. Gillies. "At around the time of the wreck, I can remember a small bell, which I estimate was about six to eight inches tall that he had hanging from a tree branch while he fashioned a lanyard for it.

"There was some lettering on the side and I asked him what it said. He said, 'Cristobal Colon', but don't tell anyone that you saw it'.

"I suspect that it belonged to some prominent person, perhaps one of his employers."

Little did Mr. Gillies ever imagine at that time that he would one day dive the Cristobal Colon wreck, and many others.

He first started diving in 1965, when he was 35-years-old.

"In 1965, all I did was work and work and come home and work on the property," said Mr. Gillies.

During his working life, Mr. Gillies worked for Heyls Drugstore where the Irish Linen Shop is currently located, then for Magazine Distributors and then for Miles Market.

"My wife, Gloria, said 'you need a hobby'," he said.

She suggested he try diving since he liked to swim. When he was a child his family couldn't get him out of the water, he loved to swim so much.

But at first, he was dismissive of the idea, fearing the cost, but his wife talked him into at least looking into it.

"Watson's carried scuba equipment then," he said. "I was surprised to find out I could get the basics relatively inexpensively. So I went out and swam around. I never got any instruction but I managed to survive. (Laughter). I went all around the shore."

Eventually, he grew bored of just going around the shore, and a friend suggested he talk to the late Harry Cox who took people out diving.

"So I approached him. I knew him from the Bermuda Rifles," said Mr. Gillies. "I told him I was interested in corals.

"He said 'I am only interested in shipwrecks', but there are corals there."

The third time out he found a bell from a very old wreck. That triggered a lifelong passion for wreck diving.

Despite the fact that he was largely self-taught he said he never had any problems scuba diving.

"We didn't dive deep, although you can get in trouble in shallow water," he said. "We dived in 15 feet of water. We use to breathe every last drop of air on the bottom and then come up, which is not really what you are supposed to do."

He and his diving buddies would often find interesting objects in the sand around the wrecks, such as pieces of old whale oil lamps.

Often they just found shards and pieces of pottery or porcelain.

Mr. Gillies figured out a way to reconstruct or restore some of the pieces, using fiberglass and resin.

Some of his restoration work is on display at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).

Some of the objects that he has found are a bit of a mystery. For example on one sailing ship that wrecked in the early 1900s he found a mass of rusty piping and valves packed in wood chips.

"I have five of them and nobody knows what they are," he said. "Someone thought it was part of a gas light from the old days, and someone else said it might be something used to lubricate a steam engine".

Another mystery are a bunch of delicate, little glass rings.

"My theory is that maybe women sewed them on their gowns," he said.

'Reefs, Wrecks & Relics — Bermuda Underwater Heritage' is available at the Bermuda Bookstore, the Aquarium and the BUEI.