For almost two years the National Park Authority has been carrying out a Coastal Heritage Project covering 26 miles of the coastline from 10m above sea level through the intertidal zone to six nautical miles off shore. During 2010 the project selected 4 wrecks in the Western Solent and proceeded to mark them with bright yellow marker buoys.

The four wrecks which have been marked with buoys are:

• The Serrana – a steam ship torpedoed by a German U-boat in the First World War with the loss of five lives
• The Fenna – a timber two-masted Dutch schooner which sank in bad weather in 1881
• The Ceres – a steam barge which was caught out by strong winds and sank in 1898
• The Margaret Smith - a dredger carrying a cargo of gravel which sunk in 1978. This represents the archaeology of the future, allowing archaeologists and divers to monitor how the ship deteriorates

This was followed in February 2011 with the relase of a 30 minute DVD titled 'Wrecks of the Western Solent' which gives a brief overview of the wrecks and explains the project to non-divers. It's also planned to release waterproof underwater slates with details of the wrecks which divers can take with them.

James Brown, Maritime Archaeologist with the New Forest National Park Authority, said it is the only heritage trail in this country marking a series of wrecks. He said : ‘Archaeology is a window on the past and underwater archaeology has the greatest potential to add the most information as it’s relatively unexplored – the underwater heritage trail is about finding the links to our history and telling the story of humans in times past'.

People can find out about the New Forest National Park’s rich coastal heritage whether they are below the waves, on the water or on the shore thanks to their unique underwater heritage trail.