Briggs Marine’s generous help was critical, putting The Bronington Trust in a good place to save the King’s Ship from final decay and disintegration, after that critical dive survey. Mike McBride (picture) is the Trust’s spokesman. He told us: “We’re getting warm feeling that it’s now feasible to raise HMS ‘Bronington’. Very happy with the results of the Briggs marine dive survey… they went round the whole of the ship, and found a couple of bad areas on the foc’sle, port side, which they’re confident they can plug up…so as far as the Trust are concerned, it was a very successful day! It’s a massive step for us because we can now apply for charitable status, knowing that what we want to do is achievable, and hopefully we can now get the money in to raise and salvage the ‘Bronington’.”