Submerged cedar tree root discovered

Bernews -

Local divers have discovered what appears to be a Bermuda Cedar tree root still planted in its original location – 53 feet deep on North Shore.

The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute and the Department of Conservation Services within the Ministry of Public Works has teamed up with the local divers to further study the root and have taken samples for testing to determine the age of the stump.

The root was discovered by Mr. Harold Conyers, an avid diver, well known local architect and Chairman of the Historic Wreck Authority, while diving with Triangle Diving this summer.

Mr. Conyers discovered what he thought might be a tree root on the ocean floor adjacent to a tall coral reef ledge some nine miles to the north of Bermuda in 53 feet of water.

Mr. Conyers explained: “At first I thought it might be a piece of a wooden shipwreck just emerging from the sand and wedged up against the undersea coral cliff.

This of course piqued my interest – but upon closer inspection it was clearly recognizable as a piece of a tree – a tree stump and root in fact. “There was a central area with worn tree rings where the trunk once stood and what looked like roots spanning out from the center much like the remnants of the cedar forests that once dominated Bermuda that we still see in undeveloped coastal areas.

“Tree roots on occasion can and do get swept out to sea and can be found wedged under rocks after hurricanes but this seemed different to me – it did not look like it had tumbled there but that it was in situ, that it had grown there.”

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