AN ancient marine relic which could unlock the secrets to how we lived more than 1,000 years ago was today being rescued by divers in Suffolk.An eighth century canoe was raised from its resting place in a lagoon on Dunwich beach five years after it was taken there to preserve it in salt water.

By Victoria Knowles

AN ancient marine relic which could unlock the secrets to how we lived more than 1,000 years ago was today being rescued by divers in Suffolk.

An eighth century canoe was raised from its resting place in a lagoon on Dunwich beach five years after it was taken there to preserve it in salt water.

The canoe was rescued by marine biologist, Stuart Bacon, when he saw this significant historical artifact was about to be sawn up.

"My own personal feeling is that the canoe was used on the Broads as a main transport and fishing vessel at that time.

"It was going to be sawn up but I grabbed it and put it in the lagoon at Dunwich five years ago," said Mr Bacon, who lives in Orford.

The canoe dates from a time when East Anglia was still a separate kingdom with its own royal family, known as the Wuffings.

Ipswich had been founded a few decades earlier, and the canoe dates from about 100 years after the first royal burials at Sutton Hoo.

The canoe is to be taken to a special preservation tank in Bentwaters after it has been recovered by divers.

Mr Bacon remains at the centre of a long running dispute over another ancient relic. He is claiming salvage rights to a 11 foot bronze cannon from the sunken wreck of a 16th or 17th century ship. He was left angry after the item, which he displayed outside the Suffolk Underwater Studies building in Orford was removed and housed at Nelson Fort in Portsmouth.

Back in June he told The Evening Star: "Thousands of East Anglians have voiced their anger at the removal of the cannon from Orford."

The tank is also where other important artifacts rest including 18th century cannons.