In Reply to: Re: Re: Dive report Avalon wreck posted by cpt-video on November 22, 2008 at 07:38:57:

the word avalon

According to Geoffrey in the Historia and much subsequent literature which he inspired, Avalon is the place where King Arthur was taken after fighting Mordred at the Battle of Camlann to recover from his wounds. Welsh, Cornish and Breton tradition claimed that Arthur had never really died, but would inexorably return to lead his people against their enemies as disscussed in King Arthur's messianic return. The Historia also states it is where his sword Caliburn (Excalibur) was forged. Geoffrey dealt with Avalon in more detail again in his Vita Merlini, in which he describes for the first time in Arthurian legend the enchantress Morgan le Fay as the chief of nine sisters who live on Avalon. Geoffrey's description of the island indicates a sea voyage was needed to get there. His description shows the magical nature of the island:

The island of apples which men call “The Fortunate Isle” gets its name from the fact that it produces all things of itself; the fields there have no need of the ploughs of the farmers and all cultivation is lacking except what nature provides. Of its own accord it produces grain and grapes, and apple trees grow in its woods from the close-clipped grass. The ground of its own accord produces everything instead of merely grass, and people live there a hundred years or more. There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country