WRECKS off the Dorset coast feature in a new book tracing some of the most treasured relics in the country’s seas.

Diver and author Rod Macdonald features ships at the bottom of Lyme and off Weymouth and Portland in Great British Shipwrecks, a personal adventure.

They include the P&O Liner Salsette in Lyme Bay, the Submarine HMS M M2 in Lyme Bay, the battleship HMS Hood in Portland Harbour and SS Kyarra off Purbeck.

Rod writes a narrative of each ship’s history, its demise and its condition today as well as an artist’s illustration of the wreck on the seabed.

The book has been printed by Whittles Publishing based at Caithness in Scotland.

A spokesman said: “This book is an essential, must have for divers and anyone interested in what lies beneath Britain’s seas.

“Divers will find many wrecks they have personally dived plus many others still on their ‘to do’ list.

“It is a visually stunning book for all those interested in maritime and military history and non-divers who will marvel at sights hidden from view in the dark depths of Britain’s waters.”

Rod, of Stonehaven in Scotland, also probes wreck sites off Orkney and Scapa Flow, east and west Sussex, Cornwall, the west coast of Scotland and the North Sea.

He covers 37 shipwrecks in the book and provides a dramatic account of each ship’s time afloat and its eventual sinking.

Each wreck is illustrated by marine artist Rob Ward.

The P&O liner Salsette was lost during the First World War.

The SS Kyarra and the British submarine HMS/M M2, the first submarine to carry a seaplane for reconnaissance, also feature.