Latest news with #Hefin Meara
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Wrecked English warship's cannon found on seabed off Kent coast
Cannons and coils of rope from an English warship that sank in 1703 have been discovered by Northumberland, a large 70-gun ship built in Bristol in 1679, sank off the Kent coast during high winds in what was known as "The Great Storm". The latest survey to inspect the site, held in July, also revealed wooden chests containing musket balls, swords and wooden Meara, one of the Historic England maritime archaeologists who went on the diver, said: "What we're seeing on the seabed is that big, big element of the ship structure. It's fantastic." Shifting sands means experts were able to see that The Northumberland, built for the Royal Navy by Bristol shipbuilder Francis Baylie, is more complete than previously thought."It's the exact kind of ship you think about when you think of great big warships of the age of sail," Mr Meara told BBC Radio Bristol. He said a long series of investigations and surveys will now take place to "answer more questions of the past".Mr Meara, who dived about 65ft (20 metres) to the ship, said: "On the dives we can see this great big iron cannon, there's large bits of wooden ship structure."But because it's so intact you can see a lot of the organic material you don't normally see - things like coils of rope, smaller wooden objects and organic artefacts like that. "They're all lying on that decking, exactly where they would have been when the ship went down." He added any work to lift the warship out of the sea is very expensive and would take significant restoration work."As soon as you lift it out of the water, it's at risk of decay," he said.
BBC News
31-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Warship wrecked in 1703 near Kent is more complete than expected
A wrecked near-350-year-old English warship is more complete than previously thought, Historic England has Northumberland, which sank off the Kent coast in 1703 during the Great Storm, has been a protected wreck since 1981.A new site assessment, seen by the BBC, revealed the wreck "remains high risk" as moving sand exposes the Northumberland, which was built in in Bristol in 1679, reportedly lost all 253 crew members when it sank on Goodwin Sands, south-east of Ramsgate. Historic England maritime archaeologist Hefin Meara said it was "quite likely that there's a huge amount of the vessel itself surviving buried beneath the seabed".The Royal Navy vessel's wreck is close to those of ships from the same fleet - the Stirling Castle and the Restoration - which sank at the same time.A wreck of the Mary, which also sank in the storm, remains undiscovered. According to the new assessment, compiled after dives to the vessel in July 2024, at least seven guns from three different decks of the ship were visible on the sea Meara said metal items from shipwrecks often survive, but at the Northumberland's site there is also "incredibly good preservation" of organic material, such as ropes, chests, and the vessel divers reported they found "high potential for an abundance of well-preserved material culture" that might give insight into life onboard navy warships at the time. Mr Meara said: "We always knew it as a well preserved site but I think nobody was expecting it to be quite so well preserved."Dan Pascoe, holder of the licence to dive at the wreck site, said the Northumberland "has the potential to be one of the best-preserved wooden warships in the UK". The site assessment contained a recommendation that the wreck stays on the Heritage at Risk Register as it "remains unstable and under threat".Paul Jeffery, Historic England marine team leader, said "it is a race against time" to protect the site. Historian and broadcaster Dan Snow said the wreck "can fill in crucial details of shipbuilding and life at sea at that pivotal moment in our history".Snow is fronting a documentary about the Northumberland and its wreck, which will air on his streaming service History Hit on Thursday.
