A ship that sank in the year 1652 and was rediscovered at the bottom of the ocean in 2007, with bottles of wine still intact inside it. The discovery was made by researchers from the University of East Anglia in Norfolk, England, who are preparing all material taken from the vessel for display in an exhibition to be opened at the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, yet without a date. Of. ,
James Stuart, then King of England, carrying over 330 people, including HMS Gloucester, ran aground on a sandbar on 6 May 1682, killing 130 to 250 crew and passengers after the crash. About 340 years later, the ship was discovered by the brothers Julian and Lincoln Barnwell, who were slow to reveal the find because of the time required to confirm the ship’s identity and protect the remains, which were in international waters from external threats. were located. ,
“Given the circumstances of her sinking, it can be claimed as the most important historical marine discovery since the ascent of Mary Rose in 1982,” said Claire Jovitt, professor of English and history at the University of East Anglia in the UK, and also co-curator of the exhibition and author of a study on the shipwreck. “The discovery promises to fundamentally change the understanding of the social, maritime and political history of the 17th century.”
Artifacts such as clothing, footwear, navigation equipment and several bottles of wine have already been collected and preserved from the site – some of which are not uncovered. One of them even has a glass seal with the coat of arms of George Washington (the first US President), an ancestor of the Legg family. The design of this coat of arms preceded the stars and stripes present in the flag of the United States.
Historic England, the public body of the British government that oversees historic sites in England, will protect the sunken ship.
According to the BBC, brothers Julian and Lincoln Barnwell decided to seek the ship after being inspired by seeing the rescue of Mary Rose (the only surviving 16th-century Tudor model) on television when they were children. In addition to historians, the brothers are also licensed divers and honorary scholars at the University of East Anglia’s School of History.
Accompanied by his late father Michael and a diving friend and former British Royal Navy submariner, he found the ship after four years of searching. Gloucester was broken in the keel area (central part of the ship), with pieces of the hull still submerged in the sand.
“It was our fourth season of diving in search of Gloucester. We were starting to believe we weren’t going to find it, we dived so deep and all we found was sand. While descending to the bottom of the ocean, The first thing I saw was the big cannons lying on the white sand, it was inspiring and so beautiful. We were the only people in the world at the time who knew where it was,” said Lincoln Barnwell.
The ship’s bell was used to identify Gloucester, which sank along the Norfolk coast in the 17th and 18th centuries, replacing several ships. A ship’s bell made in 1681 has been recovered. The receiver of the wreck (officers of the British Navy) and the Ministry of Defense used the bell in 2012 to identify the wreck as Gloucester.
