The wreckage of a royal warship that carried the long run king of England onboard moments earlier than it sank has been found off the Norfolk coast.
The HMS Gloucester ran aground some 28 miles off Nice Yarmouth 340 years in the past. The incidenthappened after a dispute – about navigating the treacherous Norfolk sandbanks – between James Stuart, then the Duke of York, and the ship’s pilot James Ayres.
On 6 Could 168 the ship hit a sandbank at about 5.30am and sank inside an hour. Between 130 and 250 individuals died.
Most of the victims died as a result of the Duke delayed abandoning ship till the final minute. The protocol on the time said that folks couldn’t abandon ship earlier than royalty did.
As a substitute of taking accountability, the Duke blamed the pilot and stated he wished that he can be hanged instantly. Mr Ayres was court-martialled and imprisoned.
In 1685, the Duke grew to become King James II of England. In 1688, he was deposed by the Wonderful Revolution and changed by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange.
An artist’s impression of King James II
(Artistic Commons)
In 2007, the HMS Gloucester wreckage was situated by a bunch of individuals, together with brothers Julian and Lincoln Barnwell, following a four-year search over 5,000 nautical miles.
As a result of time taken to substantiate the id of the ship – and the necessity to defend an ‘in danger’ website, which lies in worldwide waters – it’s only now that the invention will be made public.
Lincoln Barnwell stated: “It was our fourth dive season in search of Gloucester. We have been beginning to consider that we weren’t going to seek out her, we’d dived a lot and simply discovered sand.
“On my descent to the seabed, the very first thing I noticed have been giant cannon laying on white sand, it was awe-inspiring and actually stunning. It immediately felt like a privilege to be there, it was so thrilling.
“We have been the one individuals on the planet at that second in time who knew the place the wreck lay. That was particular and I’ll always remember it. Our subsequent job was to determine the positioning because the Gloucester.”
Maritime historical past skilled Prof Claire Jowitt, of the College of East Anglia (UEA) stated it was crucial maritime discovery for the reason that Mary Rose, the warship from the Tudor navy of King Henry VIII.
The Mary Rose sank in battle within the Solent in 1545, and was raised in 1982, later being placed on show in Portsmouth.
Prof Jowitt stated: “The invention guarantees to essentially change understanding of Seventeenth-century social, maritime and political historical past. It’s an impressive instance of underwater cultural heritage of nationwide and worldwide significance.
“A tragedy of appreciable proportions by way of lack of life, each privileged and unusual, the total story of the Gloucester’s final voyage and the influence of its aftermath wants re-telling, together with its cultural and political significance, and legacy.
“We may even attempt to set up who else died and inform their tales, because the identities of a fraction of the victims are at present identified.”
An exhibition is deliberate for Spring 2023 at Norwich Fortress Museum and Artwork Gallery to show finds from the wreck and share ongoing historic, scientific and archaeological analysis.
Kaynak: briturkish.com
