US EditionSanday Wreck: Archaeologists believe they have identified centuries-old shipwreck in Orkney
ORKNEY, SCOTLAND, JUL 22 – The 24-gun frigate Earl of Chatham, which served in major 18th-century conflicts and Arctic whaling, was revealed by storms linked to climate change, with 56 crew surviving its 1788 wreck.
- Archaeologists and community researchers identified a 250-year-old shipwreck discovered in February 2024 on Sanday, one of the Orkney Islands off Scotland's northern tip.
- The wreck emerged after a storm removed centuries-old sand covering it, revealing timber from a mid-18th-century Royal Navy frigate later renamed the Earl of Chatham.
- Built in Chichester in 1749 as HMS Hind, the ship served in key 1750s sieges and the American Revolutionary War before becoming a 500-tonne whaler hunting in Arctic waters.
- Ben Saunders, senior marine archaeologist, praised the community's role, stating they identified the wreck with confidence and called it a "vessel blessed with luck" as all 56 crew survived its 1788 wreck off Sanday.
- The timbers are preserved at Sanday Heritage Centre with plans for permanent display, and experts say climate change may increase such coastal archaeological finds.
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86 Articles
On the Scottish island of Sanday, archaeologists, together with local aspiring researchers, have revealed the background of a shipwreck that first served as part of the British Navy in the American War of Independence and was later used for whaling off Greenland.
Researchers Track Down Identity of Scottish Shipwreck - Archaeology Magazine
SANDAY, SCOTLAND—Last year, when winter storms revealed a previously-unknown shipwreck on a beach on Sanday Island, one of the Orkney Islands, it launched an investigation by archaeologists and historians to uncover the mysterious vessel’s identity. The Herald Scotland reports that researchers from Wessex Archaeology, Dendrochronicle, Historic Environment Scotland, and other local institutions recently tracked down the ship’s origins, believing …
A team of researchers from UQAR is in Pointe-aux-English to study the mysteries of this shipwreck.
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