Category Archives: Shipwrecks and Marine Archaeology

HMS Quebec vs Surveillante

On occasion combat at sea during the Age of Sail could be a display of sailhandling virtuosity, or a tour de force of surprise, which caused the enemy to strike with little bloodshed. More often than not, however, ship to … Continue reading

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The Wrecks of HMS St. George and HMS Defence

Below we discuss the horrendous losses inflicted upon the British Navy by the storm that raged across the North Sea at Christmas 1811. In the course of writing it we stumbled onto some interesting resources and were afraid they would … Continue reading

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The Christmas Gale of 1811

England’s lifeblood during the Napoleonic Wars was naval stores to keep its fleet at sea. The primary source of those stores was Scandinavia and Russia and the convoys carrying them traveled via the Baltic and North Sea. As we’ve already … Continue reading

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Shipwreck of HMS Apollo

We wrote earlier on the loss of HMS Association and several of her consorts at Scilly. A loss directly attributable to the inability of ships to accurately calculate longitude. Even though James Harrison’s marine chronometer had been accepted since 1773, … Continue reading

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The Wreck of the HMS Association and Consorts

In 1707, Britain was embroiled in yet another of its seemingly interminable wars with France and Spain. Rear Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell was the British naval commander in the Mediterranean. Working in close cooperation with the British Army under Earl … Continue reading

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USS Vixen and HMS Southampton

On the morning of October 22, 1812 the USS Vixen, a brig armed with twelve 18-pound carronades, departed its base at St Mary’s, Georgia, for a 30-day cruise raiding British commerce in the Caribbean. Vixen was commanded by 32 year … Continue reading

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The Wreck of the HMS Swift

http://www.theargentimes.com/culture/history/hms-swift-gives-up-her-ghostly-treasure-/ Continue reading

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The Loss of HMS Victory

On October 4, 1744 a British fleet led by HMS Victory carrying the flag of Admiral John Balchen encountered a ferocious storm in the Western Approaches of the English Channel. The fleet was dispersed with all ships arriving in port … Continue reading

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The Real “Desolation Island”

Earlier I noted how many, if not most, of the actions described in naval fiction actually have deep roots in the history of the Age of Sail. In that initial essay I pointed out how Richard Bolitho’s action in To … Continue reading

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The Wreck of the HMS Colossus

The 74-gun ship of the line, HMS Colossus is a textbook case of how during the Age of Sail a captain could do everything exactly right and still end up with a shipwreck. Colossus was bound home in December 1798 … Continue reading

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