The discovery was kept secret on the one hand because it had to be officially certified to be Gloucester, on the other hand because the site had to be protected, international waters
The discovery was so important kept secret for 15 years: the wreck of the British warship Gloucester, which sank in 1682 while transporting the future King James II of Stuart, was found off England, the university announced today East Anglia.
The ship rested for centuries on the seabed and no one knew exactly where it was, until brothers Julian and Lincoln Barnwell, with the help of their father and two friends, found it in 2007, after four years of open-air research. of Norfolk, in the east of England.
The discovery was kept secret on the one hand because it had to be officially certified as Gloucester, on the other hand because the site had to be protected, international waters, the university clarified.
“It’s an excellent example of a political legacy “of national and international importance,” commented Professor Claire Joyit, who specializes in the history of maritime transport. I even argued that “because of the age of the boat, the condition in which it was found and the objects that were saved” is “the most important marine discovery since that of Mary Rose” which sank in 1545, was found in the 1980s and is now on display in Portsmouth.
The Royal Navy’s Gloucester sank in just one hour on May 6, 1682, off the Great Yarmouth, following a dispute between James Stewart and the helmsman over how to approach a sandy shore. It is estimated that 250 crew members and passengers drowned, but Iakovos was rescued at the last minute.
“Gloucester represents an important moment in British political history: a royal shipwreck which almost cost the life “to the Catholic successor to the Protestant throne, in a time of great political and religious tensions,” the university said.
In 2023, various items found on the wrecked ship are expected to be exhibited at the Norwich Castle Museum and Gallery.
