Cattewater Wreck is a wooden three-masted, skeleton-built vessel, one of many ships that have wrecked in Cattewater, Plymouth Sound, England. This wreck is close to the entrance of Sutton Harbour, its name is still unknown but it is believed to be from the 16th century. It is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. [1]
The wreck was found in 1973 [2] when a dredger being used to deepen the Cattewater brought up timber wreckage and parts of some iron guns. [3] An underwater investigation of the site in 1973 was instigated by the National Maritime Museum and the Department for the Environment. The investigation produced a provisional site plan and included the more controlled recovery of loose wreckage including concreted fragments of an iron muzzle loading cannon. The hull structure was the lowest section of hull from one end past the midships area, where the dredging work had caused extensive damage. Based on the assessments the site was recommended for designation under the British Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and the site was designated under order No 1. Further recording and excavation work on the site was carried out between 1974 and 1978. [4] [5] A substantial portion of the structure and a wide variety of finds were recovered, including pottery, worked wood, a brass pin and buckle, various lead objects, leather, rope, textiles, animal bone and a number of wrought iron stave built guns on sledges. [6] The present knowledge is based on less than 50% of the surviving structure.
The Cattewater ship belongs to a period of developing ship design bordering the revolution in naval construction taking place around 1480 to 1525 and the appearance of the first English evidence for mathematically based formula for ship lines c. 1580. Positive identification of the ship has not been possible although the archaeological evidence strongly suggests an early 16th-century merchantman of between 200 and 300 tons burthen.
More recent work has been undertaken on the site by the University of Plymouth and 3H Consulting Ltd. [7] The site was resurveyed in 2006 using a sub-bottom profiler [8] and in 2007 using a multibeam echo sounder, sidescan sonar and a caesium magnetometer. [9] The survey work identified a number of magnetic and sub-bottom targets around the site and also determined the correct position for the remaining hull structure. Part of this work involved constructing and publishing a comprehensive and integrated digital model of the site [10] in Site Recorder that includes all the data from previous fieldwork along with data from recent geophysical surveys.
The Mary Rose was a carrack in the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She was launched in 1511 and served for 34 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 19 July 1545. She led the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, but sank in the Solent, the strait north of the Isle of Wight.
Maritime archaeology is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains, be they vessels, shore-side facilities, port-related structures, cargoes, human remains and submerged landscapes. A specialty within maritime archaeology is nautical archaeology, which studies ship construction and use.
Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras.
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately three million shipwrecks worldwide as of January 1999, according to Angela Croome, a science writer and author who specialized in the history of underwater archaeology.
Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. The term is used mainly by recreational and technical divers. Professional divers, when diving on a shipwreck, generally refer to the specific task, such as salvage work, accident investigation or archaeological survey. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificial reef sites. Diving to crashed aircraft can also be considered wreck diving. The recreation of wreck diving makes no distinction as to how the vessel ended up on the bottom.
Invincible was originally a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy launched in October 1744. Captured on 14 May 1747, she was taken into Royal Navy service as the third rate HMS Invincible. She was wrecked in 1758 after hitting a sandbank. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
Mount Batten is a 24-metre (80-ft) tall outcrop of rock on a 600-metre (2000-ft) peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England, named after Sir William Batten (c.1600-1667), MP and Surveyor of the Navy; it was previously known as How Stert.
Kyrenia is a 4th-century BC ancient Greek merchant ship that sank c. 294 BC.
The year 1973 in archaeology involved some significant events.
The St. Augustine Light Station is a privately maintained aid to navigation and an active, working lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida. The current lighthouse stands at the north end of Anastasia Island and was built between 1871 and 1874. The tower is the second lighthouse tower in St. Augustine, the first being lit officially by the American territorial government in May 1824 as Florida's first lighthouse. However, both the Spanish and the British governments operated a major aid to navigation here including a series of wooden watch towers and beacons dating from 1565.
The Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) is a charity registered in England and Wales and in Scotland and is a company limited by guarantee.
HMS Resolution was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Harwich Dockyard on 6 December 1667. She was one of only three third-rate vessels designed and built by the noted maritime architect Sir Anthony Deane.
The archaeology of shipwrecks is the field of archaeology specialized most commonly in the study and exploration of shipwrecks. Its techniques combine those of archaeology with those of diving to become Underwater archaeology. However, shipwrecks are discovered on what have become terrestrial sites.
The Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provides protection for designated shipwrecks.
The Salcombe Cannon wrecksite is close to two other designated wrecksites in the Erme Estuary which the South West Maritime Archaeological Group (SWMAG) was licensed to investigate. In 1992 this group described the Salcombe Cannon site as:
The Diamond was a three-masted square rigger, built in New York City in 1823. She was one of the first ships to operate a regular service for passenger and cargo between Britain and the United States. She sank en route to Liverpool from New York on 2 January 1825 in Cardigan Bay. The alleged wreck site was identified in 2000 and was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 on 1 April 2002, the first such designation by the National Assembly for Wales. However, the identification has since been called into question.
The Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation (CMAC) was created in May 2005 by the regents of Texas A&M University.
Site Recorder is a geographical information system (GIS) and information management system (IMS) designed for use in maritime, freshwater and intertidal archaeology. Site Recorder can be used on maritime and intertidal archaeology projects for real-time data collection, decision support, publication, archiving and data migration. The program is designed for use by archaeologists rather than GIS experts.
Mars, also known as Makalös, traditionally referred to as Jutehataren, was a Swedish warship that was built between 1561 and 1563. She was the leading ship of King Eric XIV of Sweden's fleet and was one of the largest warships of the time. In 1564, during the Northern Seven Years' War, she caught fire and exploded during the First battle of Öland in the Baltic Sea.
Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust (MAST) is a charitable trust founded in February 2011, which focuses on investigations into the maritime heritage of the United Kingdom and further afield, through historical and archaeological investigations. MAST uses its profits from contract work as well as donations to fund its charitable aims.