A shipwreck discovered on the Orkney island of Sanday has been officially identified as the Earl of Chatham, a former Royal Navy vessel later converted into a whaling ship.
Image used for illustrative purposes: Men-of-War HMS Maria Anna, Earl of Chatham and Achilles off a coastal town/Sotheby’s London/Wikimedia Commons
The ship, originally named HMS Hind, was a sixth-rate 24-gun frigate that saw action during major 18th-century military campaigns, including the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in the 1750s. It was also active during the American Revolutionary War in the late 1770s before being sold and repurposed for Arctic whaling.
The wreck was first spotted in February 2024 after a storm exposed its timbers along the coast. The find sparked a collaborative investigation involving scientific analysis and extensive historical research, led by Wessex Archaeology in partnership with Dendrochronicle and local volunteers.
“Throughout this project, we have learned so much about the wreck, but also about the community in Sanday in the 1780s,” said Ben Saunders, senior marine archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology.
“Sanday was infamous for shipwrecks at the time, called ‘the cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland,’ but the community was equally well-known for its hospitability as it looked after sailors who fell afoul of the area’s stormy seas.”
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Dendrochronological testing—analysing tree ring data from the timbers—revealed the ship was built using wood sourced from southern and southwestern England. The process of identification also involved piecing together local archives and records over several months.
The Earl of Chatham completed four Arctic whaling voyages before meeting its fate in the Bay of Lopness in March 1788. At the time of its wreck, all 56 crew members aboard survived.
The ship’s robust Royal Navy design helped it withstand harsh northern seas, a key reason such vessels were commonly converted for whaling during that era.
Since its discovery, the remains have been housed in a freshwater tank at the Sanday Heritage Centre, funded by the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The tank is crucial to preserving the wooden timbers, which begin to deteriorate quickly when exposed to air after centuries underwater.
Clive Struver, chair of the Sanday Development Trust, described the process of uncovering the ship’s identity as “hugely exciting.”
“Now that we have this knowledge about the wreck and how it came to rest in Sanday, the next step is very much to explore what the community here would like to see happen,” he said.
As changing coastal conditions continue to expose long-lost relics, researchers believe similar discoveries may become more common in the future.
Source: BBC
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