The 12 most important shipwrecks of the South West

For mariners, the waters off the south west of England have long been a challenging, and historically deadly, coastline.

They were the home of tragedies, disasters and misfortunes in the days before GPS, with thousands of wrecks now laying undiscovered, plundered or broken at the bottom of the sea.

With the knowledge of experts, we examine some of the most notable shipwrecks to come to their end.

HMS Anson

29 December 1807, Loe Bar, Mounts Bay

It was a stormy Christmas Eve during the era of the Napoleonic Wars when Royal Navy 44 gun frigate HMS Anson departed from Falmouth on what would prove to be its last journey.

The ship sailed into a rising gale on its way to enforce a blockade in Brest.

Turning back to Falmouth in fierce winds could not save the Anson from its fate.

By the afternoon of 29 December, the Man O’ War had wrecked, leading to more than 120 deaths, including two women, two children and the ship’s boy.

Some survivors were able to walk along the mast of the wreck to safety.

Among the dead was Captain Charles Lydiard who was “swept away while trying to save a young boy,” said maritime historian and author Richard Larn OBE.

One cannon recovered from the wreck of the Anson can be seen exhibited outside Helston Museum in Cornwall.

HMS Association

22 October 1707, Isles of Scilly

Dubbed the shipwreck that changed the world, this is still recognised as one of the worst disasters in British maritime history.

The wrecking of HMS Association, and three other ships in its fleet, left 1,450 sailors dead but, crucially, this tragedy would transform the future of shipping as it lead to two acts of parliament and the establishment of longitude.

“It was the second biggest loss of life in the Royal Navy in one night, which must have been horrible for the people on the Isles of Scilly because think of all those bodies washing up around the off islands,” explained Mr Larn, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of shipwrecks.

Mr Larn said the ship wrecked due to navigational errors, created by the inability of seafarers to calculate longitude meaning ships often ended up wildly off course.

HMS Association was the flagship of Sir Cloudesley Shovell, who had worked his way up from lowly cabin boy to become Admiral of the Fleet in 1705.

Queen Anne and the government gave a £20,000 prize to carpenter John Harrison, who – after years of commitment – came up with a chronometer that did calculate the elusive longitude.

Its wreck was found by a team with Mr Larn in 1967.

HMS Colossus

10 December 1798, Samson, Isles of Scilly

“She was carrying Lord William Hamilton’s cargo of ancient Dutch, ancient Greek vases, and pottery,” explained Mr Larn.

“Lord Hamilton was the husband of Emma and Emma was Nelson’s bit on the side.”

The cargo was intended for display at the British Museum.

But one night, at anchor, HMS Colossus was caught by a gale and dragged, “fell over on her beam and was lost”.

A lot of the cargo was lost, but some of it floated out in crates.

Lord Hamilton was said to have been less than impressed the navy managed to save the embalmed body of Admiral Shuldham, but not his priceless collection.

The museum, Mr Larn said, funded the recovery of much of the pottery, through Penzance salvor Roland Morris.

The ship’s cannon now feature on the quay of St Mary’s harbour as bollards.

source : bbc.