© Public Domain
Pivotal in the Anglo-Spanish and Anglo-Dutch wars of the 1600s; the Royal Navy vessel sank in 1682. At the time, it was carrying the future King of England, James Stuart, who went on to become King James II. Had he died when HMS Gloucester went down, it would have changed the history of the royal family.
Maritime tragedy
Built in 1652 for the English navy, the warship had participated in battles during the Anglo-Spanish war between 1654 and 1660, and the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars between 1665 and 1674. The pride of the Royal Navy, it was wrecked in 1682 after colliding with a sandbar.
The tragedy led to the deaths of 250 crew members on board. James Stuart managed to survive the accident. It transpired he had argued with James Ayres, the ship's captain, about how to navigate the hazardous area in blustery weather. This meant the ship wasn't abandoned until the last minute as the discord continued.
Due to royal protocol, the crew couldn't abandon ship before a member of the royal family. It was later claimed this had needlessly cost the lives of many crew members, who would have had a better chance of escaping had they been permitted to abandon the sinking ship sooner.
"Miscarriage of justice" claim
The future king accepted no responsibility for the sinking. He rather blamed Ayres and ordered that he should be hanged immediately as a punishment. Instead, Ayres was court-martialled and sent to prison. The controversial decision to court-martial him was later labelled a "miscarriage of justice". Historians claimed he was a scapegoat for the king's poor decision-making.
The 50-gun frigate took an hour to go down and many of the crew could have been saved, had the king not remained onboard to argue with Ayres. This is something historians plan to revisit and investigate now the ship's final resting place has been found.
Divers' amazing find
The warship remained in its final resting place, until it was discovered by two experienced divers, brothers Julian and Lincoln Barwell, who had been searching for many years. They were on the verge of giving up when they made the amazing find.
Lincoln said all they had found on previous dives was sand. However, on their latest descent to the seabed, they spotted a large cannon lying in the white sand. The brothers said they instantly felt privileged to have made the huge find, saying how excited they were. The search had covered a large area of 5,000 miles.
Amazingly, they made the fascinating discovery, 28 miles off the coast of Great Yarmouth, in 2007, but were sworn to secrecy for 15 years. The time it took to identify the ship, the sensitivity of the famous site and the need to protect an "at risk" discovery in international waters was revealed only in June this year.
What was found on HMS Gloucester?
The University of East Anglia's maritime history specialist, Prof Claire Jowitt, described it as the most significant historic maritime discovery since the Mary Rose in 1982.
The Mary Rose was a warship of the English Tudor Navy when King Henry VIII was the monarch. It sank in 1545 in battle and the wreck was found in 1982, restored and put on permanent display in Portsmouth.
HMS Gloucester was split from the keel and the remains of its hull were submerged under the seabed. Artefacts belonging to the crew, such as shoes and clothes, have been recovered. The ship's bell was later found – it was the key to finally identifying the wreck as HMS Gloucester.
Artefacts had to be recovered carefully, having been under the sea for more than 300 years. A massive selection of items including a mixture of empty and unopened wine bottles, ceramic crockery, navigational tools, naval equipment and personal items have been painstakingly recovered to the surface.
Museum display
While there are no plans at present for the HMS Gloucester to be raised to the surface, many artefacts and informational displays will be on public view at the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in 2023.
Historians plan to research further the terrible loss of life on the ship and will try to establish more about the identities of the crew members who died. They believe the story of the ship's final voyage, including the king's involvement, needs to be retold.