An interesting wreck from the 17th century has been found in England.

A sailing vessel was found at the entrance to the Thames at a depth of 110m. The vessel most probably belonged to the English Royal Africa Company. This is indicated by the artefacts that were found at the ship’s resting place. The entire operation was carried out by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company that is a world leader in deep-sea wreck exploration.

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The discovery was made as part of a project known as Atlas. It is the most extensive search for wrecks in history so far. It has been conducted since June 2005 and covers an area of 8,000km².

Items such as a tobacco pipe, three glass bottles, jewellery and elephant tusks were found on the wreck. After examining them, it was established that the vessel dates back to the end of the 17th century. Unfortunately, it was not possible to establish the name of the sailing ship and therefore it bears the working name 35F.

More detailed research by the Odyssey team has led to the hypothesis that this vessel is the only known merchant vessel to have sailed between the British Isles and West Africa. If confirmed, the 35F will be the first vessel of the English Royal Africa Company ever to be found.

However, until more valuable artefacts can be found that tell more about its origins and the routes it took, it will not be possible to say with certainty what the true identity of the wreck and its origins are.

All items excavated from the unit can be viewed in the Odyssey virtual museum.

However, we would like to draw your special attention to the section where you can browse detailed documentationabout the wrecks investigated by Odyssey Marine Exploration. All are available as pdf files, with plenty of photographs and full scientific commentary.

Source: sail-world.com