Archaeologists working in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy are gaining insight into the technological advances that reshaped the English Navy during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. They are working on the wreck of a gunned Elizabethan vessel that sank off the coast of the channel island Alderney in 1592. The ship was carrying military cargo when it probably ran into one of the many reefs in the area. The excavation team is particularly excited about a 2m-long (7ft) cannon recently raised from the wreck. They say it’s the key to understanding the ship’s historical significance.
Although the ship is changing our understanding of late Tudor naval warfare, the wreck was actually discovered in 1977. A fisherman made the find when a musket became tangled in his lobster pots. The site lies about 25 meters (82 ft) below the surface of the sea. Artifacts previously recovered from the site include pottery, muskets, swords, spurs, stirrups, armor, a gaming piece and even an intact navigational calendar.
The Alderney ship sunk four years after Elizabeth’s navy defeated the Spanish Armada. Although the Armada had been destroyed, England was still at war with Spain and invasion by Catholic troops remained a real threat. To combat the threat, Queen Elizabeth sent Sir John Norreys, one of England’s most experienced soldiers, to Brittany with 3000 men. His orders were to prevent Spain from securing a significant port in northern France. The Alderney ship was carrying a large supply of military goods for his efforts when it went down. Norreys probably referred to the wreck in a letter he sent to Lord Burghley on 29 November 1592. He wrote, “…I have yet hard nothinge but that tow packets sent from your L: sins my coming over are lost in a shypp that was cast away about Alderney…”(Public Records Office SP78/29 f 351)
The warship was probably built in Britain in 1575, about 30 years after Henry VIII’s Mary Rose. But the Mary Rose was an old fashioned ship by comparison. It was outfitted with guns of all different types, shapes, ages and calibers. The post-Armada English Navy was undergoing a technological revolution. Excavation director Mensum Bound believes the ship was carrying the first standardized, coordinated naval weapons system. The guns are all of the same type, materials, technology and caliber. This technological advance marks the beginnings of broadside naval warfare, which eventually allowed the British Navy to become the dominant military power on the world’s oceans.
The cannon the excavation team recently raised is like another cannon that was recovered from the wreck in the early 1990s. The team plans on raising a third cannon in the near future. The artifacts will be sent to the Tower of London to be examined and then to York for conservation. When the excavation is over, the archaeologists will rebuild and test the weapons. Their plan is to put the rebuilt guns through ballistic tests to determine their precision and power and help prove the coordinated weapons system theory. All conserved artifacts from the wreck will eventually either be stored put on display at a museum on the island of Alderney.
The excavation is being filmed by the producers of the BBC’s Timewatch series for an upcoming documentary. The program will show the underwater excavation along with the restoration, rebuilding and weapons testing.
