Sandy Shipwreck identification revealed

From seventeenth century warship and survivor of sieges, to mighty Arctic whaling vessel

(Image courtesy of Rod Thorne, Sanday)

The identification of a shipwreck found in February 2024 in Sanday has now been revealed – because of analysis by consultants alongside the Sanday group, with funding help from Historic Environment Scotland.

All out there proof factors to the wreck being the Earl of Chatham, a former Royal Navy vessel known as HMS Hind which was latterly renamed as soon as it grew to become a whaling ship, earlier than the abrubt finish to its profession within the ‘cradle of shipwrecks’ in 1788.

Find out extra about painstaking detective work by Wessex Archaeology,  Dendrochronicle and the Sanday group, with help from Historic Environment Scotland, to search out the ship’s previous, within the video under (direct hyperlink  )

Orkney Islands Council is proud to have supported the Sanday group within the preliminary restoration and conservation steps – together with securing the assistance of National Heritage Memorial Fund for an enormous customized constructed tank to submerge and stabilise the timbers prepared for future analysis.

Nick Hewitt, Culture Team Manager for Orkney Islands Council, mentioned: “We’re proud that we had been capable of help the Sanday group within the early restoration, reporting and stabilisation efforts in these essential days following the invention of this outstanding wreck.

“Thanks to the fast motion of the group in alerting us, we had been capable of provide experience of our county archaeologist and tradition workforce and importantly safe pressing funding for a stabilisation tank for the timbers by the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

“Special thanks should go to the National Heritage Memorial Fund who had been very fast responding to our name for assist early final 12 months as we raced in opposition to time and degrading timbers. 

“Thanks to their speedy response and funding for the stabilisation tank, now we have been capable of assist the group to contemplate a sustainable a future for the wreck whereas Wessex Archaeology’s essential analysis and group archaeology work has been underway.

“It’s been an exquisite workforce effort to date between many and one we’re proud to have been part of, and can proceed to be as we help the Sanday group discover the long run potentialities for his or her wreck.”

Read the total story under, courtesy of Wessex Archaeology and Historic Environment Scotland

A sixth charge 24-gun frigate, HMS Hind noticed a few years of energetic service, together with the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec within the 1750s and the American Revolutionary War within the late 1770s. Once it was decommissioned, it was bought and renamed the Earl of Chatham, changing into a mighty 500-ton whaling ship.

This was frequent for Royal Navy ships as their glorious construct high quality allowed them to face up to the icy circumstances of British whaling routes. As the Earl of Chatham, it accomplished 4 seasons within the Arctic earlier than in the end assembly its finish within the Bay of Lopness in March 1788. It carried 56 sailors on-board on the time, all of whom survived.

After the timbers had been first found by the group of Sanday final 12 months, Dendrochronicle carried out a dendrochronological evaluation and evaluation of the wooden. They had been capable of decide that the ship was constructed with wooden from south and southwest England. Once the provenance of the timbers was established, archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology, area people researchers, and the Sanday Heritage Centre spent a number of months working with archives and group information to seek out the most definitely candidate for the ship. This analysis was additional supported by Sanday Heritage Group and Orkney Archaeology Society.

The Sanday Wreck, now believed to be the Earl of Chatham, was revealed as a consequence of adjustments within the local weather. Increased storminess and weird wind patterns led to elimination of the protecting sands which had hidden and guarded the wreck for hundreds of years. Changes to coastlines, that are predicted to speed up in coming many years, might make comparable finds extra frequent.

Ben Saunders, Senior Marine Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, mentioned: “It is because of our devoted workforce of group researchers and the proof they’ve gathered meaning now we have been capable of establish the Sanday Wreck with an affordable diploma of confidence.

“Throughout this undertaking, now we have discovered a lot concerning the wreck, but in addition concerning the group in Sanday within the 1780s. Sanday was notorious for shipwrecks on the time, known as ‘the cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland’, however the group was equally well-known for its hospitability because it taken care of sailors who fell afoul of the realm’s stormy seas.

“We are grateful to the support from our partners, and we’re delighted to be able to share our work on this intriguing wreck.”

Alison Turnbull, Director of External Relations and Partnerships at HES, mentioned: “The discovery of the Sanday Wreck is a rare and fascinating story. Wessex Archaeology worked closely with the community of Sanday to discover the ship’s identity, which shows that communities hold the keys to their own heritage. It is our job to empower communities to make these discoveries and be able to tell the story of their historic environment.”

“We are proud to have grant-funded this work, which supports both Scotland’s Archaeology Strategy of making archaeology matter, and Scotland’s national strategy for the historic environment, Our Past, Our Future.”

Nick Hewitt, Culture Team Manager for Orkney Islands Council, mentioned: “It has been a wonderful team effort so far between many and one we’re proud to have been a part of, and will continue to be as we support the Sanday community explore the future possibilities for their wreck.”

Clive Struver, Chair of the Sanday Development Trust added: “The work to uncover the identification of the wreck has been vastly thrilling.

“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 in terms of where and how the story of the wreck and our island’s past as the ‘cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland’ can be captured for generations to come – including importantly how that could be achieved in the context of a small island and in a way that honours and reflects the unique character of Sanday.”

The timbers are at the moment housed in a freshwater tank on the Sanday Heritage Centre to preserve them, the place guests can discover out extra concerning the wreck’s story and Sanday’s historical past. The tank was funded by National Heritage Memorial Fund and gives a secure setting for the timbers, which if not submerged in water would start to dry out and crumble after so lengthy buried within the intertidal sands.

More concerning the vessel and analysis

The ship’s charming historical past affords a view of the worldwide affect Britain was projecting on the time. Its story displays the influence of financial upheaval, social evolution, the intensification of environmental exploitation as a part of the commercial revolution, political turmoil powered by battle and the realities of colonial enlargement.

A technique of elimination: Narrowing the search

Using samples taken from the timbers, consultants from Dendrochronicle analysed tree rings to find out its age and the place it got here from. The outcomes gave a variety of particular felling dates between 1748 and 1762 for some and 1750’s-1780’s for others and affirmation that the wooden used to construct and restore the ship got here from the south and southwest of England. This essential proof geared up the group of 20 devoted group researchers, who had been led by Wessex Archaeology, with key data to start their very own voyage of discovery by native and nationwide information and archives.

Narrowing down the shortlist utilizing the scientific outcomes to filter out inconceivable and unlikely candidates, the analysis workforce, which incorporates members of Sanday Heritage Group and Orkney Archaeology Society, accessed additional archive materials extending again to 1764, that means they had been capable of intensify their search and hone in on particular particulars of potential candidates like development
strategies, supplies used and the dimensions of the ship to cause them to the most definitely candidate.

By the tip of their journey, having meticulously examined all out there data and choices, one candidate stood out: the whaler Earl of Chatham. Further analysis into naval information at The National Archives and National Maritime Museum in London unravelled the ship’s previous even additional, that the Earl of Chatham had beforehand been HMS Hind, a Royal Navy ship with a notable previous.

Piecing collectively the previous: From battle to whaling

HMS Hind noticed energetic service on the North American station through the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in 1758-9, and through the American Revolutionary War within the late 1770s and early 1780s. The ship was a 24-gun frigate, which implies it wasn’t an unlimited battleship however a quick and comparatively moveable massive crusing ship that operated as a convoy escort or a counter-privateer cruiser relying on the Navy’s wants.

War and whaling went hand-in-hand in Britain within the mid to late 1700’s. In instances of battle, the Royal Navy noticed the fledgling whaling business as a supply of gifted mariners to recruit from, and in flip information present that when conflicts ended and those self same mariners sought work, peaks in whaling occurred, helped by entry to sturdy, well-built Royal Navy ships that had been now not wanted, however might deal with the calls for of the icy seas of the Arctic. An ideal storm.

Researchers adopted the path and found that after its lengthy naval profession HMS Hind was thought-about surplus to necessities and was bought out of the Royal Navy in January 1784. The London shipowner and service provider Theophilus Pritzler purchased it and it launched into its second profession as a whaling ship, the Earl of Chatham, which might in the end result in its wrecking in Orkney.

In this identical interval, throughout Britain, the commercial revolution was selecting up important tempo. Whale oil had grow to be one of many key parts of lots of Britain’s new industries and hundreds of thousands of home and social applied sciences. Machinery demanded ever-increasing portions of whale oil as lubricant, it fuelled lamps and streetlights, and it was relied upon to provide woollen textiles. Demand surged, as did the potential for income for these investing in ships and crews to go looking.

The ship accomplished 4 seasons within the Arctic beneath the skilled whaler William Brown, looking Greenland Right whales, often known as Bowhead whales. Under Brown’s management from 1784-1787 the ship introduced again 19 whales, which amounted to over
350 tonnes of blubber to be was oil. This would have led to a good revenue, on condition that the federal government provided upwards of 40 shillings per ton of oil produced. However, the 1788 season was to be the primary season beneath a brand new grasp, Captain Paterson. It would even be its final, as on the journey from London the Earl of Chatham and its 56-person crew had been wrecked on the northeast finish of the island of Sanday.

Sanday: ‘The cradle of shipwrecks’

Anecdotal proof means that the stormy seas answerable for exposing the wreck in 2024 additionally performed their half within the wrecking of the ship in 1788. A small newspaper clipping from the Aberdeen Journal on twenty ninth April 1788 describes the incident, saying it was ‘totally wrecked with 56 hands on board’ and later goes on to substantiate all members of its crew had been saved, and had been despatched house from the Orkney Islands the next month. It describes Sanday as ‘the cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland’, testomony to the variety of ships which fell foul of the low-lying island as they tried to traverse the Fair Isle hole which splits the North Sea from the North Atlantic.

Sanday was well-known throughout northern Europe as a spot of wrecks, snaring Danish and Swedish East Indiamen, Dutch warships, emigrant ships headed from Germany for a brand new life in America, and dozens of smaller buying and selling vessels. The frequency with which ships, their crews and passengers ended up on the seashores of Sanday meant that residents had been used to serving to survivors and the island gained a status not simply as a hazard however as someplace hospitable to sailors who fell afoul of the stormy seas.

About Historic Environment Scotland

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is the lead physique for Scotland’s historic setting, a charity devoted to the development of heritage, tradition, training and environmental safety. It is on the forefront of researching and understanding the historic setting and addressing the impacts of local weather change on its future, investigating and recording architectural and archaeological websites and landscapes throughout Scotland and caring for greater than 300 properties of nationwide significance.

About Wessex Archaeology

Bringing collectively main minds and practitioners within the sector, Wessex Archaeology is a trusted archaeology and heritage service supplier and academic charity. From our community of worldwide places of work, we work in partnership with our shoppers to ship sustainable options to handle the historic setting – above floor, under floor and underwater. We are dedicated to our social influence. This means utilizing the information and connections we make by our business actions as a catalyst to interact the communities wherein we work. Follow us on social media @wessexarch