18TH CENTURY SHIPWRECK DISCOVERED ON SCOTTISH ISLAND BEACH HOLDS AN AMAZING STORY

On Sanday, one of the tiny Orkney Islands in northern Scotland, a little youngster made an incredible discovery in February 2024. After a storm carried the ship's hull ashore, he discovered the remains of a 275-year-old shipwreck. The island's inhabitants swiftly banded together to save it once the youngster saw it, which allowed specialists to piece together its long-lost history.

Wessex Archaeology's local volunteers and specialists were able to pinpoint the ship's precise identity in addition to its construction date. In order to rule out any non-British vessels, researchers analysed the wood and concluded it dated to the mid-1700s and came from southern England. The ship was finally identified as the Earl of Chatham after they further reduced the list by excluding wrecks that were too small or from the incorrect area.

According to naval records, the Earl of Chatham was formerly the 24-gun Royal Navy ship HMS Hind, which was constructed in 1749. In the 1750s, the Hind participated in the British sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec while serving off the coast of Jamaica. Before spending ten years as a school ship in the Irish Sea, it returned to battle during the American Revolution in the 1770s. Under the new name, The Earl of Chatham, the Hind was subsequently sold as a whaling ship and sank on April 29, 1788, during a storm on the North Sea inside the Arctic Circle. All 56 crew members miraculously survived.

Ben Saunders, senior maritime archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, who oversaw the project with Historic Environment Scotland (HES), described the Hind as a "very long-lived and fortunate ship." The ruins of the ship were quite lucky as well. Under the sand, the hull part, which measured roughly 10 by 5 meters (33 by 16 feet), had been astonishingly well preserved. While plans are being prepared for their final home, the salvaged timbers are currently being stored submerged at the Sanday Heritage Centre.

Finding the ship's history wasn't simple, but everything became clear with the help of a plethora of archive material and material analysis. Because of the period and the location of the Orkney wreck, we're quite fortunate to have a wealth of archive material, Saunders added. "It's been really fulfilling."