HMS Victory Found!

[3113]

That's a long lost warship for those of you still trying to work it out.

American deep-sea explorers say they have discovered the wreck of a legendary British warship that sank in the English Channel 264 years ago. HMS Victory, the forerunner of Admiral Nelson's flagship of the same name, went down in a storm near the Channel Islands between France and Britain in 1744 with her 1,150 crew.

Divers from Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration claim to have discovered the wreck, but it remains the property of the British government and the company would need permission to raise artefacts. The company's research indicated the Victory was carrying four tonnes of gold coins that could be worth considerably more than the treasure that Odyssey raised from a sunken Spanish galleon in 2007, co-founder Greg Stemm said...

So far, Odyssey had recovered two brass cannons from the wreck of the Victory and continued to examine and map the debris field, which lies about 100 metres beneath the surface, Stemm said. The company said it was negotiating with the British government over collaborating on the project. "This is a big one, just because of the history," Stemm said. "Very rarely do you solve an age-old mystery like this."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said yesterday the government was aware of Odyssey's claim to have found the Victory. "Assuming the wreck is indeed that of a British warship, her remains are sovereign immune," he said on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy. "This means that no intrusive action may be taken without the express consent of the United Kingdom."

... The Victory was launched in 1737. Seven years later, Admiral John Balchin was leading his fleet home from a mission in Portugal when the vessel became caught in a violent storm. The ship was wrecked off the island of Alderney near rocks called the Casquets, a renowned graveyard for sailing ships.

The HMS Victory's crew of 1,100 all perished when the ship went down in 1744.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I believe that it was the loss of the Victory as well as another disaster that finally drove the Admiralty to offer a huge prize to anyone who could solve the puzzle of calculating longitude. The answer to that, in turn, led to the development of truly accurate, portable timepieces. So it actually is an even more important archeological find than you might think, given that there isn't a gazillion dollars in gold involved.

 

[DesertPirate]

I believe that it was the loss of the Victory as well as another disaster that finally drove the Admiralty to offer a huge prize to anyone who could solve the puzzle of calculating longitude. The answer to that, in turn, led to the development of truly accurate, portable timepieces. So it actually is an even more important archeological find than you might think, given that there isn't a gazillion dollars in gold involved.

Actually there might be 4 tons of gold on that one

I've been on the later Victory, she is in drydock in Portsmouth. Nelsons Flagship at Trafalgar

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Huh! There might have been four tons of gold on that one. I'd like the see HM government prove that it was all there. I suspect that the American salvers are "in negotiation" on that issue, as well.

 

[Weird Harold]

Huh! There might have been four tons of gold on that one. I'd like the see HM government prove that it was all there. I suspect that the American salvers are "in negotiation" on that issue, as well.

Odysey Explorer filmed the discovery and raising of the cannons and turned it into a documentary series on the Discovery Channel as Treasure Quest. I don't think there's going to be much dispute about how much gold is recovered if they can come to some agreement with the UK. (the next episode is the raising of the cannons, BTW. Last week's was the initial investigation and tentative identification as the only "first-rate" known to have sunk in the Channel.

 

[Darkniciad]

Odysey Explorer filmed the discovery and raising of the cannons and turned it into a documentary series on the History Channel as Treasure Quest. I don't think there's going to be much dispute about how much gold is recovered if they can come to some agreement with the UK. (the next episode is the raising of the cannons, BTW. Last week's was the initial investigation and tentative identification as the only "first-rate" known to have sunk in the Channel.

I knew there was a series I kept forgetting to set my DVR to record.

:: grabs remote ::

 

[neonlyte]

I believe that it was the loss of the Victory as well as another disaster that finally drove the Admiralty to offer a huge prize to anyone who could solve the puzzle of calculating longitude. The answer to that, in turn, led to the development of truly accurate, portable timepieces. So it actually is an even more important archaeological find than you might think, given that there isn't a gazillion dollars in gold involved.

Nice account of the Harrison Watch here: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/harrison

took a damn long time for his achievement to be recognised.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Nice account of the Harrison Watch here: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/harrison

took a damn long time for his achievement to be recognised.

Right! Poor guy ended up going to the king personally. HM was so incensed by Harrison's plight that he swore that would see justice done, personally. It worked. Harrison lived out his final days in serious wealth.

 

[trysail]

Nice account of the Harrison Watch here: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/harrison

took a damn long time for his achievement to be recognised.

... and Dava Sobel's Longitude, of course.

 

[trysail]

Nelson's Victory:

 

[Weird Harold]

Odysey Explorer filmed the discovery and raising of the cannons and turned it into a documentary series on the Discovery Channel as Treasure Quest.

I corrected the channel reference, but the episode about the intitial discovery isbeing repeated now, and the raising of the cannons episode starts in about ten minutes.

That is the West Coast feed of Discovery Channel, but they repeat in four hours starting at midnight, so the east coast should be just coming up on the repeat episode's second showing.