Marine environmental assessment of the Royal Anne galley

English Heritage MRTM summaries. 2007/2008

Cornwall County Council’s Historic Environment Service Projects (HES) and Penzance-based maritime archaeologist Kevin Camidge have been commissioned by English Heritage to carry out a Marine Environmental Assessment of the Royal Anne Galley, a protected wreck lying in about 5 metres of seawater off the Lizard Point.  This year, a Phase 2 field assessment will be undertaken, which follows a Phase 1 desk-based assessment of the wreck undertaken by HES in 2005/6.

The Royal Anne Galley was a galley frigate was wrecked off the Lizard in 1721 while on voyage to the Barbados. There were only three survivors out of 200 passengers and crew. The most notable of those who perished was Lord Belhaven who was going to take up the Governorship of Barbados.

The site of the wreck was discovered by a local diver in 1991.  Since then over 400 artefacts, including iron cannon, cannon balls and coins, have been recovered from the site as well as pieces of cutlery bearing Lord Belhaven’s crest and motto. In 1993 the wreck was designated under the 1973 Protection of Historic Shipwrecks Act. The assessment will include the nearby ’Quadrant’ non-designated wreck site which may in fact be the stern of the Royal Anne.

This project is the first Marine Environmental Assessment (MEA) of a protected wreck to be commissioned, the objectives are to: assess the broad archaeological and environmental context of the site and collate available sources and information including existing fieldwork results and archival material;  discuss and evaluate potential marine environmental methods; establish the material type and extent of the site, assess the archaeological potential  of the site and establish a strategy for further assessment and monitoring.

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