Brothers Lincoln Barnwell (left) and Julian Barnwell measure a cannon on the Gloucester.
(Photo:Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks)
Shipwrecks have long inspired storytellers and historians.
For treasure hunters, discovering sunken jewels or relics is a thrilling holy grail.
Brothers Lincoln Barnwell (left) and Julian Barnwell measure a cannon on the Gloucester. (Photo:Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks)
For historians, however, finding a piece of history frozen in place is the true treasure.
The HMS Gloucester was built in 1654 for the English navy.
The duke was a Catholic heir to a protestant throne only recently rescued from the jaws of republicanism.
Unopened 17th-century wine bottles from the wreck. (Photo:University of East Anglia)
Unfortunately, the sandy waters near Yarmouth were difficult to navigate.
About 200 are thought to have perished.
He was eventually deposed by his own daughter and her husband in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
A bottle bearing the crest of George Washington’s ancestors. (Photo:University of East Anglia)
It was our fourth dive season looking for Gloucester, Lincoln Barnwell said in astatement.
We were the only people in the world at that moment in time who knew where the wreck lay.
Some bottles are even stamped with the crest of the Legge family, who were ancestors of George Washington.
Glasses still in their case found on the wreck. (Photo:University of East Anglia)
The ship offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance for historians to study the 17th century almost in situ.
Unopened 17th-century wine bottles from the wreck.
A bottle bearing the crest of George Washington’s ancestors.
Glasses still in their case found on the wreck.
