We continue our mini series on maritime disasters with HMS Gloucester a British warship lost in the spring of 1682 off the Norfolk coast. It’s quite a story: here is a ship with an impressive career that takes us from her end on that sandbar in Norfolk all the way to the British presence in the Caribbean during the Cromwellian Commonwealth – a key moment in global history. Her later career was intricately linked with the troubled history of the Stuart monarchy and when she sank one of those on board was none other than James Stuart, the future James II.

The wreck was recently discovered off Norfolk and to find out more Dr Sam Willis spoke with Dr Benjamin Redding - Senior Research Associate on the Gloucester Project at the University of East Anglia. Together with Professor Claire Jowitt, he is writing a cradle-to-grave history of this most historically and culturally significant seventeenth century warship.

This episode continues our mini series on maritime disasters: if you haven’t heard any of these so far do please check them out – we have covered so many extraordinary stories including the shocking wreck of the mighty Vasa in the seventeenth century, that magnificent ship that sank on its maiden voyage within sight of shore; the ss Waratah, a huge passenger liner that simply vanished in 1909; Preussen, the enormous and only five-masted full-rigged merchant ship ever built which sank in the English channel in 1910; the early submarine the HL Hunley which holds the record for the vessel being sunk the most times….and so much more! I should add here that we are also working on a future episode on the wreck of the Batavia – a dutch vessel which ran aground off western Australia in the summer of 1629 leading to one of the most appalling horror stories in all of history let alone all of maritime history…

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