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Sunday, February 1, 2009

HMS Victory wreck found

Interesting news breaking tonight of the Associated Press newswire. Deep-sea explorers have found the legendary British man-of-war HMS Victory that sank in the English Channel 264 years ago.

The wreckage of the HMS Victory, the forerunner to the ship made famous by Lord Nelson, has been found below about 330 feet of water by Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm said: "This is a big one, just because of the history. Very rarely do you solve an age-old mystery like this."

AP reported that two brass cannons had been recovered from the wreck of the ship which was the most heavily armed vessel of its day.


Photo released by Odyssey Marine Exploration
of a Bronze cannon on the shipwreck site of HMS
Victory bearing the royal crest of King George I

Thirty-one brass cannons and other evidence on the wreck allowed definitive identification of the HMS Victory, 175-foot sailing ship that was separated from its fleet and sank in the English Channel on Oct. 4, 1744, with at least 900 men aboard, the company said.


Photo released by Odyssey Marine Exploration.
The Odyssey Explorer's ROV measures a bore
hole of a 42-pound bronze cannon on the shipwreck
site of HMS Victory

Odyssey was searching for other valuable shipwrecks in the English Channel when it came across the Victory, although the exact location is being kept secret.

Full details are expected to emerge at a press conference in London on Monday morning.

1 comment:

EdTheRed said...

Cool...

Not Nelson's Victory, though. That one was commissioned in 1759, and remains commissioned to this day.