Museum and Art Gallery marks shipwreck anniversary

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the discovery of one of the most important shipwrecks to have been found in UK waters.

The Cattewater Wreck was discovered on 20 June 1973, when an area close to the entrance to Plymouth’s Sutton Harbour was being dredged. The wreck later became the first to be protected by the UK Government and is the best preserved English merchant vessel from the Tudor period.

The archives from the excavation of the wreck are now in the care of Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery. Thanks to a project funded and administered by English Heritage, improvements to the storage of the archive have been made in recent years. The project has also enabled researchers to look more closely at the evidence gathered from the wreck which is believed to be an English coastal merchant vessel that originated in either Spain or Portugal.

“Tudor wrecks are incredibly rare and this makes the Cattewater Wreck one of the world’s most important 16th century discoveries,” said project director Martin Read from Plymouth University. “When the wreck site was partially excavated in the 1970s three swivel guns plus wooden barrels, sailors’ leather shoes and fragments of woollen clothing were all discovered. Organic materials like these rarely survive but a lack of oxygen in the mud has really helped to preserve everything.”

As part of the project previously missing items have also been added to the archive including a group of finds from the stores of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This includes part of a wooden bucket and rare sections of the ship’s rigging, as well as samples of rope and possible sailcloth, notebooks and slides. The City Museum and the National Maritime Museum have been working together to ensure this important material returns to Plymouth.

Alison James, Maritime Archaeologist at English Heritage said: “The Cattewater Wreck is an outstanding example of a Tudor period merchant vessel and it is thanks to the passing of the Protection of Wrecks Act 40 years ago that we are able to protect it, along with 46 other important wreck sites that bear witness to the country's remarkable maritime heritage. English Heritage is carrying a range of research and survey work that will help to identify more sites to designate in the years to come.”

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the discovery of the wreck, Martin Read will give a lunchtime talk at the Museum and Art Gallery at 1.10pm on Tuesday 25 June. Admission is free and tickets are available from the Museum's Welcome Desk or by calling 01752 304774.

You can see fragments of Tudor textile as well as one of the three swivel guns that were salvaged from the Cattewater Wreck in the Museum and Art Gallery’s ‘Uncovered’ gallery. The Museum is open from 10am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays. Admission is free.

If anyone has any information about the location of material from the Cattewater Wreck they can contact the Museum and Art Gallery on 01752 304774.