Podcast: wreck of the London

Meet the man who recovers 350-year old artefacts in a shipping lane in zero visibility

Author: Pat
16th April 2020
 

Instrument recovered from the London - (c) Steve Ellis

By some estimates there are approximately 40,000 shipwrecks lying on the seabed around Great Britain. Many were lost in wars, and many more struck rocks or foundered in storms, each one representing financial loss and an all-too-often human tragedy.

In this episode we hear that account of a diver who knows one shipwreck better than most: a ship called the London. She sank in the Thames estuary almost 350 years ago during the turbulent period called the ‘Interregnum’, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of Britain between the reigns of the executed Charles 1, and the return of Charles II from exile in the Netherlands.

I spoke to trustee Steve Ellis about what it’s like diving in the river Thames, and asked him what kind of ship was the London, and what do we know about her construction?

>> Listen to the podcast <<

Running time: 27 mins

Image gallery – all pictures courtesy of/copyright Steve Ellis

London artefact - (c) Steve Ellis

London artefact - (c) Steve Ellis

Sample visibility on the London - (C) Steve Ellis

To see more images, visit www.thelondonshipwrecktrust.co.uk

 
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