250-year-old American Revolution warship shipwreck found by schoolboy

The nearly 250-year-old shipwreck of a British Royal Navy warship from the American Revolution was recently identified by researchers after it was discovered by a schoolboy in February of 2024.

In a recent press release, Wessex Archaeology announced, “The identity of the Sanday Wreck, discovered in February 2024 and rescued by the community on the island of Sanday in the Orkney Islands, has been revealed thanks to the combined efforts of archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology, scientists from Dendrochronicle, and a team of dedicated community researchers with support from Historic Environment Scotland.”

Fox News reported that the shipwreck, which has been identified by Wessex Archaeology as the Earl of Chatham, was first observed by a schoolboy last February after sand was swept away in a storm in Sanday, which is one of Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

Wessex Archaeology confirmed that “all available evidence” suggests that the ship discovered by the schoolboy is the Earl of Chatham, which was wrecked in March of 1788. According to the press release, while 56 crew members were on the ship at the time it was wrecked, all of the crew members survived.

According to Wessex Archaeology, the Earl of Chatham was originally known as the HMS Hind and was built in 1749 to serve in the British Royal Navy. Researchers noted that the ship served in the sieges of Quebec and Louisbourg in the 1750s before later serving in the American Revolutionary War in the 1770s.

“Once it was decommissioned, it was sold and renamed the Earl of Chatham, becoming a mighty 500-ton whaling ship,” Wessex Archaeology stated. “This was common for Royal Navy ships as their excellent build quality allowed them to withstand the icy conditions of British whaling routes. As the Earl of Chatham, it completed four seasons in the Arctic before ultimately meeting its end in the Bay of Lopness in March 1788.”

According to Fox News, the island of Sanday is the site of roughly 270 shipwrecks from the 1400s to the late 1900s. The outlet noted that the Sandy community aided the recent archaeological recovery efforts.

Fox News reported that Sylvia Thorne, a researcher on the island, described the archaeological effort surrounding the recovery of the Earl of Chatham as “really good fun.”

“It was such a good feeling about the community – everybody pulling together to get it back,” Thorne stated. “Quite a few people are really getting interested in it and becoming experts.”

A video shared by Historic Environment Scotland shows the remains of the nearly 250-year-old shipwreck.