The Discovery

The Discovery

The Discovery

2005 - Resolution Found?

Diving to free some trapped lobster pots on the 17th April 2005 Dive Buddies Paul Stratford, Martin Wiltshire and Steve Paice discovered the remains of what appear to be a large warship. In poor visibility the divers descended to the sea bed in approximately 8 metres of water to be met firstly by a huge anchor and then one by one emerged large cannon.

Realising that they had possibly discovered a very important site the divers sought advice from Dr Peter Marsden at the Hastings Shipwreck Heritage Centre. Dr Marsden suggested that the remains could be that of the English Warship Resolution known to have foundered in Pevensey Bay during the Great Storm of 1703.

With boat cover and help from Vic Wiltshire and Alison Stoneman, the three buddies continued to explore the site through 2005 whilst liaising closely with English Heritage and Dr Marsden.

Some photographs were taken by Martin Wiltshire and a small cannon ball, a galley brick and a metal pin/nail were raised and handed to Dr Marsden.

Wessex Archaeology were commissioned in September 2005 to carry out a pre disturbance survey of the site.

Please click here to download a copy their 2005 Undesignated Site Assessment in .PDF format.

The season ended with more questions than answers.

2006 - The Protection of the Wreck

Norman’s Bay Wreck Site

Summary from Licensee Report Submitted October 2006

2005 had been an exciting year; discovering this site, meeting the team from Wessex Archaeology and visiting the site with them in September and again this year in May.

Then came an explosion of media interest, starting on the Bank Holiday morning of Monday 29th May, prior to David Lammy's (DCMS) announcement, protecting the site under the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973) and making their press release the following day. TV and radio interviews followed and various newspapers and magazines ran the story of this very exciting find.

Not wishing to be in the lime light, dive buddies Martin Wiltshire & Steve Paice were content to let Paul Stratford take on the responsibilities of licensee applicant.

Fieldwork Activities:

All 2006 fieldwork activities were undertaken by Wessex Archaeology when they visited the site in May.

A copy of the 2006 Wessex Archaeology Designated Site Assessment can be downloaded in .PDF format by clicking here.

Post Fieldwork activities:

01/06/06	Licence application was submitted to English Heritage with Adrian Barak as the nominated Archaeologist
21/06/06	Meeting arranged with interested parties at the Shipwreck Heritage Centre in Hastings.
06/07/06	Survey license granted.
13/0706	Contact made with Kate Cole of Sussex Seasearch to discussed possible future joint project work
13/0706	An anonymous diver came forward with a bronze cauldron that he claimed was recovered from the site back in 1999. This was donated to the Shipwreck Heritage Centre and handed by Paul Stratford to Dr Peter Marsden on Sunday the 16^th July at his guided tour of the Amsterdam.
16/07/06	Meeting held with Adrian Barak, Robin and Janet Witheridge.
31/07/06	Contact made with Bob Peacock (Licensee of the Stirling Castle).
03/08/06	Contact made with Iain Grant (Licensee of Hazardous)
August	Exploring ways to place a buoy on the site, obtaining cost estimates and enquiring about legislation.
01/09/06	Paul Stratford and Alison Stoneman enrol on the 3 day intro and part 1 NAS course at Fort Cumberland Portsmouth.
04/09/06	Update email sent to all interested parties.
05/09/06	Virginia Roberts, volunteered her much appreciated help and assistance with project management and admin.
21/09/06	Received correspondence from Bryan Smith regarding his earlier research carried out with Earnest Perry in the 1980/90’s.

Summary:

To Summarise: the year had been spent meeting people, studying past research and archive material on the Resolution. Making useful and helpful acquaintances and finding out more about maritime archaeology in general.

Having last dived the site in 2005, before Wessex Archaeology had visited, we now wish to dive the site armed with their up to date site plan, to orientate ourselves fully before introducing new divers.

We look forward to an exciting season in 2007.

"As a maritime archaeology novice I stumbled upon the site, fell in at the deep end and am now fully immersed!" - Paul Stratford Licensee.

The Wessex Archaeology Designated Site Assessment was published in November.

Another year has passed and the question still remains - Is this wreck site the Resolution?