Digital Archive for the Royal Anne Galley Artefact Recording Project 2023
Kevin Camidge, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5284/1116911. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Kevin Camidge unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 5735
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1116911
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This archive comprises the digital record of the artefacts made as part of the Royal Anne Galley Artefact Recording Project in 2023. This includes digital photographs of over 600 artefacts recovered from the protected wreck site of the Royal Anne Galley between 1991 and 2005, along with a report detailing the methods used in the recording, highlighting objects which would benefit from further study.
The Royal Anne Galley was a fifth-rate, Royal Navy galley-frigate, built at Woolwich Royal Dockyard and launched 18th June 1709. In September 1721 the RAG was tasked with transporting the new governor Lord Belhaven and his administration to Barbados. The voyage did not begin well; the ship ran aground at the Downs and then collided with the Virginian ship Spolswood. The voyage came to its unhappy end when the ship was wrecked on the rocks off Lizard Point on 10 November 1721. There were only three survivors, and none of the officers or passengers were amongst them. In the years immediately following the wreck, considerable quantities of material were salvaged including anchors and guns.
Over 600 artefacts were recovered from the protected wreck site of the Royal Anne Galley between 1991 and 2005 by a small team led by the licensee Rob Sherratt. Sadly, Rob died in a diving incident in 2007 and it was not subsequently possible to access the recovered objects which had been in his custody. David Gibbins recently established contact with Rob’s family proposing that the finds might be transferred to the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston, and they proved enthusiastic about the idea. These objects have now been recorded, photographed and placed into archival storage boxes and deposited in the Museum. It is further anticipated that a small display along with interpretation will be mounted by the Helston Museum utilising some of the surviving objects.
