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MONUMENT NO. 1549573

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Possible remains of 1696 wreck of French privateer, formerly an English ketch, as evidenced by a cannon of around 1650 which was recovered from the Gull Rock, Nare Head area. The cannon is a 6pdr of Swedish design and is thought to have belonged to the SCARBOROUGH ketch, which was captured by the French in 1694, turned into a French privateer, and lost shortly after being recaptured by the English in 1696, but this identification is not necessarily conclusive, given the paucity of surviving records for 17th century shipwrecks. Should this cannon have come from a wreck, at this date the vessel concerned would have been a sailing vessel, constructed of wood, and in this location would most likely have struck the Gull Rock, and subsequently foundered. For the account of the wreck event relating to the SCARBOROUGH, please see 1225833. For another cannon apparently similarly retrieved from a shipwreck and now on display at Pendennis, please see 1549589.

DETAIL

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MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

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Wreck Site and Archaeological Remains:

Cannon retrieved from the seabed off Gull Rock, Nare Head (1), by a local diving club "decades previously" and given to the then Cornwall Maritime Museum, Falmouth. (2) It was then donated to English Heritage (2) when, or shortly after, the new Maritime Museum building at Falmouth was opened in 2002 (3) (said to have been "recently donated" in 2006.) (2)

Gun seen to be of iron construction, reasonably well preserved, but with a crack along the top. It is very plain, with a plain knob cascabel and fillet mouldings at half-way and three-quarters along its length. It now sits upon a reproduction wooden sea carriage. (4)

Interpretation of wreck site:

No information about other finds from this possible wreck. The gun is believed to be a Swedish-designed 6pdr dated to around 1650. In 2005-6 staff at Pendennis Castle profiled the wreck against the NRHE AMIE records of wrecks in the vicinity (1) and felt that the best possible match was the SCARBOROUGH, captured by the French in 1694, turned into a French privateer, and recaptured by the English, only to be lost shortly afterwards 'east of Falmouth.' The cannon is now displayed in Pendennis Castle. (2)

SOURCE TEXT

(1) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

(3) World Wide Web page

http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?/aboutus/content/our_building accessed on 23-JAN-2012

(2) Kieran Stivey and Stephen Keefe 2005 A Brief Guide to the Gun Collection at Pendennis Castle

(4) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

RELATED MONUMENTS

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Monument Name/No

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Description

PENDENNIS CASTLE
FALMOUTH

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Pendennis castle, erected between 1540 and 1545, was the most westerly of a chain of coastal defences erected by Henry VIII in response to the threat ...

MONUMENT NO. 1225833

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1696 wreck of French privateer which stranded east of Falmouth. Originally an English ketch, she was a wooden sailing vessel.

MONUMENT NO. 1549589

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Possible wreck of around 1720 or later, based on a 2.5pdr cannon of approximately this date retrieved from the Carrick Roads by an oyster dredger in 1...

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