{"id":7407,"date":"2026-02-28T12:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=7407"},"modified":"2026-02-28T12:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:11:12","slug":"winter-storms-reveal-possible-17th-century-shipwreck-tied-to-armed-caribbean-voyages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=7407","title":{"rendered":"Winter storms reveal possible 17th-century shipwreck tied to armed Caribbean voyages"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft wp-block-nypost-editor-partner-article-links\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The remains of a\u00a017th-century ship\u00a0recently resurfaced after winter storms ripped open a beach in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>The vessel was found at Studland Beach in Dorset, along the\u00a0southwestern coast of England. <\/p>\n<p>Bournemouth University announced the discovery in a Feb. 9 press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The ship is believed to be a vessel called \u201cThe Fame,\u201d a merchant ship from Hoorn, the Netherlands, that sank in 1631 after running aground.<\/p>\n<p>The timbers measure nearly 20 feet long and about 6.5 feet wide, and officials said the ship\u2019s section \u201cconsists\u00a0of at least 15 frames connected with wooden treenails to\u00a0five\u00a0outer hull planks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The statement noted, \u201cThe frames\u00a0appear\u00a0eroded, but the hull planks are in excellent condition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere would originally have been another layer of planking on the inside of the vessel, but this appears to have been lost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The planks have been buried since the 1630s and have been \u201cintermittently\u00a0exposed\u201d since, according to the university.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The vessel was found at Studland Beach in Dorset, along the\u00a0southwestern coast of England. <span class=\"credit\">National Trust<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis explains\u00a0why the inner planks are missing and frames eroded, while the outer\u00a0hull planks\u00a0survive\u00a0in\u00a0such good\u00a0condition,\u201d said the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Though the timbers surfaced only recently, the wreck itself was first discovered in the 1990s in the Swash Channel near Poole Harbor.<\/p>\n<p>During a 2013 excavation, archaeologists noted some pieces were missing \u2014 and now believe those sections have been found.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The timbers measure nearly 20 feet long and about 6.5 feet wide. <span class=\"credit\">National Trust, Jamie Lamb-Shine<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The ship \u201cwould\u00a0have\u00a0been capable of carrying\u00a0more than\u00a040 guns to defend itself against pirates\u00a0during\u00a0voyages\u00a0to the Caribbean\u00a0to bring back salt,\u201d per the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Also, the ship\u00a0was reported to have dragged its anchor, grounding\u00a0on a nearby, notorious\u00a0sandbank\u00a0where it broke its back,\u201d the university said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecords\u00a0state\u00a0that\u00a0all\u00a045 crew abandoned\u00a0ship\u00a0safely, but\u00a0local residents\u00a0quickly set to work looting\u00a0the wreck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tracey Churcher, general manager of the\u00a0National Trust\u00a0in\u00a0Purbeck, called the discovery \u201ca real treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0always astounded by the history we find at\u00a0Studland,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The planks have been buried since the 1630s and have been \u201cintermittently\u00a0exposed\u201d since, according to the university. <span class=\"credit\">Bournemouth University<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe wooden tree nails are still in place and holding after\u00a0400 years\u00a0\u2014 what a testament to the craftsmanship at the time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An excavation is slated for the near future, said Fleur Castell, a spokesperson for the National Trust.<\/p>\n<p>Castell told Fox News Digital the discovery \u201chighlights the dynamic and constantly\u00a0evolving nature of Studland\u2019s coastline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFour hundred years ago, the area that\u2019s now the beach, where the wreck was revealed, was open sea,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>An excavation is slated for the near future, said Fleur Castell, a spokesperson for the National Trust. <span class=\"credit\">Bournemouth University<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Shifting sands and\u00a0powerful winter storms\u00a0have accelerated changes along the coastline, Castell added \u2014 exposing fragile sections of the protected wreck that officials say must not be disturbed.<\/p>\n<p>The release said visitors \u201care asked to help protect the site by not touching or damaging the exposed timbers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tom Cousins, a\u00a0maritime archaeologist\u00a0who inspected the wreck, told Fox News Digital the site is currently being protected by the National Trust.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHistoric England will then fund a project to get the timbers back to our conservation lab in Poole, where we can record them in detail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Dendrochronology testing will determine the exact age \u2014 and identity, the experts hope \u2014 of the ship.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Though the timbers surfaced only recently, the wreck itself was first discovered in the 1990s in the Swash Channel near Poole Harbor. <span class=\"credit\">Bournemouth University<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The discovery is the latest in a long list of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/15\/us-news\/images-reveal-remains-of-luxury-steamer-that-sank-in-lake-michigan-154-years-ago\/\">historic maritime finds<\/a> over the past year.<\/p>\n<p>Last summer, officials announced that they\u00a0identified <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/01\/lifestyle\/haunting-slave-ships-found-off-coast-of-national-park-300-years-later-very-convincing\/\">two slave ships<\/a>\u00a0off the coast of Central America.<\/p>\n<p>Also, last year, a centuries-old ship was found\u00a0beneath <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/03\/science\/archaeologists-find-centuries-old-shipwreck-in-unlikely-place\/\">a former fish market<\/a>\u00a0in Spain.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/25\/science\/winter-storms-reveal-possible-17th-century-shipwreck-tied-to-armed-caribbean-voyages\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The remains of a\u00a017th-century ship\u00a0recently resurfaced after winter storms ripped open a beach in the United Kingdom. The vessel was found at Studland Beach in Dorset,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}