Odyssey Marine in their never ending quest for the Merchant Royal has made an interesting find in the English Channel. Early in 2008 they were working in an area off of Guernsey. On May 29th, 2008, they filed two arrests that were in the English Channel "between 25 and 40 miles from the Coast of the United Kingdom and beyond the territorial waters or continguous zone of any sovereign nation." which corresponds to the area they were working.
In the previous episodes of TreasureQuest they recovered a ship's bell which, according to Odyssey, came from 'Le Marquis Tournay'. The second arrest identification has yet to be announced. The third episode find of "42lb cannons" almost certainly relates to this second arrest.
Just before the show aired, Odyssey made the following SEC filing:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090129/omex8-k.html
Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
On January 29, 2009, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time, Discovery Channel will broadcast the third episode of "Treasure Quest," an 11-episode television series that covers some of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc.'s shipwreck exploration operations and related activities during 2008.
Odyssey expects that the third episode will include the following information:
� Odyssey has discovered a shipwreck in the English Channel that it has code-named the "Legend."
� Odyssey has found at least 16 bronze cannon at the Legend shipwreck site.
� At least four of the cannon are of the type that fired 42-pound projectiles.
� At least one of the cannon bears the royal arms of King George I of England.
Speculation as to the identification of this shipwreck centers around the HMS Victory.
Six ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Victory.
* HMS Victory, purchased by the Royal Navy in 1569 and broken up in 1608.
* HMS Victory, a 42-gun great ship launched at Deptford in 1620.
* HMS Victory, a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line launched in 1675.
* HMS Victory, a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line launched in 1737.
* HMS Victory, an 8-gun schooner launched in 1764.
* HMS Victory, a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line launched in 1765. The present day HMS Victory.
From "The Balchin Family Society" is the following (note the reference to 42 pounder cannons):
http://www.balchin-family.org.uk/family_history/people/admiral/search_casquets.html
"The 18th century HMS Victory was the fourth of the name, and was built from the remains of the Royal James which was burnt in a fire in 1721. She took eleven years to build, starting in 1726, and was finally launched on 23rd February 1737 at Portsmouth. The ship carried 100 guns as follows:
4 6-pounders on the forecastle
12 6-pounders on the quarter-deck
28 12-pounders on the upper deck
28 24-pounders on the middle deck
28 42-pounders on the main gun deck"
"The cannon that HMS Victory carried are of particular interest, as she was the last First rate to be armed entirely with brass guns. The advantage of brass is that it does not rust, and archaeologists have recovered brass guns from the sea virtually undamaged, in comparison with iron guns which have been unrecognisable. The guns were distinctive in that they had a decoration known as a dolphin on the upper surface. These were lifting handles situated on the upper part of the barrel between the trunnions. Most guns had two dolphins, some four, but a few had only one. Brass guns were also much more heavily decorated than iron ones. Coats of Arms were engraved, and most of the guns on the Victory would probably have George II's monogram on them."
I believe that the reference to "brass guns" is really a reference to "bronze guns". There are a few references to "brass guns" but I'm not sure that there were ever any "brass guns" used as armament aboard a ship.
The "dolphin on the upper surface" is clearly seen from the video of Odyssey lifting one of these massive cannons from the deep. Also, the cannon that Odyssey recovered has a George I monogram instead of George II's. George I ruled from 1714 to 1727. George II ruled from 1727 to 1760. The construction of the HMS Victory began in 1726 during the reign of George I. Greg Stemm has said that the guns of the "Legend" (aka HMS Victory) were delivered BEFORE the ship was built, so George I monograms would make sense.
"The Loss of HMS Victory
On 28th September 1744, Sir John Balchin decided to return home after successfully freeing Sir Charles Hardy, who had been blockaded in the Tagus Estuary. He entered the Bay of Biscay on 30th September, and on 3rd October a violent storm blew up. All the squadron returned safely to Plymouth or Spithead except the Victory. She was last seen on the morning of the 4th October, but then vanishes. Nothing has been found of her remains. It is believed that she hit the Black Rock off the Casquets in the English Channel."
An interesting note: The Odyssey Explorer has been in Hull for a "five year Special Survey plus repairs and modifications, which will necessitate a dry dock period." She left a few days ago and is reported heading to London. There was a note at the end of a recent Discovery Channel video that requested you "Visit www.discovery.com/treasurequest Monday February 2 to learn about Odyssey's ground breaking discovery."
Interesting chain of events. We will probably know more on Monday Feb. 2nd. Stay tuned.