Sandy Shipwreck identity revealed

From 17th century warship and survivor of sieges, to mighty Arctic whaling vessel

(Image courtesy of Rod Thorne, Sanday)

The identity of a shipwreck discovered in February 2024 in Sanday has now been revealed - thanks to research by experts alongside the Sanday community, with funding support from Historic Environment Scotland.

All available evidence points to the wreck being the Earl of Chatham, a former Royal Navy vessel called HMS Hind which was latterly renamed once it became a whaling ship, before the abrubt end to its career in the 'cradle of shipwrecks' in 1788.

Find out more about painstaking detective work by Wessex Archaeology,  Dendrochronicle and the Sanday community, with support from Historic Environment Scotland, to hunt down the ship's past, in the video below (direct link https://bit.ly/4mtkv63 )

Orkney Islands Council is proud to have supported the Sanday community in the initial recovery and conservation steps - including securing the help of National Heritage Memorial Fund for a huge custom built tank to submerge and stabilise the timbers ready for future research.

Nick Hewitt, Culture Team Manager for Orkney Islands Council, said: “We’re proud that we were able to assist the Sanday community in the early recovery, reporting and stabilisation efforts in those crucial days following the discovery of this remarkable wreck.

“Thanks to the quick action of the community in alerting us, we were able to offer expertise of our county archaeologist and culture team and importantly secure urgent funding for a stabilisation tank for the timbers through the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

“Special thanks must go to the National Heritage Memorial Fund who were very quick responding to our call for help early last year as we raced against time and degrading timbers. 

“Thanks to their rapid response and funding for the stabilisation tank, we have been able to help the community to consider a sustainable a future for the wreck while Wessex Archaeology's important research and community archaeology work has been underway.

“It’s been a wonderful team effort so far between many and one we’re proud to have been a part of, and will continue to be as we support the Sanday community explore the future possibilities for their wreck."

Read the full story below, courtesy of Wessex Archaeology and Historic Environment Scotland

A sixth rate 24-gun frigate, HMS Hind saw many years of active service, including the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in the 1750s and the American Revolutionary War in the late 1770s. Once it was decommissioned, it was sold and renamed the Earl of Chatham, becoming a mighty 500-ton whaling ship.

This was common for Royal Navy ships as their excellent build quality allowed them to withstand the icy conditions of British whaling routes. As the Earl of Chatham, it completed four seasons in the Arctic before ultimately meeting its end in the Bay of Lopness in March 1788. It carried 56 sailors on-board at the time, all of whom survived.

After the timbers were first discovered by the community of Sanday last year, Dendrochronicle conducted a dendrochronological assessment and analysis of the wood. They were able to determine that the ship was built with wood from south and southwest England. Once the provenance of the timbers was established, archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology, local community researchers, and the Sanday Heritage Centre spent several months working with archives and community records to find the most likely candidate for the ship. This research was further supported by Sanday Heritage Group and Orkney Archaeology Society.

The Sanday Wreck, now believed to be the Earl of Chatham, was revealed due to changes in the climate. Increased storminess and unusual wind patterns led to removal of the covering sands which had hidden and protected the wreck for centuries. Changes to coastlines, which are predicted to accelerate in coming decades, could make similar finds more common.

Ben Saunders, Senior Marine Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, said: “It is thanks to our dedicated team of community researchers and the evidence they have gathered that means we have been able to identify the Sanday Wreck with a reasonable degree of confidence.

"Throughout this project, we have learned so much about the wreck, but also about the community in Sanday in the 1780s. Sanday was infamous for shipwrecks at the time, called ‘the cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland’, but the community was equally well-known for its hospitability as it looked after sailors who fell afoul of the area’s stormy seas.

“We are grateful to the support from our partners, and we’re delighted to be able to share our work on this intriguing wreck.”

Alison Turnbull, Director of External Relations and Partnerships at HES, said: “The discovery of the Sanday Wreck is a rare and fascinating story. Wessex Archaeology worked closely with the community of Sanday to discover the ship’s identity, which shows that communities hold the keys to their own heritage. It is our job to empower communities to make these discoveries and be able to tell the story of their historic environment.”

“We are proud to have grant-funded this work, which supports both Scotland’s Archaeology Strategy of making archaeology matter, and Scotland’s national strategy for the historic environment, Our Past, Our Future.”

Nick Hewitt, Culture Team Manager for Orkney Islands Council, said: “It has been a wonderful team effort so far between many and one we’re proud to have been a part of, and will continue to be as we support the Sanday community explore the future possibilities for their wreck.”

Clive Struver, Chair of the Sanday Development Trust added: “The work to uncover the identity of the wreck has been hugely exciting.

“Now that we have this knowledge about the wreck and how it came to rest in Sanday, the next step is very much to explore what the community here would like to see happen in terms of where and how the story of the wreck and our island’s past as the ‘cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland’ can be captured for generations to come – including importantly how that could be achieved in the context of a small island and in a way that honours and reflects the unique character of Sanday.”

The timbers are currently housed in a freshwater tank at the Sanday Heritage Centre to conserve them, where visitors can find out more about the wreck’s story and Sanday’s history. The tank was funded by National Heritage Memorial Fund and provides a stable environment for the timbers, which if not submerged in water would begin to dry out and crumble after so long buried in the intertidal sands.

More about the vessel and research

The ship's captivating history offers a view of the global influence Britain was projecting at the time. Its story reflects the impact of economic upheaval, social evolution, the intensification of environmental exploitation as part of the industrial revolution, political turmoil powered by war and the realities of colonial expansion.

A process of elimination: Narrowing the search

Using samples taken from the timbers, experts from Dendrochronicle analysed tree rings to determine its age and where it came from. The results gave a range of definite felling dates between 1748 and 1762 for some and 1750’s-1780’s for others and confirmation that the wood used to build and repair the ship came from the south and southwest of England. This crucial evidence equipped the community of 20 dedicated community researchers, who were led by Wessex Archaeology, with key information to begin their own voyage of discovery through local and national records and archives.

Narrowing down the shortlist using the scientific results to filter out impossible and unlikely candidates, the research team, which includes members of Sanday Heritage Group and Orkney Archaeology Society, accessed further archive material extending back to 1764, meaning they were able to intensify their search and hone in on specific details of potential candidates like construction
methods, materials used and the size of the ship to lead them to the most likely candidate.

By the end of their journey, having meticulously examined all available information and options, one candidate stood out: the whaler Earl of Chatham. Further research into naval records at The National Archives and National Maritime Museum in London unravelled the ship’s past even further, that the Earl of Chatham had previously been HMS Hind, a Royal Navy ship with a notable past.

Piecing together the past: From war to whaling

HMS Hind saw active service on the North American station during the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in 1758-9, and during the American Revolutionary War in the late 1770s and early 1780s. The ship was a 24-gun frigate, which means it wasn't a vast battleship but a fast and relatively moveable large sailing ship that operated as a convoy escort or a counter-privateer cruiser depending on the Navy’s needs.

War and whaling went hand-in-hand in Britain in the mid to late 1700’s. In times of conflict, the Royal Navy saw the fledgling whaling industry as a source of talented mariners to recruit from, and in turn records show that when conflicts ended and those same mariners sought work, peaks in whaling occurred, helped by access to sturdy, well-built Royal Navy ships that were no longer needed, but could handle the demands of the icy seas of the Arctic. A perfect storm.

Researchers followed the trail and discovered that after its long naval career HMS Hind was considered surplus to requirements and was sold out of the Royal Navy in January 1784. The London shipowner and merchant Theophilus Pritzler bought it and it embarked on its second career as a whaling ship, the Earl of Chatham, which would ultimately lead to its wrecking in Orkney.

In this same period, across Britain, the industrial revolution was picking up significant pace. Whale oil had become one of the key components of many of Britain’s new industries and millions of domestic and social technologies. Machinery demanded ever-increasing quantities of whale oil as lubricant, it fuelled lamps and streetlights, and it was relied upon to produce woollen textiles. Demand surged, as did the potential for profits for those investing in ships and crews to go hunting.

The ship completed four seasons in the Arctic under the experienced whaler William Brown, hunting Greenland Right whales, also known as Bowhead whales. Under Brown’s leadership from 1784-1787 the ship brought back 19 whales, which amounted to over
350 tonnes of blubber to be turned into oil. This would have led to a respectable profit, given that the government offered upwards of 40 shillings per ton of oil produced. However, the 1788 season was to be the first season under a new master, Captain Paterson. It would also be its last, as on the journey from London the Earl of Chatham and its 56-person crew were wrecked on the northeast end of the island of Sanday.

Sanday: ‘The cradle of shipwrecks’

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the stormy seas responsible for exposing the wreck in 2024 also played their part in the wrecking of the ship in 1788. A small newspaper clipping from the Aberdeen Journal on 29th April 1788 describes the incident, saying it was ‘totally wrecked with 56 hands on board’ and later goes on to confirm all members of its crew were saved, and were sent home from the Orkney Islands the following month. It describes Sanday as ‘the cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland’, testament to the number of ships which fell foul of the low-lying island as they attempted to traverse the Fair Isle gap which splits the North Sea from the North Atlantic.

Sanday was well-known across northern Europe as a place of wrecks, snaring Danish and Swedish East Indiamen, Dutch warships, emigrant ships headed from Germany for a new life in America, and dozens of smaller trading vessels. The frequency with which ships, their crews and passengers ended up on the beaches of Sanday meant that residents were used to helping survivors and the island gained a reputation not just as a hazard but as somewhere hospitable to sailors who fell afoul of the stormy seas.

About Historic Environment Scotland

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is the lead body for Scotland’s historic environment, a charity dedicated to the advancement of heritage, culture, education and environmental protection. It is at the forefront of researching and understanding the historic environment and addressing the impacts of climate change on its future, investigating and recording architectural and archaeological sites and landscapes across Scotland and caring for more than 300 properties of national importance.

About Wessex Archaeology

Bringing together leading minds and practitioners in the sector, Wessex Archaeology is a trusted archaeology and heritage service provider and educational charity. From our network of international offices, we work in partnership with our clients to deliver sustainable solutions to manage the historic environment - above ground, below ground and underwater. We are committed to our social impact. This means using the knowledge and connections we make through our commercial activities as a catalyst to engage the communities in which we work. Follow us on social media @wessexarch