Decade of salvage a stark reminder of the rich history of maritime in the UK

In the past decade, almost a report a day was made to the Receiver of Wreck (ROW), the official responsible for administering all wreck material recovered from the UK under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

The Receiver of Wreck oversees an enormous area of more than 11,000 miles of UK coastline and UK territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles from shore – covering thousands of wreck sites and millions of square metres of as-yet unsearched ocean.

All items found in UK waters – and wreck brought into UK jurisdiction from outside territorial waters – must by law be reported to the ROW, who then attempts to establish the owner, before liaising with salvor and owner to ensure the interests of both are taken into consideration. Archaeologists and museums are also often involved as interested parties, and a lot of items – through the help and coordination of the ROW team – eventually end up on display in museums around the nation.

But, while the treasure hauls get all the glory in the media, they neither represent the majority of reports made to ROW nor show the breadth of items found in our seas. The range of artefacts is huge from fully intact glass bottles with corks still wedged in place, to cannon balls from different eras and vessels.

The items are always valuable, even when they hold little monetary value, as a snapshot into history and people’s lives – they encourage the imagination to fill in the story. How did a leather shoe, a bone handle, a clay pipe, a leather book cover and a pewter spoon find their way to the seabed? Perhaps it was from the suitcase of a married couple on an migratory voyage to America taking all their worldly possessions with them, only to drop them overboard.

Or perhaps the truth is more sinister, the plundered spoils of pirates or thieves that were forced to dump their load overboard while being chased. Perhaps their vessel was sunk in the chase.

It would certainly chime with the history of Her Majesty’s Coastguard which formed in 1822 out of an organisation set-up in 1809 to fight smugglers; it was common for enterprising pirates to deliberately drive vessels on to rocks to plunder their shipwrecked carcasses. The early crews took responsibility of shipwrecks to safeguard cargoes and vessels from looters and, crucially, were trained with lifesaving equipment for the first ever time.

In fact, the history of the Receiver of Wreck has a similar creation story, albeit many centuries earlier. One of the main reasons the position came into existence was to protect valuable cargoes from this ‘wrecking’ fate. Until 1995 Receivers were “armed with full powers”, and could use force to prevent plunder, disorder or obstructions to the saving of life and property, the law gave the Receiver indemnity for violence done to others while discharging their duty.

And a fair number then seem to have enjoyed a postprandial smoke, with 192 pipes found.

There were 117 reports concerning coins, most of multiple items, and 65 reports of items of gold, from gold nuggets to a gold brooch with garnet stones.

Back to the minutiae of everyday life and there were 93 lamps brought up from the sea floor in the 10-year period, alongside 73 reports of pottery items and 54 shoes.

But, as we know, the shores of Britain have often been the location of fierce battles and there are scars in the water to prove it with 209 reports of multiple cannon balls and musket balls, 84 aircraft fragments and 10 reports of ammunition. And, sadly, 27 reports of human remains – which does not fall under the responsibility of ROW and would have been reported to the police.

But it still provides a stark, and poignant, reminder of the dangers of the sea and of the individuals who might have rung the more than 130 bells recovered from the bottom of it.

Among the finds, the most common items salvaged from the sea were bottles and containers for liquid, with more than 500 wreck reports mentioning these articles – of varying condition and volume – brought to the surface.

It fits the tale that the sea is full of pirate rum ‘to fill your tum’. But, it seems, not anymore. Just one – empty – bottle of rum was discovered over the past decade; and at least 10 bottles ‘with cork in place and liquid still inside’ might be rum, but going by all the empty bottles, it is unlikely. It seems more likely they are the surviving spoils of shipwrecks and items lost overboard.

There were also 410 reports mentioning plates, 165 of bowls,108 of cups and more than 180 separate reports of cutlery (96 spoons, 11 cutlery, 46 forks, 27 knives); reminding us that whatever the vessel and whatever the reason for being on the UK’s shores in the distant or more recent past, everyone needs to eat, even scurvy dogs.