More information : DESIGNATED WRECK SITE - BARTHOLOMEW LEDGES
SUMMARY:
Site of wreck, possibly SAN BARTOLOME, Spanish armed cargo vessel, 1597; however, there is no positive archaeological evidence to confirm her identity, although she was carrying medieval bronze bell fragments and lead ingots of Spanish type.
DESIGNATION HISTORY:
Statutory Instrument:
No.4, 1980/1456, 03-OCT-1980;
Amended 1983/128, 1983, March 1983;
Amended 2006/1178, 17-MAY-2006
Protected Area: Reduced (by amendment order) to within 100m radius of position 49 54.26'N., 06 19.83'W.
Protected area: within 150 metres of position 49 54.364N 006 19.889W, excluding any part of that area lying above the high water mark of ordinary spring tides. The reason for the change of radius and re-designation at new co-ordinates is that the position of the wreck on the seabed has changed.
Visit by Government Diving Contractor:
St Andrews University - Archaeological Diving Unit (ADU) April 1986 - April 2003
1986, 1993, 1998, 2002
Wessex Archaeology 1st May 2003 -2004
2004
DOCUMENTARY HISTORY:
Remains of a wrecked armed cargo vessel, thought to be Spanish and to date from the Armada period or just after. Possibly the remains of the 'Great Levantine' SAN BARTOLOME, part of the Spanish fleet which left Ferrol on the 8th October 1597. (1)(2)
Oldest wreck in the Scillies, still unidentified but a Spanish or Dutch vessel. Found in 1976 by Mr M Pirie but was salvaged for some 3 years before designation took place. (3)
If this vessel is the SAN BARTOLOME, a brief account of the circumstances of the wreck is as follows:
'On 9 October Don Martin de Padilla sailed with 136 ships carrying 9,000 troops...the plan being to intercept Essex's fleet on its return and establish a Spanish base at Falmouth...Padilla was within 30 miles of the Lizard on 12 October when his fleet was struck by a severe storm which sank 28 of his ships.' (7)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL HISTORY:
1976: Site discovered by Mike Pirie. (8)
1978: The site was discovered in 1978 by Mr M Pirie (Sub Aqua Scilly), at the time based on St. Mary's. (3)
Site discovered in the late 1970s and many tons of bell metal and lead were removed from the site before designation in 1980. A high proportion of the bell fragments contained inscriptions but few pieces were recorded before being sent to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry for recycling. (8)
1981: magnetometer survey (8)
1986: 14-week ADU and RAF underwater survey (8)
1998: ADU magnetometer and bathymetric surveys (8)
2003: magnetometer survey (8)
2004: Investigated by Wessex Archaeology and Richard Larn, the current site Licensee. (5)(6)
ENVIRONMENTAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS:
Finds:
Several pieces of a scrap medieval bronze bell have been recovered and 6 breech-loading iron cannon located. (1)
A number of silver two reale coins from 1474-1555 were also
recovered. (2)
Artefacts recovered by Mr M Pirie included 105 lead ingots, bits of a broken bell, and breech-loading swivel guns. (3)
From the 2003 licensee survey 13 guns, a broken anchor, and a broken anchor shank have been recovered. The guns are "banded" cannon, all in poor condition, apart from one with a well preserved open breech with a breech chamber alongside. A 15cm sounding lead, musket shot, broken bell fragments, and a lead ingot were also located. There are 4 remaining examples of the lead ingots in existence. (8)
A ship's sounding lead, 33cm x 5.5cm wide, recovered from the BARTHOLOMEW LEDGES protected wrck in position 49 54.359N 006 19.887W. (Droit 255/04) (4)
A hemispherical piece of lead end of a piece of bar shot, with rectangular hole for linking iron bar, weighing 1kg, 7.5cm diameter x 4cm thick, was recovered from the BARTHOLOMEW LEDGES protected wrck in position 49 54.359N 006 19.887W. (Droit 256/04) (4)(5)(6)
A "rat-tail" pewter spoon but with only 20% of the spoon bowl remaining, overall length 13cm, and a glazed pottery sherd, part of a bowl and base, 13cm high and 10cm wide, were recovered from the BARTHOLOMEW LEDGES protected wrck in position 49 54.359N 006 19.887W. (Droit 257/04) (4)(5)(6)
Wessex Archaeology also investigated various fragments and objects recovered from the wreck site in 1989 [declared to the Receiver of Wreck 1990] and other previously declared finds from 1980 and 1986 by the then site Licensee.
The anchors appear to be of a type consistent with Iberian construction. A stock-mounted swivel gun is of a common 16th to early 17th century type, not specific to any particular nation, but some smaller wrought iron breech-loading swivel guns have parallels with 16th century Spanish shipwrecks in the New World.
Some of the "boat-shaped" lead ingots are not only consistent with a 16th to early 17th century date, but are also consistent with similar ingots found in other Armada vessels in UK and Irish waters, but there is no direct evidence to identify this vessel as the SAN BARTOLOME. (5)(6)
The three surviving bell fragments traced by the ADU are in the Lord Nelson public house on the waterfront at Poole. (8)
This wreck would have been of great archaeological interest before the remains of its cargo were salvaged in the late 1970s, but it is difficult to judge its current value without intrusive archaeological investigation. There may still be important archaeological evidence buried on the site, but without a proper record of the tons of material previously discovered, the value of any surviving remains is diminished. Recovery of significant information about previous work on the site is difficult, but any remaining archaeological material in situ is not at present at risk from divers. (8)
A single silver daalder coin dated 1555, was recovered from the wreck in 1988. Two undated silver Spanish Philip and Johanna coins have also been recovered. The Isles of Scilly Museum contains (as at 2013) a display of all the surviving artefact material including two lead ingots, bell fragments, sounding lead, pewter rat-tail spoon, and barrel spigot. (9)
[Philip and Johanna were rulers of Castile from 1504 to Philip's death in 1506.] (10)
Site Environmental Summary:
The seabed is very rugged with rock outcrops rising to within 1 metre of the surface at low spring tides. A jumble of massive loose rocks, up to 4 metres high, with pockets of smaller rocks and boulders, overlie the bedrock and gradually give way to gravel and coarse sand which appears to cover most of the seabed below a depth of about 14 metres. All exposed rocks and boulders have very dense kelp forest but little other weed growth and this appears to be a very dynamic environment, with even the largest rocks being moved by storm action. (8) |