SHE was built by the French, captured by the English, became a model for the design of Royal Navy ships and sank in The Solent 250 years ago.
Now historical documents and archaeological information about one of the country’s most important shipwrecks is to become available to the public for first time, thanks to a £47,800 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
HMS Invincible was the first of six Royal Navy ships to carry the name, the last being the aircraft carrier decommissioned in 2005.
The wreck of the first Invincible was discovered in 1979, lying between Ryde and Portsmouth, and marine archaeologists removed a range of artefacts from her, some of which can be found in Portsmouth’s Royal Naval Museum and some at Chatham Historic Dockyard.
But until now documents, images, plans and notes detailing her excavation have remained in private hands.
These will now be digitised and made publicly available, thanks to the grant obtained by the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology.
HMS Invincible began life as the French warship L’Invincible and was launched at Rochefort, France, in 1744.
With two decks, 74 guns, and a crew of 700 she was the elite fighting ship of the day. This firepower could outmatch all but the largest three-deck warships and was coupled with the speed and agility of much smaller vessels, making L’Invincible a superior design.
The introduction of the 74s became the backbone of the fleet for more than half a century and 16 were present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
In 1747, L’Invincible was escorting a French East India convoy to India that was intercepted by a British squadron, led by Admiral Anson, off the north coast of Spain. Though hopelessly outnumbered, her captain fought valiantly and L’Invincible was the last ship to strike her colours at the Battle of Cape Finisterre.
As a British prize, HMS Invincible was the flagship of three admirals, took part in two French wars and served as far away as the West Indies and Nova Scotia.
On February 19, 1758, Admiral Boscawen’s fleet set sail from Portsmouth, bound for Nova Scotia, on a second attempt at taking the French fort of Louisbourg. Invincible was to take part in this successful mission, but never left The Solent.
After a calamitous series of events, the esteemed warship ran aground on Dean Sand and, despite continuous attempts at refloating her, she became flooded and fell over on her beam ends in gale force winds with seas breaking over her.
After all that could be easily salvaged was retrieved, Invincible settled into the sandbank and became entombed for the next 221 years.
In 1979, a local fisherman, Arthur Mack, brought up some remarkable timbers after snagging his nets in the eastern Solent, and the site now known as Horse Tail was dived by Island divers Jim Boyle and John Broomhead, and later by Commander John Bingeman.
The team successfully identified the extensive wreck and formed The Invincible Committee (1758) to research and excavate the site.
An exhibition will open at the Underwater Archaeology Centre, Fort Victoria Country Park, Yarmouth, in March, presenting the story of this nationally important but little-known ship from building to capture, from wreck to archive, with a selection of fantastic artefacts.
The final result will be an interactive cd-rom presenting the archive in a format that caters to young budding archaeologists, casual interest users and academic researchers alike.
• Full story, plus more pictures, in the Friday, January 16, County Press.
Reporter:
martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk