The Gresham Ship - Stoney Cove, Feb 2013

  In May 2012, five sections of the hull of an armed Elizabethan merchantman were moved to Stoney Cove Dive Centre, some 400 years after it sank in the Thames Estuary. The site consists of a section of bow and 15m of the port side, as well as an anchor. The ship is now part of a unique underwater museum display where it also serves to train the next generation of nautical archaeologists. Originally discovered in 2003 by the Port of London Authority, excavation was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology. The hull remains and associated artefacts, including iron bars, lead and tin ingots, pottery and leather were recovered together with 4 guns, one bearing the insignia 'TG' and the moulded emblem of a grasshopper, the mark of Sir Thomas Gresham (1519 - 1579). He was a financier and adviser to Queen Elizabeth. Twelve tree-ring samples from the hull suggest that the timbers were felled in England after 1574. Photos: Martin Davies