The wreck of the London – an English second-rate ship-of-the-line built in Chatham in 1656, during the Interregnum – has been the subject of a decade-long research programme by Cotswold Archaeology (see CA 308). This volume documents the project and its results.
The ship exploded in the Thames Estuary in 1665, probably due to the gunpowder it was carrying for the Second Anglo-Dutch War. This event was documented in Samuel Pepys’ diary in his entry for 8 March of that year, stating that most of the vessel’s 300 crew members died, with only the 24 who were blown clear surviving. Rediscovered in 1962, the wreck of the London was added to the Heritage at Risk register in 2009 due to the likelihood of exposure and decay. Cotswold Archaeology then stepped in to document and excavate the wreck in 2014, recovering more than 700 items, as well as human remains, in the process. This volume provides an in depth look at this truly exceptional project, and serves as a great example of rescue archaeology in action.
REVIEW BY KK
War on Film: Benediction