A collection of gold jewellery and coins recovered from the wreck of the 17th-century East India Company ship Phoenix has been donated to the Isles of Scilly Museum by local scuba diver and author Todd Stevens.
It was Stevens who identified the historic wreck-site in 2017, following years of archival investigation and underwater exploration.
The Phoenix was a 46-gun ship built at Blackwall in 1670 and captained by William Wildy of Whitechapel. Sailing under charter to the East India Company, the vessel was returning from Amoy in China carrying valuable cargo including pepper, spices, silks and cloth when it was wrecked in poor weather near Scilly on 11 January, 1680.
Stevens identified the wreck-site area using an historic map found in the archive of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, having spotted the words “Cap Wildy lost” scrawled over an area west of the island of Samson.
He located and dived the site on the Western Rocks, exploring gullies and between boulders at depths between 5 and 40m. Distinctive ballast comprising broken fragments of cannon – known as kentledge – confirmed remains to be those of the Phoenix.
Among artefacts recovered from the site were coins, navigational instruments, sword fragments, jewellery and other personal items believed to have belonged to the crew and Captain Wildy himself. Much of the bulk cargo had been salvaged at the time.
It was the loss of the Phoenix that prompted construction of the first lighthouse in the Isles of Scilly. on St Agnes.
The donated artefacts are set to be displayed in a new Maritime Gallery at the Isles of Scilly Museum, which is relocating to the restored town hall in Hugh Town on the main island of St Marys.
“It’s hard to believe these items have been sitting on the seabed for nearly 350 years,” remarked curator Dr Xavier Duffy. “This donation ensures that the material can now be shared with the public and preserved for future generations as part of the islands’ heritage.”
Stevens’ books include The Pirate John Mucknell And The Hunt For The Wreck Of The John and Ghosts Of Rosevear & The Wreck Of The Nancy Packet.
Also on Divernet: Diving the Isles of Scilly: Wrecks, Reefs and Seal Encounters
