The most significant historic maritime discovery since the raising of the Mary Rose in 1982 has been the location of a British warship that sank in 1682.
The need to protect the wreck led to the announcement.
After a four-year search of the Norfolk coastline, the Gloucester was discovered in 2007, buried half-buried on the sea floor.
The future King of England, James Stuart, ran aground on a sandbank as he was being carried by the Royal Navy.
After a dispute between the future King James II of England and the pilot of the ship, it sank.
The discovery promises to change the way historians view 17th-century social, maritime and political history.
Stuart barely survived, despite hundreds of the crew and passengers dying.
This is the most significant historic maritime discovery since the raising of the Mary Rose in 1982.
The ship's bell. (University of East Anglia)
The Mary Rose, one of Henry VIII's warships which sank in 1545, was salvaged in 1982, providing a wealth of detail about life in Tudor times.
It was raised in a spectacular operation watched by millions on television.
Around a third of the wooden warships, which were almost completely buried under the sea bed, had survived.
A pair of glasses still in their original case. (University of East Anglia)
Wooden gun carriages, cooking pots, scalpels, leather book covers, syringes, fiddles, whistles, weapons, navigation devices, and furniture were all among the items retrieved from the Mary Rose.
The near-death of the Catholic heir to the Protestant throne at a time of great political and religious tension is an important moment in British political history.
The bell that helped identify the ship will be part of an exhibition that will be held at the museum.
Agence France- Presse.
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