A medieval wreck that may have been doomed by bad weather and its heavy load of stone cargo, including cauldrons, mortars and gravestones, is getting a lot of attention as maritime archaeologists begin efforts to preserve its remains off England's southern coast.
A team led by dive-boat captain Trevor Small, who discovered the 13th-century cargo ship's wreck in 2019, and Tom Cousins, a diving and maritime archaeology officer at Bournemouth University in the U.K., began a new series of dives last week.
More than 20 mortars of different sizes have now been found there, and it's likely there are many more, as the wreck earned its name from the many "mortar" bowls, used for grinding and made of local stone.
The remains of the Mortar Wreck are facing a new challenge. According to Live Science, parts of the wooden hull have been uncovered by the shifting sands at the bottom of the bay.
The Sunken 17th-century pirate ship was found with gunpowder-packed grenades.
The first image of two.
The wreck is named after the stone mortars that the ship carried when it sank. They were made from a stone that was famous for its quality. The image was taken at Bournemouth University.
The medieval ship carried a lot of stone mortars and marble, as well as large stone cauldrons for cooking. The image was taken at Bournemouth University.
The wreck has been granted the highest level of official protections by the British government.
The oldest known wreck in English waters is called the Mortar Wreck. The wooden hull of some of the older wreck sites are rotted away, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The first signs of the Mortar Wreck were detected by the skipper and diver. He told Live Science that it was likely that a storm exposed the wreck after he'd made the same voyage for several years.
When there's a new structure on the bottom, it gets inhabited by fish life very quickly. That makes you believe that there is something there.
According to Small, the ship was carrying mortars, stone cauldrons, gothic stone gravestones and raw marble from the nearby Isle of Purbeck.
The first image of two.
The gravestones made from Purbeck marble are decorated with Christian designs. The image was taken at Bournemouth University.
It is rare for Gravestones of Purbeck marble to be found and the scientific understanding of how they were made has been changed. The image was taken at Bournemouth University.
It's not clear why the vessel sank, but it's likely that it foundered after a change in the weather.
It's possible that they were just getting clear of the protection of the coastline when they were hit by a changing wind.
The Mortar Wreck is at a depth of about 10 meters below the surface and so the ship may have grounded in the bad weather and started taking on water until it sank.
Irish oak, a tree species that grows in England, was felled between 1242 and 1265 to make the exposed timbers.
New photos show that a $17 billion wreck is remarkablypreserved.
It's rare for submerged wood to survive for very long, and the wreck's preservation seems to be due to the soft sand on the floor of the bay.
The initial analysis shows that the ship was 65 feet long and had a single mast. The shallow drafts of such ships meant they could navigate along the country's major rivers, such as the Trent and Ouse. The transit vans were of their time.
He said that the Mortar Wreck was going to carry the load of Purbeck stone to England when it sank.
The wreck contains many mortars and cauldrons, as well as ornate and highly-polished gravestones made from Purbeck marble. They show that two different gravestone designs were used at the same time.
The artifacts from the Mortar Wreck will be put on display at the new museum.
The Mortar Wreck was protected by the government at the same time as two other rare wrecks. One is thought to have been involved in the Battle of Portland, a naval engagement during the First Anglo-Dutch War, while the other is believed to have been a merchant ship.
It was originally published on Live Science
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