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The programmes
Finding Oliver Cromwell's lost ship the Great Lewis has a historical significance that could be compared to the discovery of Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose. The Great Lewis was lost during a bloody battle in 1645 in south-west Ireland, as Cromwell tried to keep a foothold in Ireland during the English Civil War. The whereabouts of her wreckage remained a mystery for 400 years, until 1999, when wreck timber was found outside Waterford in Ireland that archaeologists believed could be from the ship known as the pride of Cromwell's fleet.
The history
1645 was a particularly turbulent and bloody period in the UK and Ireland. The English Civil War had been raging since 1942. On one side was the king of England, Scotland and Ireland, Charles I, and his loyal followers, the Royalists; on the other was Oliver Cromwell and his supporters, the Parliamentarians.
Cromwell sought more power for Parliament, at the expense of the king's dominion, and, as a devoted Puritan, was alarmed by Charles' leanings to Catholicism. In light of the gathering rebellion, Charles attempted to dissolve Parliament. The war eventually broke out after the king tried to arrest five members of Parliament. Cromwell eventually won and in 1949 Charles I was executed.
Throughout the war, Cromwell and his Parliamentarian armies were desperate to hang on to strategic shipping ports in Ireland. However, in 1645 the Cromwellians in Ireland suffered a blow when a 1500-strong band of Irish Royalists overcame the 200-man Parliamentarian garrison occupying Waterford's Duncannon Fort in south-west Ireland. On learning the news, Cromwell immediately sent his flagship vessel, the Great Lewis, and three other ships to recapture the fort.
The Royalist forces turned the fort's guns on the approaching fleet. The other three ships escaped, but a combination of heavy cannon fire, high tides, winds and a rocky coastline did for the Great Lewis. With her masts shot down, she drifted into shallow water and sank, with most of her crew and 200 soldiers still onboard.
For 400 years there was no sign of any wreckage of the Great Lewis. Then, in 1999, timber from a ship was uncovered by dredgers in the area where she sank. Dredging is an annual event in this channel – by deepening the seabed, it clears the way for large ships to travel in to the harbour. This mystery wreckage, which archaeologists believed could be from the Great Lewis, lies in only 8 metres of water in the main shipping lane of Waterford harbour, one of the busiest in Ireland.
The dive
An exclusion zone was established around the dive site, on the western side of the shipping channel, while archaeological work was carried out by our Wreck Detectives, under the supervision of the Irish Underwater Archaeology Unit. The diving team's base for the week-long investigation was an old car ferry, which provided a sturdy platform amid the busy shipping traffic.
With a team of experts onboard to guide them through their tasks, the Wreck Detectives' mission was to find as many clues as possible to identify the wreck. They had to locate and measure at least one of the wreck's cannons and they had to come back with a sample of timber. Dendrochronology is a method of scientific dating based on analysis of tree ring patterns in an identified species of wood – a sample of the ship's timber would enable them to carry out this analysis.
The wreck lies in just 8 metres of water, so this gave Miranda and the other divers a long bottom time to explore the 40-metre long wreck site. However, as they made their way down the shotline, it was clear that this was going to be no easy survey – churned up silt in the tidal estuary made visibility near zero with the wreck almost invisible. To make matters worse, plans for using an airlift (a giant vacuum cleaner) to remove silt from the wreck site were scuppered as the current showed its full force. Dives were cut short or cancelled as the divers battled against the elements whilst avoiding the giant ships that cruised into the harbour.
However, the team were able to find the cannons, which by their shape and measurements could be dated to the 17th century. And with an underwater chainsaw, dendrochronology expert, Nigel Nayling managed to remove a large enough piece of timber for analysis. The oak timber sample was dated at 1555.
Although dated 90 years before the sinking of the Great Lewis, it was still possible that this oak was used to build the ship. Many factors need to be taken into account when using dendrochronology to date timber from a ship. These include the time taken to treat the wood, possible long storage time at timber yards and the years needed to build a vast ship such as the Great Lewis. No other ship was reported to have sunk in Waterford harbour within 50 years of 1645, so the all evidence uncovered and brought together by our team suggested that this wreck was the Great Lewis.
Find out more about the wreck of the Great Lewis.
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Location
Main shipping lane, Waterford harbour
Dive planning
Diving on this site is not recommended because of poor conditions and the high amount of shipping traffic. Any diving here must be done under the supervision of the Irish Underwater Archaeology Unit and with the permission of relevant authorities.
Useful contacts
Irish Underwater Council:
+353 (0) 1 2844601
Waterford harbour master's office:
+353 (0) 51 383166
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