Summary
A 1763 wreck of an English brigantine which stranded in Hanover Cove (subsequently named after the wreck) in a gale en route from Lisbon to Falmouth.
Reasons for Designation
The postal packet Hanover is designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: As the only known surviving example of a packet ship (albeit in wreck form);
* Period: For its association with HM Post Office Packet Service;
* Potential: For its potential to inform on the build, nature and cargo of packet ships and C18 merchant ships;
* Documentation 1: For its C18 documentary history, particularly that detailing its wrecking and subsequent salvage;
* Documentation 2: For its recent archaeological documentation.
History
The Hanover was a packet ship operating between Falmouth and Lisbon from 1757 to 1763. It is not known where the Hanover was built, nor whether it was built as a packet ship in 1757 or converted from an existing merchant ship and recommissioned as the Hanover. The ship was en route from Lisbon, Portugal, to Falmouth, Cornwall, carrying between £17,000 and £60,000 in gold and valuables on 13 December 1763 when a SSW gale veered NNW and drove it into a small bay on the North Cornish coast, where the ship was wrecked. This area subsequently became known as Hanover Cove. Only three people survived out of the 27 crew and 33 passengers.
There are a number of large rocks in the cove, and the Hanover may have broken up in a very short time after striking them. The fact that the survivors were described as being washed onto the rocks battered and frightened suggest that most of the dead were killed by being thrown against the shore rather than drowning, as is often the case in shipwreck. The violence of the wrecking can be seen in the fragmentary hull structure that remains.
The vessel, carrying a large quantity of gold coin, was wrecked in the parish of St. Agnes. 'The Collector of Customs at St. Ives and the agent for paquets, enrolled a body of 60 men, making an agreement with them for salvage. According to one observer, ‘At the time of low water, when neither Collector nor agent was present, some gold coin were found on the sands and immediate notice was sent to the Collector, who was 3 miles distant. Upon arrival, he found 59 of the 60 men scattered over the sand, and as a piece of gold was found, the finder dropt it into a hat held by the 60th man. The pieces of gold coin were from the value of 36s each to 2s 6d each and it is verily believed not one piece was concealed by any of the 60 men’.
Documentary evidence suggests that in April 1765 an iron trunk containing gold was recovered which, with the recovery of other valuables, satisfied the insurers.
The Hanover site was discovered in June 1994. The identification is supported by a bronze bell, inscribed 'The Hanover Paquet 1757', and a ring identified as belonging to the captain of the ship were reported as coming from the site. Designation was made after a salvage rig was positioned on site and 60 cannon and a fragment of hull were raised, thereby destabilising the site. Very little recording was carried out during these works, and the position of the wreck has been estimated based on a sketch plan and a photograph of the salvage rig in situ. While it is possible to locate the rough location of the excavation site, the exact location of the wreck is not known.
The recovered fragment did not include the keel, but the structure immediately to the side of this and was pinned to the seabed by the weight of the cannons in the hold. In order for the Hanover to have remained stable, the cannons must have been equally distributed across the lower hull of the ship, but it is likely that the violence of the wreck and the impact of striking the seabed was sufficient to move these guns and hence roll the ship in her final moments. Only the first futtock and associated timbers were present in the surviving fragment. As a testament to the force of the wrecking event, the edges of the timbers were literally 'snapped' off, something that would have required considerable force to achieve.
It should be noted that at the time, the former Archaeological Diving Unit (ADU) questioned the identification of the wreck as being the remains of the Hanover. They noted that the ring, allegedly discovered during the initial investigation of the site in 1994, was not declared until two years later in 1996. The ADU also questioned the large number of guns recovered; 60 had been recovered which date predominantly from the C18. This large assemblage is particularly unusual for a packet ship which would have had standing orders to out-sail rather than to engage with an enemy. Post-excavation analysis showed that only one of the guns was likely to have formed part of Hanover’s armament. The remaining 59 were a variety of aged, worn out and non-naval guns, and were probably carried as ballast.
In 2016, Historic England commissioned Cotswold Archaeology to undertake remote sensing and foreshore metal-detecting within the designated area to identify the presence/absence of archaeological material associated with the Hanover. At the time of the foreshore survey (April 2017) the beach was largely devoid of sand and the area described as containing the most wreck material in 1997 (and previously described as being buried under 2-5m of sand) is now similarly exposed. No wreck material was observed during this part of the survey, but remote sensing (comprising magnetometry and multibeam bathymetry) recorded a large cluster of buried ferrous material located at the western edge of the current restricted area. While intrusive archaeological investigation would be required to determine what these represent, given the nature of the geology and surrounding area, these anomalies are highly likely to represent in-situ archaeological remains.
Officially it is thought that the Hanover is owned by the Post Office, the successor organisation to the Packet Service, whose ships carried mail to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts all over the world from C17 until C19.
Details
Designation History:
Designation Order: (No 3), No 1718, 1997
Made: 18th July 1997
Laid before Parliament: 18th July 1997
Coming into force: 19th July 1997
Restricted area: 250 metres radius within 50 20.075 N 005 10.823 W.
Designation History:
Designation Order: 2022 No 535
Made: 10th May 2022
Laid before Parliament: 12th May 2022
Coming into force: 2nd June 2022
Restricted area: 150m radius within Longitude: -5.18431500, Latitude: 50.33520100.
No part of the restricted area lies above the high-water mark of ordinary spring tides.
The wreck comprises a spread of magnetic anomalies measuring 130m by 50m, oriented east-north-east.
The excavation site to the east is highly dynamic and mobile and with a 7m tidal range, but is unlikely to retain any structural remains of the Hanover. However, the potential for surviving artefacts is high.
