⚓ Shipwrecks Map

HMS London

HMS London: Ship London 1656 stern view
Image: Willem van de Velde der Ältere (1611 bis 1689) oder Willem van de Velde der Jüngere (1633 bis 1707), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).

Key facts

NameHMS LondonWikidata label
Ship typesecond-rateWikidata P31 instance of
Nationality / flagUnited KingdomWikidata P137 operator → P17 country
OperatorRoyal NavyWikidata P137 operator
Sea / oceanNorth SeaNatural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon
Nearest coastEnglandofficial dataset
Position51.4957, 0.7336Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3)
Protected WreckList entry 1000088Historic England
Designated2008-10-21Historic England
Restricted area0.68 haHistoric England
Grid referenceTQ8984880963Historic England

About the wreck

London was a 76-gun second-rate ship of the line in the Navy of the Commonwealth of England, originally built at Chatham Dockyard by Master Shipwright Captain John Taylor, and launched in June 1656. She gained fame as one of the ships that escorted Charles II from Holland back to England during the English Restoration, carrying Charles' younger brother James Duke of York, and commanded by Captain John Lawson.

London was accidentally blown up in 1665 and sank in the Thames Estuary. According to Samuel Pepys 300 of her crew were killed, 24 were blown clear and survived, including one woman. Lawson was not aboard at the time of the explosion but many of his relatives were killed. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.

Diving & visiting

This is a designated Protected Wreck under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Under the Act, diving on or otherwise interfering with the wreck inside its restricted area requires a licence; see the Historic England list entry for details.

The wreck of London was rediscovered in 2005, resulting in port authorities changing the route of the shipping channel to prevent further damage and to allow archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology led by Frank Pope to investigate. The site where the remains lie was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 on 24 October 2008. The wreck is considered important partly for its historical references and partly for its insight into an important period in English naval history.

Location

  • Recorded position: 51.4957, 0.7336 (Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3); may be approximate)
  • Sea / ocean: North Sea
  • Nearest coast: England

Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.

OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article English ship London (1656) (revision 1379086003), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Rediscovery of wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.

Protected Wreck data © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).

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Further reading