HMS Mary 1703
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Mary | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1703 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Ship type | third-rate | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Storm or weather | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Commonwealth of England, Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | North Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | England | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 11 km from land |
| Position | 51.2606, 1.5006 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
The English ship Speaker was a 50-gun third-rate. Speaker was built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Christopher Pett at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1650. At the Restoration she was renamed HMS Mary. She was the prototype of the Speaker-class.
In 1688, HMS Mary was rebuilt by Thomas Shish at Woolwich Dockyard as a 62-gun third-rate ship of the line. The ship was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands in the Great Storm of 1703. Almost all who were aboard were drowned, including Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont.
Diving & visiting
Local divers found the wreck site in 1980. The initial designation was of 50 metres (160 ft) around what is now known as the South Mound; the North Mound was discovered in 1999 and the area was amended under Statutory Instrument number 2004/2395 as a 300 metres (980 ft) radius around 51° 15.6302' N, 01° 30.0262' E.
It is believed that Mary lies under the South Mound and the North Mound is probably the third rate HMS Restoration that was wrecked in the same storm. The site lies 100 metres (330 ft) to the west of the Goodwin Sands off Deal, between the wrecks of HMS Stirling Castle and HMS Northumberland, which also sank in the storm.
Location
- Recorded position: 51.2606, 1.5006 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); 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.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article English ship Speaker (1650) (revision 1331330894), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck site”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Restoration 1703 · 0 km
- HMS Northumberland 1703 · 0 km
- HMS Stirling Castle 1703 · 2 km
- Rooswijk 1740 · 5 km
- Goodwins & Downs 8 6 km
- Unknown Wreck (GAD8; previously known as the 'Goodwins Cannon Site') 6 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off England · North Sea · Age of Sail