Seaton Carew Wreck
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Seaton Carew Wreck | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | collier | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nearest coast | England | official dataset |
| Position | 54.6585, -1.1801 | Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3) |
| Protected Wreck | List entry 1000077 | Historic England |
| Designated | 1997-07-16 | Historic England |
| Restricted area | 3.14 ha | Historic England |
| Grid reference | NZ 52990 29572 | Historic England |
About the wreck
The Seaton Carew Wreck is a protected wrecksite lying in the intertidal zone at Seaton Carew. Prior to 1996 the wreck had been completely covered by the sand of the beach, but it was exposed in 1996 and 2002 and has been regularly exposed since 2004. The wreck is of a type of vessel known as a collier brig which would have been ubiquitous in the 18th and 19th centuries and is unusual on the North-East coast for the high degree of preservation. 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.
On 4 August 1996, two local people, Derek Hodgson and Joe Howey reported discovering the remains of a wreck on Seaton Carew beach. The wreck had not been seen before, at least in their lifetimes, but a recent storm, some 3 or 4 days before had stripped sand from the beach and exposed the wreck. They contacted Tees Archaeology, who began a rapid assessment of the wreck with the help of volunteers from the Nautical Archaeology Society.
The wreck was lying in the inter-tidal zone about halfway between the high and low water levels, giving about 6 hours for assessment between tides.
Location
- Recorded position: 54.6585, -1.1801 (Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3); may be approximate)
- 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 Seaton Carew Wreck (revision 1348681290), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery”; 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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