St Anthony 1527
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | St Anthony | Historic England |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1527 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Cause of loss | Foundered | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Sea / ocean | English Channel | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | England | official dataset |
| Position | 50.0560, -5.2819 | Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3) |
| Protected Wreck | List entry 1000067 | Historic England |
| Designated | 1982-01-19 | Historic England |
| Restricted area | 7.07 ha | Historic England |
| Grid reference | SW 65184 22477 | Historic England |
About the wreck
St Anthony or Santo António was a Portuguese carrack that foundered in Gunwalloe Bay, Cornwall, in 1527 en route from Lisbon to Antwerp. She had a mixed cargo including copper and silver ingots. The wreck was recorded historically, because the salvage of the cargo was the subject of an international dispute that led to a Court of Star Chamber, but the location of the wreck was unknown until 1981. The wreck is designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act and is 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 occurred on 15 January 1527 in a storm described, in contemporary evidence, as great and urgent tempest of winds and weather and by the great outrages of the sea.
There were 45 survivors from a crew of 86. On the morning after the wreck, the winds receded, and at low tide the wreck was in just six feet of water. Both the survivors and the local people attempted to salvage property from the wreck. King John III of Portugal, demanded the return of the cargo, and King Henry VIII set up a Court of Star Chamber. Some of the evidence that was given at the court survives, but not the outcome.
Despite the existence of the historical records, the actual position of the wreck was unknown. In the 1970s a copper ingot was recovered by a shellfish diver, but the significance of this find was not understood until 1981, when a copper ingot was found on the beach. A team was sent to investigate and discovered that the location matched the contemporary accounts.
Location
- Recorded position: 50.0560, -5.2819 (Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: English Channel
- 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 St Anthony (ship) (revision 1379939810), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wrecking and salvage”, “Discovery and protection”; 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.
Nearby wrecks
- Loe Bar Wreck 1 km
- HMS Schiedam 1684 · 2 km
- Rill Cove Wreck 9 km
- HMS Royal Anne Galley 12 km
- U-1169 1945 · 14 km
- U-1018 1945 · 14 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off England · English Channel · Age of Sail
Further reading
- Historic England list entry 1000067 (official record)
- Wikipedia: St Anthony (ship)