West Bay Wreck
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | West Bay Wreck | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Sea / ocean | English Channel | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | England | official dataset |
| Position | 50.7041, -2.7785 | Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3) |
| Protected Wreck | List entry 1000083 | Historic England |
| Designated | 2005-07-17 | Historic England |
| Restricted area | 0.78 ha | Historic England |
| Grid reference | SY 45124 89670 | Historic England |
About the wreck
The remains of a seventeenth century cargo vessel were found to the west of the Outer Pollock Reef, off West Bay, Dorset, England in 2004. The site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 17 July 2005. 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 appears to date to between 1627 and 1750 based on the dating of a bronze muzzle-loading gun found on the site. Also found on the site were a number of iron bars, an iron gun, and potential ballast of hard slate and quartzite. The ballast appears to originate from southwest England or Northern France.
The site was discovered in 2004 by members of the local sub-aqua club while diving on the reef. Designation assessment took place in 2005.
The site is frequently surveyed by Bournemouth University.
Location
- Recorded position: 50.7041, -2.7785 (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 West Bay Wreck (revision 1360106347), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “The wreck”, “Discovery and investigation”; 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).
Nearby wrecks
- Marguerite 18 km
- Chesil Beach cannon 20 km
- HMS M2 1932 · 22 km
- USS S-24 26 km
- HMS Empress of India 1913 · 27 km
- HMS Delight 1940 · 28 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off England · English Channel