Yarmouth Roads Wreck
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Yarmouth Roads 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 | 50.7092, -1.4947 | Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3) |
| Protected Wreck | List entry 1000044 | Historic England |
| Designated | 1984-04-09 | Historic England |
| Restricted area | 0.78 ha | Historic England |
| Grid reference | SZ 35775 90079 | Historic England |
About the wreck
The remains of a late sixteenth or early seventeenth century carrack was discovered in Yarmouth Roads, Isle of Wight, England in 1984. The site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 9 April 1984. 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 lies on a ledge and consists of four well preserved fragments of wreck material. It is constructed using carvel planking with iron fastenings and believed to have been up to 32m in length. The vessel is believed to be a carrack of Mediterranean origin, likely Spanish. It has been interpreted as a trading vessel dating to the mid-sixteenth century. Artefacts from the site include stone shot, Italian ceramics, copper alloy scraps, pewter plates and spoons, a bronze mortar.
The site was found in 1984 while divers were searching for the source of Roman pottery that had been dredged up by local fishermen.
The site was further investigated in the mid-1980s and large portions of the wreck were recorded.
Location
- Recorded position: 50.7092, -1.4947 (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 Yarmouth Roads Wreck (revision 1243335062), 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).
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