Investigation into ‘damage’ at historic wreck site

Police are investigating reports of fishing equipment illegally placed at a 334-year-old protected shipwreck which they said may have damaged the site off the south Cornish coast.

Fishing pots were found across the wreck site and diving trail near HMS Coronation which sank in 1691 with the loss of 600 sailors, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

The ship sank in a gale off Penlee Point, near Plymouth, and the wreck is protected from damage by law.

Sgt Julian Fry, from the police rural affairs team, said: “We are urging the fishing community to avoid placing any fishing equipment near the HMS Coronation and indeed any other protected wreck sites around the UK.”

The investigation is part of Operation Birdie, a national initiative tackling illegal interference of historic wreck sites.

Rural affairs police officers are working alongside Historic England’s Maritime archaeologists and heritage crime specialists to investigate the reports.

HMS Coronation lies in two parts, one inshore and one offshore, and artefacts including cannons and anchors survive, according to the Coronation Wreck Project.

It said the 90–gun ship was launched in Portsmouth in 1685 and saw action in the Battle of Beachy Head against the French in 1690.

Access to the HMS Coronation is through a licence scheme run by Historic England and the South West is home to 21 of the UK’s 57 protected wrecks.