HMS Sussex: What's All The Fuss About?

In 1694 an English warship laden with treasure sank in stormy seas off the coast of North Africa. The ship was called HMS Sussex, and was carrying gold coins (worth about 600 million pounds in today's money!!) to the Duke of Savoy in Italy.

This year experts are going to try to salvage, or raise, the wreck of the Sussex, which many British archaeologists are very worried about. Read on to find out about the debate surrounding HMS Sussex.

We're very interested to hear what you think - why not read the story, have a think about it and let us know your thoughts using the Get In Touch page?

This is the Mary Rose, a Todor warship that lay underwater for hundreds of years.

© Mary Rose Trust.

History... HMS Sussex lay undisturbed on the sea bed until about ten years ago, when a letter written to the King of France in 1694 was discovered.

Back in 1694 France and England were at war. The gold on board HMS Sussex was meant to be a bribe, persuading the Duke of Savoy, an Italian leader, to help out England by attacking France.

The letter was a message from an Italian spy, telling the French king, Louis XIV, that the ship had sunk. For the French, this was great news. Three hundred years later, the letter was a fantastic clue for treasure seekers - the hunt was on!

This beautiful gold and ruby salamander was found on the wreck of a ship from the Spanish Armada that sank in 1588.

You can see it at the Ulster Museum in Northern Ireland.

Find out more on their website.

© Ulster Museum.

Treasure hunters and marine archaeology...an American company called 'Odyssey' believe they have found the wreck of HMS Sussex, almost a kilometre beneath the surface of the sea, off the coast of Gibraltar.

Odyssey have lots of experience in finding and salvaging shipwrecks. They use small submarines and special 'sonar' equipment to survey areas of water where they think a wreck might be.

They can create a map or chart of the seabed, rather like the geophys maps we wrote about in our Time Team feature. These maps show up anything on the seabed that isn't made of sand - inculding the remains of ships. Clever eh?

This picture was taken on board a boat doing an underwater survey in the Solent.

© 24 Hour Museum.

The debate...the Odyssey team are very careful about the way they treat wrecks. So why are many British archaeologists worried about Odyssey's plans? Dr Heyworth, Director of the CBA* is satisfied the archaeology will be 'as good as it can be' but does have concerns about raising the wreck for profit, respect for those who died and the fate of any artefacts found.

Making money... Odyssey is a commercial company, which means that they salvage wrecks to earn money. Some experts are worried because the British government is letting Odyssesy salvage HMS Sussex in return for a share of any money Odyssesy might make from selling treasure.

Hmmm... it's a tricky issue - what do you think? Should money be a reason to salvage a shipwreck? If we find out information about the wreck at the same time does that make it OK?

This leather shoe sole was found on the Mary Rose, a sad reminder of the human cost of a shipwreck.

© 24 Hour Museum.

Respect for the dead... sadly, many people died when HMS Sussex sank, which means the wreck site is their grave. It is very important that any human remains found are treated with respect.

Do you think we should raise shipwrecks or leave them alone? Does it make a difference how old the wreck is?

What happens to any objects found...? This question is a very important one. As well as chests of valuable gold, this shipwreck might contain objects. On the wreck of the Tudor warship the Mary Rose for instance, thousands of everyday objects were found, which gave archaeologists a huge amount of information about life in Tudor times.

What do you think should happen to objects found on shipwrecks? If this wreck is HMS Sussex, an English ship, does that mean any objects found should end up in England? There are concerns that objects might not be kept together as a single collection - again it's a tricky issue.

So, those are the issues causing a stormy debate in the world of museums and archaeology - we'll keep you posted on what happens. Don't forget to let us know your thoughts.

If you're interested in shipwrecks, check out our Shipwrecks And Underwater Archaeology story where three of Britain's top archaeologists tell us exactly why shipwrecks can be so important to our understanding of the past. It also takes a close look at the Mary Rose, one of the world's most famous shipwrecks.

*Council for British Archaeology