External Reference

Date November 2000

Event ID 626450

Category Documentary Reference

Type External Reference

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/626450

(Location cited as Rosehearty Bay, Grampian, Scotland). The Edward Bonaventure formed part of the first English expedition to attempt to locate a North-East Passage route to the East for mercantile trade, shortening the voyage to the (East) Indies and avoiding hostile encounters with Spanish and Portugese vessels. The expedition sailed from England under the leadership of Richard Chanceleour [Chancellor] in 1553, but was abandoned when the vessels became separated in the extreme Arctic conditions. Both the Bona Esperanza and the Bona Confidentia were later found fast in pack ice with their crews frozen to death.

Chancelour sailed the Edward Bonaventure to Archangelsk, and gained an audience with the Russian tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) in Moscow, obtaining a trade agreement for a return visit by four vessels, which sailed for London in 1556. Amongst the cargo carried by the Edward Bonaventure, there were many fine furs and exotic animals for Queen Mary Tudor of England. Also on board, was Osep Gregorovitch Napea, the first Russian ambassador to England.

On 10 November 1556, the Edward Bonaventure was attempting to ride out a Northerly gale in Pitsligo Bay when she was driven ashore. Chancelour and about a hundred others were drowned, but the ambassador was one of the few survivors. Flotsam from the vessel included much of the cargo and many of the presents intended for Mary Tudor. The ambassador reported that the local population stole these and other items of value from the wreck, complaining to the Scottish Crown. This proved politically embarrassing, causing Mary Queen of Scots to attempt to recover the stolen property. Royal Commissioners were sent to Pitsligo but recovered none of the ambassador’s belongings. The value of the cargo caused the Edward Bonaventure to develop the status of a ‘treasure wreck’.

Investigation was carried out by ADU from the Survey Vessel Scimitar in August 2000, within the area of the RAF Rosehearty Bay range. Sidescan sonar survey proved of little value on account of the presence of rock outcrops, but magnetometry revealed two significant and discrete anomalies at N57 41.042 W2 9.247 [NJ 9081 6600], immediately E of Quarry Head. These were at some distance from the current targets, and it was considered improbable that these were items of mislaid ordnance, but they may have been steel target floats which have become detached. A single dive (to a maximum depth of 9m) was carried out by J White on 2 August 2000; no obvious anomalies or archaeological material were noted on the flat sandy seabed.

Information from Archaeological Diving Unit, report no 00/21 dated November 2000.

MS/5451.