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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 854363

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/854363

NT28SW 8008 2228 8372

N 56 2.407 W 3 14.856

NLO: Burntisland [name: NT 235 858].

In July 1633, a boat at the ferry between Burntisland and Leith foundered in a fair summers day, according to Spalding, and with it perished 35 domestic servants of Charles I, with his silver plate and household stuff. Balfour states that there was a great storm and that the king crossed 'in grate jeopardy of his lyffe', and that only 8 servants perished.

Source: Fifeshire Advertiser, 2 June 1883.

Designated: DHW 1999 No. 186 (S.8).

(Undated) information in NMRS.

The Blessing is recorded as having been lost in a storm on 10 July 1633 during King Charles I's coronation tour of Scotland; only two courtiers survived. The vessel was possibly built of Baltic timber to a Dutch design, and may have carried treasure to a value of #100,000, a sum possibly equivalent to one-sixth of the entire Scottish exchequer.

Intermittent survey operations between 1991 and 1997 failed to locate the wreck, but in 1998 Mr J Longton suggested a new location on the basis of map dowsing and an anomaly reported by HMS Roebuck. Reconnaissance operations in that year by Mr Howard Murray and Mr Ian Archibald (of the Burntisland Heritage Trust) recorded 'ribs and other structural traces of a substantial unknown vessel' beneath the seabed with only small portions apparent above it. No artifacts were reported as having been discovered and no evidence has been published for the identity of the vessel.

No location for the discovery was initially published, but the Designation Order (dated 29 January 1999, to apply from 22 February 1999) defines the restricted area as a circle of 100m diameter around 56 02.407N 003 14.856W. No detailed description is given, but the location cited equates to an NGR of NT 22280 83722, placing the remains about 0.9nm SW of Burntisland harbour entrance, in a charted depth of 21m and just SW of the recommended channel to Braefoot Bay terminal.

Burntisland Roads (noted by the Hydrographic Office as Burntisland Road) is an extensive but ill-defined area of mooring grounds in a depth of between about 10 and 30m and centred around 56 02.7N 003 14.0W. Hilly ground affords protection to the N but the area is exposed to the SW, S and SE. The bottom is a mixture of sand, mud, coal and shell, and diving conditions are generally poor on account of reduced visibility by virtue of suspended mud and sand.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 8 November 2000.

HO chart 736 (1995 edition); NMRS, MS/829/14 and MS/829/26.

Variously described as a 'ferry', 'bark' or 'pinnace', the Blessing sank on Wednesday 10 July 1633 while carrying (together with another vessel) part of the baggage train and a number of passengers from Burntisland to Leith. The identities of the recorded victims and the recorded existence of carts attached to their department within the Royal Household suggest that the cargo comprised primarily kitchen and dining equipment, and possibly the wardrobe.

H J Murray 1999.

(The Blessing, Burntisland: site no. 49). In 2001, the licensee (Mr I Archibald) and his team extended their survey to the E of the site. Both magnetometer and sidescan surveys were undertaken revealing another, possibly significant, anomaly. However, a visual search by divers failed to reveal any evidence of archaeological remains.

See: www.kingcharles wrex.co.uk.

Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites 2004.

The area of this suggested wreck was examined by Wessex Archaeology between the 2nd and 6th August 2004 under a contract for a Designated Site Assessment issued by Historic Scotland in relation to the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973). Geophysical survey was carried out using sidescan sonar; recorded anomalies were not verified by divers.

The following positions were noted:

Statutory Instrument Position: N56 2.407 W3 14.856 [NT 2228 8372] (OSGB-36)

Site Position 2004: N56 2.403 W3 14.991 [NT 2214 8371] (OSGB-36)

The seabed around the wreck varies between about 23m and 17m in depth. The bottom is mainly flat and muddy, with areas of gravely sand. The underlying bedrock slopes towards the N, being covered by up to 15m depth of sediment.

The diver survey grid established by Burntisland Heritage Trust falls within the Designated area, and forms the major group of recognised anomalies. Further anomalies were identified beyond the Designated area

No evidence of the wreck of the Blessing was identified in survey.

(Detailed recommendations are made, the history of the ship is summarised, and recorded anomalies are tabulated. Illustrations include location plan and selected sidescan sonar imagery).

MS/2786.

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