The Isles of Scilly Naval Disasater

In 1707 the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall witnessed one of the worse naval disasters known in British history. 4 Royal Navy ships were sunk following catastrophic navigation errors which led the commanders of the ships believe that they were in fact off the coast of Brittany and no hurtling towards doom hundreds of miles away from their presumed location.

The flagship of the fleet was HMS association captained Sir Cloudesely Shovell a senior naval commander. Confused by poor weather the fleet arrived near the Isles of Scilly 4 vessels sinking and numerous others being damaged. The loss of life is estimated at around 1500 lives and included Sir Cloudesley Shovell whose body washed up on nearby Islands and is buried there still. Legend has it that the notoriously wild residents of Scilly recovered many of the bodies hacking off their fingers to remove their rings. Their fingers becoming swollen after drowning. One such story relates to the body of Cloudsley Shovel himself who apparently had an expensive emerald ring which was forcibly removed by a resident of the islands.

The wrecks of the lost vessels were discovered in 1967 by Naval divers who surveying the bottom of the ocean. Many items were recovered and sold at auction it was also the target of treasure hunters looking for coinage, some of which had been sighted by the naval expedition.

The Isles of Scilly are some of the most treacherous waters in the British Isles and have seen many wrecks but the disaster of 1707 has a unique place in the history of the Islands.