Nelson & His World

There's an interesting article in today's Times about the discovery of the wreck of an 18th century ship, thought to be the Nancy.

women.timesonline.co.uk/tol.life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/
article4775914ece-23

Hmm, the Times link doesn't work. Try the Guardian - though that's never been the same since it left Manchester.

Here goes:

www.guardian.co.uk/2008/sept/18/1

Well, that doesn't work either.

Just Google 'wreck of Nancy' and you take your pick from the on line Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Mail etc. I'm a bit of a wreck myself, after all this hassle. Time for a glass of grog.

Tycho,

I did find this from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7621802.stm

Presumably it would also be of interest to opera buffs. Definitely one to watch.

Contains links to some newspaper reports.

Kester

Thank you for the salvage operation from the splintered wreckage of my post!

I was interested to see that Ann Cargill is said to have her precious jewels on board which would be of interest to the divers.

I wonder why this makes me feel a little uneasy. Would we condone breaking into an 18th century grave in the hope of finding someone's personal treasures? And yet we can learn so much from explorations like these. I trotted off to the Tutunkhamen exhibition years ago and was quite happy to look at the treasures found there; and the Sutton Hoo treasure too. Why do I feel so confused and ambivalent? Is the far distant past somehow less 'sacred'? Whereas the eighteenth century is nearer, its historical detail sharper and the characters who lived then, like Ann Cargill, more real to us? I dunno.

Tycho,

This might be of additional interest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Cargill

I'm not particuarly worried about the fact that her jewelry may be found and brought up. It is not as though they are relics in any way, and as she and her baby were reburied on land, they don't mark her grave. In any case, surely, it's better that the public might have a chance to see them.

The men who found them also don't sound as if they're out to make a fast buck, in any case don't they have to declare anything they find?

I saw the Tutankamun exhibition too, if its the first one you mean at the British Museum, but don't think I see that in the same light - mainly because in his case that was a real burial.

Kester