Find Spot record MWX2686 - Chesil Beach: Cannon Site

Items recovered off Chesil Beach, near Fleet Village: 2 x bar shot; 3 x cannonball; 1 x spiked cannonball; 3 x cannonballs in canvas bag; 1 x expanding bar shot. (1) The DCF reports that a Brass Barrel Spigot 7" long from the site is in Weymouth Museum. (2)
The place off Chesil Beach where 26 large iron cannon lie is the wreck site of the HOPE. In the late 1970s a group led by Nowell Chippy Pearce recovered one of the cannon from the site using a Royal Navy helicopter. Trial excavations also led to the recovery of a number of items including a huge plug of tobacco, still preserved beneath the pile of cannon and crud. A number of Dutch silver coins were also recovered from the site but kept secret at the time. The main bulk of the remains are found in 11m, lying 120 yards offshore, where the pebbles start to fade into the sandier seabed. The current runs parallel to the shore making a good drift dive. The site lies a mile to the north west along the beach from the Fleet crossing point at Chickerell. The cannon, cannonballs and crud forming a mound are easy to see. The recovered cannon is now on public display in the Nothe Fort at Weymouth. (3)
The DE HOOP was stranded on Chesil Beach and later broke up. 20-NOV-1992 Wreckage, thought to be the remains of
this vessel, reported to have been found about 120 metres off Chesil Beach in 50 36.30N 002 35.30W, approximately, in a depth of 17 metres. This plots about 1.5 miles off shore in about 24 metres (4)
Additional finds include copper hull sheathing and copper alloy pins, which suggest a late eighteenth/ nineteenth century date and therefore not the Hope (G Le Pard 2006)

<1> Receiver of Wreck, Droit of the Receiver of Wreck A/2266 (Unpublished document). SWX496.

<2> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 294 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<3> Hinchcliffe, J and V, 1999, Dive Dorset: a diver guide (3rd Edition), Wreck 109, p96 (Monograph). SWX1.

<4> United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, 1992, Hydrographic Office wreck index (Index). SWX4837.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2024 4:37PM