King James' wreck gives up its secrets

Brothers' 4yr hunt for lost ship

- DAN WARBURTON

THE wreck of a royal warship that sank in 1682 while carrying the future king James Stuart has been discovered at the bottom of the sea.

HMS Gloucester ran aground more than 300 years ago following a dispute between James, then the Duke of York, and the ship's pilot, James Ayres.

They were arguing about navigating the treacherous Norfolk sandbanks when it sank 28 miles off Great Yarmouth at 5.30am on May 6, killing up to 250 crew and passengers.

The wreck was found by a team led by brothers Julian, 55, and Lincoln Barnwell, 51, following a four-year search over 5,000 nautical miles.

It has been described by a historian as the most important maritime discovery since the Mary Rose, the warship from the Tudor navy of King Henry VIII.

Among its artefacts are clothes, personal items and unopened wine.

One of the bottles bears a seal with the crest of the Legge family, ancestors of the first US President George Washington.