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The Wreck of the HMS Gloucester

The HMS Gloucester was wrecked in the North Sea, about 30 miles off the shore of Norfolk, England, shortly after dawn on 6 May 1682. It was a warship in the navy of Charles II of England (r. 1660-1685), and at the time of its loss, it was the flagship of a small fleet of ten ships on their way to Scotland to fetch Mary of Modena, the pregnant wife of James, Duke of York, the brother of Charles and the future James II of England (r. 1685-1688).

James Recalled from Exile

James and his wife had been in virtual exile for the best part of three years because they were Catholics, and a vitriolic anti-Catholic mood had spread through the nation in the late 1670s. But Charles, aware of his own failing health and his lack of a legitimate child, was becoming increasingly anxious to rehabilitate James, as his heir, at the center of government.

James, for his part, now that he was being allowed back into London was anxious to make a great show of his return to center stage. So, instead of a low-key voyage in a single royal yacht, which would have been his more usual style of transport, he decided to travel in a third-rate warship, accompanied by five other warships and four royal yachts. The third-rates were the favored ships for longer voyages, faster and more nimble than their larger consorts, and more comfortable and capacious than the smaller ones. The disaster, however, that ensued, and which resulted in the loss of over 150 lives, caused a great furore at the time, and has been a subject of much conjecture and controversy ever since.

On its final voyage, the Gloucester was carrying not just James, but a large coterie of his most loyal friends and supporters, aristocrats like the Earl of Roxburgh, merchants such as Sir James Dick who was Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the slave trader William Freeman, the famous scientist and physician Sir Charles Scarborough, and military men like John Churchill, who was later to become the Duke of Marlborough. As well as these notables, a large number of James' royal household were on board, together with a handpicked selection of royal musicians for entertainment on route, and his own huntsmen for his amusement when he arrived. In addition to all these passengers, there were nearly 200 seamen on the ship.

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