HMS Eagle

The final voyage

HMS Eagle was a 70-gun third-rate, built at Portsmouth in 1679 and later rebuilt at Chatham. In 1707 she sailed with Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's fleet, returning from the Mediterranean campaign that had besieged Toulon. On the night of 22 October, the fleet misjudged its position in poor weather and ran onto the Western Rocks of the Isles of Scilly.

Eagle was one of at least three warships lost that night alongside Shovell's flagship Association; a fireship, Firebrand, also struck the rocks and later foundered nearby. Contemporary estimates put the combined loss of life across the disaster at roughly 1,400 men, among the worst in Royal Navy history, and the event is widely credited with accelerating Parliament's 1714 Longitude Act.

What was aboard

No passenger or cargo manifest for Eagle's final voyage has been located. The Tearing Ledge site's identification as Eagle is itself probable rather than certain, and Historic England's own records note the wreckage may include material from the smaller Romney, lost the same night.

Ship's company: Established complement for a 70-gun third-rate ran to roughly 440–500 men; no muster or casualty list for this specific voyage survives in the public record.

Ordnance: Bronze and iron cannon consistent with a third-rate's armament have been recorded on site; the gun sizes and numbers are part of the evidence used to attribute the wreck to Eagle rather than Romney.

Coin finds: Silver and gold coinage, including Portuguese and Spanish issues typical of pay carried by ships on the Mediterranean station, has been recovered from the site over decades of licensed and earlier unlicensed activity.

How to collect

Check the attribution logic: Because the site may include Romney material, any object sold as 'HMS Eagle' should come with the reasoning — not just the assertion — behind that identification.

Confirm licensed recovery: Recovery from Tearing Ledge since 1975 requires a licence under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Ask for the licensee's name and recovery date.

Trace custody since 1969: Material recovered before formal designation should still have a documented chain from diver to current owner.

Treat exact coin counts with caution: No comprehensive tally of coinage recovered from this site has been published; be wary of round, precise figures.