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Home , Board of Longitude, Cloudesley Shovell, HMS Association (1697)

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orn in the village of Cockthorpe in the County of Norfolk in B1650, Cloudesley Shovell rose from a humble birth to become one of the leading and finest of the age. He left home aged 12 to be a cabin boy under Sir Christopher Myngs, and was soon in action off the West Indies against the Spanish treasure ships. He showed his metal at an early age during the Four Days War against the Dutch when he volunteered in the heat of the battle to swim from ship to ship bearing a message for assistance which turned defeat into victory. When Myngs was fatally injured, Cloudesley continued his service under Sir John Narbrough. He distinguished himself when he confronted the Dey of Algiers after the Algerians captured a number of English ships and enslaved their crews. Cloudesley set fire to the Algerian ships in their harbour and forced the release of the slaves, also securing the sum of £80,000 in reparations.

Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707). He distinguished himself at the Battle of Bantry Bay during the Artist: Michael Dahl March 1702 - January 1705 Credit: Royal Museums BHC3025 ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1689, after which William III & Mary II ascended to the throne of . King William knighted him after the battle, and the following year (1690) he was promoted to Admiral of the Blue. At the Battle of Barfleur, the invading French fleet attempting to restore James II to the English throne was defeated, with much of the credit going to Sir Cloudesley. By 1694 King William had promoted him to Vice- Admiral of the Red. In 1696 he was promoted to Admiral of the Blue and in 1698 Full Colonel of 2nd Regiment of Marines. The saw him in the thick of battle again, this time against the Spanish at Vigo, the Siege of , and the Battle of Malaga. On Boxing Day of that year, he was made Rear-Admiral of the Fleet of England. At the height of his power he refused to leave Barcelona, and victoriously supported the 3rd Earl of Peterborough’s land forces. Young Cloudesley Shovel Swimming with Despatches. This engraving was featured in the Graphic newspaper, dated 29 August, 1896. Artist: W.H. Overend Credit: Crayford Town Archive Alas, this illustrious career came to an abrupt end. On 22 October 1707, on his way home after once more supporting the army at Toulon, Shovell’s ship the Association, together with 3 other ships carrying a large amount of bullion, struck rocks off the Scilly Isles with the loss of all hands. Sir Cloudesley’s body was recovered and he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey at Queen Anne’s expense. Legend has it that Shovell survived the sinking only to be murdered by an old lady who stole his diamond and emerald ring and only confessed to the crime on her deathbed many years later. Written by Dennis Jarrett (Crayford Town Archive) www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk Children in the 1930s were familiar with the legend of Sir Cloudesley Shovell. This 1936 cigarette www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk card features his daring exploits as a boy sailor featured in a series of cards known as Famous Minors. Credit: Crayford Town Archive

An English ship in action with Barbary pirates. This picture is thought to portray Shovell’s daring raid on Tripoli. Artist: Willem Van de Velde the Younger Credit: Royal Museums Greenwich BHC0893

A young cloudesley Shovell at the time of the Tripoli raid. William III in coronation robes. Rochester Guildhall Museum Artist: Godfrey Kneller Credit: Royal Museums Greenwich BHC3094

Illustrations by Michael Foreman Sir Cloudesley Shovell Lord of the Manor of Crayford

n 1691, after his promotion to Admiral of the Blue, Sir ICloudesley Shovell married Lady Elizabeth Narbrough, widow of his former commander Sir John Narbrough. Their marriage was very happy and produced two daughters, sisters to Elizabeth’s three children from her first marriage. Cloudesley was nominated by the navy and appointed an MP in 1689 for the City of Rochester just before his marriage. He held this position until 1701, and he was re-elected in 1705. He held the post until his untimely death in 1707. He was a great benefactor to the City of Rochester, providing at his own expense the decorative plaster ceiling in the Guild Hall, the market bell clock and the façade for the Butchers Market building (now the Corn Exchange). Shovell became Lord of the Manor of Crayford when he purchased May Place Estate (currently the site of Barnehurst Golf Club) and moved in with his wife, step children and daughters in 1694. The location of May Place was convenient being mid-way between the Admiralty in London and , and was conveniently placed between Westminster Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707). and Rochester for his parliamentary duties. Artist: Michael Dahl 1702 Credit: Royal Museums Greenwich BHC3026 Although away at sea most of the time, Shovell seemed very attached to the neighbourhood of Crayford, then only a small village. He attended St Paulinus Church and paid for the restoration of the chancel and nave, which were badly in need of repair. Fortunately this was captured by local artist William Hubbard, whose picture of this restoration can still be seen in the church today. Although Cloudesley Shovell’s tomb is in Westminster Abbey, there is a large plaque behind the lectern in St Paulinus Church expressing the gratitude of the parishioners for his contribution to the church restoration and sadness that it was later altered. His wife Elizabeth is buried in the church, as she remained in the manor house until her death in 1732. There is a magnificent memorial to her and the family in the Portrait of Elizabeth Lady Narbrough later Lady Shovell c1678. Lady Chapel of St. Paulinus. Artist: Simon Pietersz Verelst Vereist Credit: Precious Antiques Written by Jean Stewart & Joan Bishop (Friends of Crayford Library)

www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk

Interior of St Paulinus Church. Artist: William Hubbard c1845

Lady Shovell’s memorial in St Paulinus Church (1732) Credit: Crayford Town Archive In the south choir aisle of Westminster Abbey is a large marble monument to Admiral Sir Clowdesley Shovell, by the sculptor . It was erected by order of Queen Anne in 1707. Credit: Westminster Abbey Sir Cloudesley Shovell and the Act

ir Cloudesley Shovell’s tragic death and the wreckage of Shis four-ship fleet off the on 22 October 1707. Believing themselves to be safely off the coast of Brittany, they perished on the rocks of south west England. This disaster is representative of the days before sailors could establish their longitude position and died as a result of being lost at sea. In addition to the human suffering, ignorance of longitude had a severe economic effect. Ships were confined to a few narrow shipping lanes where they fell prey to pirates and enemy ships. The disastrous wreck on the Scillies thrust the longitude problem into the forefront of public concern. Parliament passed the of 1714 which promised a prize of £20,000, comparable to £2.5 million today, for a solution to the problem. Longitude represents the location of a place on Earth east or west of an established line running north-south. The north- south line is called the Prime Meridian, which was fixed at The British Isles, shows the Scilly Isles where HMS Association wrecked. Greenwich, England. Earlier methods to determine longitude relied on astrological observations. At that time, the position and movement of the moon and stars were not fully understood and no accurate instrument existed for measuring lunar distance from a ship. Among the people who attempted to solve the problem was , the eldest of five children of a carpenter. Largely self- educated, Harrison learned woodworking from his father. In his early career, he created pendulum clocks with many mechanical innovations, such as alternating metals to prevent them from expanding and contracting, substituting brass for iron to prevent rusting and carving a wooden clock from a special, self greasing wood. These innovations made his clocks incredibly accurate and gave him a reputation as a master clockmaker. In 1730 Harrison designed a marine clock to compete for the Longitude Prize and went on to build his first sea clock, which performed well in trials. Two more versions were produced in the John Harrison, 1767. Artist: Thomas King Credit: Science Museum next seventeen years. Around 1750 Harrison changed the idea of a sea clock, realising that a watch-sized timekeeper would be more successful. He proceeded to design and make the world’s first effective maritime timekeeper, which enabled a navigator to assess accurately his ship’s position on longitude. It was a revolution in navigation at sea. Harrison had to enlist the help of George III to petition for the prize but never received the official award, although he received monetary amounts from the during the course of his work. He died in 1776, and was buried in the graveyard of St John’s Church in Hampstead. Written by Audrey Lappin (Friends of Crayford Library) www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk

John Harrison’s marine timekeeper, H4. This is Harrison’s prize- winning longitude watch, completed in 1759. Credit: Royal Museums Greenwich ZAA0037

North Pole Greenwich

On 24 March 2006 HRH The Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a memorial stone for John Harrison. A bimetallic strip is placed through his name with the longitude for the stone 000º 7’ 35”W, inscribed on it. South Pole Credit: Westminster Abbey

Ilustration showing the meridian lines. Prime Meridian line at Greenwich. All the world’s times are set to the Prime Meridian. Sir Cloudesley Shovell The Discovery of the Shipwrecks

When a team of divers came to Scilly in 1964 to find and salvage the wrecks of Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s fleet, lost in 1707, no thought was given to the outcome should it prove successful. Until then only one historic ‘treasure’ wreck had been found in British waters in modern times, which was the Dutch East Indiaman Kennermerland, lost in Shetland in 1664. She too was found by Royal Navy divers circa 1963.When vast numbers of gold and silver coins were found on the Gilstone wreck site, then bronze cannon, the reality of what the divers had started struck home. Attempts to keep the find secret proved impossible, and soon the press splashed the news on front pages, and the Divers Terry Hiron and Jim Heslin and the St.Mary’s Receiver of Wreck examine artefacts and treasure coin from the Association. lure of treasure brought rival diving groups to the islands. With an Admiralty issued salvage contract, the navy divers initially felt secure until they found their Lordships had, in their wisdom, issued two identical contracts to civilian groups, making them virtually worthless! The MOD (N) declined to recognise that the find was HMS Association, since most of the gold coins were Portuguese and the bronze cannon French. Even after a silver plate bearing Sir Cloudesley’s crest was recovered and the bulk of silver proved English coinage, MOD (N) still declined to accept ownership, meaning artefacts were free to be sold worldwide. As a result a remarkable assemblage of historic material 260 years old was dispersed without record, whereas it could have made a remarkable display in the National Maritime Museum worth millions, indicative of Britain’s seaborne heritage in the era of Queen Anne.

The main ship’s bell from the Eagle found on the Tearing ledge. It was the debacle over ownership and the government’s reluctance to accept responsibility for one of its own ships that lead to the Protection of Wrecks Act. It was the diving officer of the Royal Navy team, Chief Petty Officer Richard Larn, who brought the sorry state of historic maritime wrecks to the attention of John Nott, the MP for St Ives, Cornwall. He laid a private members bill before the House of Commons, asking for historic shipwreck finds to have the protection of the law. This proposal passed into the Statue Books in 1974, and today there are over 40 protected sites around the UK, thanks to the Association and Sir Cloudesley Shovell. The connection was made between the 1707 disaster and the Longitude Act of 1714. This dreadful accident which cost the lives of 1,450 men, and an admiral as famous in his day as Nelson was in his, came about because the ship’s captains simply did not know where they were! It sounds impossible today that 22 homeward bound from Gibraltar to Portsmouth could be so unaware of their

A French bronze cannon, its breech marked ‘Vigo’, now in Tresco Gardens. position on the globe, but that is the truth of the matter. But determining Longitude was only part of the problem. Harts showed the Isles of Scilly anything up to 20 miles out of their true position, www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk and when the compasses from nine of Shovell’s surviving fleet were landed, 108 in total, only four were serviceable or accurate! Of 370 spare compasses held in Portsmouth Dockyard, only 70 were found fit for use, which shows what a sorry state the navy’s navigation was in. Hence the loss of the Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s flagship brought about momentous change in legislation, navigation aids, charting and maritime archaeology. His death was not in vain. Written by Richard Larn

www.shovell1714.crayfordhistory.co.uk The 2nd Sheet anchor from Association, landed on St.Mary’s in 2013.