|
The 64-gun vessel -pride of
Britain's naval fleet when Britannia ruled the waves -went down in 1809. But
the internation- al team of treasure-divers have pinpointed her resting
place.
The
man backing the operation, Uruguayan millionaire Hector Bado hailed the find
yesterday as “one of the most important maritime finds in history."
Treacherous shifting sands and deadly currents had kept the wreck hidden for
nearly two centuries.
The
diving team, who have scoured the seabed for 10 years, first found a single
cannon, verified as being from the Agamemnon. Then the team, working off
American explorer Crayton Fenn's £1.5million recovery ship The Surveyor,
found two more. Now
they have found Agamemnon's final resting place.
The
ship, built by Henry Adams at Buckler's Hard, near Beaulieu, Hants, in 1777,
fought in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and sailed the globe for
more than 20 years.
It
was on board the Agamemnon, too, that Nelson lost the sight of his right
eye, during the siege of Calvi in 1794.
The Agamemnon proved vital not only at Trafalgar, but at the battles of
Saintes and Copenhagen. Later she led the British in the Battle of Santa
Domingo before being wrecked in 1809 near Gorriti Island in Maldonado Bay.
Top of page |
