The ''Blessing of Burntisland'' was a wooden ferry that carried people and goods across the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

, Scotland, between

Burntisland Burntisland ( , sco, also Bruntisland) is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269. It was previously known as Wester Kingho ...

and

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

in the early 17th century. It sank in 1633 carrying a large amount of royal treasure. The shipwreck has never been found.

History

In 1626, the ferry was granted Letters of Marque, a licence to attack or capture enemy vessels during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

Sinking

The ferry capsized during a storm on 10 July 1633.Farrington, p. 35. Only two of its thirty-five passengers and crew survived. It was also carrying 20 carts of jewels, plate and textiles belonging to Charles I, which included, among other valuable objects, a 280-piece silver dinner service commissioned by Henry VIII.Saari, et al., p. 51. Charles, undertaking an official tour of Scotland after his coronation there, had been staying at his hunting lodge in Falkland. He watched the ferry sink from the deck of his flagship, the ''

Dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

''. He blamed the sinking on a coven of witches, who were subsequently put on trial and executed in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. The royal cargo, of between four and five tons of gold and silver, was estimated to be worth £100,000 at the time, US$400 million in 1997, and £500 million in 1999.

Attempts to find the wreck

Marine archaeologists have long searched for the wreck, but it has never been found, not least because 500 other shipwrecks lie at the bottom of the Firth of Forth. An eight-year search by the Burntisland Heritage Trust and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

began in 1991. The Trust intended to open a museum in Burntisland exhibiting any artefacts that could be salvaged from the ''Blessing''. After finding 200 possible wreck sites within a two-mile area of the estuary, one wreck was closely inspected in 1993, and divers found pottery, shoe leather and bolts dating from the 1600s. The search ended in 1999 with HMS ''Roebuck'' discovering a wreck off the coast of Burntisland. Divers were sent below the waves to verify the computerised survey images, and the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

gave the site legal protection to keep

treasure hunter Treasure hunter is the physical search for treasure. For example, treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market for antiquities. The practice of treasure ...

s at bay.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

History

Sinking

Attempts to find the wreck

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading