Summary

Site 5011 lies in 7.7m deep water (CD) east of Selsey Bill an an area called "The Park". The seabed around the site consists of gravel. The wreck was located by the UKHO in 1976 and charted as an obstruction. In 1982 divers described it as a "very old wooden vessel".

A number of geophysical surveys as well as a short diving assessment and a longer evaluation were carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 2002 and 2003. The fieldwork involved the documentation of diagnostic features on site using drawing and sketches as well as underwater photography and video.

Click the spots below to view underwater photographs and video footage from the dive.

Results

The archaeological evidence collected during the WA surveys helped to characterise and interpret the wrecksite. A final identification of the wreck could not be achieved.

The so called Portland Stone Wreck was a carvel built, single masted sailing vessel, with the mast situated well forward in the front third of the vessel. The ship was approximately 15-16m long and 5.5m wide. It was fairly flat bottomed.

It probably represents the remains of a sailing barge or barge-like vessel, which sank in the second half of the 19th century with a cargo of Portland stone.