HMS Assurance

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HMS Assurance was a 44 gun fifth-rate ship, which was wrecked off The Needles. The shipwreck site identified at the Needles contains the remains of two wrecks, thought to be the Assurance and the Pomone. The wrecksite was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 4 April 1974. The designation lists the date of sinking as 1738[1], although research by the John Bingeman (licencee from 1978), from the court martial accounts[2] indicates that the wreck occurred in 1753.

The wrecksite was identified by an Isle of Wight resident, Derek Williams, who became the first licencee.

[edit] References

• Advisory Committee on Historic Wrecks Report for 1999-2000
• Lecture by John Bingeman given in 2001