Royal Captain (ship)

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The Royal Captain was an East Indiaman under command of Captain Edward Berrow, belonging to the British East India Company.

On December 17, 1773, at 2:30 in the morning, the 44 metre, 860 ton schooner struck an uncharted reef in the South China Sea and even though the crew managed to free the ship two times, a third collision with the reef sealed her fate and she sunk with her load of Chinese porcelain, tea and silk.

All but three crewmen survived the sinking and were picked up by the British ship Union.

[edit] Discovery and Salvage

In 1999, an expedition lead by Franck Goddio, utilising the Ocean Voyager as well as two high-tech 2-person submarines of the Deep Rover class, capable of diving 1000 metres, located the wreck in a depth of about 330 metres and salvaged a large part of the remaining freight.