Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday, 19 March 2026

The Dungeness Wreck


Popular Mechanics has an article about the quite substantial remains of a ship dating from the 1530s to 1540s, the era of the ‘Mary Rose’, which was repaired after 1561, but then wrecked ir abandoned alongside the coastal gravel bank which gradually expanded, and preserved its remains until they were uncovered in 2022. 

As the article argues it was constructed at a time of significant development in English shipbuilding. 
 


Even given the concern about the state of readiness of the present Royal Navy I do not think this particular vessel is quite in a state to be despatched to the Mediterranean…


2 comments:

Zephyrinus said...

Dear John.

The way things are going . . . it might well be the ONLY ship that The Royal Navy can send !!!

During The Falklands War, John Nott, Secretary of State for Defence, had over 50 Surface Warships to consider using.

Nowadays, The Royal Navy has, approximately, 15.

Enough said ?

Zephyrinus said...

Dear John.

The way things are going . . . it might well be the ONLY ship that The Royal Navy can send !!!

During The Falklands War, John Nott, Secretary of State for Defence, had over 50 Surface Warships to consider using.

Nowadays, The Royal Navy has, approximately, 15.

Enough said ?