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Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks

A pulley block exposed on the seabed was part of the ship’s fittings. Many other artifacts may remain buried.

A wine bottle bears a glass seal with the crest of the Legge family, ancestors of George Washington.

A bearded face adorns a Bartmann jug, one of the 17th-century artifacts recovered from the shipwreck. Other finds include naval equipment, clothes and shoes, and unopened wine bottles.

Questions about the shipwreck’s identity were conclusively answered in 2012 when the Gloucester’s bronze bell was recovered.

Brothers Lincoln and Julian Bardwell found the H.M.S. Gloucester in 2007, but the discovery was kept secret until recently. “I went down and saw cannons scattered all over the seafloor,” recalls Lincoln. “It was unforgettable.”