The 'lucky' wreck: how timbers on an Orkney beach were identified as a 1749 Royal Navy frigate

When a schoolboy running on a beach on the island of Sanday in Orkney last year came across the timbers of a shipwreck that had been exposed after a storm, local people knew the ship might have an intriguing history.

- Esther Addley

Residents of the tiny island at the edge of the Scottish archipelago are familiar with ships that have come to grief in stormy seas; hundreds of shipwrecks having been recorded there over the centuries.

But this large section of oak hull, its boards carefully knitted together by wooden pegs, appeared particularly well built and was obviously not recent. The question was, how old was the ship—and what else could they learn about it?

Eighteen months after that discovery in February last year, archaeologists and local volunteers have managed to identify the ship and to piece together the surprising history of a vessel that witnessed some of the most dramatic events of the 18th century before finally being wrecked off Sanday in 1788.

Thanks to detailed timber dating and historical analysis, experts are confident the hull belonged to HMS Hind, a 24-gun Royal Navy frigate that was built in Chichester in 1749 and had a remarkable career.