Archaeologists from Bournemouth University have safely recovered the section of a 17th century shipwreck which was unexpectedly discovered on the beach at Studland in Dorset, after winter storms exposed the historic timbers.
The team of maritime archaeologists helped by the National Trust’s youth group made up of students from local schools, successfully excavated the historic vessel on Thursday 19th February 2026, saving it from being destroyed by the sea.
All hands on deck to rescue the remains of the shipwreck before the tide comes back in
In danger of being broken up by waves
The original discovery was made at Knoll Beach at the end of January 2026 following Storm Chandra, which exposed remains that are believed to be a missing section of the Swash Channel wreck, an armed Dutch merchant vessel called the Fame of Hoorn that sank in 1631.
But a further three weeks of continued stormy weather had put the timbers, hidden for 400 years, in danger of being broken apart by heavy waves.
This prompted the university’s archaeologists to speed up the process of rescuing the six metres of timbers, believed to be from a midship hull section of the Fame.
The size of the wreck timbers emerge from the sand
Dozens of visitors to Studland ventured down the beach to watch the operation get under way
Marine archaeologist Tom Cousins (centre) oversaw the rescue operation on Knoll Beach
The great wreckage rescue
A race against the tide started shortly after 10 am, as soon as the sea started to go out – and there was a huge amount of sand to move as well as several dozen sandbags before the timbers could be prepared to be lifted from the beach.
As a curious crowd of dozens of half term holiday makers watched on, BBC cameras recorded the operation and the university flew drones to keep a permanent account of the great wreckage rescue.
After being carefully separated into individual timbers, two tonnes of wood was logged, wrapped and taken off the beach on trailers, and transported to Bournemouth University’s conservation labs where they will be preserved and put back together like a giant jigsaw.
The rescue mission begins as the tide retreats
Maritime archaeologist Tom Cousins of Bournemouth University and Pam White of the National Trust, who first examined the historic timbers
Each timber was carefully numbered so it could be reassembled
“Exciting to find and save this piece of historical ship”
Speaking to Swanage.News, maritime archaeologist Tom Cousins, who led the dig on Knoll Beach, said:
“It is really exciting to find and save this piece of historical ship. During our excavation of the Swash Channel wreck in 2013, there were pieces of the ship missing and we believe a section of the hull has now been revealed at Studland and will be proved by tests on the timber.
“In the early 17th century, the Dutch had gone to the Caribbean in search of salt, as their whole economy was built on salt cod and salt herring – it was everything to the Dutch and this was the only salt they could get access to.
“About 1620 they built a giant fort off Venezuela and piled out tonnes and tonnes of salt to take back to the Netherlands. This is one of the ships, the Fame of Hoorn, which was sailing out to Venezuela to collect it.
“It must have been caught in a storm, and anchored out in Studland Bay, near Old Harry, but its anchor couldn’t hold the ship, which was pulled into the bay, went aground, and probably broke in half in the storm.
“The ship would have been well out of the water – the ship is at least eight metres tall and the water would have been about four metres deep, and as soon as the storm died down every local was out in their boats pillaging the ship, stealing what they could.”
A model showing what the Fame would have looked like with the red outline indicating the section of hull believed to have been recovered at Studland
Timbers exposed after 400 years are carefully recovered
A real link to Studland’s past maritime history
“Not one person died on this wreck”
Tom Cousins added:
“The Fame was about 40 metres long and was capable of carrying 40 guns, though we don’t know whether they had all of them when she sank – we only found five guns on the seabed, but they could have salvaged others in 1631, or they may not have gone out fully armed.
“She had 45 crew on board and every single one of them got off, not one person died on this wreck, it’s amazing. When the ship started dragging her anchor, they probably got on the small boats, came into the bay, went to the Bankes Arms, watched the ship sink and waited for the storm to abate.
“We have about six metres of timber on the beach and today we have separated it into its component parts, so we can take it to one of the largest conservation labs on the South Coast and put it back like a jigsaw puzzle later on – we are essentially flat packing it to get it off the beach.
“If the timbers were to be left here on the beach, they would end up covered by the sand and would be destroyed by waves crashing over the top of it. If we can keep it for posterity, hopefully it can give us some clues about how they salvaged ships in the 1630s, and how she wrecked.”
The section of shipwreck was discovered on Knoll Beach following Storm Chandra in January 2026
There’s always something interesting for walkers to find on Knoll Beach!
The 400 year old timbers just showed up on the beach at low tide
Wreck blocked shipping channels
Back in the 1630s, the owner of the Fame petitioned the British government asking for the return of the goods pillaged by locals from the wreck, although at the time the company that ran Poole Harbour was more concerned that the wreck was blocking its shipping channels.
Although it was back in the 17th century, it is understood from records that the company hired a diver from the Isle of Wight, who was told to clear the ship and mark the wreckage with buoys.
However he took his time – to the extent that the following summer, he was threatened with an astonishingly large fine for the time of £200,000, because he hadn’t completed the job.
But after that, the Fame was lost to history until 1990, when a dredger found some timbers in the Swash Channel – the main shipping channel leading into Poole Harbour.
In 2004 divers found a wreck in the area and Bournemouth University was allowed to train its undergraduates on dives to explore and record what was there.
They discovered that it was 40 metres long and about 400 years old – and so rare that a full excavation was authorised.
After years of work, the rudder, figurehead, carvings, pewter tankards, a bronze bell and other finds were lifted out of the sea by marine archaeologists in 2013 – the largest underwater excavation since that of King Henry VIII’s favourite ship the Mary Rose.
The BBC arrived to film the event
With the site secured and cleared, maritime archaeologist Tom Cousins, left, reflected on a successful operation
The full extent of the timbers revealed before it was then carefully removed by truck to be preserved
“Buried beneath sandbags”
Tom Cousins said:
“I go out there every year to dive and inspect the site of the wreck, but it is buried beneath sandbags to keep it secure and safe, so I thought that would be the last I would see of it.
“We were having a launch for a book about the wreck in January 2026 when Pam White from the National Trust emails me to say she had found some timbers on the beach. And then we found they were identical to the timbers from the Swash Channel wreck.
“I went down straight away, we covered them up with sandbags, and applied to Historic England for permission to dig it up, take it apart, and test the timbers to see if they came from the same wood which built the Fame.
“We know that those were cut down in the spring of 1628 on the German border, so if we can prove our boat on the beach is also of wood from the German border, we know without doubt it is part of the Fame.”
Volunteers from the National Trust’s youth group, working to clear the timbers of sand
It is on a different level”
National Trust community volunteering coordinator Jill Bailey said:
“The university is being helped today by local young people who are part of our youth group from The Swanage School, The Purbeck School, Lytchett Minster and Parkstone Grammar.
“It’s lovely that they have been invited to take part in this important conservation project. It is on a different level to be able to say that you have helped uncover a 17th century ship after 400 years in the sand!”
The figurehead recovered from the Swash Channel wreck in 2013 is now in Poole Museum
Poole Museum display
It is hoped that the excavated timbers will eventually go on display at Poole Museum in Dorset, which already has a collection of artefacts taken from the Fame of Hoorn when divers explored the main wreck in Studland Bay in 2013.
Most striking of the items recovered was the carved wooden figurehead of the Fame which can be seen at the museum and is free to visit.
Watch National Trust drone footage of rescue
Further information
- More about the shipwreck on Bournemouth University’s website
