Hanover (ship)

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}

{{Infobox ship begin}} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image= | Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country= Great Britain | Ship flag= {{Shipboxflag|Kingdom of Great Britain|civil}} | Ship name= Hanover | Ship namesake= | Ship owner= | Ship operator= | Ship registry= | Ship route= | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder= | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched=1757 | Ship sponsor= | Ship christened= | Ship completed= | Ship acquired= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship renamed= | Ship reclassified= | Ship refit= | Ship struck= | Ship reinstated= | Ship homeport= | Ship identification= | Ship motto= | Ship fate=Wrecked, 13 December 1763 | Ship notes= | Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship class= | Ship type= Brigantine | Ship displacement= | Ship tons burthen= | Ship length= {{Convert|100|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam= | Ship height= | Ship draught= | Ship depth= | Ship hold depth= | Ship decks= | Ship deck clearance= | Ship sail plan= | Ship speed= | Ship range= | Ship boats= | Ship capacity= | Ship crew= | Ship armament= | Ship notes= }}

File:Hanover cannon, Takapuna (right).jpg

Hanover was a two-masted brigantine packet ship owned and operated by the Falmouth Post Office Packet Service,{{cite web |url=http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/EBDCAADC-BB76-45CB-A2B3-1791FCA39EBA/0/his_wrecks.pdf |title=Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites: 1997 Annual Report |work=webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk |year=2012 |access-date=30 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070802162951/http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/EBDCAADC-BB76-45CB-A2B3-1791FCA39EBA/0/his_wrecks.pdf |archive-date=2 August 2007 }} which operated between 1688 and 1852.

On 13 December 1763, under the command of Captain Joseph Sherbourne and en route from Lisbon to Falmouth, she was driven ashore by a gale. There were only three survivors out of 27 crew and 40 passengers. The location, near Perranporth has become known as Hanover Cove as a result. At the time she was carrying a large amount of gold and valuables; historical evidence suggests that this was mostly recovered around the time of the wrecking.{{cite web |url=http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F47CA311-8CA4-4F43-9DE1-A1FE323AA934/0/achwsreport19992000.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080306170456/http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F47CA311-8CA4-4F43-9DE1-A1FE323AA934/0/achwsreport19992000.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 March 2008 |title=Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites: Report for 1999-2000 |work=webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk |year=2012 |access-date=30 August 2012}}

The wreck made legal history, when in 1765 an iron trunk containing bullion was recovered. The insurers had already paid out on the loss and the case established that where insurers paid out on cargo and the owners subsequently recovered their property, the insurers were entitled to a refund.{{cite book |last1=Fenwick |first1=Valerie |last2=Gale |first2=Alison |title=Historic Shipwrecks, Discovered, Protected and Investigated |year=1998 |publisher=Tempus Publishing Limited |location=Stroud, Gloucestershire |isbn=0-7524-1473-9 |name-list-style=amp}}

The wreck was discovered by local diver Colin Martin in 1994 following changes in the seabed and was identified by means of recovery of the ship's bell. The Post Office as owners of the wreck paid for an archaeological investigation and recommended in 1996 that it should be protected under the Protection of Wrecks Act. However, protection was not granted. It was not until 19 July 1997, that the wreck site received emergency designation following the recovery of some fifty guns and the destabilisation of the wreck by a salvage rig set up next to it.{{Cite web|title=Hanover Protected Wreck: Marine Assessment for Possible De-Designation Historic England Research Report 80/2017|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15954&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&rn=80&ry=2017&ns=1|last=Patrick Dresch|first=Sally Evans|date=2017|website=research.historicengland.org.uk|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-05-09}} The finder was subsequently licensed to excavate under archaeological supervision with the intention of displaying finds in a local shipwreck museum. Musket, shot, ship-fittings and the Captain's ring have also been brought to the surface. The wreck site has since been protected by return of the sand covering.The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.

File:Hanover, Falmouth Packet, drawstring bag for gunpowder.JPG|Drawstring bag for gunpowder

File:Hanover, Falmouth Packet, cannonball.JPG|Six pound cannon ball

File:Hanover, Falmouth Packet, wadding from loaded cannon.JPG|Wadding found inside a loaded cannon

File:Hanover, Falmouth Packet, ship's bell.JPG|Ship's bell marked "HANOVER PAQUET 1757; the suspension lugs were torn off when the ship was wrecked

In 2016, Cotswold Archaeology was commissioned by Historic England to use marine assessment to investigate the possible de-designation on three designated wreck sites, including the Hanover. Some doubt had been raised in earlier reports as to the definitive identification of the wreck as the Hanover, and criticism was made of the way the salvage from the wreck had been undertaken, with a failure to record finds and information in a professional manner.