HMS Fowey Lost and Found: Being the Discovery, Excavation, and Identification of a British Man-of-War Lost off the Cape of Florida in 1748

Sunken treasure may seem like the stuff of legends and movies, but the seas still hold prizes to be found.

HMS Fowey was a small ship, carrying 44 guns and over 200 men, captained by a descendant of Sir Francis Drake’s brother. It had scored victories over French and Spanish ships in battle, but in 1748 was done in by a reef in what is now Biscayne National Park.

In 1978, an underwater treasure hunter came upon a shipwreck in the park and began to search for treasure. Eventually, after years of precedent-setting legal wrangling, the National Park Service asserted ownership of the wreckage and turned the investigation over to underwater archaeologists, including George Fischer and Russell Skowronek.

HMS Fowey Lost and Found traces the life of the ship, the court martial of her captain, her rediscovery in the 1970s, and the long process of artifact recovery and ship identification. Written for general readers, the result is a fascinating story of intrigue and adventure that stretches across the centuries.