WEST Somerset adventurer Major Chris Holt (pictured) has successfully helped to lead an expedition to Patagonia to find the wreck of a sunken English warship after 265 years.The team discovered what is believed to be part of the hull of HMS Wager, a warship which sank off the coast of Chile in 1741.
The story of the Wager shipwreck remains important in the modern world, because it was influential in the formation of what is now the Royal Marines.
Major Holt is the son of Tim and Eileen Holt, who live in Tivington. He retired from the Army in 2005 after serving 10 years in the Royal Engineers, mostly in bomb disposal, which saw him awarded the Military MBE.
During his Army career, Major Holt saw operational service in the Balkans and Iraq, and he was also an Army diver.
It was his diving skills which were required for the Patagonia expedition, which was mounted by Scientific Exploration Society (SES), headed by world-famous explorer Col John Blashford-Snell.
They travelled to the remote and uninhabited Wager Island, off the coast of South America, with a team of 10 divers to try to locate and survey the wreck.
The last British attempt to find the Wager was in 1829 by the Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, which was unsuccessful.
Working in severe weather the diving team under Major Holt found wreckage in a river bed, and not, as expected, under the sea.
Major Holt said it was probably the result of a huge earthquake in the 1960s which raised the coastline by about 23 feet in one event and caused a tidal wave which struck Japan.
He said: “The island turned out to be exactly what we were expecting, which was a fascinating place and pretty weather-torn.
“All in all, it definitely felt like an expedition as we were completely isolated for a month and battered by the weather.
“We were hit by two phenomenal storms. You could barely stand up for three-and-a-half days and it was some of the worst weather conditions I have ever experienced and we were nearly washed away.”
The extreme weather conditions in the area made the operation dangerous and at one time the camp was flooded after three days of continuous of rain, and food was almost exhausted as the re-supply boat was unable to reach them.
A British archaeologist on the expedition, Andy Torbet, said: “Subject to scientific confirmation, a five-metre square wooden section of the hull of an 18th century ship appears to be part of the Wager.”
He said a musket ball found in the hull could indicate the ship had been in conflict.
The expedition was supported by the Chillean Navy, and Chilean marine archaeologist Diego Carabias also examined the discovery and said he believed it was part of the ill-fated Wager.
The story of the HMS Wager wreck and the incredible survival of some of its crew, who took five years to reach England, was recorded by survivor Midshipman John Byron, later Admiral Lord Byron and grandfather of the legendary poet John Byron.
Photo submitted.
