The ship’s bell of the East Indiaman the President, wrecked off Loe Bar in Cornwall in 1684. Scale 25 cm. — The ship’s bell of the East Indiaman the *President*, wrecked off Loe Bar in Cornwall in 1684. Scale 25 cm.

The ship’s bell in these photos is one of the most remarkable artefacts ever to have come from a shipwreck off Cornwall, and tells a story of adventure and tragedy on the high seas rivalled by few other accounts of wrecks off these shores. The bell came to light in late 2020 when a manor house in west Cornwall was being renovated, and photos of the bell were sent to us at Cornwall Maritime Archaeology. We were astonished to see the words THE PRESIDENT and the date 1675/6 on the bell, meaning that it could only have come from the East Indiaman of that name wrecked with terrible loss of life off Loe Bar in 1684 – almost certainly a cannon wreck at that location that we first dived on in 2018 and have been investigating since then. The manor house was extensively remodelled only a few years before the date of the wreck, and had a bellcote where the bell was hung. The circumstances of its recovery from the wreck are unknown, but the owner of the house at the time – a wealthy lawyer and landowner - could have been involved with the salvage or acquired the bell soon afterwards. The present owners, who generously allowed me to record and photograph the bell, believe it to have remained in the house and been in possession of the family ever since.

The bell is of bronze (bell metal), weighs 44.5 kg and measures 40.5 cm in diameter at the base and 44 cm in height to the top of the crown, and has ribbed and banded decoration. The clapper is gone, a piece is missing from the shoulder and the crown only partially survives, with one side of the ‘ears and eyes’ used to suspend the bell missing. The exposed breaks have the same wear and patina as the rest of the bell, indicating that this damage was probably caused during the wrecking rather than subsequently. The surface of the bell has a green-brown copper carbonate patina consistent with many years of exposure to the elements in a bellcote, but is otherwise in an excellent state of preservation with little wear, consistent with it being salvaged at the time of the wrecking rather than after a period in the sea. The size of the bell is consistent with its use on a large ship of this period for time-keeping.

The inscription cast on the bell , THE PRESIDENT IH 1675/6, gives the name of the ship for which it was cast, the initials of the founder, John Hodson (with the letter J rendered as I), and the date of the founding. Hodson was a prolific bell-founder in Bishopsgate, London, of circa 1653-93, and a number of his bells survived at least until the 19th century in churches in the south and east of England, including Kent, Bedfordshire and Sussex. In late 1666 following the Great Fire of London he was given the melted metal of the bells of St Sepulchre without Newgate to cast a ring of six new bells, part of the restoration of the church by Sir Christopher Wren. A good account of his output and that of his son Christopher Hodson – best known for casting Great Tom at Christ Church, Oxford, and for recasting the bells of Durham Cathedral – can be read here. From his foundry in London John would have been well-poised to supply the shipyards at Deptford and Blackall near Greenwich where East Indiamen such as the President were built. The process of bell-founding can be experienced today at the Loughborough Bell foundry of John Taylor & Co., whose antecedents were active in the 17th century and which continues to found bells using traditional methods similar in appearance to the bell of the President.

The inscription on the ship’s bell of the President, cast in block letters.

No other wrecks have produced bells with John Hodson’s initials, but a closely similar bell with a similar style of inscription and cast lettering, dated 1678 and marked DH – perhaps another relative of his – was excavated in the Sound of Mull from the wreck of HMS Dartmouth (built 1655) and is now in the National Museum of Scotland. It weighs 32.9 kg and measures 37 cm in maximum diameter and 43 cm in height. Another ship’s bell of this period comes from the English vessel Henrietta Marie, lost off Florida in 1700; it weighs 24 kg and is 36 cm in diameter and 41 cm high, and is embossed THE HENRIETTA MARIE 1699 (in this video from the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum you can hear the ring of the bell). A third, very similar bell was auctioned in England in 2016 with no details of provenance. The one photograph in the auction listing shows the cast date 1675 preceded by the founder’s initials RC, most probably Richard Chandler, one of a well-known family of bell-founders based in Buckinghamshire. The bell is said to have been 40 cm high and to have had THE PRINCE embossed on the other side, perhaps the first-rate ship HMS Prince (launched in 1670, but frequently refitted and rebuilt). Like the President bell it shows no evidence of wear from immersion and may have been acquired after the ship was broken up at the end of its use. The President bell is larger than any of these – it is possibly the largest early ship’s bell known - and is the oldest one known from an English East Indiaman, as well as being the only one from an English East Indiaman wreck of the 17th century.

The dual date 1675/6 on the bell reflects the common practice in England at the time – seen for example on gravestones – of showing the years according to both the Julian and the Gregorian calendars if the date fell within 1 January-24 March. In the Julian (‘ecclesiastical’) calendar, used officially in England until 1752, the year began on 25 March, ‘Lady Day’ (the day of the Annunciation), whereas in the Gregorian calendar – adopted by papal edict in Catholic countries in 1598 – the year began on 1 January. The dual date on the bell therefore shows that it was founded within the first three months of 1676 in the Gregorian calendar, a date that fits well with the departure date for the ship’s first voyage in the East India Company records, 8 June 1676. In this blog all dates recorded at the time in the first three months of the year are adjusted to the Gregorian date, so that for example the wreck date of 11 February 1683 in the East India Company records becomes 1684.

Amazingly, the story of the President was kept alive in a rare instance of an actual treasure map - ‘X marks the spot.’ The words ‘Precedent (sic) lost’ appear above Loe Bar in the chart of western Cornwall produced by Captain Greenvile Collins, the Royal Navy hydrographer whose Coasting Pilot was the first comprehensive survey of the coasts of Britain. His west Cornwall chart was first published in 1686, and with the chart being dedicated to the East India Company he may have had a particular impetus to note the location of one of their greatest losses; he himself may have been in the vicinity with his survey vessel when it happened. The location was copied by the Dutch cartographer van Kuelen, and with both the Collins and the van Kuelen charts being published with little alteration through the 18th century the wreck would have been fresh in the minds of the numerous mariners who used them and did everything they could to avoid being driven into the western coast of the Lizard peninsula. It would have emphasized the Siren-like danger of Loe Bar, which from a distance looks like a safe beach for grounding yet was anything but, with a drop-off just before the shoreline that caused ships to ‘broach to’ - to come broadside on – and face being pounded to destruction with little hope of getting ashore, just as happened to the President and her crew.

This chart of the Scilly Isles and western Cornwall is a rare first proof of a chart that appeared in Captain Greenvile Collins’ Coasting Pilot, the first systematic survey of the British coastline and the first sea atlas to be published in England from original surveys. Captain Collins, a Royal Navy officer and hydrographer, was appointed to the task in 1681 and completed it seven years later, sailing first in the 8-gun yacht Merlin and then until 1686 in the Monmouth, and ultimately publishing all of his charts as a single two-volume folio in 1693. Prior to that he issued individual charts as he completed them, including this one dated 1686 in the dedicatory cartouche. Certainty that this chart is a first edition is shown by the inclusion to the south-west of the Scilly Isles of ‘King James Banck’, a name altered to ‘Collins Bank’ after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 - in which James II was deposed - and appearing as such in the 1693 atlas. Of great interest here is the label ‘Precedent (sic) Lost’ above Loe Bar on the eastern side of Mount’s Bay. With the President having been wrecked in 1684 and Collins being off Cornwall some time between 1681 and 1686, it is possible that he was in the vicinity when the wreck occurred. His decision to note this particular wreck over others at the time – the Schiedam for example was wrecked in the same year only a short distance away – may have been influenced by his dedication of the chart to ‘The Honourable the Govornor (sic) Deputy Govornor and Committees of the East India Company.’ The location of the ‘Precedent’ continued to appear on later editions of the chart published in the 18th century, and was copied on to charts of the Dutch cartographer van Kuelen including the hand-coloured example shown here in close-up as an insert (1686 chart sold at Bonhams on 27 September 2011; van Kuelen chart in the author’s collection). — This chart of the Scilly Isles and western Cornwall is a rare first proof of a chart that appeared in Captain Greenvile Collins’ *Coasting Pilot*, the first systematic survey of the British coastline and the first sea atlas to be published in England from original surveys. Captain Collins, a Royal Navy officer and hydrographer, was appointed to the task in 1681 and completed it seven years later, sailing first in the 8-gun yacht *Merlin* and then until 1686 in the *Monmouth*, and ultimately publishing all of his charts as a single two-volume folio in 1693. Prior to that he issued individual charts as he completed them, including this one dated 1686 in the dedicatory cartouche. Certainty that this chart is a first edition is shown by the inclusion to the south-west of the Scilly Isles of ‘King James Banck’, a name altered to ‘Collins Bank’ after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 - in which James II was deposed - and appearing as such in the 1693 atlas. Of great interest here is the label ‘Precedent (*sic*) Lost’ above Loe Bar on the eastern side of Mount’s Bay. With the *President* having been wrecked in 1684 and Collins being off Cornwall some time between 1681 and 1686, it is possible that he was in the vicinity when the wreck occurred. His decision to note this particular wreck over others at the time – the *Schiedam* for example was wrecked in the same year only a short distance away – may have been influenced by his dedication of the chart to ‘The Honourable the Govornor (*sic*) Deputy Govornor and Committees of the East India Company.’ The location of the ‘Precedent’ continued to appear on later editions of the chart published in the 18th century, and was copied on to charts of the Dutch cartographer van Kuelen including the hand-coloured example shown here in close-up as an insert (1686 chart sold at Bonhams on 27 September 2011; van Kuelen chart in the author’s collection).

The title page of a pamphlet on the loss of the President printed for Randall Taylor a few months after the wreck, based on the account ‘taken in private conference’ of one of the two survivors, William Smith. Nothing more is known about these two m… — The title page of a pamphlet on the loss of the *President* printed for Randall Taylor a few months after the wreck, based on the account ‘taken in private conference’ of one of the two survivors, William Smith. Nothing more is known about these two men than is contained in the pamphlet. The other man, John Harshfield, ‘they hapned to take up in the *Indies,* he having been twice Wreck'd before in his Voyage thither; the last time was in the *Johanna,* very few Persons escaping with him: These were his Companions over the Desart Country from *Cape de Gullis* to *Cape bon Esperance,* Twenty and one days Journey, in which they were reduced to the extremity of eating Grass.’ Pamphlets such as this could be sensationalised but there is nothing to indicate that this account was embellished or falsified. Randall Taylor was a prolific bookseller and publisher in London of the Restoration period. The full 2,157 word text of the pamphlet can be read here.

The wreck was also well-known from a pamphlet published in London only a few months after the event based on an account by the two survivors, in which the horrifying truth of what happened required no exaggeration and sensationalism to hook readers – the drawback of many pamphlets of the period as historical sources - and which proves to contain an accurate record of her adventures in the Indian Ocean and the location of her wrecking, as corroborated by other sources. The loss in cargo was ‘modestly judged’ at no less than a hundred thousand pounds – some 11 million pounds in today’s money - with ‘much treasure’ of pearls and diamonds. Those riches may always elude discovery, being mainly in spices and textiles that would long ago have perished, but an equal richness lies in the story of her final voyage that can be told from the survivors’ account as well as the East India Company records.

The ship

SUCH is the Method of humane Affairs, that the greatest Hopes of Advantage are attended with the greatest Hazard and uncertainty. Of this we have a remarkable Instance in the late miserable Wreck of the Ship called the PRESIDENT; fitted out at the great charge of the Company for her Voyage to the East-Indies; and with no small expectation of her advantageous Return. If we consider the extremities to which the Persons on Board her were reduced, before they utterly perish'd, together with their gallant behaviour in a most desperate Engagement, we shall scarce find Examples of either. This Account has been expected, but could not before be fully gathered, by reason the two Persons who onely escaped, were so sick and disabled, that it was six weeks before they came up to give the Particulars to his Majesty.

That is the first paragraph of a pamphlet entitled A full ACCOUNT of the late Ship-wreck of the Ship called the PRESIDENT: Which was cast away in Montz-Bay in Cornwal On the 4th of February last, As it was deliver’d to HIS MAJESTY, (both in Writing and Discourse) By William Smith and John Harshfield, the only Persons that escaped the said Wreck & c, taken from a dictation by William Smith printed for the London bookseller Randal Taylor in 1684. Accounts in pamphlets of this period could be sensationalised, but the close accordance with details that can be corroborated suggests that the part for which the pamphlet provides unique evidence – the deprivations of the voyage home, and the circumstances of the wrecking – is most probably accurate. The other main source for the final voyage of the President is the papers of the East India Company in the British Library, including records of her port arrivals and departures, goods laden, her mishaps and instructions for her voyage home. The ship’s journal (log) survives for her previous voyage, 1679-82, but the journal and other papers that would have been on board during her final voyage would have been lost in the wrecking.

Together, these two sources of information – the first-hand account of the survivors and the Company records – provide a vivid picture of the involvement of this ship in the ‘Enterprise of the Indies’, the maritime trade that had begun for the English with the foundation of the English East India Company in 1600 and by the end of the century had become hugely profitable, with the Company established in a number of ports in India and the Far East (collectively termed the ‘East Indies’) and shipping cargoes of pepper, cotton, silk, indigo dye, diamonds and other materials back to England, to the benefit of the Company as well as to the ships’ owners and officers. Along with the prospect of high profit went a high degree of risk; a compendium of incidents incurred by ships of the Company shows that the President was one of at least 84 wrecked and 36 captured by enemies or pirates during the century before it was rechartered as the ‘United’ Company in 1707. Andrea Cordani has estimated that Company ships leaving England had about a one in four chance of not making it home again, daunting odds but still acceptable given the high profits to be made by the Company even taking into account these losses. The President endured many of the hardships and hazards typical of these ventures – a voyage lasting almost two years, attack by pirates, deprivation at sea and ultimately shipwreck and terrible loss of life on the shores of England only a few days from home.

The President was one of two ships bearing that name in succession with the same commander, Jonathan Hide (Hyde), and then his son, also Jonathan. In common with all English East Indiamen of this period, the ships would have been privately built at Deptford or Blackwall on the Thames according to specifications agreed with the Company, and then chartered by the Company. The officers were appointed by the Company and could make considerable profits from the sideline trade that was allowed, with a portion of the cargo space given over to private consignments.

The ships were named President after the title of the chief official of the East India Company in India. At the time, the main Company factory – not a manufactory in the modern sense of the word, but a trading depot – was at Surat, the principal port of the Mughal Empire just upriver from the Swally estuary to the north of Bombay. The factory had been established early on in the Company’s presence, by 1613, and was only eclipsed in the late 17th century by Bombay, which became one of the three Presidencies of the Company along with Madras and Bengal. At the time of the wreck the chief agent in Surat, John Child (later Sir John, 1st Baronet), was called ‘President in Council of India and Persia.’ He figures large in the story of the President because he was responsible for her lading and wrote letters back to the Company in England as well as to the ship’s commander that provide a large part of the documentary evidence for her final voyage.

The two East Indiamen named the President are most likely to have been built at Deptford or Blackwall near Greenwich. Initially these two yards were leased by the East India Company to build their own ships, but that proved expensive and the company reverted to its earliest practice of hiring ships build by private investors, with the Deptford yard being sold in 1644. Nevertheless, both yards continued to be where vessels destined for the East Indies trade were built and maintained. In this image of Deptford the large ship being fitted out in the dock may be the Charles the Second, 775 tons, which had been launched at Blackwall in 1683 (and is perhaps also shown in the painting by Isaac Sailmaker above), meaning that it may depict the yard within a decade or so of the second President having been built (National Maritime Museum BHC1873). — The two East Indiamen named the *President* are most likely to have been built at Deptford or Blackwall near Greenwich. Initially these two yards were leased by the East India Company to build their own ships, but that proved expensive and the company reverted to its earliest practice of hiring ships build by private investors, with the Deptford yard being sold in 1644. Nevertheless, both yards continued to be where vessels destined for the East Indies trade were built and maintained. In this image of Deptford the large ship being fitted out in the dock may be the Charles the Second, 775 tons, which had been launched at Blackwall in 1683 (and is perhaps also shown in the painting by Isaac Sailmaker above), meaning that it may depict the yard within a decade or so of the second President having been built (National Maritime Museum BHC1873).

The first President was of ‘3 decks, length 96ft, breadth 36½ft, 6ft between middle & lower decks, 36 guns, 100/120 crew, 500 tons.’ She undertook her one and only voyage for the Company in 1672/3, but was captured by the Dutch in the Indian Ocean in August 1673. Captain Hide made his way back to England and took command of a replacement of the same name, taking her out on her first voyage in 1675-6 to Bantam, the Company factory in Indonesia. This is the ship from which the bell originates, with the date on the bell confirming that she was completed in the year of that first voyage. The ship was built by the same owners who had constructed the first President according to the right of ‘hereditary bottoms’, given by the Company to the owners in the event of loss or damage to the original ship. It was common for these replacement vessels to bear the same name as the original.

The first mate (chief officer) on the new President’s first voyage was Jonathan Hide junior, who took over command on the next voyage, in 1677/8 to Surat, after his father died of the ‘flux’ near Swally in 1678. The next voyage, to Madras and Bengal, took place without mishap, with the ship arriving back at the Downs – the anchorage off Kent – in January 1682. The records of her fourth and final voyage, destination Surat, shows that when she left Plymouth on 1 May 1682, in good time to catch the trade winds in the south Atlantic, she was of 530 tons burden, had 36 guns, had an outward cargo valued at £32,212 12 s 10 d – much of it in bullion, or ‘treasure’ as it was called then - and had a ship’s company of 105 men, including as mates James Cade, William Hide (probably a relative of the captain), Edward Purden and Benjamin Jones. Along with William Smith and John Harshfield, as well as Harshfield’s father – also evidently a seaman on board - these are the only names known among the men who set forth on that voyage, all of whom with the exceptions of Smith and Harshfield were to perish by the end.

To India and pirate attack

Map depicting India circa 1700 from Charles Joppen’s Historical Atlas of India (London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1907) showing the President’s successive ports of call in India on her final voyage at Karwar (A), Surat (C) and Calicut (D), and the site of her encounter with pirates between the first two off Sandameshwar (B). Distance A-D approximately 620 nautical miles. — Map depicting India circa 1700 from Charles Joppen’s *Historical Atlas of India* (London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1907) showing the *President’s* successive ports of call in India on her final voyage at Karwar (A), Surat (C) and Calicut (D), and the site of her encounter with pirates between the first two off Sandameshwar (B). Distance A-D approximately 620 nautical miles.

On the first day of May, 1682, the President (Burthen five hundred and fifty Tun or upwards, Captain Jonathan Hide Commander) sailed out of Plimouth Sound in Company with the Suratt-Merchant. But as soon as she was off the Canary Islands she lost Company with her. About three Months after the Captain found it necessary to refresh his Men, and accordingly touched at the Island call'd Mauritius. This is a Place of Parrots, and where Venison is in such plenty, that they surprized and killed several Deer as they lay asleep. Their continuance here was about a fortnight. On the 28th of December, they fell in with the Coast of India, and touched at Car-war a Factory of the English. From hence they weighed after four days stay, and proceeded in their Voyage, having hitherto met with no considerable Adventure.

Having arrived at Karwar after an 8 month voyage to lade pepper and calico, that ‘no considerable Adventure’ recounted by William Smith changed dramatically on 15/16 January, when the President was attacked by pirates off the town of Sandameshwar between Goa and Bombay. A letter from John Child in Surat to the Company in London describes how she was set on by ‘two ships and four large grabs’, ‘there whereof clapped her on board.’ The grab, from the Arabic ghurāb or ghorāb for ‘raven’, was a small ship with the prow of a galley favoured by pirates of the Malabar coast. The letter takes up the account:

Some men they entered, but were soon cut off, and Captain Hide so well behaved himself that one he sunk, another set on fire, blew up all to shatters, having first cleared herself of your ship. But was not so far off but the flash of her powder burnt many of your men between decks, darting in at the port set your ship on fire in sixteen places, so that your men were sufficiently employed in getting mastery of the fire, which they did at length with some difficulty; the cause of which was the loss of the longboat, for a number of men hanging about her, that had swum from the vessels destroyed, cut her loose.’

A third vessel floated ‘only a while longer, and the other three made haste away’, ‘miserably shattered.’ The President lost 11 men killed outright and 35 wounded, including Captain Hide – who recovered – while the pirates were said later to have acknowledged the loss of about 700 men. The account by John Smith in the pamphlet tells a similar story but more vividly, and is quoted here in full:

… on the 15th of January following, on the Coast of Malabar, they met with six Sail of Ships, whom at first they took to be Friends. These Vessels they afterwards understood to be Man'd chiefly with Arabians, who had revolted from their King and entred themselves into the Service of Savagee, a certain Prince in those parts, who is in continual War with the great Mogull. Or rather they were a Nest of Renegadoes there gotten together from all parts, and so desperate as seldom to give or take Quarter. Our Men however not having the least apprehension of Danger from them, stood with them, expecting some News from Suratt. But it seems these Barbarians had heard of such a rich Ship upon the Coast, and so came up with their six Sail, with great numbers of Men, resolv'd to carry her or sink by her side. As soon therefore as they came within shot they fired their Broadsides; The surprize amongst our People was very great, expecting no such Complement, nor having so much as clear'd their Decks, or cut down the Hammocks, The Enemy taking all Advantage of their unreadiness, immediately fell to Grappling and laying them on Board. However, by encouragement and example of their Captain, they with chearful shouts betook themselves to their Work. The Encounter on both sides was with utmost Fierceness and Resolution: though with vast odds and Advantage on their part. Our Men therefore were very hard set till they had got out their lower Tire of Guns, which did them extraordinary Service, for with them they sunk two of the Enemies Ships by their side. The rest were so far from being discouraged hereby, that they pour'd in their Numbers with more Fury; Their Assault was so fierce that our Men were driven into their Fore-castle, the Enemy possessing himself of the Steerage. The Savagees made no doubt but they should presently be absolute Masters of the Prize. Our Captain therefore betook himself to his last Relief, which was to throw his Granadoes out amongst the Enemy. The Barbarians at first stood staring upon them (having never seen any such Things before) till the Balls broke amongst them with so great surprize and Slaughter that our Decks were immediately clear'd of their new Guests. Yet were they so resolute (after a small respite) as to lay Aboard once more. Till by a chance shot from our Vessel that carry'd the Wadd along with it into one of their Ship's Powder-Room, the said Ship immediately blew up: Being foremost in the Service and so near the President as to set her Sails on Fire.

‘Mahratta grabs and gallivats attack an English ship (from a picture in the possession of Sir Ernest Robinson)’, the frontispiece of The Pirates of Malabar by John Biddulph (1907). The large vessel to the left with an extended prow like a galley’s is a grab, and the smaller lateen-rugged boats are gallivats. — ‘Mahratta grabs and gallivats attack an English ship (from a picture in the possession of Sir Ernest Robinson)’, the frontispiece of *The Pirates of Malabar* by John Biddulph (1907). The large vessel to the left with an extended prow like a galley’s is a grab, and the smaller lateen-rugged boats are gallivats.

Upon this Discouragement (two of their Ships having been sunk before) the remainder made off with so much haste that they left most of their Men who had boarded us, to shift for themselves: Part whereof were glad to get into the Long-boat of the President and make away in her as fast as they could. Before our Ship was quite clear of them; the Fire that had taken hold of her Sails grew dangerous. Whereupon William Smith (who afterwards escaped in the Wreck) first adventur'd up to the Main-Yard, to extinguish the Flame, receiving a Wound with an Arrow in his Leg, but the Pile was smooth and happened not to be poison'd. The behaviour of the Captain in this desperate Service was with all possible Conduct and Courage. And indeed the performance of every Individual Person was so extraordinary as must render the Fate that afterwards befel them more deplorable: So that we must needs say of them (as Cicero did of Roscius after recital of his Merits) Videbantur planè mori non debuisse. Notwithstanding the Encounter was so sharp, yet the President lost but thirty Men, and the Enemy no less than five hundred. The great Mogull from whom these Savages had revolted, hearing of the Duspute that had past, immediately sent on Board the President for a particular account of the Fight, with which he was extreamly well satisfi'd, and sent the Captain a Present of extraordinary rich Silks.

The letter from Surat also notes that ‘We have an account from Kajapoor which may be credited that the vessels belonged to the Sambaji Rajah, commanded by an Arab who pretended that he took your ship for a Portuguese ship that he had news was coming from Goa, for who he had awaited some days. This excuse will not serve its turn; he is put into prison and we intend to demand satisfaction.’

The following day the ship ‘bore up for Goa, a chief City of the Portugeses, where they lay to refresh their wounded men’, with the letter noting that with the loss of ‘11 before deceased’ – presumably meaning men who had died on the voyage out from England – the casualties left the ship severely undermanned. On 7 March they arrived in Surat, where they ‘… met with an unfortunate Accident, for as the Gunner was clearing of a whole Culverin the Gun split in pieces by which he was killed, together with the Armourer and two common Seamen; several others being disabled.’ The letter adds that the explosion ‘… did considerable damage by blowing off all their ammunition in ye gunrooms and discharging seven guns that were shotted, which tore away what they met with.’

Once at Surat the ship was surveyed for damage caused by the pirate attack and in ‘a violent storm they met with to the eastward of the Cape’, with the assessment being that after repairs are undertaken ‘ye ship will be secured and as strong to all appearances to us as she was before these accidents befell her and consequently capable to proceed on her voyage to England.’ By now the time lost through the attack and the repairs was causing concern, and there was an urgent need to lade the ship and the Persia Merchant – with which she was to sail home in consort – before the onset of the southerly monsoon in June. The records show that the President was laden with 141½ tons of pepper at Surat, and that between them the two ships took 134 bales of indigo and 51 bales of cardimons. John Child reported that the order of the Company that ‘your finest goods should be laden on ye ships Sampson, Eagle, Falcon and President’ should mean ‘diamonds, musk, cuttences, tafferties and culgaes’ (various textiles). Diamonds are not specifically mentioned in the Company records as cargo on the President – the only mention of them on the ship is in Smith’s account – but they were sent home on one or several of these ships, with Child reporting that ‘in obedience to your orders, your ships go as richly laden home as we can contrive.’

A view of Surat in India published circa 1685, showing its appearance about the time that the President called in there during her final voyage. The English East India Company had established a factory (trade depot) at Surat by 1613, though the city itself did not come under British rule until 1800. The factory acted as a hub for trade and a transshipment centre, where goods such as pepper and textiles could be warehoused ready to be laden on ships destined for England. The vessels in the harbour would have included East Indiamen as well as ‘country ships’ which brought goods in from outlying ports and production areas. From Peters, Jacob, c. 1685, Description des principales Villes, Havres et Isles du Golfe de Venise du cote' Oriental, comme aussi des Villes et Forteresses de la Moree et quelques Places de la Grece et des Isles principales de l'Archipel et Forteresses d'jcelles et en Suite quelques Places renommées de la Terre Saincte, et autres dessous la Domination Ottomanne vers le Midy et l'Orient, et quelques principales Villes en Perse et le Regne du Grand Mogol, p. 221. — A view of Surat in India published circa 1685, showing its appearance about the time that the *President* called in there during her final voyage. The English East India Company had established a factory (trade depot) at Surat by 1613, though the city itself did not come under British rule until 1800. The factory acted as a hub for trade and a transshipment centre, where goods such as pepper and textiles could be warehoused ready to be laden on ships destined for England. The vessels in the harbour would have included East Indiamen as well as ‘country ships’ which brought goods in from outlying ports and production areas. From Peters, Jacob, c. 1685, Description des principales Villes, Havres et Isles du Golfe de Venise du cote' Oriental, comme aussi des Villes et Forteresses de la Moree et quelques Places de la Grece et des Isles principales de l'Archipel et Forteresses d'jcelles et en Suite quelques Places renommées de la Terre Saincte, et autres dessous la Domination Ottomanne vers le Midy et l'Orient, et quelques principales Villes en Perse et le Regne du Grand Mogol, p. 221.

The voyage home

On 24 April 1683 Captain Hide received his commission and instructions for the voyage home from John Child, ‘given by us, ye President in Council of India and Persia unto your loving friend Captain Jonathan Hide, commander of the ship President’, with the same sent to Captain John Bowers of the Persia Merchant. As well as advice on taking on a final lading of pepper at Calicut, and on the importance of sailing in consort with the Persia Merchant and any other homeward-bound East Indiamen they might fall in with at Mauritius or St Helena - the two main stopovers on the voyage back - he concludes:

And now having done for you what we can, as to you: your ship being full laden, and not able to take any more bale goods onboard, and having all your provisions and necessaries in, wind and weather permitting, you are forthwith to weigh your anchors and make ye best of ye way for ye port of London whither God send you safe and seasonably to arrive … Pray in ye whole term of your voyage see your ship be kept in a continual posture of defence, specially at drawing near any land and standing into ye English channell, that ye may be ready to receive an enemy and better able to make defence against any who may assault you. We direct you to be very careful of ye Rocks of Scilly, they having taken up several of our Masters’ ships and lately ye ship Eagle which narrowly escaped, therefore when you account yourself anything near them ye shorten sail in ye night and be not covetous of gaining time by making sail, but rather we do require you to lie by a night, or stand off as may be thought most safe … And so God send you a good voyage.’

A chart (click to enlarge) of the ‘Western Ocean’ showing the final leg of the President’s voyage home, from the Western Isles ( Azores) to Cornwall (Atlas Maritime et Commercialis, London, 1728).

The two ships sailed south along the coast of India prior to striking out across the open ocean towards Mauritius and ‘Cape bon Esperance’, the Cape of Good Hope. On 3 May they arrived at Calicut, the main port on the Malabar coast for pepper, with the factor at the port having had instructions ‘to lade such quantities of pepper on them as ye Commanders should require, but not to detain them.’ The reason for urgency was ‘fear of ye southern winds which are daily expected’, the south-west monsoon which traditionally arrives in Kerala on 1 June. Despite 100 tons of pepper lying embaled and ready to export in the nearby Tellichery factory, there was only time to lade 3,360 pounds of pepper on the Persia Merchant and 5,460 pounds on the President, with both ships weighing anchor from Calicut within days of their arrival.

The only account of the voyage that followed is that of William Smith, one of the two survivors, and in brief references to the final storm in two East India Company despatches sent from England to India on 5 March and 7 April 1684. According to Smith it took them four months to reach Mauritius from Calicut, an open-ocean voyage of some 2,230 nautical miles that must have been arduous with no chance of revictualling and unfavourable winds. Once in Mauritius they met up with the Surat Merchant, with which they had sailed in consort from England the year before and was now on her return voyage from Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. ‘But the Season not permitting them to proceed in their Voyage, by reason of the Trade-Wind, which at that time of the year is always contrary off the Cape bon Esperance, they continu'd on the Island full three months.’

Of these three ships, only the Persia Merchant survived the voyage home, arriving at the Downs anchorage off the Kent coast on 9 February 1684 (though she, too, was eventually to be lost, blowing up off Madras in April 1690 with 47 men killed). The first of the two Company despatches concerning the wreck reports that on 12 December 1683 some 100 leagues (300 nautical miles) to the west of Land’s End they were met by a violent storm that drove them westwards, and the second despatch that ‘ … the Persia Merchant … was in company with the President and the Surat Merchant a 100 leagues west of Silly (the Scilly Isles) the 16th of December last, and then by a violent Northerly storm they were parted and the Persia Merchant drove back as far as the Western Isles’ (the Azores). According to Smith, ‘… they lost sight of the Suratt-merchant, supposing her to be afterwards cast away at St Michael’s on the Western Isles,’ meaning Sao Miguel Island in the Azores. As for the President, the despatch records that ‘in making ye channell in ye night time by a violent storm was cast away on ye Rocks of Helston in Mount’s Bay in Cornwall on ye 11th instant, all her men saving two being drowned and most of her Cargo we fear also is lost, if not all of it, tho’ all means possible is used to see what can be saved thereof.’

Smith gives a horrifying account of the final weeks leading up to the wrecking of the President:

From this time as they drew nearer home, they met with extraordinary rough Weather; yet they judged themselves within three days Sail of England when with violence of Tempests (the Wind blowing continually at North-East) they were driven out again to Sea, their Provision being almost spent and their Men very faint and sick. What Port soever they attempted to make, whether Ireland or Portugal, the Wind was still in their Teeth. In this Distress they continu'd for eleven Weeks together; their Allowance being no more than one pound of Biscake a Week for each Man, and a piece of Beef of about three pound for twenty Men. Their Beef they ate raw being loth to waste any part of it in Boiling; at last they had but one Dog left aboard, which they kill'd, boyling the Head and purtenance for Broth, and of the rest they made a delicate Banquet.

They call'd to a Jamaica Ship as she passed them, who durst not trust her Men aboard them with Relief, for fear they should not return, she having no more than were necessary for her Voyage. They met likewise with a French Merchant-Ship, from whom they had some Stockfish, but were little the better for it, because they could get from her neither Oil nor Water. And indeed in this want consisted their greatest extremity, which was so much more tormenting as Thirst is more violent than Hunger. They were reduced to a Pint a day for each Man, and that of Rain-water gathered as it ran down their Ropes, from which it was tainted with so bitter a Tast, that they were scarce able to drink it. From this drought their sickness encreased so much, that at last there were not above fourteen of the fourscore Persons on Board, who were able to do business in the Ship. It is impossible to draw the Scene of Misery to the Life, to see the poor Wretches, at such time as any Rain fell, some wringing of the Sails, some sucking at the Ropes as it trickled down; and others too sick and feeble to do either; but laid gasping on their backs, with their Mouths open to receive the little Refreshment as it rain'd in.

The wrecking

A view in exceptional calm of the Lizard peninsula from Loe Bar, with the arrow showing the site of the wreck just off the cliffs that divide Loe Bar from the sands leading to Gunwallow Fishing Cove to the south. The dark patches underwater are areas of rocky reef where guns and an anchor are exposed when the sands are low. This photo was taken mid-tide, and shows how the foreshore below the cliffs would be inundated at high tide with anyone caught on the rocks trapped. Many shipwrecks are known between Loe Bar and Predannack headland to the upper right, including 17 dating from the 16th to the 19th century that we have dived on and investigated archaeologically (click to enlarge).

The ‘rocks of Helston’ noted in the first Company despatch concerning the wreck must refer to the cliffs on either side of Loe Bar, the silted-up entrance to the River Cober several miles to the west of Helston in Cornwall. This is the location shown for the wreck on the chart by Collins, with the label above the north side of the bar probably being a matter of finding space for it rather than specifically indicating that the northern cliffs were the location – the space beside the southern cliffs was occupied by the word ‘Lough’ for the lake (Loe Pool) behind the bar. The likelihood of the wreck instead being below the southern cliffs is indicated by Smith’s account, in which his description of the cliffs closely tallies with their appearance today. He gives a vivid account of the wrecking:

After all this Distress it was their hard fortune to lose their Ship in Montz-Bay in Cornwall on the ninth of February last. After she had struck, she sat not an hour before she was beat in a thousand Pieces. Nor indeed could it be otherwise by reason of her falling on the Rock as she did, with her side to the Sea. Of the fourscore Persons, not one escaped beside the foresaid William Smith and John Harshfield. This Harshfield Yet was it his fortune to be once more cast away, and what was more wonderful to be one of the Two that onely escaped. These two Persons sate on the fore-part of the Ship while the hinder-parts were broken, seeing most of their Companions drowned, before they quitted their Station. Smith at length was forced off on part of the Bow-Sprit, to which were fastened by Rings several Ropes wherewith he enfolded himself to prevent his being washed off by the Sea. Harshfield followed him on a Plank, his Father being on Board and calling to him to take him on, which for fear of being incumbred he dared not to do. As he floated he was overtaken by a Third Person who thinking him better provided, quitted his own Plank and laid hold on Harshfield's Breeches. Harshfield finding himself endanger'd thereby, immediately loosed his Hose, letting him and his Breeches together into the Sea.

After this he made a shift to recover Smith, who (being better mounted) hal'd him up to him, and gave him part of the Ropes to fasten himself withal: without which it had been impossible for them to have lived in so rough a Sea. By these most difficult means they made a shift at last to get to the side of a Rock at the Lands End, where they likewise found a Third Person arrived. With much ado they climb'd up about the heighth of Two Stories, the Precipice above them being so steep that they could ascend no higher; they had now been no less than fourteen Hours in the Sea, yet were still so much expos'd to the violence of the Waves, that the foresaid third Person was wash'd off again and drown'd: Smith and Harshfield very hardly preserving themselves by wedging each other into an hollow of the Rock. As soon as the Tide was out they descended with no small danger to the Sands; but as they were crossing over to some place that was accessible they were inhumanely set upon by two Country Fellows, who perceiving that they had been Shipwreck'd, and supposing them to have saved about them something that was of most Value, attempted to knock them on the Head. Which they had certainly effected on these defenceless Wretches but for a Gentleman (Steward to Mr. Godolphin) who was then riding over the Sands and came up to their Relief. Thereupon seeing him approach they fled, but were since taken and thrown into a Goal.

A swimmer’s view from above the wreck site of the adjacent shore, showing ‘hollows’ in the rock where Smith and Harshfield may have sheltered. The cliff is about 18 metres high at this point and cannot be scaled without ropes, so anyone cut off by the tide - which rises to lap the rock at the bottom - would be trapped for several hours until it receded again (photo: David Gibbins).

The rock making up the southern cliffs is shale smoothed and shaped by sea erosion, with mineral veins creating striking patterns in the folding. The cliffs are only about 15-18 metres high, but for a distance of about 700 metres between Loe Bar and the sands leading to Gunwalloe Fishing Cove there is no place where complete ascent can be made without ropes. Along this stretch it is possible to walk below the cliffs at low water, but at high water the foreshore is inundated and anyone caught on the rocky shelves would be cut off. In two places those shelves lead up to accessible clefts about the height above sea level indicated by Smith, each forming ‘an hollow of the Rock,’ with ascent above them impossible but the clefts providing potential refuge for anyone trapped there by the tide. Even taking into account erosion over more than three centuries, it seems likely that these two clefts existed in much their present appearance at the time of the wreck. By contrast, the cliffs to the north of the Bar contain several points where it is possible fairly easily to scramble up to the fields above and the shore can be traversed even at high water along the rocky ledges, allowing anyone cast ashore there a ready means of escape.

Smith ends his account with a reference to salvage at the wreck:

On the Sunday immediately following, in Sermon-Time, the People of the next Town first heard of the Wreck, whereupon with one consent they ran out from their Devotion to the Spoil, leaving the Parson to Preach to the bare Walls. The Company sent down several Persons to recover what they could; which was scarce enough to pay for their Journey. The Vessel nevertheless was of very rich Lading, being modestly judged of no less than an hundred thousand pound Fraight; of the Companies; beside what belong'd to private Persons, with much Jewish Treasure of Pearl, and Diamonds. The said Smith and Harshfield having receiv'd Commendation of His Majesty, are now preferr'd by the Company, and sent out again to Sea.

On 7 May the Court of Committees of the Company authorised the distribution of financial relief to the families of those who had died:

On reading a petition of the widows of the seamen belonging to the ship President cast away on the coast of Cornwall that consideration might be had of them and their fatherless children, the Court were pleased in consideration of their distressed condition of the relations of the said ship’s company to order the sum of £500 be given for their relief. And it is referred to the Committee of Shipping to examine the particular condition of each widow and of each child and children of such ye said officers and mariners as were killed or wounded in ye engagement on the coast of India and of those who were drowned in ye said ship and to make such a distribution of ye said £500 amongst them as they in their judgement shall think fit …

Ben Dunstan with a gun on the site (photo: David Gibbins)

An additional £150 was granted on 4 June. On 30 June the ledger of the Company shows the value of the ship being written off:

By Profit & loss to even acct said ship being cast away £1068 7s 6d.’ As for salvage, the Council Minutes of the Company record that a Mr Smith and William Harman ‘ … repair to Helston in Cornwall to looke after ye Goods and furniture that can be saved out of ye ship PRESIDENT and that ye Gov’t be desired to give Mr South such instructions … Mr South, with the advice of Mr Hill be forthwith make sale of ye pepper and other goods saved out of ye PRESIDENT wreck, on ye best prices given for pepper … the extreme ffrost we have had this winter kept the PRESIDENT so long out as yt we hear all her men were not able to hoist her main yard, and their provisions failing them, by stress of weather was unhappily cast away off Helstone near Lands End.

The extensive records that have been researched for the salvage of the Albemarle, an English East Indiaman wrecked near Polperro off the south coast of Cornwall in 1708, suggest that the Court of Proprietors of the East India Company would have taken a strong interest in securing any cargo and ship’s equipment from the President that could be recovered, for which they would have had a year and a day to make a claim. Their interests would have been represented by the Vice-Admiral for South Cornwall, by Sidney Godolphin, Member of Parliament for Helston (and later 1st Earl of Godolphin) – whose steward aided Smith and Harshfield at the site – and to some extent by the local Lord of the Manor (Penrose), who may also have exercised a traditional manorial claim to a portion of the wreck. They would have been up against the depredations of the local people who ‘ran out from their Devotion to the Spoil’ and descended in the same way on the wreck of the Albermarle and any other accessible wreck on the coast of Cornwall at this period. Further research among Company, manorial and family papers may yield more records relating to the salvage of the ship and the involvement of the owner of the house in which the bell ended up.

The wreck site today

During the 1990s local divers Mike Hall and Ken Simpson discovered a cannon site only a few metres offshore directly below the clefts in the rock which match the locations where Smith said that he and Harshfield had found shelter. A sloping area of exposed bedrock just out from the foreshore - a continuation of the rock of the cliffs - drops in a series of gullies and fissures to a point about 5 to 7 metres deep at low water where it is lapped by a bank of sand and shingle that extends far offshore. The prevailing westerlies keep the rocky slope clear, piling sand on the foreshore and intermittently increasing and reducing the sand bank at the base of the slope. Along this interface at least 17 small guns have been recorded, all highly eroded but probably no larger than 9 pounders, as well as an anchor with angular arms of 17th-18th century type. A further row of cannons was seen by Mike Hall offshore, and a rocky reef that projects out from one side of the site produced a sounding lead and a bronze weight from a steelyard for weighing.

Concreted material on the wreck that may be manganese (photo: David Gibbins).

The strong probability that this site was the President and that it might therefore contain diamonds led to the formation of an expedition in 1998 to investigate the wreck, under the direction of Bill Bowen and Bob Bryson with Rex Cowan acting as director of archaeology and strategy and Chris Underwood as archaeological advisor. Zelide Cowen prepared an account of the documentary evidence for the wreck, with research in the India Office records being carried out by Andrea Cordani. Based on the recommendation of the Archaeological Diving Unit, the site was designated in 1999 under the Protection of Wrecks Act. The likely identity of the wreck was based on the location of the site, the number and small size of the guns, the type of anchor and the identification of a concreted material at the site as containing a significant amount of manganese oxide, suggesting that it might have been the ‘red earth’ known to have been carried by East Indiamen as a paying ballast. India has been a major exporter of manganese since the mid-19th century, when Josiah Marshall Hearth, a former East India Company employee, discovered its value in steel production; before that it was mainly used as a colouring agent and decolouriser in glass manufacture.

In 1999 a pre-disturbance survey was carried out at the site, including measuring and planning in all of the visible guns and the anchor. However, it soon became apparent that very little else was likely to be preserved, with hardly any chance of discovering diamonds had they existed. Not only is the wrecking itself likely to have been a highly destructive event, with material scattered long distances along the foreshore, but the site is one of the most high-energy environments of any wreck off Britain, completely exposed to the Atlantic and buffeted by the storms that hit this coast every year. The power of the sea can be seen in the fact that cannons on the site are moved around and the gullies are frequently swept of sediment down to bedrock.

The site was not visited again until 2018 when I rediscovered it during a snorkel from Loe Bar at a time when sediment levels were low enough for guns and an anchor to be exposed. Mark Milburn and I were already licensed by Historic England to monitor the site, and since the rediscovery we have dived on it a number of times, including dives with Ben Dunstan and others. We have been fortunate on several occasions to have had exceptional visibility and conditions as can be seen in the photographs and video shown here, and also to be able to record the visible artefacts and search the surrounding area.

Click on the following images to enlarge (all photos David Gibbins):

The anchor measures some 3.70 metres along the shank and 2.17 metres across the flukes, has a V-shaped crown – the point where the shank and the arms meet – that is characteristic of the period, and is of a size consistent with a ship of 500 tons. Of the ten guns that we recorded, four were well-enough preserved to be measured from muzzle to breech, showing that one was an eight-footer and three were six-footers. None of the others appear to be larger than this, and the largest reported in the 1999 survey was an eight-footer. Of our guns, the eight-footer and two of the six-footers were four-pounders (with a 3.2 inch bore), and the third six-pounder was a six-pounder (3.6 inch). At least three of the guns had tampions – bungs in their muzzles – still in place, and were in all probability still loaded, calling to mind the instructions to Captain Hide that the ship should be ‘kept in a continual posture of defence, specially at drawing near any land and standing into ye English channel.’ The guns are an important assemblage as no other English East Indiaman of the late 17th century has had its guns recorded archaeologically.

The following photos show seven of the guns at the site (all photos David Gibbins):

Diving off Loe Bar has given us an appreciation of the terror experienced by the men of the President. The conditions seen in the images shown here are exceptional; for much of the year this is a forbidding, dangerous place. Loe Bar is completely exposed to the prevailing south-westerly winds, with an offshore fetch that reaches to the coast of South America. Even when there is no wind the groundswell from distant Atlantic storms can make it impossible to dive, with the underwater visibility reduced and tidal currents sweeping the shore. The swell creates an undertow as it hits the berm, the cause of deaths among many shipwrecked mariners unable to claw their way up the gravel and coarse sand of the bar. Several times I have clambered up and sheltered in one of the two ‘hollows’ in the cliff during moderate seas – at low water, when I was able to escape – to experience the place as Smith and Harshfield may have done, and during storms I have been in the fields above when waves of thirty feet or more threw gravel up into the grass around me. In those conditions, it is difficult to see how anyone could have survived being wrecked at this place.

We had concluded that there was little likelihood of seeing further artefacts from this wreck on the seabed, so it was with great excitement that we learned of the existence of the bell in late 2020 and then were able to see and record it – an artefact that brings the extraordinary final voyage of the President and her role in the ‘Enterprise of the Indies’ into vivid light.

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to the owners of the bell for allowing me to study and record it, and for agreeing to publication in this way. None of this might have happened had Michael Williams not seen reports on our diving on the President and made the connection with the bell, and I am grateful to him for getting in touch. Mike Hall and Anthony Randall, who first spotted the wreck, and Bill Bowen, Director of the 1998-2000 project, have talked with me extensively about their investigations at the site - none of it previously published - and have generously allowed me to consult their research materials. I am grateful to the staff of the South Asia collections (including what was formerly the India Office Records) of the British Library over many visits. I have greatly benefitted from the groundwork research and transcriptions of material related to the President done by Andrea Cordani as part of the 1998-2000 project, and owe much to her knowledge generally and that of other researchers and authors, including the late Jean Sutton; their work has provided an excellent platform for my own research in the collections on the President, which is ongoing. I am also grateful to Ann Verrinder Gibbins for her comments on a draft of this text.

References

In addition to sources linked in the text, I have used the following unpublished documents related to the President in the former India Office Records of the British Library. This is not a comprehensive list of all known documents in the collections related to the President or her predecessor of the same name, but includes all of the documents quoted or sourced here, listed in the order of their appearance in the text.

IOR/L/MAR/A/LXXV, Ship’s log of the President, voyage 1679-82

IOR/L/AG/1/1/7, Ledger 4, January 1676-May 1678, p 37, 41 (the owners of the President, 1676-8)

IOR/E/3/88, Letter Book 5, 1672-1678, letter of 10 May 1676 (Captain Jonathan Hide concerning first voyage of the new President)

IOR/E/3/43, East India Company Original Correspondence, 1683-4, letter dated 10 April 1683 (attack by pirates)

IOR/E/3/43, East India Company Original Correspondence, 1683-4, letter dated 11 April 1683 (ship survey)

IOR/E/3/42, East India Company Original Correspondence, letter dated 26 January 1683 (goods to be laden)

IOR/G/36/91, Factory Records: Surat, letter dated 26 March 1683 (Captain Hide wounded)

IOR/G/36/91, Factory Records: Surat, 1682-4, letter dated 27 March 1683 (accident with gun)

IOR/E/3/43 ff. 63-64, East India Company Original Correspondence, dated April 1683 (Commission and instructions from John Child and Council at Surat to Captain Jonathan Hyde for the homeward voyage of the President)

IOR/E/3/90, Letter Book 1, 1682-1685, p. 264 and 281 (despatches sent by the Company from England to India in 1684 concerning the wreck)

IOR/B/38, Court Minutes, 22 April 1684-20 April 1687, Minutes for 7 May and 4 June 1684 (financial dispensation to the families of those lost in the wreck)

IOR/L/AG/1/1/9, Ledger, June 1682-June 1694, p 60 (value of the ship being written off by the Company)

IOR/B/37, Court Minutes, 11 April 1682-18 April 1684, p 222-3 and 248 (arrangements for sale of salvaged pepper and other goods)