Divers recently uncovered the remains of a Royal Navy warship off the Isle of Wight — 118 years after it went down.
The ship, HMS Tiger, sank in 1908 after colliding with another Royal Navy warship, the 10,000-ton HMS Berwick, news agency SWNS reported. More than half of HMS Tiger’s 57 crew members were killed in the sinking.
The wreck remained undiscovered until Aug. 10, when the ProjectXplore dive group announced its discovery.
The ProjectXplore team spent five years going through archives and piecing together data that helped pinpoint the wreck’s location.
Images show divers exploring the twisted and rusting remains of HMS Tiger on the seabed over a century after it sank.
A wreath was also laid on the wreck in memory of those who died.
In a statement, the organizers of ProjectXplore called it “the privilege of a lifetime to research, discover and document the wreck of HMS Tiger.”
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“We sincerely hope that our work will ensure that HMS Tiger, her story and the memory of those connected with her endure for future generations,” organizers Leo Fielding and Dan McMullen said.
The discovery comes as the British government moves to strengthen legal protections for military shipwrecks through its Armed Forces Bill.
Under the proposed changes, wrecks such as HMS Tiger would be protected from the moment they’re discovered, making it illegal to disturb the sites or remove items without permission.
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Divers would still be allowed to visit under a “look but don’t touch” approach.
“This Armed Forces Bill is wide-ranging in the measures it proposes – from protecting our rich cultural heritage, to transforming the lives of military families by upgrading and improving the Defence housing estate,” Armed Forces Minister Louise Sandher-Jones said.
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“These protections go further to ensure that these vulnerable and nationally significant monuments are protected from day one of discovery, giving lost sailors the dignity and respect they deserve.”
HMS Tiger is the latest in a series of historic shipwrecks to be discovered or documented in British waters in recent years.
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Last summer, divers documented the remarkably preserved wreck of the British warship Northumberland off the coast of Kent, more than 320 years after it sank during the Great Storm of 1703.
Earlier this year, the remains of a 17th-century merchant ship believed to be The Fame, which sank in 1631, resurfaced on a beach in southwestern England after winter storms exposed the wreck.
