A schoolboy on holiday on the Islands got a surprise last week when building sandcastles on St Martin’s.
Nine-year-old Henry Moore dug up what is believed to have been a boat skeleton and cannon from a famed St Martin’s pilot cutter left to rot 150 years ago.
One theory is that the cannon was used aboard HMS Colossus, a 74-gun Royal Navy battleship wrecked in St Mary’s Roads in 1798, once part of a fleet commanded by Lord Nelson. It is thought the cannon was one of two used by the cutter as ballast.
But locals from St Martin’s, whose ancestors crewed the cutter (called Queen), say they knew where the boat was lying and wished to leave it undisturbed.
The find has since been covered on the advice of the Isles of Scilly Museum.