The Royal Oak found herself off the Islands severe winds. She tried to stay off the Islands by dropping anchor. This effort failed and she wrecked on the Western Rocks. Some of the crew managed to clamber to rocks and hold on for fifty-two hours. When parts of the wreck reached the inhabited Islands, locals realised what had happened.
- Job: Cargo vessel
- Date of incident: 18 January 1665
Incident
- Difficulty: Ran aground, wrecked
- Shipping route: Bantam via Cape Bona Sparnce and St Helena, East Indies to England
- Passengers & cargo: Pepper
- Location: Western Rocks
RoseVear (link below) has an extract from the report of the incident: “Upon sight thereof [the wreckage], the worthy Major Edward Roscaricke, then chief in Scilly, hastened boats to us who came and took us in and landed us at St Mary’s.”
References
- Larn, Richard & Carter, Clive (1993). Shipwrecks of the Scilly Isles. Shipwreck & Marine. ISBN 0946537844.
- Rosevear (c.1999). “Royal Oak”. Archived from the original on 2003-02-18.