In 2024, one of the wild storms that made the island of Sanday in the Orkneys “the cradle of shipwrecks in Scotland” whipped up off the coast. A 24-gun frigate, the ship was not a massive battleship but a smaller, more agile vessel that likely acted as a “convoy escort or a counter-privateer cruiser.” It saw action in the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in the 1750s as well as in the Revolutionary War. Dubbed the Earl of Chatham, the ship spent four seasons in the Arctic hunting whales in order to fill the growing demand for blubber, which was used as machinery lubricant and fuel for lamps and streetlights.
Author: Kaleena Fraga
Published at: 2025-07-23 21:45:56
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