{"id":36112,"date":"2026-09-01T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=36112"},"modified":"2026-09-01T06:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:22:16","slug":"a-handwritten-note-reading-cap-wildy-lost-led-divers-to-a-1680-shipwreck-and-the-recovered-objects-are-finally-becoming-public-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/a-handwritten-note-reading-cap-wildy-lost-led-divers-to-a-1680-shipwreck-and-the-recovered-objects-are-finally-becoming-public-history\/36112\/","title":{"rendered":"A handwritten note reading \u201cCap Wildy lost\u201d led divers to a 1680 shipwreck, and the recovered objects are finally becoming public history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The story we have here might be the closest we have in the modern days to finding a treasure chest filled with gold. After years of research and underwater exploration<\/a>, the diver, writer and modern day explorer Todd Stevens identified a wreck that is believed to be the Phoenix, an East India Company vessel that has been lost since the 1680s near the Isles of Scilly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the initial clue that led to it? A handwritten note reading \u201cCap Wildly lost\u201d transformed what was an old chart into a viable search. During his missions Stevens was used to recover coins and jewelry<\/a>, navigational instruments, sword fragments, and all kinds of personal objects. His collection has now been donated to the local Isles of Scilly Museum, opening to the public a new historical frame previously unknown, picturing a new look at trade routes, travels and the dangers that were present in the seas during the late 1600s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clue in the archive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stevens is not only a reckless explorer. Before his endeavors he carefully studies his plans. This time was not different: he found the decisive clue while examining a historic map in the National Maritime Museum archive<\/a> in Greenwich. The three simple words \u201cCap Wildy lost\u201d appeared on the map over the waters west of Samson, and pointed towards an area where Captain William Wildy\u2019s ship had theoretically disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the note was just a clue. You can\u2019t put your eggs in a bottomless basket. Since the note alone wasn\u2019t proof by itself Stevens had to dig further. Combining the note with a lengthy documentary research, diving efforts and the kind of underwater archaeology<\/a> that protects an object\u2019s location and surroundings the efforts targeted the wreck not as an isolated treasure, but like a context that had its own history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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