Shipwreck Linked to Wordsworth Family Granted Protection
Mr Tonkin's 1805 survey and proposal to recover the cargo using a 'diving machine'. The salvage of the cargo was undertaken by John Braithwaite in a diving bell in 1805-1807". Copyright Portland Museum Trust
The Earl of Abergavenny was launched in 1796 in Northfleet, Kent and is rare as one of only 36 ships of 1460 tons that formed a special class of the Company’s merchant fleet. It was an early example of the changing technologies in ship building of the time, incorporating the use of iron in its construction.