- Steve Weinman
- on August 20, 2026
A community heritage group believes it has located the wreck of the Blessing of Burntisland, a timber ferry that sank in Scotland nearly four centuries ago while carrying royal baggage and treasure across the Firth of Forth.
Burntisland Heritage Trust said that underwater surveys, physical exploration and the recovery of timber had identified a possible wreck-site about 1.5km from the Fife town of Burntisland, describing the evidence as “promising”.
The Blessing foundered in unexpectedly rough weather in July 1633, while sailing from Burntisland to Leith during the Stuart King Charles I’s Scottish coronation tour. Only two of the 35 passengers and crew onboard are believed to have survived.
The ferry was reportedly transporting royal possessions valued at about £100,000 at the time, including jewellery, textiles, coins and precious-metal plate.
Dinner service
Accounts have also suggested that its cargo included a gold and silver dinner service commissioned for King Henry VIII in the previous century, but the precise contents and modern value of the lost consignment remain uncertain.
No contemporary dimensions are known for the ferry, although surveys indicate that the suspected buried wreck is about 17m in length.
A report by the trust states that a combination of subsea ground-penetrating radar, advanced scanning and direct examination had located what it believed could be the wreck.
“Core samples now strongly point to the wreck being that of the Blessing,” it says, adding that work to recover material from the site could follow.
“We may have found the site of a historic wreck, but we have not yet identified it,” search team-leader Ian Archibald emphasised. “We have retrieved a timber sample but we do not know at this stage what ship that has come from. The next stage would be carbon-dating.”
The recovered timber has been reported to the Receiver of Wreck.
Dived since the ’90s
The find follows more than 30 years of investigations promoted by local researchers and the heritage organisation. Previous searches by scuba divers investigating sonar targets have been hampered by strong tides, deep silt and near-zero visibility.
Objects including pottery, shoe leather and fastenings have been recovered by divers, although none conclusively identified the Blessing. Hundreds of possible targets, including other wrecks and a WW2 aircraft, have been identified in the surrounding waters over the years.
Burntisland Heritage Trust’s account of the search traces the project’s origins to research begun in the late 1970s and marine surveys launched in 1991.
Should the identification finally be confirmed, the wreck has the potential to become one of Scotland’s most significant maritime archaeological discoveries. Discussions have already taken place about creating a visitor-centre or museum in Burntisland to tell the ferry’s story and display any objects lawfully recovered.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 