The H.M.S Nymph

Wreck Hunters

HMS Nymph was a Royal Navy sloop launched at Chatham Dockyard in May 1778. She was one of 25 vessels of the Swan class of Royal Navy ships. She sank in the British Virgin Islands in 1783. The Nymph was 96 feet long, with a beam of 26 feet and a depth in the hold of 12 feet.

The 303-ton vessel was fitted with three masts and was able to accommodate 125 men, 16 guns and 14 swivel guns. Her role was to protect English interests and island inhabitants from French and American privateers. She was first commissioned under Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hughes' East India fleet in 1779, and her duties included protecting interests in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras and serving as an escort to East India merchant convoys.
In December 1782, HMS Nymph was recommissioned to the West Indies under Admiral Hugh Pigot and Rear Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, of the Lesser Antilles squadron.
The Nymph's Caribbean adventures ended abruptly, however. A crew member's carelessness caused a fire, which forced the crew to abandon the ship as it foundered in Road Town's harbour.
In February 1969, dredging in Road Town harbour revealed the remains of what locals considered the Nymph. Artifacts were removed, but no archaeological survey or site excavation was conducted and therefore only assumptions were made.
Christopher argued that this could not be the Nymph and that in fact it appeared too small at first, he also had first hand knowledge from “old timers” who shed light on many of the wrecks in and around the harbour of Road Town and along the coast, this further indicated that when found, the artifacts would determine the vessel. Kimberly Monk through hours of research uncovered the fact that Nymph was carrying “pig iron” for ballast and that she would be an easy magnetic target, Chris noted that the “pig iron” would have hampered dredging and these pigs should be visible or recorded somewhere. So Bristol led by Kimberly has now moved their focus again to recovering Nymph, based on this pertinent archival finding.
The location of the wreck was subsequently lost for many years, and remains a mystery. Since 2005, the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol and Christopher Juredin of We Be Divin and Commercial Dive Services have been surveying Road Harbour in an effort to locate and survey the remains of HMS Nymph.
Each year a field school is sponsored in part by Christopher Juredin who supplies boats, and dive gear and cylinders, a dive platform and or dive boat or boats, tenders and dive support where needed. The search is ongoing and to date although many other wrecks have been located and some surveyed by Kim and Dave and crew, the Nymph is yet to be discovered. This year there was a concerted effort to locate the Nymph and we are sure in the near future she will be located and history will be recorded for the good of the British Virgin Islands and for people around the world.
Although field schools are run for Archaeology Students, The Nymph and recording of other vessels would not be possible were it not for Kimberly Monk, David Moore, Christopher Juredin and Leslie Currie with recent assistance from Nick Bentall.

Dave Moore

David Moore has been involved in maritime history and shipwreck research for over nineteen years, including stints as an underwater archaeologist for the states of North Carolina and Florida.
He has conducted field research on over 100 shipwrecks dating from the 16th to 19th centuries. An alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a B.A. in Environmental Marine Science (May 1980), Moore traveled to Florida in 1983 as an archaeological consultant soon after completing course work for a Master's degree in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology at East Carolina University.
His work in Florida included the structural investigation of the 17th century Spanish galleons Nuestra Senora de Atocha, Santa Margarita, and the San Martin. He directed the first deep-water shipwreck excavation utilizing robotic technology.
As Principle Investigator on the Henrietta Marie Project, his efforts led to the completion of a Master's thesis in 1989 on the historical and archaeological investigations of this significant slave ship site which was instrumental in the development of a major traveling exhibition currently touring the country. Born, raised, and educated in North Carolina, Moore returned to his home state in February 1996 when hired by the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort.
He began researching the potential for locating Blackbeard’s shipwrecks in 1982 and is helping to direct the excavation of what is thought to be the pirate’s flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge. His research efforts into the historical background of North Carolina’s most infamous pirate are also the focal point of a Ph.D. dissertation through King’s College London.

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Kimberly Monk

Kimberly Monk is director of the Great Lakes Institute for Marine Research (GLIMR) dedicated to documenting and preserving Great Lakes marine heritage. She also serves as co-founder of the Maritime Archaeological Research Initiative (MARI), whose work focuses on shipwreck research in the Upper Florida Keys with the cooperation of the US National Parks Service and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. She is currently a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Bristol ; her dissertation entitled: “HMS Hampshire: Anatomy of a 17th Century Royal Navy Frigate.” She holds an MA in maritime history and nautical archaeology from the Program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University, and a BA in anthropology from the University of Western Ontario.