Watch: Lost wreck of WW1 warship found in good condition

A long-lost Royal Navy WW1 warship, HMS Hawke, has been discovered off the coast of Aberdeenshire, 70 miles east of Fraserburgh. Sunk by a German U-boat during World War One, it has been found in remarkable condition resting 360 feet below the surface.

HMS Hawke met its tragic end in October 1914 when a torpedo from the German submarine U-9 struck her. In this attack, the ship went down in less than eight minutes, and over 500 crew members were killed. Seventy men survived the sinking.

The wreckage was found by the Scottish shipwreck site location team Lost in Waters Deep, whose leader diver Steve Mortimer, using historical records like those made by the U-boat commander and the Royal Navy in their logs, found the remains. It was an “obstruction” reported by Scottish fisheries in the 1980s that set them in the right direction.

HMS Hawke was an Edgar-class protected cruiser, launched in 1891 with a service record that included an assignment to the 10th Cruiser Squadron that was patrolling off the Shetlands to Norway when, in 1911, it collided with RMS Olympic, the sister ship to the Titanic.

The structure is remarkably well preserved, even though it lies here for over a century, with an existing teak decking, guns, and even Royal Navy crockery. Open portholes show that the attack came as a surprise to the crew. Poor nutrient levels of the waters have probably helped conservation of the wreck, which is very valuable in historical terms.