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I've been tracking new stories that reference the Shovell shipwrecks since 
the 300th anniversary is coming up in just three weeks (the calendar 
anniversary). 

Here's a paragraph clipped from a story from the Telegraph suggesting the 
Isles as a nice fall tourism destination:
 "An estimated 1,500 men died that night in 1707 when the fleet of the Royal 
Navy lost its bearings among the Scilly rocks. Four ships, most notably Sir 
Cloudesley Shovell's flagship Association, foundered and sank in one of the 
most notorious disasters in British maritime history. The islands have been 
marking the 300th anniversary of the disaster throughout the summer and on 
October 21 there will be a commemoration service and a talk by Dava Sobel, 
the author of Longitude, which tells how the loss of the Association fleet 
spurred the search for a reliable means of plotting ships' positions 
accurately. The following day there will be a wreath-laying ceremony." 

Full story here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2007/09/24/et-scill 
y-isles-124.xml 

And here's a story about an attempt to recover the ornate sternboard of the 
Association which was recovered just after the shipwreck:
 "An impassioned plea that the sternboard of the HMS Association be sent 
back to the Isles of Scilly has fallen on deaf ears. A vote for its return 
was defeated by 20 votes to eight at a meeting of Penwith District Council 
last week. The sternboard is currently hanging, as it has done for the past 
140 years, in the Guildhall at St John's Hall, Penzance, where it acts as an 
impressive royal coat of arms in the main court room and council chamber. 
Although there is no firm historical documentation for it, the belief is, at 
least in Penzance, that it was given to the town by Scilly in the early 19th 
century as a gesture of gratitude for food relief sent by Penzance townsfolk 
following a period of famine. 

However, Scillonians now want the 10ft by 8ft crest back as the 300th 
anniversary of the loss of HMS Association off the islands in October, 1707, 
approaches. They have set aside �20,000 to take it back to Scilly, carry out 
important restoration work and pay for a replacement coat of arms for the 
Guildhall. Phillip Hygate, chief executive of the Isles of Scilly Council, 
told the meeting that there was no more significant artifact for Scillonians 
than the sternboard of the Association, flagship of Sir Clowdisley Shovell. 
"The loss of the Association and around 2,000 men led directly to the 
longitude prize being set up, but was absolutely traumatic for Scilly and we 
are very conscious that there is no proper memorial on Scilly for this 
event," he said. "We feel very strongly that it should be returned to Scilly 
where it would act as a permanent memorial to this historic event." " 

Full story here (warning: url may be split depending on your email reader):
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command=displa 
yContent&sourceNode=232510&home=yes&more_nodeId1=232470&contentPK=18310198 

 -FER 


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