Innes McCartney | |
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| Born | 24 March 1964 (1964-03-24) (age 61) |
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| Occupation(s) | Nautical archaeologist, historian |
Innes McCartney (born 1964) is a Britishnautical archaeologist andhistorian. He is a Visiting Fellow atBournemouth University in the UK.
McCartney is a nautical archaeologist specializing in the interaction of shipwreck archaeology with the historical record.[1]
In 1999, he discovered the 12-inch-gunned submarineHMS M1 offStart Point in theEnglish Channel.[2]
In 2001, he discovered the wreck ofHMS Indefatigable, sunk at theBattle of Jutland.[3] In the same year he led expeditions to identify some of the U-boats sunk duringOperation Deadlight. Fourteen U-boats were surveyed and several new sites discovered.[4][5]
In 2003 he identified the mysteryWorld War I U-boat offTrevose Head, Cornwall, asUB-65[6] by scraping the propellers to reveal the shipyard stamp. This proved that even at a depth of 60 metres (200 ft), war graves of this type can be identified by divers without the need to scavenge parts from them. This featured in theChannel 4 seriesWreck Detectives.
In 2006 he featured in the documentaryU-boat Death-Trap which followed his search for the identity of three mystery U-boats off the north coast ofCornwall. In the same year he discovered the German auxiliary raiderHSKKomet in the English Channel.[7] At the time, it was the only known example of this type of warship anywhere in the world.
In 2008 he found theWhite Star Line transportSS Armenian off theScilly Isles.[8][9]
In 2012 McCartney worked alongside wreck hunterDavid Mearns on an archaeological investigation of the wreck ofHMS Hood (51), sunk in 1941. This project was supported by philanthropistPaul Allen aboard his yachtOctopus. The expedition findings were featured in theChannel Four documentary,How the Bismarck sank HMS Hood.[10]
2015 saw publication ofThe Maritime Archaeology of a Modern Conflict: comparing the archaeology of German submarine wrecks to the historical text.[11] It shows the extent to which historical sources relating U-boat losses in UK waters in both world wars differ from the actual distribution of the known and identified wrecks. Over 40% of those investigated had no historical precedent. The accuracy of the historic text fell as low as 36% during 1945.
In 2015 and 2016 McCartney worked as archaeological advisor to theSea War Museum Jutland on detailed archaeological shipwreck surveys to locate all of the heretofore undiscovered wrecks of theBattle of Jutland. This was published inJutland 1916: The Archaeology of a Naval Battlefield,[12] for which he was awarded the 2016 Anderson Medal by theSociety for Nautical Research.
The British submarineHMS Tarpon (N17) was also located during the North Sea surveys in 2016.[13]
In 2016, McCartney helpedScottish Power identify a World War IUB-III Class U-boat off theWigtownshire coast which was found during the seabed survey for an undersea power cable between England and Scotland.[14] McCartney has suggested the wreck isUB-82, or possiblyUB-85, which were both sunk after attacks by British patrol boats in April 1918.[15]
In 2017 he assisted theSea War Museum Jutland in a detailed survey of theScapa Flow naval anchorages.[16] The results were published in May 2019 inSCAPA 1919: The Archaeology of a Scuttled Fleet.[17]
In May 2020 it was announced that the wreck of the landing craftLCT 326 had been found off Bardsey Island during surveys byBangor University, in collaboration with McCartney. The wreck is located over 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) from its supposed loss position.[18][19][20] In September 2021 as part of the same project, it was announced that the minesweeper HMSMercury had been found in the Irish Sea. It sank in 1940 during sweeping operations.[21]
In September 2022 it was announced that the wreck of the linerSSMesaba had been identified by McCartney in the Irish Sea during surveys byBangor University. The ship is famous for having radioed an ice warning, picked up byRMS Titanic which later struck an icebergand sank with high loss of life in theNorth Atlantic Ocean.[22] SSMesaba was sunk by German submarineUB-118 on 1 September 1918. SSMesaba,LCT 326 and HMSMercury are examples of the 273 shipwrecks surveyed byBangor University and assessed by McCartney in aLeverhulme Trust-funded research project, published as a single-authored monograph,Echoes from the Deep.[23] The project led to the naming of 87% of the wrecks surveyed.[23]
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