The Kinlochbervie wreck is considered to be of national importance because the site has produced the largest group of Italian Renaissance pottery ever recovered from an archaeological site in Scotland, and the largest group of grotesque maiolica ever recovered from an archaeological site in Britain. These finds are in the care of the National Museums of Scotland but potential exists for further such discoveries at on the seabed. Whatever the ship's purpose, ports of origin and destination, its presence at the northernmost tip of Scotland may illustrate the extent of Iberian maritime trade in northern Europe, amidst the political uncertainties at the end of the 16th centuries. Such survivals are very rare in a Scottish and wider UK context. While there is considerable archaeological evidence of Spanish naval activity, particularly the 1588 Armada, little evidence of trade with Spain or Mediterranean countries in the early 17th century has been investigated systematically from northern waters.
Designation of the Kinlochbervie wreck can help by promoting the heritage value of this site and ensuring that any future investigations of this wreck take place in accordance with the highest archaeological standards.
Intrinsic characteristics
Divers identified pottery, guns and anchors indicating presence of a post-medieval-period wreck close to Kinlochbervie around 1998. Curators from the National Museums of Scotland identified an intact ceramic ewer recovered by the divers as grotesque Majolica ware of Italian origin, dating from the second half of the 16th century AD. The site was subject to detailed archaeological survey and rescue of threatened ceramic artefacts during the period 2000-2003. These investigations revealed two distinct concentrations of material. Two anchors and two guns were identified at about 4m depth within a shallow lagoon which steps down into a gully at the top of an underwater cliff at a depth of about 14m. This is a high-energy environment where only the most durable artefacts appear to have survived. A further two guns and anchors were identified together with the main concentration of ceramic finds at the foot of the underwater cliff at a depth of between 25 and 30m, scattered over an area of bedrock and rock crevices measuring about 22m by 8m. Mobile sand has accumulated in places within the crevices, while less mobile deposits of gravel and other materials are found in the deeper gulleys. A flat sandy seabed extends to the W at a depth of 34m. The recovered ceramic assemblage comprising 147 fragments of pottery and 33 of brick and tile is in the care of the National Museums of Scotland. The collection includes galley brick and tile, possible Beauvais stoneware, Seville coarseware (including one intact olive jar), Iberian Red Micaceous ware, and five or more types of Italian maiolica (e.g Grotesque; Montelupo; Ligurian berettino; Faenza; Deruta). Specialist study by art historians and archaeologists has indicated that the Italian maiolica pottery was probably manufactured between 1570 and 1610. The guns were probably manufactured in England or the Baltic countries during the late 16th or early 17th centuries while the anchors appear to be of two different sizes and of a design common at the time. This information suggests that the wrecking event took place during the 1590s or perhaps even after 1600.
The iron guns and anchors remain on the seabed and there may still be fragments of pottery embedded within thin sediment layers between the rock boulders or in the unexcavated sands at the foot of the sea cliff. No organic remains (e.g hull structure) have so far been identified and the burial environment may militate against survival of such materials. It is however possible that the recorded assemblage may only be a part of the remains of the wreck. The numerous offshore reefs located to the W of the wreck around Sgeirean Cruaidhe, may have caught the vessel as she was driven landwards leaving a debris trail. Alternatively, the major break-up may have occurred on the reef but with only a section of the ship settling into deeper water.
Contextual characteristics
The survival of historic wrecks of 18th-century date or earlier is relatively rare in Scottish waters and the survival of an example such as that at Kinlochbervie, particularly so. If the late 16th or early 17th century date and Iberian origin for this vessel are accepted, the only other known parallels in Scottish waters are the wrecks of the Spanish Armada vessels Gran Grifon (Fair Isle), and San Juan de Sicilia (Tobermory). While a possible connection with the Spanish Armada was initially considered for the Kinlochbervie wreck, the ceramic assemblage is different in character to that found on other Armada wrecks around UK and Irish coasts, and analysis of finds at Kinlochbervie suggests a terminus post quem later than 1588. In the apparent absence of documentary information, the Iberian associations of the brick, tile and pottery suggest that the remains represent the isolated loss of a merchant vessel sailing from the Iberian peninsula to northern Europe, possibly taking the Atlantic 'north-about route' around Scotland to avoid piracy in the Narrow Seas.
Associative characteristics
There is no known historical account relating to this wreck but after the wreck's discovery, the site was investigated as part of Channel Four's Time Team series (programme shown January 2002). Investigations on the site and specialist analysis of the ceramic assemblage have now been published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.