No Roman wreck in Southern England

What is it about?

The Note discusses the origin of Roman coins found by the authors during the 1978-1986 excavations at The Needles historic wreck-site off the west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. There was a suggestion that it was the site of a Roman wreck at the end of the 3rd century AD. The Note disproves this suggestion, explaining that these Roman coins came from the 38-gun Pomone wrecked there in October 1811 when returning from the Mediterranean. This opinion was supported by the British Museum’s Coin & Medal Department who more recently had received similar coins from servicemen returning from the Middle East following WW2.

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