This is the site of the Hazardous, a French warship built in 1698. Five years after its construction, the vessel was commandeered by the Royal Navy and converted to an English Fourth Rate of 54 guns. In 1706, the ship was deliberately run aground during a storm in order to save the lives of the crew, and it was there she remained. In 1986, the site was designated a historic wreck under the Protection of Wrecks Act. This was after a noticeable change in the sediment had left some of the timbers from the wreck exposed. Further movement and decline of the sediment could leave the wreck even more vulnerable. Hazardous lies approximately 800 metres SE of Bracklesham Bay slipway, West Sussex, at a depth of 7m.
In June 2003 Wessex Archaeology carried out magnetometer, sub-bottom profiler and multibeam sonar surveys of the site. Several of the magnetic anomalies picked up by the magnetometer survey were consistent with the location of guns in the centre of the ship. Also, other anomalies were noticed around the wreck site, which may be debris associated with the vessel.
More information about Hazardous can be found at:
The Hazardous Project http://www.hazardousproject.info/index.htm
At the time of writing, some of the finds recovered from Hazardous can be viewed at Earnley Gardens, Chichester.