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PODCAST: Researcher talks to Dan Snow about his quest to Find the Captain

16/02/2023
Image of Dan Snow Podcast publicity

Academic researcher, Dr Howard Fuller, talks to British historian and TV presenter, Dan Snow, about his quest to Find the Captain in the latest History Hit podcast.

Dr Howard Fuller, a Reader in War Studies in the University’s Department of History, Politics and War Studies at its Wolverhampton City Campus, is on the hunt for HMS Captain—the most powerful ironclad-battleship in the world at the height of the ‘Pax Britannica’—which sank off Cape Finisterre, Spain, in 1870. 

The team of researchers is now looking for additional philanthropic support to conduct a further survey employing side-scan sonar and ROVs with cameras to make a positive identification of the ‘mystery wreck’.  International protection of this iconic British man-of-war can then follow. 

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the History Hit article here.

Read more about the Find the Captain research project.

Find out more about the Centre for Historical Research.

Once the shipwreck is located, the University and wider research team will document the impact of the discovery, and work to help renew public interest in maritime history including the fateful interplay of radical technology and geopolitics which characterised British naval power at its Victorian zenith.   

Chairing the University’s charitable Find the Captain Trust is Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, great-grandson of Captain Coles. 

Professor Keith Gildart, Head of the University’s Centre for Historical Research, said: “Whether it’s a ship at the bottom of the ocean or an obscure document in a dusty archive, our staff are busy charting new frontiers in historical research, which underpins our teaching. We hope to inspire our students to one day develop their own projects that will make a significant contribution to study of the past.” 

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