An eBay trader's premises were raided and 14 illegal items of wreck seized after a cannon ball, falsely described as being from Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose, was advertised for sale.

The Receiver of Wreck used her legal powers to intervene and seize items of wreck, after an attempt by a UK-based eBay trader to sell a cannon ball for over £5,000, with claims that it was from the Tudor warship Mary Rose. The Mary Rose is one of 55 sites in the UK that are designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973.

The Mary Rose Trust issued a warning that any items advertised as Mary Rose artefacts were either fake, or acquired illegally. Anyone who sees such an item is advised to contact the Trust to ascertain provenance.

A total of 14 cannon balls were seized after the Hampshire Police Marine Unit raided the home of the trader. None of the items appears to have been legally declared to the Receiver of Wreck. The auction site eBay cooperated fully with the investigation.

The cannon balls were examined by the Curator of Ordnance at the Mary Rose Trust, Alexzandra Hildred, who confirmed that the artefacts were 18th or 19th century in origin, but had none of the features found on shot from the Mary Rose. The items are believed to have been recovered from the River Hamble.

"This joint operation shows that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is willing and able to act on credible information received in relation to offences regarding illegally held wreck material. Although these cannonballs did not ultimately come from the Mary Rose, the principles of investigation and enforcement are the same and will be applied to any other such cases which arise."
The Receiver of Wreck, Sophia Exelby, told Divernet.

The collection of objects from the Mary Rose is on show in the Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard every day except 24-26 December. Their website can be found at www.maryrose.org

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