Inscribed on the barrel; "Relic of the Royal George, Sunk 1782, Raised 1840".
Launched in 1756, H.M.S. Royal George was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line, the world's largest warship, and a flagship in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' and American Revolutionary wars. It notoriously sank at anchor at Spithead on August 29, 1782, killing ~900 people. The ship foundered during maintenance while heeled over, allowing water into lower gun ports. She took ten years to construct at Woolwich Dockyard
The HMS Royal George was built over 200 years after the Mary Rose, in 1756, but has a remarkably similar history. Like the Mary Rose, the Royal George was a flagship, serving at the Battle of Quiberon Bay and the Battle of Cape St Vincent in the Seven Years' War. And, 237 years after the Mary Rose, the Royal George also sank at Spithead. The ship was in harbour for maintenance work, and was therefore full not only of the crew but also of workmen and visiting family members. It sank after the ship was deliberately heeled to allow work on the hull, when water began to enter the ship through the lower deck gun ports.
Lying as it did in a shallow harbour, the lost ship proved a major hazard. Early attempts were therefore made to salvage it; in 1782 Charles Spalding had some success, using a diving bell to retrieve some of the ship's guns. After this, the attempt was abandoned until 1834 and the invention of the Deane brothers' diving equipment. It was while salvaging guns from the Royal George, indeed, that the diving brothers were directed to the wreck of the Mary Rose just one mile away, by fishermen.
