On June 27, 2011 National Geographic aired a documentary about Luke Ryan, or more specifically, about a dive off the coast of Wales on a wreck thought to be one of Ryan’s privateers (it wasn’t). Ryan had three heavily-armed raiders: the Black Prince, the Black Princess and the Fearnot. To my knowledge no one knows the fate of the Black Princess or the Fearnot. But we do know that the Black Prince floundered on the rocks within range of the shore batteries at Berck, France in 1780. The site shouldn’t be hard to find as Ryan’s men were able to row safely to shore in the long boats and then had time to row back to the Prince when she did not sink immediately and spent the next 24 hours removing as many of her guns and salvaging as much of the equipment and provisions as they could before she finally slipped beneath the waves.
For more details, visit National Geographic’s Ben Franklin’s Pirate Fleet.
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