Ships were lost during these dark voyages, and said to have had one or more of these ships to survive in the North Sea in the early modern age. A ship found at Spurn Point by the late 19th century showed signs of having been built in the 1500s. A Dutch wreck at the Mull of Kintyre, found in 1878, yielded a bronze bell that dates to the early 17th century. Further bronze vessels are said to have come from a wreck of the 1600s in the southern North Sea. Bannister cites the Hector wreck of the late 17th century as having yielded silver artefacts. A wreck of the Spanish Armada (the Spanish fleet defeated by England in 1588) is said to have been found near the Isle of Man in 1977, although this is disputed. More recently a "battlefield burial" of the 1771 Battle of Almansa was found, with two English bodies recovered with their feet tied together and a silver spoon (silver the Spanish loot from these wars) as well as some pistols and musket balls. These wrecks indicate that the waters of the British Isles have been used as a graveyard for ships for hundreds of years. See also Wrecks of the Azores References External links The Secrets of The Dead: Ghostly Wrecks, Mysterious Losses and Forgotten Findings on the Bottom of the English Channel, Richard Belfield, 2005 Wrecks in the North Sea – Miscellaneous http://www.britainexpress.com/wrecks-of-the-azores/ The British Wrecks of the French and Spanish Armadas, Richard Belfield http://www.thehistoryreader.com/feature/article/sinking-of-the-hms-endymion-ii-and-hms-prince-albert-iii-off-port-hope-england Category:Wreck diving sites in England Category:Archaeology of shipwrecks Category:European archaeology Category:English Channel Category:Wreck types Category:Coastal construction Category:Maritime archaeology Category:Articles containing video clips