Shipwrecks were common off the coast of North Devon and Ilfracombe until recently, though few of them have a legacy as mysterious as that of the HMS London, which sank just off Rapparee Cove on the 9th of October 1796.
The vessel had a very significant “cargo” – 106 human beings of Caribbean origin, marked as French Prisoners of War. Chained up in the hold, they were in the process of being transported to Bristol to stand trial and be ransomed back to France.
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