British ship Warwick supposedly had a noble purpose to take supplies from Bermuda to Jamestown, Virginia. Unfortunately, she sank in Castle Harbour in October, 1619 buffeted by the winds of a hurricane.

Imagine the surprise of scientists several hundred years later when they dug her up and discovered she had been armed to the teeth, far too heavily armed for a mere supply ship.

The dig led by Piotr Bojakowski and students from the University of Southampton in England, Texas A&M University and the National Museum of Bermuda, was filmed by journalist and writer Robert Zuill.

Tonight he will be giving a lecture called ‘Violence and Ambition in Early Bermuda’ as the next instalment in the Citizen Science Lecture series at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).

“It was a very fast ship,” said Mr Zuill. “It was heavily armed. Everything about it indicated that it wasn’t meant to be simple supply ship.

“At that time Spanish treasure ships were travelling back and forth very near Bermuda, loaded down with treasure.

“It is not even clear that Warwick was going to go to Jamestown at all. A lot of what was said about it wasn’t quite right.

“It was the first voyage the ship every made. It sailed from England to here and sank.”

He said during the filming he learned a lot about underwater archaeology.

“I didn’t realise how complicated it was,” he said. “It was quite fascinating.”

He said Warwick would have been among the most state of the art ships of its day, as the Sea Venture would have been.

“There are only about six of these ships left in the world and four are in Bermuda waters,” he said. “They were the first ships built using proper mathematical formulas.

“This type of ship changed the course of power because it established England as a world power.”

Warwick is still in Castle Harbour. When archaeological work was done it was recovered with sand.

Mr Zuill worked for CNN for ten years as a producer.

He has won several prestigious awards including: The Edward R Murrow Award for International Reporting and a CINE Eagle, to name a few. He has also worked for PBS.

He has reported on a broad range of subjects including: cocaine trafficking in Mexico, massacres in Kosovo, alternative energy in Afghanistan and development work in Haiti.

He has also reported on presidential elections, the US economy, and science stories on discovering new planets.

The film will be shown tonight at 7.30pm at the BUEI. There will be a question-and-answer session afterward.

Tickets are $20 for members and $25 for non-members available at 294-0204 or visiting BUEI’s Oceans Gift Shop.

There will be a cash bar at 6.30pm at the Harbour Front Restaurant downstairs of the BUEI.