A team of divers from the University of Bristol plan to survey the wreck of a fireship which sank off the Isles of Scilly nearly 300 years ago.

HM fireship, Firebrand, served for 13 years in the Caribbean and Mediterranean before sinking off the Isles of Scilly in October 1707 following a navigational error. Fireships, such as Firebrand, were initially designed to be sailed against enemy fleets at anchor, loaded with incendiaries. More often than not, however, the vessels were used as patrol or convoy escort sloops.

More than 15,000 Royal Navy seamen lost their lives when the ill-fated fleet under the command of Sir Clowdisley Shovell, crashed into the Western Rocks off the Isles of Scilly. The ships lost included the fleet's flagship, HMS Association, the Romney and the Eagle. According to Bristol University, the sinking triggered the competition for the 'discovery of longitude' and resulted in the design of the Harrison chronometer.

The Bristol University divers will be the first to conduct an archaeological survey of the vessel, which will also be the first physical study of this particular type of British Royal Navy ship. Fitted with an arsenal of eight cannon, Firebrand lies at a maximum depth of 24m on a silty sea floor.

'The survey will contribute a new chapter on the significance of small warships to the British Royal Navy,' said Kimberly Monk of Bristol University's department of archaeology and anthropology. 'The English were considered to be 'the very Devils with their Fire' since, under certain conditions, fireships could inflict more devastation than any other weapon at the navy's disposal.'

The team will begin their two-week survey on Saturday 22 July led by Monk, freelance maritime archaeologist Kevin Camidge and Martin Read, a conservator from the University of Plymouth.