DIVERS have promised to salvage even more treasures next summer when they return to a 17th-century shipwreck described as “Southend’s Mary Rose”.

Over the summer months, a treasure-trove of artefacts has been brought to the surface from the 64-gun warship London, which sank in the Thames Estuary in 1665.

Marine archaeologists expect to recover larger and even more valuable finds – including a complete gun carriage – when they start five weeks of dives next summer.

English Heritage maritime archaeologist Alison James said: “ English Heritage and the London Wreck 1665 team are already excited about the 2015 diving season.

"Exploratory dives this year have confirmed the existence of large amounts of material on the sea bed, which will be the subject of five weeks of archaeological excavation in summer 2015.”

A total of 15 dives by a team of divers, led by Westcliff couple Steve and Carol Ellis, salvaged smaller items, such as leather shoes, musket balls, ship’s fittings and personal items, including a set of navigator’s dividers.

Southend’s museums service will eventually display the items, but in the meantime, they are being preserved by an English Heritage conservator at Fort Cumberland, Hampshire.

English Heritage and the dive team will soon be planning next year’s programme of dives.

Ms James said: “The dive team has located a gun carriage which is an excellent and rare example and we will be investigating this in more detail next year.”