Marine archaeologist Gary Green, of Tees Archaeology, says the anchor – which was discovered when it got caught up in a trawler's net – will be difficult to trace.

As reported in the Mail earlier this month, Keith Fletcher and Paul Stewart were fishing three miles off the Hartlepool coast when they dragged it up.

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Keith, 58, who is the skipper-owner of the JJ fishing boat and lives in Gala Close, Seaton Carew, previously told the Mail: "We were doing three knots and we just stopped."

Gary said the fact that the anchor is partly made of wood, rather than iron, dates it back as far as the early 1800s.



Measurements and photographs have been taken and Mr Green said that it has set imaginations reeling.

He said: "There are a number of potential stories you could tell around why it was there.

"It could have actually gone down with a ship if it was lost in a storm.

"Or the vessel could have become stuck somewhere and they had to cut the anchor off to set it free."

He said the next step is for the fishermen to pinpoint the exact location it was found and the site can then be cross-checked against records of shipwrecks.

Gary added: "There's literally thousands of shipwrecks off the North East coast.

"Off Crimdon and Staithes, we have got records of over 1,500 wrecks."
He said the anchor has no monetary value, and is in a generally poor condition.

He went on: "It's value is historical in that it's quite an early anchor.

"It would be just guessing to say what ship it came from because ships carried anchors of different sizes."

The fishermen are in the process of registering the find to the Receiver of Wreck, part of the Marine and Coastguard Agency which administers cases of voluntary salvage wreck material across the UK.