Only 10 months off the launching ways when she sank on February 19, 1694, HMS Sussex was one of the earliest examples of a warship design that England would use as the backbone of its naval fleet through the four "Wars of Empire" of 1688 - 1763. Discovery of her shipwreck could provide the world with unique details of the only surviving example of this class of fighting ships.

England's long commitment to the 80-gun "third rate" ship of the line grew out of naval defeat. Parliament reflected the nation's terror when French ships defeated an allied English and Dutch fleet in the battle of Beachy Head in 1690. By that time the English and their fellow combatants in "The Grand Alliance" arrayed against Louis XIV's powerful French forces had been fighting the War of the League of Augsburg for two years, and the allies' principal advantage had been at sea.

A frightening prospect of French naval dominance and the destruction of vital trade led Parliament to vote on Christmas Day, 1690, for emergency construction of new warships, 20 of which were the 80-gun "third rate" type.

Lawmakers attempted to combine power and thrift in the ships' specifications, demanding that the two-deck vessels be approximately 160 feet long and 1200 tons. Experience soon showed this set of specifications was a mistake - the ships were too short and light for the weight of cannon carried, too likely to sag and "hog" excessively. They were also too hard to handle under trying sailing conditions, which eventually caused the loss of the Sussex.

The Royal Navy interrupted the building program after 13 of the 20 were completed, increasing the ships' tonnage slightly and adding a third deck. Several times over the following 70 years, the Royal Navy would further refine the ships' features in an attempt to strengthen the hulls and improve sailing characteristics. Eventually a 74-gun, two-deck warship of superior construction, greater tonnage and sleeker form would replace the 80-gun three-decker as the premier fighting ship of the British fleet.

HMS Sussex was the seventh craft launched under the building program of 1690, her keel dividing the waters of Chatham Dockyard on April 11, 1693. She was the only one of the class that sank, essentially intact, during the ships' service careers - the rest of her sister vessels were broken up between 1701 and 1718, except for the Devonshire, which exploded during a battle with the French in 1707. If HMS Sussex' remains are found on the seabed they will be unique examples of naval history and the shipwrights' art in late 17th-century England.

When the Sussex was built, naval architecture and technology were in the middle of an evolutionary shift in cannon design, ship steering system features, gunport construction and fittings, capstan shape and location, and other details that affect how a ship is managed under sail or in battle. Naval historians speculate that some of these features may have had a role in the mysterious, sudden foundering of Sussex during a violent storm off Gibraltar.

Depending on the state of preservation of the ship's hull and fittings, archaeological excavation of the wreck of HMS Sussex could help answer tantalizing questions about one of the first hulls ever built in the long record of the Royal Navy's one-time workhorse warship, the 80-gun third-rate ship-of-the-line.

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The Company believes the information set forth in this Press Release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and is subject to the safe harbor created by that section. Certain factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are set forth in "Risk Factors," and "Business" in the Company's annual report on Form 10KSB for the year ended February 28, 2001, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

PR02-30/148