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Wreck site of the 'Edward Bonaventure', lost in this vicinity on the 10th November 1556. The vessel was returning from Russia, and formed part of the first English expedition to attempt to locate a North-East Passage route to the East for mercantile trade. Amongst the cargo said to have been carried by the Edward Bonaventure were many fine furs and exotic animals for Queen Mary Tudor of England. Also on board, was Osep Gregorovitch Napea, the first Russian ambassador to England. When the vessel was lost, it had been trying to ride out a northerly gale in Pitsligo Bay but it was driven ashore. The captain and around 100 others perished, but the Russian ambassador was one of the few survivors. Investigation was carried out by ADU in August 2000, within the area of the RAF Rosehearty Bay range. Sidescan sonar survey proved of little value on account of the presence of rock outcrops, but magnetometry revealed two significant and discrete anomalies at N57 41.042 W2 9.247 [NJ 9081 6600], immediately east of Quarry Head. These were at some distance from the current targets, and it was considered improbable that these were items of mislaid ordnance, but they may have been steel target floats which have become detached. A single dive (to a maximum depth of 9m) was carried out by J White on 2 August 2000. No obvious anomalies or archaeological material were noted on the flat sandy seabed.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)