This undated photo provided by Royal Museums shows the artwork The Wreck of the Gloucester off Yarmouth, 6 May 1682, by Johan Danckerts. | AP

Excavators and historians are telling the world about the discovery of the wreck of a royal warship that sank in 1682 while carrying the future king James Stuart.

The HMS Gloucester ran aground while navigating sandbanks off the town of Great Yarmouth on the eastern English coast. It sank within an hour, killing an estimated 130 to 250 crew and passengers.

James survived. He went on to reign as King James II of England and Ireland, and as James VII of Scotland from 1685 to 1688, when he was deposed by the Glorious Revolution.

No human remains have been found so far - only animal bones, BBC News reported

The discovery was only made public Friday because of the time it took to confirm the identity of the ship and the need to protect the historical site.

Claire Jowitt, an expert in maritime history at the University of East Anglia, said the wreck was "one of the important 'almost' moments in English history." The Gloucester's sinking almost caused the death of the Catholic heir to the Protestant throne at a time of great political and religious tension in Britain.

"If he had died, we would have had a very different British and European history as a result," she said.

"I think this is a time capsule that offers the opportunity to find out so much about life on a 17th-century ship. The royal nature of the ship is absolutely incredible and unique," she added.

She believes the wreck is the most important maritime discovery since the Mary Rose, the warship from the Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. The Mary Rose capsized with a crew of around 500 in 1545 in the Solent, a strait between the Isle of Wight and the British mainland. It was brought back to the surface in 1982 in a huge salvage operation.

"The discovery promises to fundamentally change understanding of 17th Century social, maritime and political history," Jewitt said, according to the BBC. "It is an outstanding example of underwater cultural heritage of national and international importance... the full story of the Gloucester's last voyage and the impact of its aftermath needs re-telling."

There are no current plans to raise the wreck of the Gloucester because much of it is buried under sand.

"We've only just touched the tip of an iceberg," Julian Barnwell said.

Artifacts rescued from the wreck include clothes, shoes, navigational equipment and many wine bottles. One bottle bears a seal with the crest of the Legge family - the ancestors of George Washington, the first U.S president. The crest was a forerunner to the Stars and Stripes flag.

An exhibition is planned next spring at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery to display the finds from the wreck and share ongoing research.

A new paper titled "The Last Voyage of the Gloucester (1682): The Politics of a Royal Shipwreck" was published Friday in the journal English Historical Review.