 The discovery of the wreck of HMS "Pomone" at The Needles in 1969 led the Isle of Wight Council to fund and organise a team to research and excavate the site.As more wrecks were discovered in the following decades, the Isle of Wight Maritime Heritage Project was formed.The project originally focused on the Yarmouth Roads Protected Wreck Site but also began to identify Mesolithic sites on the seabed of the Solent.