The London: After 350 years, the riddle of Britain's exploding fleet is finally solved

Bristling with cannon and packed with gunpowder, the English warship the London sailed through the Thames estuary in 1665 as she prepared to fight the Dutch in the English Channel. But she never made her destination, instead succumbing to a fate all too familiar in 17th century navies - "spontaneous combustion", explosion, and a watery grave for 300 of her crew.