On This Day 15 September

[Coog]

On 15 September 1816, to escape a gale, Lieutenant John Jackson took the 12-gun schooner HMS Whiting into harbour at Padstow on the north coast of Cornwall. The wind dropped as they came around Stepper Point, and the ship ran aground on the Doom Bar as the tide was ebbing, stranding her.

According to the court martial transcripts, an attempt to move Whiting was made at the next high tide, but she was taking on water and it became impossible to save her. Her abandonment happened over the next few days. The court martial board reprimanded Lieutenant Jackson for having attempted to enter the harbour without a pilot and for his failure to lighten her before trying to get her off; as punishment he lost one year's seniority. Five crewmen took advantage of the opportunity to desert; three were recaptured and were given "50 lashes with nine tails".

[David Manley]

Doom Bar has been the cause of many a disaster, in particularly in recent years (it is a very popular brand of beer in the the West Country :) )

[David Manley]

Other notable events today:

1806 HMS Anson (64), under the command of Captain Lydiard, encountered the French Foudroyant, 84, under jury rig some 15 miles off Havana. Assuming that she had been damaged in action Captain Lydiard attacked but then after half an hour found that the French ship had only suffered from bad weather and retained all her firepower. He was forced to haul off after two men had been killed and 13 wounded, his sails and rigging had been badly damaged and the ships were drifting fast in shore.

1808 HMS Laurel (22) captured by the French frigate Canonniere (44), off Port Louis in Mauritius.

1814 HMS Hermes (20) and HMS Sophie (18), engaged Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point, in company with HMS Carron, and HMS Childers as part of an unsuccessful combined arms assault on the fort. Hermes suffered heavy rigging damage and in the withdrawal following the bombardment ran aground. Boats of the squadron took off the crew and she was set on fire. The failure to capture Fort Bowyer led in part to the decision to select New Orleans as the target for future British operations in the area.

[David Manley]

Oh, and on a more personal note, this day in 1994 HMS Brazen was refloated after grounding in the Patagonian canal several days previously. The ship then headed North to Tulcahuano for repairs.

At the time I was the Project Naval Architect for the Type 22 frigates so this made life "interesting" as I did the calcs needed to determine how best to get the ship off the rocks, keep her safe and then make the transit. And even more interesting getting the spares and correct quality steel assembled and ready to fly South, before I headed south as well to form part of the team supervising the repair work. Which meant I got a month working in Chile :) Fun times, and fortunately nobody hurt (apart from "casualties" suffered during various "runs ashore" in Conception and Talcahuano :D )