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Scilly naval disaster of 1707 is an umbrella term for the events of 22 October 1707 that led to the sinking of a British naval fleet off the Isles of Scilly. With four large ships and more than 1,400 sailors lost in stormy weather, it was one of the worst maritime disasters in the history of the British Isles. It was later determined that the main cause of the disaster was the navigators' inability to accurately calculate their positions.
In summer of 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined British, Austrian and Dutch force under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy besieged and attempted to take the French port of Toulon. During this campaign, which was fought from 29 July to 21 August, Great Britain dispatched a fleet to provide naval support. Led by the Commander-in-Chief of the British Fleets, Sir Cloudesley Shovell, the ships sailed to the Mediterranean, attacked Toulon and also managed to inflict damage on the French fleet caught in the siege. The overall campaign was nevertheless unsuccessful and the alliance was ultimately defeated by Franco-Spanish units. The British fleet was subsequently ordered to return home, and set sail from Gibraltar to Portsmouth in late October. The force under Shovell's command consisted of fifteen ships of the line (Association, Royal Anne, Torbay, St George, Cruizer, Eagle, Lenox, Monmouth, Orford, Panther, Romney, Rye, Somerset, Swiftsure, Valeur) as well as four fireships (Firebrand, Griffin, Phoenix, Vulcan), the sloop Weazel and the yacht Isabella.
Shovell's fleet of twenty-one ships left Gibraltar on 29 September, with HMS Association serving as his own flagship, HMS Royal Anne as flagship of Vice-Admiral of the Blue Sir George Byng and HMS Torbay as flagship of Rear-Admiral of the Blue Sir John Norris. The passage was marked by extremely bad weather and constant squalls and gales. As the fleet sailed out on the Atlantic, passing the Bay of Biscay on their way to England, the weather worsened and storms gradually pushed the ships off their planned course. Finally, on the night of 22 October 1707, the squadron entered the mouth of the English Channel and Shovell's sailing masters believed that they were on the last leg of their journey. The fleet was thought to be sailing safely west of Ushant, an island outpost off the coast of Brittany. However, due to a combination of the bad weather and the mariners' inability to accurately calculate their longitude, the fleet was unaware that it was off course and closing in on the Isles of Scilly instead. Before their mistake could be corrected, the fleet struck rocks and four ships were lost:
HMS Association, a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line commanded by Captain Edmund Loades, struck the Outer Gilstone Rock off Scilly’s Western Rocks at 8 p.m. and sank, drowning her entire crew of about 800 men and Admiral Shovell himself. Following behind the Association was St George, whose crew saw the flagship go down in three or four minutes. St George also struck rocks and suffered damage but eventually managed to get off, as did HMS Phoenix which ran ashore between Tresco and St Martin's but could be kept seaworthy.
HMS Eagle, a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line commanded by Captain Robert Hancock, hit the Crim Rocks and was lost with all hands on Tearing Ledge amongst the Western Rocks. Sinking a few hundred metres away from Bishop Rock, her wreck lies in a depth of 130 feet.
HMS Romney, a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line commanded by Captain William Coney, hit Bishop Rock and went down with all but one of her crew. The sole survivor from the three largest ships was George Lawrence, who had worked as a butcher before joining the crew of Romney as quartermaster.
HMS Firebrand, a fireship commanded by Captain Francis Percy, struck the Outer Gilstone Rock like Association, but unlike the flagship she was lifted off by a wave. Percy managed to steer his badly damaged ship along the southern side of the Western Rocks between St Agnes and Annet, but she foundered in Smith Sound, sinking close to Menglow Rock and losing 28 of her crew of 40.
The exact number of officers, sailors and marines who were killed in the sinking of the four ships is unknown. Statements vary between 1,400 and over 2,000, making it one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history. For days afterwards, bodies continued to wash onto the shores of the isles along with the wreckage of the warships and personal effects. Many dead sailors from the wrecks were buried on the island of St Agnes. Admiral Shovell's body, along with those of his two Narborough stepsons and his flag-captain, Edmund Loades, washed up on Porthellick Cove on St Mary's the following day, almost seven miles from where the Association was wrecked. A small memorial was later erected at this site. The circumstances under which the admiral's remains were found gave rise to stories. Shovell was temporarily buried on the beach on St Mary's. By order of Queen Anne his body was later exhumed, embalmed and taken to London where he was interred in Westminster Abbey. His large marble monument in the south choir aisle was sculpted by Grinling Gibbons. There is a memorial depicting the sinking of the Association in the church at the Narboroughs' home of Knowlton near Dover.
1532
Berthier
10-22-2012, 00:46
Was this the incident that led to the large reward being offered for someone who could devise a practical method for measuring longitude? Somewhere in the recesses of my aging brain this seems to be familiar!
Was this the incident that led to the large reward being offered for someone who could devise a practical method for measuring longitude? Somewhere in the recesses of my aging brain this seems to be familiar!
The disastrous wrecking of a Royal Navy fleet in home waters brought great consternation to the nation. An investigation later determined that the main cause of the catastrophe was the navigators' inability to accurately calculate their longitude. Clearly, something better than dead reckoning was needed to find the way in dangerous waters. As transoceanic travel grew in significance, so did the importance of reliable navigation. This eventually led to the Longitude Act in 1714, which established the Board of Longitude and offered a large money prize for anyone who could find a method of determining longitude accurately at sea. After many years, the consequence of the prize was that accurate marine chronometers were produced and the lunar distance method was developed, both of which became used throughout the world for navigation at sea.
It is not certain that the navigational error leading to the wrecking of Admiral Shovell's fleet was purely one of longitude, as was reported in the newspapers at the time. Some have argued that the disaster was in fact caused more by an error in latitude than in longitude. According to contemporary reports, Shovell initially attempted to determine the fleet's position by astronomical observations and depth soundings before also consulting the sailing masters of his other ships. Shovell's navigation officers believed that the fleet was at a position west of Ushant (48°27′29″N 5°05′44″W), except the sailing master of HMS Lenox who judged that they were nearer to the Isles of Scilly (49°56′10″N 6°19′22″W).
William May points out that the position of the Isles of Scilly themselves was not known accurately in either longitude or latitude. In addition, his analysis of the 40 extant logbooks from the 21 ships in the fleet do not show the error in longitude to be a significant factor compared to latitude.
The Battle of Liaoluo Bay resulted in a Dutch defeat on 22 October 1633 off the coasts of Fujian and Kinmen. It involved the Dutch East India Company and the Chinese Ming dynasty's navies, and was the largest naval engagement of the 17th century. The battle was fought at the north coast of the island of Kinmen, in the Taiwan strait. A Dutch fleet under Admiral Hans Putmans was attempting to control shipping in the Taiwan strait, while the southern Fujian sea traffic and trade was protected by a fleet under Brigadier General Zheng Zhilong.
The Ming Dynasty's last Emperor, Chongzhen, had just declared war on Manchuria and needed a large sum of money to pay his army, while also dealing with an internal rebellion. Meanwhile, the Dutch East India Company—combined with pirates in the South China Sea and the East China Sea—were disrupting trade in the area; this reduced the Emperor's tax base.
The town of Quanzhou, along the Fujian coast, had earned much wealth from its role as the eastern end of the Silk Road, and therefore needed a great deal of protection from the Dutch East India Company by the Ming naval fleet. Zheng Zhilong was assigned to destroy all pirates along the Taiwan Strait, which provided Zheng with a monopoly in that area. To change this, the Dutch situated in Taiwan surprise attacked Zheng's base in Amoy on July 7, 1633, sinking Zheng's navy while they are docked.
Planning a counterattack, Zheng gathered the rest of his navy that was not destroyed in Amoy. He also recruited locals willing to join by rewarding each volunteer 2 silver. If the battle lasts longer than expected, the reward will be increased to five silver. Zheng put the locals on 100 small fire boats, manned by 16 people each. If a boat sets fire to one Dutch ship, they would be rewarded 200 silver. If they present a Dutch head, they would be rewarded 50 silver.
The Dutch East India Company's galleons were commanded by Jacht, Brouckerhaven, Slooterdijck, and Weiringen. The battle began with ineffectual skirmishes which lasted for months. The decisive encounter happened on October 22 in which Zheng's fleet met the remaining 9 Dutch ships and 50 ships from Chinese pirate allies. Zheng ordered his fleet to ignore the latter and focus on attacking the Dutch fleet. Ming fire ships set fire to the Jacht and Brouckerhaven. Slooterdijck was hooked on by 4 Chinese warships. After repulsing two boarding attempts, the Dutch ship was defeated and captured. Weiringen was sunk by English cannon from Ming warships. Hans Putman fled with his remaining ships. His pirate allies were then defeated in turn.
The Ming navy won the battle. The Chongzhen Emperor was so happy at this victory that he immediately promoted Zheng Zilong to Brigadier General. In 1640, Zheng Zhilong helped increase the Chongzen tax revenue, and the Emperor promoted him to Navy Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Governor of Fujian province.
Hans Putman resigned after the defeat. Liu Xiang asked the Dutch for safe harbor in Taiwan. Fearing Ming retaliation, the Dutch refused. In response, Liu blockaded the Dutch fort of Zeelandia in 1634. The blockade was lifted the next year when Liu committed suicide after being defeated in another naval battle against Zheng Zhilong off the coast of Guangdong.
Scilly: Moral of the story -- "if you can't see where you're going, STOP"....
Liaoluo Bay: Does this mean we get minis of junks? :)
The Action of 22 October 1794 took place when a small French frigate squadron under Captain Jean-Marie Renaud attempted to lift the British blockade of Isle de France (now Mauritius). In the ensuing action, the British ships were forced to retreat, leaving the island open to shipping for a few weeks.
Isle de France had traditionally been a forward base for commerce raiding by French privateers and frigate squadrons who attacked British shipping from India. The 40-gun frigate Cybčle was the only remaining frigate stationed there until the 36-gun frigate Prudente was sent as reinforcement at the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition.
The British responded to the commerce raids with a blockade, attempting both to prevent sorties by French corsairs and frigates, and to starve the island into submission, as it depended almost entirely on shipping for its subsistence. Before a formal squadron was constituted with ships sent from Great Britain, Madras and Bombay, the blockade was assured by the 50-gun Centurion, under Captain Samuel Osborne, and the 44-gun frigate Diomede, under Captain Matthew Smith.
The situation on Isle de France having become worrisome, the colonial council decided to organise a sortie of the available French naval forces in an attempt to break the blockade. The entire flotilla was under the command of Captain Renaud in Prudente. In addition to Prudente, under Captain Jean-Marie Renaud, Cybčle, under Pierre Tréhouart, and the 16-gun brig-corvette Coureur, under Captain Garreau, the squadron also included the privateers Rosalie and Jean-Bart, and the aviso Sans-Culottes. Volunteers and 150 soldiers reinforced the crews of the French vessels.
The French squadron set sail on 19 October, and patrolled for three days before locating the British cruisers. The two squadrons met on 22 October, around 15:30, twenty miles off the island.
Centurion placed herself abreast of the two frigates, with the greater part of her broadside bearing on the Prudente. Diomede took a similar position between Cybčle and Jean Bart, but focused her attention primarily on Cybčle. Meanwhile, the French avisos attempted to rake the British from the rear.
After one hour, Renaud started to withdraw, signalling to Cybčle to follow, but the wind had fallen and she had sustained such damage to her rigging that she could not do so. Cybčle therefore found herself under sustained fire from both Centurion and Diomede, but enjoyed aggressive support from Coureur.
At 17:00, Centurion lost her topmasts. Around the same time, the wind came up again, enabling Cybčle to retreat and Prudente to return to the fight. Cybčle then lost her mainmast. Diomede attempted to close in, but had sustained damage and was unable to intervene. Prudente was able to put a tow on Cybčle and the two then retreated to Isle de France.
Centurion had lost three seamen killed or mortally wounded, and 24 men wounded. Diomede did not sustain any loss. Prudente lost 15 men killed, including her First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant, and 20 wounded, including Renaud. Cybčle lost her first lieutenant and 21 men killed, and 62 wounded, 37 of them dangerously. Coureur apparently suffered no casualties. With her topmasts shot off and her foremast lost, Centurion had to retreat for repairs, so the British squadron abandoned the blockade.
With the blockade in abeyance, Isle de France could again receive shipments, which averted any risk of starvation.
The engagement was the baptism by fire for Robert Surcouf, who served as first officer aboard Cybčle.
1533
Liaoluo Bay: Does this mean we get minis of junks? :)
Like these?
http://navwar.co.uk/nav/default.asp?MMID=74
1534
Blackrose
10-28-2012, 06:15
HMS Firebrand, a fireship commanded by Captain Francis Percy, struck the Outer Gilstone Rock like Association, but unlike the flagship she was lifted off by a wave. Percy managed to steer his badly damaged ship along the southern side of the Western Rocks between St Agnes and Annet, but she foundered in Smith Sound, sinking close to Menglow Rock and losing 28 of her crew of 40.
Buried in this interesting report, I noticed that one of the ships listed is a Fireship. Was it purposely commissioned as such, because my knowledge was that they were expendibles made from existing ships (mostly coasters and merchentmen), and not something to be stored until needed.
Karl
Buried in this interesting report, I noticed that one of the ships listed is a Fireship. Was it purposely commissioned as such, because my knowledge was that they were expendibles made from existing ships (mostly coasters and merchentmen), and not something to be stored until needed.
Karl
While fire ships were used in the Medieval period, notably during the Crusades, these were typically ships that were set up with combustibles on an ad hoc basis. The career of the modern fire ship, as a naval vessel type designed for this particular function and made a permanent addition to a fleet, roughly parallels the era of cannon-armed sailing ships, beginning with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and lasting until the English victory over the Turks at the Battle of Navarino in 1827. The first modern fireships were put to use in early 17th century Dutch and Spanish fleet actions during the Thirty Years War. Their use increased throughout that century, with purpose-built fireships a permanent part of many naval fleets, ready to be deployed whenever necessary. While only used sparingly during the Napoleonic Wars, fire ships as a distinct class were part of the British Royal Navy until 1808, at which point the use of permanently designated fire ships attached to British squadrons disappeared. Fire ships continued to be used, sometimes to great effect such as by the U.S. Navy at the Battle of Tripoli Harbor in 1804 and by the British Navy's Thomas Cochrane at the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809, but for the most part they were considered an obsolete weapon by the early 19th century.
Warships of the age of sail were highly vulnerable to fire. Made of wood, with seams caulked with tar, ropes greased with fat, and stores of gunpowder, there was little that would not burn. Accidental fires destroyed many ships, so fire ships presented a terrifying threat. With the wind in exactly the right direction a fire ship could be cast loose and allowed to drift onto its target, but in most battles fire ships were equipped with skeleton crews to steer the ship to the target (the crew were expected to abandon ship at the last moment and escape in the ship's boat). Fire ships were most devastating against fleets which were at anchor or otherwise restricted in movement. At sea, a well-handled ship could evade a fire ship and disable it with cannon fire. Other tactics were to fire at the ship's boats and other vessels in the vicinity, so that the crew could not escape and therefore might decide not to ignite the ship, or to wait until the fire ship had been abandoned and then tow it aside with small maneuverable vessels such as galleys.
The role of incendiary vessels changed throughout the age of the modern fire ship. The systematic use of fire ships as part of naval actions peaked around the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Whereas just twenty years before a naval fleet might have six to seven fire ships, by the Battle of Solebay in 1672 both the Dutch and English fleets employed typically between 20 and 30 fire ships, and sometimes more. By this time, however, admirals and captains had become very experienced with the limitations of fire ship attacks and had learned how to avoid them during battle. Great numbers of fire ships were expended during the Third Dutch War without destroying enemy men-of-war, and fire ships had become a way to harass and annoy the enemy, rather than destroy him. The successful use of fire ships at the Battle of La Hogue and Cherbourg in 1692 marked both the greatest achievement of a fire ship attack since the Spanish Armada, and also the last significant success for fire ships. Though fire ships as a specified class sailed with the British Royal Navy for another century, they would never have a significant impact on a naval victory. Once the most feared weapons in naval arsenals, fire ships had declined in both importance and numbers, so that by the mid-18th century only five to six British fire ships would be at sea at a time, and the Royal Navy attempted only four attacks using modern fire ships between 1697 and 1800. Hastily outfitted ad hoc fire ships continued to be used in naval warfare; for example, a large number of fire rafts were used in mostly ineffective attacks on the British fleet by American forces during the American Revolution at Philadelphia, on the Hudson River, and elsewhere. The end of the modern fire ship came in the early 19th century, when the British began to use hastily outfitted fire ships at engagements such as Boulogne and Dunkirk despite the presence of purpose-built fire ships in the fleet. The last modern fire ship in the British Royal Navy was Thais, the only designated fire ship out of the entire navy of 638 warships when she was converted to a ship sloop in 1808.
1562
Blackrose
11-03-2012, 03:56
Facinating; I knew about the use of (ad hoc) fireships against anchoages, but I never heard of their use in fleet actions. I can't imagine that the escaping crews had fun trying to connect up with a friendly warship while all the gunfire was flailing about ;)
Karl
David Manley
11-05-2012, 10:47
Like these?
http://navwar.co.uk/nav/default.asp?MMID=74
1534
That nice Mr Langton does one or two junks as well, but those Navwar ones (of which I think there are two or three types) are lovely models, quite stout and well suited to the rigours of the wargames table.
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