''Delight'' was an English sailing ship that ran aground off

Sable Island Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island i ...

, while she was on Sir

Humphrey Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America ...

's expedition with to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in North America.

Expedition to Newfoundland and sinking

''Delight'' and left

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1583 to take part in Sir

's expedition to

. After reaching

''Delight''s captain Richard Clarke had a dispute with Sir Humphrey Gilbert to provide a safe passage near the island, but eventually captain Clarke followed Sir Gilbert's orders to pass close to the island. At 7 am on 29 August 1583 ''Delight'' sank after running aground on one of Sable Island's sandbars. Captain Clarke quickly led 16 men to a small

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

(which had only one oar) and rowed clear of the fast sinking ship. ''Delight'' sank to a depth of and took 85 men (including

Stephanus Parmenius Stephanus Parmenius ( hu, Budai Parmenius István; c. 1555 – 29 August 1583) was a Hungarian scholar and humanist poet who traveled to Oxford and became involved in the English exploration of the New World. He joined Humphrey Gilbert's expediti ...

) and most of the expedition's supplies with her. The water was too shallow for Gilbert's frigate (HMS ''Squirrel'') to offer any assistance. The 17 men in the lifeboat spent seven days at sea before they finally reached Newfoundland. They were rescued by a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

vessel after spending five days in Newfoundland. The wreck was one of many on Gilbert's expedition which ended up with Gilbert himself being drowned in a later wreck (the one of ''Squirrel''). The disaster contributed to the temporary abandonment of the English settlement in Newfoundland. ''Delight'' is the first recorded shipwreck off Sable Island.

Wreck

The wreck lies approximately 10 metres deep near Sable Island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delight 16th-century ships Ships built in England Sailing ships of England Shipwrecks of Canada History of Nova Scotia 16th century in Canada Shipwrecks of the Nova Scotia coast Sable Island Ships of the English navy