HMS ''Proserpine'' was a 28-gun ''Enterprise''-class

sixth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works and ...

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She was launched in 1777 was wrecked in February 1799.

Career

''Proserpine'' was first commissioned in July 1777 under the command of Captain Evelyn Sutton. On 20 October 1779, ''Proserpine'' captured the French 26-gun frigate ''Alcmène'', off Martinique. ''Alcmène'' had been severely damaged by a storm, and had thrown most of her guns overboard to stay afloat. On 29 November 1779 ''Proserpine'' recaptured (or ''Sphynx''). She had been in French hands for three to four months. On 26 June 1793 the Jamaica fleet returning to England sailed from

Bluefields, Jamaica Bluefields is a settlement in Westmoreland Parish on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. It contains a major beach, Bluefields Beach. In Spanish Jamaica, Bluefields was known as Oristan. The town was named after Abraham Blauvelt, a Dutch- Jewis ...

, under escort by ''Proserpine'', the sloops and , and the troop transport . The only incident appears to have occurred in early July. On 4 July a gale forced the merchant ship away from the fleet, but she sighted it again on 5 July. As ''Amity Hall'' was rejoining the fleet on 6 July she collided with the merchant ship . ''Albion''s crew abandoned her and ''Amity Hall'' took them on board. The accident gave rise to a tort court case that ''Amity Hall''s owners lost to ''Albion''s owners on the grounds that ''Amity Hall''s master had not followed the sailing instructions that Captain Alms of ''Proserpine'' had issued on setting out.Fletcher (1805), pp. 102–4. On 16 March 1794 captured the French

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an '' ...

, ''Goéland'', off

Jérémie Jérémie ( ht, Jeremi) is a commune and capital city of the Grand'Anse department in Haiti. It had a population of about 31,000 at the 2003 census. It is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. The Grande-Anse River flows near the ...

. ''Proserpine'' shared in the prize money, suggesting that she was in company with, or in sight of, ''Penelope''. The Royal Navy briefly took ''Goéland'' into service as HMS ''Goelan''. On 26 March 1798 ''Proserpine'', Captain James Wallis, captured the Danish merchant ship ''Neptunus''. ''Proserpine'' was part of Admiral Duncan's squadron and so shared in the proceeds of the capture of ''Hoop'' (6 June 1798), ''Neptune (12 June), ''Stadt Embden'' (14 June), ''Rose and Endraft'' (14 June), ''Hoop'' (15 June), and ''Vrow Dorothea'' (16 June).

Fate

''Proserpine'' was wrecked off the mouth of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

on 1 February 1799. She was under the command of Captain James Wallis, and was taking the Honourable

Thomas Grenville Thomas Grenville (31 December 1755 – 17 December 1846) was a British politician and bibliophile. Background and education Grenville was the second son of Prime Minister George Grenville and Elizabeth Wyndham, daughter of Sir William Wyndh ...

and his party to

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...

, from where they were to proceed on a diplomatic mission to meet

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...

in Berlin during the

War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...

. By 4pm on 31 January the weather had worsened to such a degree that ''Proserpine'' had to anchor, four miles short of Cuxhaven. The weather worsened, and by next morning the channels were blocked by ice. Wallis got under-weigh to attempt to withdraw and reach a Danish port, but around 9:30pm she grounded. Attempts to lighten her failed. The next morning it became clear that she was aground on the

Scharhörn Sand Scharhörn is an uninhabited island in the North Sea belonging to the city of Hamburg, Germany. The once most important daymark on the North Sea coast, the Scharhörnbake, was maintained here by the City of Hamburg from 1440 to 1979. Geography ...

near Newark Island in the

, and completely blocked in by ice, which was increasing. At 1:30, all 187 persons on ''Proserpine'' left her and started the six-mile walk to shore, in freezing weather and falling snow. Seven seamen, a boy, four Royal Marines, and one woman and her child died; the rest made it safely to Neuwerk where they took shelter in the

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

there. The diplomatic party reached Cuxhaven a few days later. The ship's master, Mr. Anthony, took five men and returned to ''Proserpine'' on 10 February. They found her crushed. While they were still on board, the ship (still encased in ice), was swept out to sea, before she grounded again on

Baltrum Baltrum ( nds, Baltrum) is a barrier island off the coast of East Frisia (), in Germany, and is a municipality in the district of Aurich, Lower Saxony. It is located in-between the chain of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands. Baltrum is th ...

Island. Anthony and his companions survived this second shipwreck too.''Proserpine Frigate – Official Account of the Loss of that Ship''
a letter addressed by Captain Wallis to Vice Admiral Dickson; Feb 18, 1799; "The Naval Chronicle"; January–June 1799; (Bunney & Gold, London); pp. 332–335.

Citations

References

* Demerliac, Alain (1996) ''La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792''. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). *Fletcher, Charles, M.D., (1805) ''The naval guardian''. * Gardiner, Robert (1992) ''The First Frigates''.(London: Conway Maritime Press). . * * Lyon, David (1993) ''The Sailing Navy List''. (London: Conway Maritime Press).. * (1671-1870) * Winfield, Rif (2007) ''

British Warships in the Age of Sail ''British Warships in the Age of Sail'' is a series of four books by maritime historian Rif Winfield comprising a historical reference work providing details of all recorded ships that served or were intended to serve in the (British) Royal Navy ...

, 1714 to 1792''. (London:Seaforth Publishing). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Proserpine (1777) 1777 ships Ships built in England Sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy Maritime incidents in 1799 Shipwrecks of Germany Shipwrecks in the North Sea Wadden Sea