Name HMS Proserpine Laid down June 1776 Construction started June 1776 | Ordered 14 May 1777 Commissioned 25 July 1777 Launched 7 July 1777 | |
 | ||
Completed 23 September 1777 (at Sheerness Dockyard) Class and type 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate | ||
HMS Proserpine was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1777 was wrecked in February 1799.
Contents
Career
Proserpine was first commissioned in July 1777 under the command of Captain Evelyn Sutton.
On 29 November 1779 Proserpine recaptured Sphinx (or Sphynx). She had been in French hands for three to four months. On 16 March 1794 Penelope captured the French brick-aviso, Goéland, off Jérémie. 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.
Fate
Proserpine was wrecked off the mouth of the Elbe on 1 February 1799. She was under the command of Captain James Wallis, and was taking the Honourable Thomas Grenville and his party to Cuxhaven, from where they were to proceed on a diplomatic mission to meet Frederick William III of Prussia in Berlin during the War of the Second Coalition. 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 near Newark Island in the Elbe, 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 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 Island. Anthony and his companions survived this second shipwreck too.