After erosion from recent storms, about a dozen of the HMS Somerset III’s timbers were found poking through the wet sand at low tide in the national seashore in Provincetown.
Posted on 04/12/2010 3:08:19 PM PDT by Palter
Officials order 3-D rendering of sunken boat
The wreck of the British warship HMS Somerset III, which was guarding Boston Harbor the night Paul Revere slipped by on his legendary journey to Lexington in 1775, has resurfaced in the shifting sands off Cape Cod.
Federal park officials, saying they may have only a limited window of opportunity, are seizing the moment and having the wreck “digitally preserved’’ using three-dimensional imaging technology.
“We know the wreck is going to disappear again under the sand, and it may not resurface again in our lifetimes,’’ said William P. Burke, the historian at the Cape Cod National Seashore, noting that the last time any part of the Somerset had been sighted was 37 years ago.
“Somewhere down the road, if someone’s researching the Somerset, or the effects of ocean currents on shipwrecks, or anything like that, they will have this record,’’ he said. “We’re in the forever business. We’re looking at tomorrow, but we’re also looking ahead indefinitely.’’
The Somerset fought in the American Revolution and had a crew of more than 400. In 1775, Paul Revere slipped past the ship before beginning his ride to Lexington to warn the colonials that the British were on the move. In his poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,’’ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called it “a phantom ship, with each mast and spar/Across the moon like a prison bar.’’ The ship sank on Nov. 2, 1778, off the Cape.
After erosion from recent storms, about a dozen of the HMS Somerset III’s timbers were found poking through the wet sand at low tide in the national seashore in Provincetown.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Rev and Revere ping.
/mark
“Crew of 400”???????????????? Not a chance. Someone has misplaced a decimal point.
They ought to get a big Backhoe and dig that sucker up.
cool
They ought to get a big Backhoe and dig that sucker up.
You’re kidding, I hope.
Pathetic.
“The wreck of the British warship HMS Somerset III, which
was guarding Boston Harbor the night Paul Revere slipped by on his legendary journey to Lexington in 1775, has resurfaced in the shifting sands off Cape Cod.”
Mr. Revere may have to ride again.
“We know the wreck is going to disappear again under the sand, and it may not resurface again in our lifetimes,’’
What about a trackhoe and a front end loader? You build a berm, get some pumps and go to town.
Though the British were then the enemy, that was long ago. If there’s anything salvageable it should pulled out and given to our long time close allies.
Instead, Obama will probably send them a CD or something.
A lot of information at this earlier post - the Somerset was beating a hasty retreat for the safety of Provincetown harbor. Fleeing from what? A French warship of all things. This was a British ship of the line, she carried 64 guns!
The Captain misjudged the wind and the tide and ran aground on the bar at the tip of the cape. The heavy surf, the wind and the tide all conspired to lift the ship, crew and all, over the bar and up onto the beach where locals rendered assistance and claimed the prize.
You'd be surprised, ships at that time needed a lot of sailors! Most of the battle ships at that time had 3-400 people on board.
Why do you say that? Because it's too hard, or because it's a grave site?
Why do you say that? Because it’s too hard, or because it’s a grave site?
So there is no damage.
History of His Majestie’s Ship the Somerset 1745-1778
SOMERSET III
Built: Chatham Dockyard under Master Shipwright John Ward, the third of seven in her class built under the Establishment of 1745.
As Built: 160ft 0in, 131ft 4in x 45ft 4in x 19ft 4in, 1,43563/94bm
Ordered: 8.11.1744 & 6.8.17451; Keel Laid: 5.5.1746 (named 8.7.1748); Launched: 18.7.1748; Completed: 29.7.1748
First Cost; L 33,967.13.8d (including fittings)
Crew: 520. Guns LD 26 x 32pdrs; UD 28 x 18pdrs; QD 12 x 9pdrs; Fc 2 x 9pdrs
History
Commissioned 12.1748 under Capt. Thomas Sturton (-1752)
As guard ship at Chatham
To Sheerness 1750
Recommissioned 1.1753 under Capt. Harry Powlett
As guard ship at Chatham
In 3.1755 under Capt Francis Geary
Sailed 22.4.1755 for Boscawen’s squadron to N. America
1756 flagship of Vice Admiral Henry Osborn
Cruise in 1.1756
To Hawke’s fleet in 3.1756
Boscawen’s fleet in summer 1756 and Knowles Fleet in 11.1756
Sailed 1757 as reinforcement to Holburne in America
Took (w/Devonshire and Rochester) 26gun Bayonne privateer La Victoire 13.4.1757
In 1758 under Capt. Edward Hughes (-1762) at Louisburg
In 1759 flagship of Adm. Sir Charles Saunders
Sailed 14.2.1759 for N. America, and to Quebec
Joined Hawke’s fleet after Quiberon
Sailed 21.5.1760 for the Mediterranean
In 1763 under Capt. John Clark
Paid off 6.1763
Recommissioned 1.1771 under Hughes
As guard ship at Plymouth
Spithead Review 22.6.1773
In 1774 under Capt. Edward Le Cras
Sailed 24.10.1774 for N. America (Boston and Halifax)
Returned 3 or 4 1776 to pay off
Recommissioned again in 1776 under Capt. George Oury
As guard ship at Plymouth
Sailed 9.4.1777 for N. America
At Sandy Hook 22.7.1778
At Howe’s encounter w/d’Estaing 11.8.1778
Wrecked off Cape Cod 2.11.1778 (21 drowned)
The seven 3rd rates of the 1745 Establishment
¢ Northumberland
¢ Grafton
¢ Somerset
¢ Oxford
¢ Swiftsure
¢ Vanguard
¢ Buckingham
Battle Honors
Vigo 1702
Velez Malaga 1704
Louisburg 1758
Quebec 1759
Sources:
Winfield, Rif; British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792
Colledge J.J.; Ships of the Royal Navy
Thomas, David A.; A Companion to the Royal Navy
Compiled by Frank Rodriques
1. Somerset was originally ordered under the establishment of 1733, which provided for a 70 gun ship. She was ultimately reordered under the new Establishment of 1745 as a 68 gun ship.
HMS was never used in the C18. There are dozens of official documents where only the vessel name is used, i.e., the Somerset, or His Majestie’s Ship the Somerset, or maybe HM Ship the Somerset, or just plain Somerset. Other variations can also be seen, there is no standard.
The third Somerset is the subject of a book (HMS Somerset, 1746-1778. The Life and Times of an Eighteenth Century British Man-o-War and Her Impact on North America, Marjorie Hubbell Gibson, Abbey House, 1992), currently out of print.
http://www.hmssomerset.com/somersetiiihistory.htm
I Have seen a D-8 Cat sink at the low tide line. Once they get stuck you have real problems.
You’d be surprised by the crew of those old sailing warships.
Try to imagine how much crew it would take to work all that rigging etc. (A lot). Now multiply that to account for multiple watches. Now consider that each gun had a crew, and there were powder boys to serve them too. Toss in the contingent of Royal Marines, medical, cooking staff, etc and you can see that it really starts to add up.
The USS Constitution, now moored in Boston, was slightly smaller that the Somerset but when it went to sea for a long cruise, say to Hawaii, (three years) it would carry over 500 men. They would lose about one every ten days to accidents, sickness, drowning, etc.
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