The Loss of HMS Pallas – 4 April 1798
In early April 1798 the frigate Pallas was wrecked in Plymouth Sound in circumstances that could have seen many of her men drowned. Fortunately, thanks to luck and the bravery of some of her crew, only one seaman was lost, along with four men from another ship who had attempted a rescue in a boat.
The Pallas 32 had been launched in December 1793, and Captain Hon. Henry Curzon was her first and (as it turned out) last commander. Approaching his 33rd birthday, the aristocratic Curzon was a post-captain of eight years’ seniority who, because of his connections, had enjoyed almost constant employment since joining the Navy in 1776. His tenure in command of the Pallas, serving in the Channel and Mediterranean, had not allowed him any opportunity to distinguish himself, although the frigate had witnessed both the Battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794 and the Battle of Groix a year later.
On the morning of Tuesday 3 April, the Pallas arrived in Cawsand Bay near Plymouth, having been ordered to return from a cruise on the French coast due to a shortage of provisions that had led to an outbreak of scurvy among the 250-man crew. Curzon left the ship to spend time on shore but later stated that he had taken every precaution to ensure the ship was safely moored before he left her. When the Pallas came to anchor a south-westerly wind with rain showers was blowing into the Sound. This calmed somewhat during the evening, but in the early hours of Wednesday the wind rose to gale force, causing the yards and topmasts to be struck, standard procedure in such conditions. Overnight the wind increased, and with the heavy sea at 7 a.m. the frigate parted with one of her anchors and the cable of another anchor broke as it was being tautened. Now the Pallas was driven north-eastwards, the crew firing guns to signal her distress. The sheet anchor eventually brought the ship up in 24 feet of water and other anchors were set to hold her in place The crew may have thought they had overcome the worst of the storm, but then at 8:30 the remaining anchors began dragging, and the frigate started to drive towards the eastern shore of the Sound.
Desperately attempting to reduce the resistance of the ship to the wind that was driving her towards destruction, the Pallas’ crew cut away her mast, but their efforts were in vain. With all three anchors failing to hold, she struck the rocks in Jennycliff Bay between Withyhedge and Mount Batten Rock The ebbing tide swung her head around to the sea and in this situation she remained held fast until about 3:15, when the waves began to break over her. These pushed her bows around, making the ship swing broadside to the breaking waves, which created so much spray that people ashore who had come down to assist could barely see her. The frigate and all of her crew appeared to be doomed
In the meantime, a boat from Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren’s pennant ship Canada 74 (which was in dock at Plymouth for repairs) had been launched in an attempt to provide assistance. Bravely, an acting-lieutenant and six seamen tried to row the boat out from the Hamoaze and across the Sound, but the ferocity of the gale and the heaving seas obliged them to turn back. Unfortunately, their foresail became entangled when they tried to raise it and the boat overset between Mount Edgecumbe and St. Nicholas Island with the loss of the officer and three seamen. The other three men were plucked from the waters by a nearby gunboat.
However back aboard the Pallas hopes of the crew’s salvation had been rekindled. A boat manned by Lieutenant Austin Bissell and five men was launched and they had managed to get a line ashore, although their boat was destroyed in the process. As the Pallas drew less water forward than aft, the surf and the ebbing tide began to force her head around towards the shore and her stern towards the waves. Now aground both fore and aft as the tide ebbed, she heeled towards the shore enabling the crew to shelter from the crashing waves on the lee side. At low tide, after 11 o’clock, the men were able to get ashore using the lifelines rigged by Lieutenant Bissell.
Within hours, the gale had decreased to such an extent that the crew and men from the dockyard were able to begin the salvage of her stores, while a revenue cutter, the Busy, lived up to her name by bringing off the personal effects of the officers. As for the Pallas herself, there was little doubt that come the next spring tide she would be wrecked, and indeed, within twenty-four hours, the frigate was almost in two pieces, with her back broken, the starboard bottom beaten in, and her keel washed away. Even so, the dockyard workers were still able to retrieve a considerable amount of material, including her valuable copper sheathing.
In addition to the four men lost from the Canada’s boat, the disaster had claimed just one man on the Pallas, a seaman named Peter Charlock who had lost his life when struck by the falling mainmast. Eleven of the Pallas’s shipwrecked crew volunteered to join HMS Surprise, under Captain Edward Hamilton, while others were sent to HMS Hyaena (Captain Hon. Courtenay Boyle) and HMS Cormorant (Commander Lord Mark Kerr). Captain Curzon was not blamed for the loss of the Pallas, and after a few months on the beach he was appointed to the crack frigate Indefatigable 44, which had seen enormous success under the command of the brilliant Captain Sir Edward Pellew. Curzon continued in service with few opportunities for distinction until he was awarded his flag in July 1810.