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HMS SAPPHIRE
Brief History about HMS Sapphire:
The accession of William and Mary in 1688 brought about a reversal of British foreign policy, but although war was formally declared with France in 1689, little was achieved to give the English in Newfoundland better security from attack. From the Placentia base, the French made successful yearly assaults on the English settlements and fishing stations. An early attempt in 1692 by a powerful fleet of the Royal Navy to destroy the Placentia forts was given up as an impossible task. Two years later, the merchant captain William Holman successfully defended Ferryland harbour from French attack but, the following year, 1695, the French surprised several ships of the English fishing fleet as they gathered for the return voyage: during the resulting engagement, the fleet convoy, HMS Sapphire, was sunk in Bay Bulls harbour.
The earliest identified 17th century wreck is that of the 364 ton British frigate H.M.S. Sapphire which was scuttled at the mouth of Stanley River, Bay Bulls, in September 1696 to prevent her from falling into the hands of the French. The Sapphire, under the command of Captain Thomas Cleasby R.N., was on patrol in the Cape Race area on September 9, 1696, when a French naval force under the command of Governor De Brouillon of Placentia hove in sight on their way to attack St. John's. Outgunned and out numbered, Captain Cleasby beat a hasty retreat with the French in hot pursuit, realizing that the French would overtake him before he reached the safety of the Narrows he put into Bay Bulls.
The French ships carried on to Cape Spear but bad weather prevented them from entering the Narrows. Governor De Brouillon then sent two ships, the Philippaux and the Comte de Thoulouse to Bay Bulls to capture the Sapphire, but the strong winds carried them off-shore. This storm also saved St. John's, for the French fleet could not enter the port. On September 11, 1696, the French fleet went to Bay Bulls and attempted to make a landing. This was bitterly disputed by the citizens of Bay Bulls who were aided by the guns of H.M.S. Sapphire. However, the French fleet moved in and surrounded the British frigate. Realizing capture was imminent, Captain Cleasby and his men opened the Sapphire's sea cocks and set fire to her; then, they went ashore to help the people of Bay Bulls continue the fight.
Seeing the frigate abandoned and set ablaze, the French sent a boarding party to claim her as a prize. Tradition has it that just as the 40 man French party boarded her; she blew up and sank to the bottom. There the Sapphire lay, her name unknown, until 1970 when divers began bringing up artifacts from the wreck. The Newfoundland Marine Archaeology Society took steps to protect the wreck from such vandalism, and after considerable research proved that the wreck was indeed that of H.M.S. Sapphire. In 1975, the Society persuaded the Newfoundland Government to declare the wreck a provincial historic site in order to prevent any further looting.
Facts
The Sapphire was a fifth rate frigate built in 1675 in Harwich Dockyard by Sir Anthony Deane.
She normally carried 32 Guns (lower deck-18 demi-culverins, upper deck-10 sakers, quarter deck-4 minions) and a complement of approx. 135 men.
Her overall dimensions: Keel 32.9 meters, Breadth 7.9 meters, Draught 3.85 meters.
The Sapphire was sent to Newfoundland to monitor and protect British fishing interests under Captain Thomas Cleasby in the spring of 1696.
She came under attack from a large French convoy under the command of M. de Brouillan, Governor of the French Colony of Placentia on September 11, 1696.
Captain Cleasby set the ship on fire in order to avoid her capture, whereupon she sank in 18 meters of water, 100 meters from the shoreline.
Divers discovered the wreck site in the 1960's. A substantial number of the more easily accessible complete objects (mainly glass and ceramics, plus a couple of cannons) were removed during this period, many probably ending up in the U.S. The wreck was finally put under legislative protection, and in 1975 was declared a provincial historic site by the province of Newfoundland.
With the permission of the provincial government, the Newfoundland Marine Archaeology Society undertook a trial excavation of the site in 1974. This consisted of some small test trenches using a underwater grid system: approximately 300 artifacts were uncovered at this time.
In 1977, a contract was signed between the Government of Newfoundland and the Government of Canada to enable the federal marine archaeologists to more fully explore the site. A project team was assembled, under the direction of Dr. Robert Grenier of Parks Canada to:
a. Determine the difficulties of working in the area
b. Establish the extent of the wreck site (much of the wreck was heavily silted)
c. Determine the quantity and quality of artifacts present to ensure that adequate conservation and recording facilities could be provided on site for future activities.
Parks Canada continued excavation of the site through the summer of 1977. Before the excavation could be completed, the federal government turned its attention to the Basque site in Red Bay, Labrador. The Bay Bulls (Saphire) site was sandbagged and stabilized and remains so to this day.
About 2500 artifacts were recovered and removed to the federal conservation lab in Ottawa. They remain in storage there. Among the more remarkable finds were a wooden nocturnal in a good state of preservation, several pieces of Westerwald-type saltgaze stoneware, North Devon slipware, a large amount of Spanish redware, etc. The artifacts were compared with those recovered from the HMS Dartmouth excavation (Scotland) undertaken by Dr. Colin Martin. From these comparisons it was determined that the site was indeed of the late 17th century, and almost certainly that of HMS Saphire.
Luckily, a substantial number of records relating to the Saphire remain in the Public Record Office (London) and other British locations. These are now being sourced and examined in detail to provide further background about the vessel and those associated with it… builders, officers, ordinary seamen and local settlers.
NFLD&LAb Shipwrecks
Nocturnal, H.M.S. Sapphire
Deepstar
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Copyright © 2004 Noel Battcock. All Rights Reserved