Loss
Every effort to kedge Sirius off failed; she was firmly aground, making water, and unable to be freed. Pym ordered stores and provisions to be transferred to Iphigenia. When this was complete the men were removed with the last of the crew leaving on the morning of 25 August 1810. As they left they set fire to her; Sirius exploded at about eleven o'clock, with her hull then briefly drifting off the reef before sinking.
The Battle of Grand Port was an important victory for the French. With two English frigates taken (Iphigenia and Néréide), and two others destroyed (Sirius and Magicienne), as well as 1,600 prisoners taken against 150 French dead or wounded, this battle marks the only French naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars.
Read more about this topic: HMS Sirius (1797)
Famous quotes containing the word loss:
“There is no greater wealth than Virtue,
and no greater loss than to forget it.”
—Tiruvalluvar (c. 5th century A.D.)
“When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a good many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“Begin with loss and see
how the world contradicts you,
how the horizon implies that beyond it
the water is not empty
but full of ships
all docking at another island.”
—Lynn Emanuel (b. 1949)