Loss
In the autumn of 1777, HMS Somerset took part in the Siege of Fort Mifflin in which the British successfully captured the river forts on the Delaware River. HMS Somerset’s luck ran out at the end of 1778. She was battered by gales in August. While pursuing a French squadron, she ran aground in a 2 November 1778 gale on Peaked Hill Bars off Provincetown, Massachusetts. Twenty of her crew drowned while many were rescued by local people.
The Somerset's wreckage was uncovered briefly by storms in 1886 and 1973 and can still be seen at exceptionally low waters at Dead Man's Hollow, near Provincetown. On 11 April 2010 storms caused part of the wreckage to be uncovered, allowing the National Park Service to commission a digital survey using 3D imaging technology to record the part of the wreck that was now visible.
Read more about this topic: HMS Somerset (1748)
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