Wreck of The Grosvenor - History

History

The Grosvenor had left Madras in March 1782 under the command of Captain Coxon, falling in with Admiral Hughes' fleet. On 13 June 1782, she set sail for England from Trincomalee in Ceylon.

Sailing west near the Cape coast at 1 am and while adjusting the sails to ride out a gale, the crew noticed lights to the west, but dismissed them as something akin to the northern lights. When the lights presently disappeared, they were given no further thought. As it turned out, the lights were grassfires burning on a headland directly on their course, and their disappearance was due to their being hidden by the brow of the hill. At 4 am, Thomas Lewis reported that he thought he could see land, but the idea was rejected by the commanding officer of the watch, a Mr. Beale, as everyone on board was certain that they were at least 200 miles (320 km) out to sea. The quartermaster Mixon, after some hesitation, alerted the captain, who instantly came on deck and tried to bring the ship about. During this change of tack, the ship ran aground on the rocks. In the darkness, the crew firmly believed that as they were a long way from land, they had struck an uncharted island or reef. With a change in the wind direction, the captain felt that they could refloat the Grosvenor and run her aground in some more convenient place. However, as soon as the ship twisted around, its freed bows started taking on water and it became clear to all that she would have been better off left on the rocks.