Ref Number: 00149
HMS Assurance was lost en route from Jamaica to Portsmouth,
Ref Number: 00149
In 1747, the Royal Navy unveiled HMS Assurance, a 44-gun fifth rate frigate. In 1753, she ran aground off The Needles, near the Isle of Wight in England, and stayed there long enough for her crew and passengers to make it to safety.
It was found at the subsequent court martial that the ship foundered due to negligence on behalf of the Captain a David Patterson who had recklessly skippered the vessel far too close to the Needles rock. Subsequently grounding the vessel on Goose rock as he was reluctant to hire a pilot as far too confident in his own skill.
He was found guilty and served 3 months imprisonment.
The Wreck Investigation
Derek Williams discovered the wreck in a 1970 dive by whilst researching the Assurance and was slighly confused as to what he had found, latterly John Bingeman got involved and in 1978 realised that the wreck site comprised more than one vessel.
In 1997, the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology undertook a geophysical survey of the site.
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