Ref Number: 00152
Menu
HMS Pomone was returning from the Mediterranean (Constantinople) when the captain tried to navigate the Needles at night when she too struck Goose Rock.
Ref Number: 00152
HMS Pomone, a 5th Rate frigate of the line weighing 1,076 tonnes and carrying 284 people, foundered in the area around the Needles on October 11, 1811. She was armed with a total of 38 weapons. She was launched in 1805, and she served under Captain Robert Barrie, seeing combat against the French in the Mediterranean. At the Battle of Sagone Bay, Pomone led three frigates into the Corsican harbour and triumphed over two French frigates, an armed merchantman, and a barrage of fort and beach fire. All three French ships were burned to the waterline before the end of the day, and the fort was quiet.
After repairing the damaged frigate, Barrie returned to England in 1811 to provide information gathered in Sardinia to the government in Westminster. The Pomone was carrying the outgoing British Ambassador to Persia, Sir Harford Jones, as well as a gift of Arab stallions from the Shah of Persia to King George III.
Trinity House built the Island’s first three lighthouses in 1785. The Needles, a cliff 500 feet above Scratchells Bay; St. Catherine’s, near the Pepper Pot; and Hurst Castle were the locations of three of them.
James Sturrock, the Pomone’s Master, plotted a route across the narrow Needles Passage. Due to the fog, Sturrock mistook the light at the Needles for the one at Hurst Castle. From the bow, Barrie could see the Hurst Lighthouse and knew Sturrock had made a mistake. The time to make a turn had long since passed. Two minutes later, Pomona struck struck a sunken rock about two cables’ length to the southwest of Needles point. The crew approached Captain Barrie once he saw his ship was a wreck and asked if they might cover the figurehead with black cloth.
The rather calm seas saved the crew. Three days later, along with the ship’s cannons, masts, cargo, and riches, the Shah’s horses were saved. The Court Martial handed out severe punishment for Sturrock but found in Barrie’s favour.
© 2024 Island Eye. Designed & Maintained by PC Consultants
Visit Kayak