HMS Deal Castle
Post Ship · Great Britain · Lost 1780 · Cuba & the Greater Antilles
A Royal Navy frigate wrecked off Puerto Rico in the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, with nearly all her crew surviving on a raft.
The Vessel and Her Loss
HMS Deal Castle was a 20-gun sixth-rate that had served the Royal Navy since 1756, including action at the Battle of Martinique earlier in 1780. On October 11, 1780, she was wrecked off the coast of Puerto Rico during the Great Hurricane of 1780, one of at least a dozen Royal Navy ships lost in the same storm. Remarkably, all but three of her 160-man crew survived by escaping on a raft.
Vessel
- 1756
- Adam Hayes
- Blackwall, England
- Wood
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Sail
- Royal Navy
Loss
- October 11, 1780
- Storm
- Off the coast of Puerto Rico
- Caribbean Sea
- Not established
- Not established
- 160
- 3
- James Hawkins-Whitshed
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Coastal waters off Puerto Rico
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (70/100)
The precise wreck location off Puerto Rico is not established in the sources reviewed.
Wikipedia: HMS Deal Castle (1756) (sourced to Wrecksite.eu and Royal Navy records)
Build history, service, and loss in the Great Hurricane of 1780.
American Heritage, 'British Ships Lost in 1780 Hurricanes'
Context on the scale of Royal Navy losses in the 1780 hurricanes.
