HMS Scarborough
Post Ship · Great Britain · Lost 1780 · Cuba & the Greater Antilles
A Royal Navy frigate lost with all hands off Saint-Domingue in the Great Hurricane of 1780, the deadliest Atlantic storm on record.
The Vessel and Her Loss
HMS Scarborough was a long-serving Royal Navy sixth-rate that had fought at the Siege of Louisbourg and the Battle of Quebec earlier in her career. On October 5, 1780, while off Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, she was overwhelmed and sank with all hands during the Great Hurricane of 1780, one of at least fifteen Royal Navy ships lost to the same storm system.
Vessel
- 1756
- Blaydes Yard
- Kingston-upon-Hull, England
- Wood
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Sail
- Royal Navy
Loss
- October 5, 1780
- Storm
- Off Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti)
- Caribbean Sea
- Not established
- Not established
- 160
- 160
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Coastal waters off Saint-Domingue, Haiti
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (65/100)
Details of her final hours and precise wreck location are not established in the sources reviewed.
Wikipedia: HMS Scarborough (1756) (sourced to Royal Navy ship histories)
Build history, service record, 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.
