HMS Somerset
Ship Of The Line · Great Britain · Lost 1778 · Cape Cod & Nantucket Shoals
A British warship that terrorized Revolutionary Boston ran aground on Cape Cod's outer bar and was captured, timbers and all, by a Truro militia.
The Vessel and Her Loss
HMS Somerset was a 70-gun ship of the line that served in the French and Indian War and became a notorious presence off Revolutionary Boston, mentioned in Longfellow's poem on Paul Revere. On 2 November 1778 she ran aground on the Peaked Hill Bars off Provincetown in a nor'easter. Her crew was taken prisoner by local militia. Her buried hull still surfaces occasionally from the sand.
Vessel
- 1748
- Chatham Dockyard
- Chatham, England
- Wood
- 160 ft
- 45 ft
- 1436
- Sail, full-rigged ship
- Royal Navy
Loss
- November 2, 1778
- Storm
- Peaked Hill Bars, off Provincetown, Cape Cod
- Atlantic Ocean
- Not established
- Not established
- 480
- Most of the crew survived and were marched off as prisoners by the Truro militia; exact deaths in the wreck itself are not established.
- George Ourry
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Buried hull timbers periodically exposed by shifting sand
- Not established
- 1886 (partial exposure); repeatedly re-exposed since
- Within Cape Cod National Seashore
Position
- 42.06° N 70.18° W
- Approximate position
- Provincetown, Massachusetts
General area of the Peaked Hill Bars; exact buried position shifts with the sand.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (85/100)
The exact number of crew lost in the wreck itself, as opposed to captured afterward, is not established in the sources reviewed.
National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore
Wreck date, location, and general history.
Naval History and Heritage Command
Ship specifications and service history.
