HMS Firebrand was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 fireship built at Limehouse

Limehouse

Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....

 in 1694, the first Royal Naval vessel to bear the name.

Service

Firebrand served in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 and Mediterranean. She is recorded as convoying five merchantmen in company with HMS Winchester

HMS Winchester (1693)

HMS Winchester was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Bursledon on 11 April 1693.In 1695, Winchester foundered on Carysfort Reef in the Florida Keys and was lost. The remains of the wreck—now consisting of nothing more than cannon balls—were discovered in...

 near Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

 in March 1695.

Loss

Firebrand was lost during the Scilly naval disaster of 1707

Scilly naval disaster of 1707

Scilly naval disaster of 1707 is an umbrella term for the events of 22 October 1707 that led to the sinking of a British naval fleet off the Isles of Scilly. With four large ships and more than 1,400 sailors lost in stormy weather, it was one of the greatest maritime disasters in the history of...

 when a navigational error sent Admiral

Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)

Admiral of the fleet is the highest rank of the British Royal Navy and other navies, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-10. The rank still exists in the Royal Navy but routine appointments ceased in 1996....

 Sir Cloudesley Shovell

Cloudesley Shovell

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell , was an English naval officer. Rising through the ranks and fighting in many of the important battles of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, he became a popular British hero, whose celebrated career was brought to an end in a disastrous shipwreck in...

's fleet through dangerous reefs west of Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 while on their way from Gibraltar to Portsmouth. On the night of 22 October 1707, Firebrand, commanded by Captain Francis Percy, smashed into the Outer Gilstone Rock (see image) off the Isles of Scilly

Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...

. She was lifted off by a huge wave first, and Percy managed to steer his badly damaged ship along the southern side of the Western Rocks

Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly

Western Rocks is a group of uninhabited islands in the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom.They are located south-west of St Mary's, with Annet and St Agnes immediately to their north-east and Bishop Rock to their west. The larger islands in this archipelago are, from north to south: Great Crebwethan,...

 between St Agnes

St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly

St Agnes is the southernmost populated island of the Isles of Scilly, England, United Kingdom.-Description:St. Agnes joins the island of Gugh by a tombolo, a kind of sandbar, called the Gugh Bar, which is exposed only at low tide...

 and Annet

Annet, Isles of Scilly

Annet is the second largest of the fifty or so uninhabited Isles of Scilly, one km west of St Agnes with a length of one km and approximately 22 ha in area. The low lying island is almost divided in two by a narrow neck of land at West Porth which can, at times, be covered by waves...

, but she foundered in Smith Sound, sinking close to Menglow Rock and losing 28 of her crew of 40. Percy and a group of his men managed to get ashore by boat, another five of the crew got ashore on pieces of wreckage. Three more ships (Eagle

HMS Eagle (1679)

HMS Eagle was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1679.She underwent a rebuild at Chatham Dockyard in 1699, retaining her armament of 70 guns....

, Romney

HMS Romney (1694)

HMS Romney was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard in 1694.Commanded by Captain William Coney, Romney was wrecked on the Scilly Isles on 26 October 1707 when a disastrous navigational error sent Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's fleet through dangerous...

 and Shovell's flagship Association

HMS Association

HMS Association was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1697. She served with distinction at the capture of Gibraltar, and was lost in 1707 by grounding on the Isles of Scilly in the greatest maritime disaster of the age.-Service:Association...

) also sank that night, bringing the total of sailors lost to nearly 2,000. The Scilly naval disaster was one of the greatest maritime

Sea

A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...

 disasters in British history. It was largely as a result of this disaster that the Board of the Admiralty instituted a competition

Longitude prize

The Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude...

 for a more precise method to determine longitude

Longitude

Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....

.

Discovery of the wreck

Firebrand lies between the islands of St Agnes

St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly

St Agnes is the southernmost populated island of the Isles of Scilly, England, United Kingdom.-Description:St. Agnes joins the island of Gugh by a tombolo, a kind of sandbar, called the Gugh Bar, which is exposed only at low tide...

 and the islet of Annet

Annet, Isles of Scilly

Annet is the second largest of the fifty or so uninhabited Isles of Scilly, one km west of St Agnes with a length of one km and approximately 22 ha in area. The low lying island is almost divided in two by a narrow neck of land at West Porth which can, at times, be covered by waves...

 in position 49°53′20"N 06°20′35"W at a depth of 8 to 25 meters. The wreck was discovered in Smith Sound in 1982, and several items were recovered, including guns and anchors, a wooden "nocturne" (for the time at night), a bell and carved cherubs. In 2006, researchers and students from Bristol University conducted the first archaeological survey of the vessel. This was also the first physical study of this type of Royal Navy ship.