- HMS Amphion (1780)
HMS "Amphion" was a
Royal Navy 32-gunfifth-rate ship built in Chatham in 1780 that blew up onSeptember 22 ,1796 .ervice
On
10 September 1781, a small squadron under the command of the "Amphion's" captain, in conjunction with GeneralBenedict Arnold , completely destroyed the town ofNew London, Connecticut , together with stores and shipping in the harbour.inking
On
September 22 1796, "Amphion" was completing repairs atPlymouth ,England . She was lying alongside asheer hulk close to the dockyardjetty . Being due to sail the next day, she had more than a hundred relatives and visitors on board in addition to her crew.At about 4 p.m. she exploded without warning, killing 300 out of the 312 aboard. Among the few survivors was her captain,
Israel Pellew , who went on to command a ship at theBattle of Trafalgar and ended the Napoleonic Wars as a Rear-Admiral. Pellew had been dining in his cabin with Captain Swaffield of the "Overyssel" and the First Lieutenant of the "Amphion" when they were all thrown about by the explosion; Pellew managed to rush to the cabin window before a second explosion blew him into the water from which he was rescued.Apart from Pellew, two lieutenants, a
boatswain , three or four seamen, a marine, one woman, and a child were the only survivors.The cause of the disaster was never fully proven, but it was thought that the ship's gunner had accidentally spilled
gunpowder near the foremagazine (artillery) which had accidentally ignited and set off the magazine itself. The gunner had been suspected of stealing gunpowder, and on the day of the disaster he was reported to have been drunk and probably as a result less careful than usual.References
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