The wreck of His Majesty's Sloop Persian

HMS Persian was an 18 gun Cruiser class Brig sloop built by Lists of Cowes on the Isle of Wight. She was launched on 2nd May 1809. The Cruiser class first appeared in 1796 and was the most numerous class of warship in the age of sail. Persian was 100' LOA, 77' 3½" on the waterline, 30' 6" in the beam and she had a depth of 12' 9" and she had a displacement of 382 tons. She had a complement of 121 men and was armed with two 6 pounders and sixteen 32 pounder carronades.

Commander Charles Bertram sailed out of the port of Port au Prince on the morning of 26 June and steered northwards around the island of Hispaniola. In the late afternoon, just after two bells in the first dog watch (5:00pm) she ran aground on one of the reefs of the Silver Keys Bank. In an effort to lighten her, Bertram ordered shot, stores and some of her guns be thrown overboard. Although she did float off she almost immediately slid on to another reef where she was held fast despite the boats being put overboard and the pumps being manned. By two bells in the second dog watch (7:00pm) she was settling fast and making water - with 5ft in her well a raft was constructed and the boats were stocked with stores in readiness for abandoning ship.

By four bells in the middle watch (2:00am) on 27^th June the Persian broke her back and foundered. The crew took to the boats and the raft but this sadly came apart forcing all 126 men to cram on board the four boats to head for land. They were adrift throughout the day and the following night when they came ashore between Cabo Frances and Cabo Cabron in San Domingo.

At the subsequent court-martial held on board HMS Goliath in the Leeward Islands on 22 October 1813 Bertram and his officers and men were charged with "having on the 26^th June 1813 lost His Majesty's late sloop on the north west part of the Rock Shoal called the Silver Keys". The court presided over by Capt. Frederick Lewis Maitland cleared Bertram of any negligence and the blame for the loss of the sloop was placed on the strong current, running at 4 knots which had set her further to the north than expected and the official Admiralty charts which had placed the reef 20 miles to the south of their actual position which was 20° 30' N, 69° 40' W. The officers of the court martial were Captains Sir Thomas Cochrane, Charles Gill, Samuel Drakes and Frank Gore-Willcock. They actual stated that "the Court is further of the opinion that every exertion was used for the preservation of His Majesty's sloop Persian after she struck".