HMS Firebrand (1694)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
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| Name: | Firebrand |
| Builder: | Limehouse |
| Launched: | 1694 |
| Fate: | Ran aground in 1707 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Fireship |
| Tons burthen: | 268 bm |
| Complement: | 45 |
| Armament: |
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Firebrand was a Royal Navy fireship built at Limehouse in 1694, the first Royal Naval vessel to bear the name.
Firebrand served in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. She is recorded as convoying five merchantmen in company with Winchester near Barbados in March 1695.
Firebrand was lost during the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 when a navigational error sent Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's fleet through dangerous reefs west of Cornwall 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 off the Isles of Scilly. 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 between St Agnes and Annet, 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, Romney and Shovell's flagship 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 disasters in British history. It was largely as a result of this disaster that the Board of the Admiralty instituted a competition for a more precise method to determine longitude.
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