''Delight'' was an English sailing ship that ran aground off

Sable Island Sable Island (, literally "island of sand") is a small, remote island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Sable Island is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, about southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, and about southeast of the clo ...

, while she was on Sir

Humphrey Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North Ameri ...

's expedition with to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

in North America.

Expedition to Newfoundland and sinking

''Delight'' and left

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1583 to take part in Sir

's expedition to

. After reaching

''Delight''s captain Richard Clarke had a dispute with Sir Humphrey Gilbert to provide a safe passage near the island, but eventually captain Clarke followed Sir Gilbert's orders to pass close to the island. At 7 am on 29 August 1583 ''Delight'' sank after running aground on one of Sable Island's sandbars. Captain Clarke quickly led 16 men to a small lifeboat (which had only one oar) and rowed clear of the fast sinking ship. ''Delight'' sank to a depth of and took 85 men (including

Stephanus Parmenius Stephanus Parmenius (; c. 1555 – 29 August 1583) was a Hungarian scholar and humanist poet who traveled to Oxford and became involved in the English exploration of the New World. He joined Humphrey Gilbert's expedition to North America with the ...

) and most of the expedition's supplies with her. The water was too shallow for Gilbert's frigate (''Squirrel'') to offer any assistance. The 17 men in the lifeboat spent seven days at sea before they finally reached Newfoundland. They were rescued by a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

vessel after spending five days in Newfoundland. The wreck was one of many on Gilbert's expedition which ended up with Gilbert himself being drowned in a later wreck (the one of ''Squirrel''). The disaster contributed to the temporary abandonment of the English settlement in Newfoundland. ''Delight'' is the first recorded shipwreck off Sable Island.

Wreck

The wreck lies approximately 10 metres deep near Sable Island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delight 16th-century ships Ships built in England Sailing ships of England Shipwrecks of Canada 16th century in Canada Shipwrecks of the Nova Scotia coast Sable Island Ships of the English navy