HMS ''Hussar'' was a

sixth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works an ...

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, built in England in 1761–63. She was a 28-gun ship of the , designed by Sir

Thomas Slade Sir Thomas Slade (1703/4 – 1771) was an English naval architect best known for designing the Royal Navy warship HMS Victory, HMS ''Victory'', which served as Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalg ...

. She was wrecked at New York in 1780. In early 2013, a cannon from ''Hussar'' was discovered stored in a building in New York's Central Park still loaded with gunpowder and shot.

Career

''Hussar'' was commissioned in August 1763 under Captain James Smith, and sent for her commission cruising in the vicinity of Cape Clear. By 1767 she was commanded by Captain Hyde Parker. She continued to serve off North America between 1768 and 1771, before paying off into ordinary in March 1771. After being repaired and refitted at Woolwich from 1774 to 1777, she recommissioned in July 1777 under Captain Elliott Salter. In later life, she was part of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

fleet in North America. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, ''Hussar'' carried dispatches on the North American station. ''Hussar'' captured the Spanish

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

''Nuestra Señora del Buen Confeso'' (armed

en flute EN or En or en may refer to: Businesses * Bouygues (stock symbol EN) * Island Rail Corridor, formerly known as the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (reporting mark EN) * Euronews, a news television and internet channel Language and writing * N, 14t ...

), on 20 November 1779. By mid-1780, the British position in New York was precarious as a French army had joined forces with General

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

's troops north of the city.

Loss

When Admiral Sir

George Brydges Rodney Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a Royal Navy officer, politician and colonial administrator. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularl ...

took his twenty ships of the line south in November, it was decided that the army's payroll be moved to the anchorage at Gardiners Bay on eastern

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. On 23 November 1780, against his pilot's better judgment, ''Hussar''s captain, Charles Pole, decided to sail from the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

through the treacherous waters of

Hell Gate Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City. It separates Astoria, Queens, Astoria, Queens, from Randall's and Wards Islands in Manhattan. Etymology The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Low German or Dutch la ...

between

Randall's Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Island, in New York City.

and

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

(on

). Just before reaching

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

, ''Hussar'' was swept onto Pot Rock and began sinking. Pole was unable to run her aground and she sank in of water. The minutes of the Royal Navy's court martial into the loss of the frigate (record held at the ''National Maritime Museum'', Greenwich), make no mention of any payroll money or other special cargo aboard. The document appears to be little more than an administrative formality. It suggests that whatever valuables were aboard ''Hussar'' had been off-loaded by the time of her accident.

Salvage attempts

Although the British immediately denied there was any gold aboard the ship, and despite the difficulty of diving in the waters of Hell Gate, reports of $2 to $4 million in gold were the catalyst that prompted many salvage efforts over the next 150 years. This continued even after the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

eased the passage through the East River by blowing "the worst features of Hell Gate straight back to hell" with of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

in 1876. ''Hussar''s remains, if any survive, are now believed to lie beneath

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. On 11 January 2013, preservationists with the Central Park Conservancy in New York were removing rust from a cannon from ''Hussar'' when they discovered it still contained gunpowder, wadding, and a cannonball. Police were called and bomb disposal staff eventually removed about 1.8 pounds of active black gunpowder from the cannon, which they disposed of at a gun range. "We silenced British cannon fire in 1776 and we don't want to hear it again in Central Park," the

New York Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

said in a statement.

In popular culture

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has ...

's 2017 science fiction novel '' New York 2140'', a sub-plot centers on an attempt to recover two chests with gold from the wreck of HMS ''Hussar'' that lies buried under a submerged parking lot in the former Bronx.

Citations

References

* Gardiner, Robert (1992) ''The First Frigates''. (London: Conway Maritime Press). * * Hu, Winnie. "Finding Trash and Worse, but So Far, No Sunken Treasure," ''New York Times'', 4 Sep 2013, p. A17 * Lyon, David (1993) ''The Sailing Navy List'' (London: Conway Maritime Press). * Rattray. ''Perils of the Port of New York''. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hussar (1763) Shipwrecks of the East River Shipwrecks of the New York (state) coast Maritime incidents in 1780 1763 ships Sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy Ships built in Rotherhithe