Maritime record MWX1837 - Zenobie (Zenobia)

1762 wreck of a French frigate which stranded near Wyke House. A wooden sailing vessel.

Armament: 30-40 cannon (1)(5); 22 (4) Master: Defages Crew: 250 (1)(5); 130 (4) Crew Lost: 210 Crew Saved: 71 (6) Date of Loss Qualifier: A `...a French Privateer of between 30 and 40 guns, having originally 250 men, was driven on shore near Portland, with about 40 of the crew, the rest being lost... (2). `On the 12th inst. was lost on Portland Beach, the ZENOBIE French frigate of war, of 22 guns and 1[3?]0 men, out of which 70 are saved. The commander, Captain Defages, is drowned. (4) Described in one source as a French frigate, but in others as an armed privateer. (5) `...they distinctly perceived the three masts of the supposed frigate appearing over the stony ridge; but which were in fact the mast of the AEOLUS Merchant Ship, laden with timber on account of Government...A very little while after another mast appeared obliquely over the stony barrier...it was that of the GOLDEN GROVE Merchant Ship, which was stranded...These ships were stranded on a part of the bank not far from the Passage-House, almost in the very same spot where the ZENOBIA, a French frigate, went to pieces in the year 1763 [sic] ... (6) `...In January, 1762, a French man-of-war, the ZENOBIE, was lost on the Chesil; seventy-one of the crew saved themselves, but were robbed and stripped by the natives. The survivors were clothed and sent back to France by order of the king instead of being treated as prisoners of war. That the treatment these men received locally was no exceptional incident is proved by the fact that in 1754 the Rev. Thomas Francklyn of Fleet preached a sermon on the subject, occasioned by what he had seen, in which he said that he had repeatedly expostulated with his neighbours and tried to stir up principles of compassion as well as honesty in their hearts. He then dwelt on the Wreck Act of 26 George II, cap. 19, just passed, which made plundering, destroying, and wrecking generally, felony punishable with death... (6) (Taken from, Francklyn, Serious Advice and Fair Warning...1752.) (Found under the heading of `Dorset Maritime History on this web site.) Source (2) does not give name of vessel; sources (1) and (5) spell the name as ZENOBIA. Location given on Taylor's Map of Dorsetshire (7) and a Chart of 1779. (8) The building date for this vessel is an estimate based on an average age at wrecking of twenty years. This average is derived from those vessels wrecked on the Dorset coast whose age at wrecking is known.

Record last edited

May 3 2024 12:02PM