338 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



of 98 guns, the Defence, 74, and the Hero, 74, were 

 wrecked on the coast of Jutland. All the crews, 

 numbering about 2000, with the exception of 18 men, 

 perished, amongst the lost being Rear- Admiral Reynolds. 

 Just before the previous Christmas the Minotaur, 74 

 guns, was wrecked on the North Haaks, Texel, with a 

 loss of 400; and there, on 28th January 1812, the 

 Manilla, 38 guns, was lost with 8 men. The St. George 

 had 738 officers and men on board, of whom 731 

 perished ; of 593 in the Defence 587 were lost, while 

 every soul in the Hero 590 was drowned. This was 

 one of the most terrible catastrophes that ever befell 

 British ships of war. 



The Minotaur afforded a remarkable instance of the 

 perils of North Sea navigation in the days when so 

 many British ships of war had to make their way to 

 and from countries with which we were at war, for her 

 officers believed that she had struck on the shores of 

 England when, as a matter of fact, she was aground 

 upon the North Haaks. The Minotaur, Captain John 

 Barrett, had been ordered by Admiral Sir James 

 Saumarez to protect the last Baltic Fleet, and in 

 December 1810 she was sailing home. The weather 

 was thick and hazy, the wind was blowing hard from the 

 south-east, and the ship was going at the rate of four 

 knots an hour, under close-reefed topsails and courses. 



The darkness was intense, and the captain, realising 

 the dangers of his position, ordered that hourly sound- 

 ings should be taken, under the immediate direction of 

 the pilot of the watch. On the 22nd, at midnight, the 

 pilot desired the ship to be put on the other tack. All 

 hands were turned up to carry out the evolution, and 



