HMS Serapis 1781
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Serapis | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1781 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Ship type | fifth-rate frigate | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | INDIAN OCEAN | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Madagascar | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | -17.0025, 49.8419 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Serapis was a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth-rate. Randall & Company built her at Deptford Dockyard, Greenwich and launched her in March, 1779. She was originally armed with 44 guns (twenty 18-pounders, twenty 9-pounders, and four 6-pounders). Serapis was named after the god Serapis in Greek and Egyptian mythology. The Americans captured her during the American War of Independence. They transferred her to the French, who commissioned her as a privateer. She was lost off Madagascar in 1781 to a fire.
Diving & visiting
In November 1999, American nautical archeologists Richard Swete and Michael Tuttle located the remains of Serapis at Île Sainte-Marie.
Location
- Recorded position: -17.0025, 49.8419 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: INDIAN OCEAN
- Nearest coast: Madagascar
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Serapis (1779) (revision 1375273712), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery of the wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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