Historedia
EuropeEvent

Wrecking of the HMS Sussex treasure fleet

When
1694
Where
Off Gibraltar
Episodes
1

On 1 March 1694, HMS Sussex and twelve accompanying vessels were wrecked in a severe storm off Gibraltar. The disaster resulted in approximately 1,200 casualties, marking one of the worst incidents in Royal Navy history.

Episodes

  1. 1 March 1694 · Off GibraltarWrecking of the Fleet

    HMS Sussex and twelve other ships were wrecked in a storm off Gibraltar, killing approximately 1,200 people.

Background and detail

Background. HMS Sussex, an 80-gun third-rate ship launched in 1693, served as the flagship for Admiral Sir Francis Wheler. The vessel departed Portsmouth in late 1693 to escort a large fleet of warships and merchant vessels to the Mediterranean.

The Disaster. A severe storm struck the fleet off Gibraltar on 1 March 1694. HMS Sussex was lost, and twelve other ships sank. The incident caused approximately 1,200 deaths, remaining one of the most significant disasters in the history of the Royal Navy.

Sources

  1. HMS Sussex (1693) Wikipedia, revision of 2025-12-14

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.