HMS Rose was a 28-gun Enterprise-class

Enterprise class frigate

The Enterprise-class frigates were the final class of 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth-rate to be produced for the Royal Navy. These twenty-seven vessels were designed in 1770 by John Williams. A first batch of five ships were ordered as part of the programme sparked by the Falklands Islands...

 sixth-rate

Sixth-rate

Sixth rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for small warships mounting between 20 and 24 nine-pounder guns on a single deck, sometimes with guns on the upper works and sometimes without.-Rating:...

 frigate of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. The Rose was first commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 in August 1783 under the command of Captain James Hawkins.

Fate

Rose, under the command of Captain Matthew Scott, left Port Royal

Port Royal

Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...

, Jamaica on 26 June. The next day she encountered a merchant vessel that passed on the news that Admiral Sir John Jervis

John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent

Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...

and his fleet were off Basse Terre, which news led Scott to attempt to meet up with them. The night of 28 June was dark, and rain squalls hid the sound of breakers, with the result that at 9pm Rose hit a reef off Rocky Point, Jamaica. The crew threw guns overboard and cut away her anchors, top masts and mizen-mast, all in a futile attempt to lighten her and get her off the rocks. In the morning, as she filled with water, her crew abandoned ship in her boats and on rafts they fashioned out of booms and spars.