Sint Maarten · Sint Maarten · Wreck
HMS Proselyte
Cannon and anchors from an 1801 frigate in 15 m just outside Great Bay
Area photo: Gillfoto from Juneau, Alaska, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0
HMS Proselyte is what is left of a 32-gun Royal Navy frigate that struck Man of War Shoal in view of Philipsburg in 1801. She lies on her starboard side in about 15 m just beyond the mouth of Great Bay, and the dive is a shallow tour of cannon, ballast bars, barrel hoops and anchors scattered over the reef inside the Man of War Shoal Marine Protected Area.
Also known as Proselyte Reef.
Where it is and how deep
17.9897° N, 63.0592° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat runs out of Great Bay at Philipsburg and moors just beyond its mouth, on the shoal that took the ship. You drop straight onto the site: the seabed here is about 15 m, so the whole dive sits comfortably inside Open Water limits. Do not expect a hull. After more than two centuries on the shoal the frigate has broken down into a debris field, and what you are looking for is iron rather than a ship shape.
Work slowly across the reef and the pieces reveal themselves: numerous cannon, ballast bars, barrel hoops and anchors lie scattered where the Proselyte came to rest on her starboard side. Everything is heavily encrusted with coral, so the cannon read as long straight shapes under the growth rather than as bare metal. Because everything is at much the same depth the dive is a wander rather than a profile, so let the guide set the loop and take time over each object. When the gas plan says so, ascend over the shoal and finish the safety stop under the boat.
The wreck
- Vessel
- HMS Proselyte (ex-Dutch frigate Jason)
- Type
- 32-gun fifth-rate frigate
- Built
- 1770
- Sunk
- 1801
- Cause
- Struck Man of War Shoal in view of Philipsburg on 4 September 1801
- Lies
- On her starboard side in about 15 m of water, just beyond the mouth of Great Bay at Philipsburg
The ship was built in Rotterdam in 1770 as the Dutch frigate Jason. On 31 May 1796 she captured and sank the British merchant ship Maryann; shortly afterwards her crew mutinied, locked the captain and his followers below deck and sailed her into Greenock on 8 June. The Royal Navy commissioned her as HMS Proselyte, a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate. On 4 September 1801, under the temporary command of Lieutenant Henry Whitby while her captain, Fowke, was not on board, she struck Man of War Shoal in view of Philipsburg and was wrecked. The shoal is now the Man of War Shoal Marine Protected Area and Proselyte Reef its signature site; the Sint Maarten Museum displays artefacts recovered from her.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime |
Season follows Sint Maarten: Conditions vary little through the year; Jun–Nov is hurricane season and Dec–Apr plus Jul–Aug are the crowded months.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the HMS Proselyte wreck?+
The wreck lies in approximately 15 m (50 ft) of water on Man of War Shoal, just beyond the mouth of Great Bay at Philipsburg.
What is left of HMS Proselyte to see?+
The frigate broke up long ago. What remains is a scattered field of cannon, ballast bars, barrel hoops and anchors lying on the reef where she came to rest on her starboard side.
Sources
- HMS Proselyte — Scubago
- HMS Proselyte (1796) — Wikipedia
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