Sensible, 1798
Type: Troop / Store Ship ; late French Frigate ; Armament 18 ; Late 36 x 12-pounder
Taken from the French by the Seahorse in the Mediterranean, 27 Jun 1798 ;
Disposal date or year : 3 Mar 1802
Disposal Details : Wrecked on a quicksand off Ceylon: crew saved. Captain Robert Sauce.
Notes:

26-27 Jun 1798 Seahorse chased and captured the French 36-gun frigate Sensible.

1 Jan 1799 Capt. J. B. Hay. Refitting at Portsmouth.

13 Aug-Oct 1799 employed on expedition to Holland.

19 Dec 1799 Portsmouth, departed with the Niger and Ceres with Russian troops, for Guernsey.

25 Apr 1800 departed, the Inflexible, Stately, Wassenaer, Alkmaar, Charon, Expedition, Hebe, Pallas, Romulus, Sensible, Niger, Resource, and Vestal, with troops ; the Commanders of which have sealed orders.

15 Sep 1800 a court martial was held on board the Sensible, in Sheerness harbour, to try James Blew of the Pouncer, for desertion, and was found guilty and in view of his former good character only to receive 200 lashes.

23 Oct 1800 Portsmouth, arrived the Sensible, Sheerness, and Dromedary, from the Downs.

12 Feb 1801 anchored in Table Bay the Romney and Sensible with a division of the 65th Regt of foot on board. Parted company off the Cape de Verds with the rest of a squadron consisting of the Sheerness and Wilhelmina, and a sloop of war. The 61st Regt is to be embarked, destination unknown.

14 May 1801 landed troops in bay of Kosseir.

21 Sep 1801 departed Macao Road, for Calcutta.

3 Mar 1802 a letter from an Officer of his Majesty's ship La Sensible, lost off the Island of Ceylon, on the 3d of March, says, "The Sensible is lost, and all hands, except one, are saved. At two o'clock in the morning of the 3d of March, she went on shore on the island of Ceylon a strong current must have taken us out of our course. The night was passed in the most anxious way imaginable, not knowing exactly where we were, close to the breakers, the surf on which got higher every minute, and all our efforts to get the ship off proved in vain she soon bilged, and at eight o'clock on Wednesday night, after sixteen hours severe fatigue, the Captain was obliged to order the people, for the preservation of their lives, to quit her. Thank God only one man was lost, who was found dead in the ship. Had we been a cable length, in either direction, from the place in which the vessel was wrecked, we must all inevitably have perished.

Captain Foote,of his Majesty's ship Sea Horse, has gained the highest praise here, for his exertions in saving the masts and stores of Le Sensible frigate, to which service he had been destined by Admiral Rainier : the ship having filled with water to the gundeck, rendered the operations peculiarly difficult ; the nautical skill of .Captain Foote, however, surmounted every obstacle, and every thing valuable has been saved from the wreck, except the provisions. The Sensible was not lost on the Molliwally Shoal, but a few miles to the Southward of it : the accident is said to have been occasioned by a strong Westerly current, from which the error in the reckoning arose.

17 Nov-30 Dec 1802 prize money resulting from the expedition to Holland due for payment.