On October 18th 1782 the Le Scipion, a French 74 gun ship of the line, ran aground in the Bay of Samana here in the Dominican Republic after a full scale gun battle with two English war ships the London and the Torbay! Today a full scale recovery is underway, led by the Deep Blue Marine Inc., of Florida who has already brought to the surface numerous artifacts and taken amazing under water shots to capture this incredible discovery. They are in the process of mapping and taking inventory the story of this once invincible French Gun Ship!

The Scipion has a superb valiant history being one of the 20 ships sent to America by France to assist in the War of Independence.  Before reaching Caribbean waters she was involved in the Chesapeake Bay blockade between the French and English August 18th of 1781.  Some historians declare today that this was an action that was in fact the turning point for America in her struggle for independence from the English!  The Chesapeake Bay encounter commenced when France sent their fleet into the bay ahead of the English, and when the English arrived later were taken off guard and were surprised to find the French lying in wait! This resulted in mass confusion the with English stumbling and gave General George Washington time to relocate his forces thus cutting off major supply lines to the English.  So on October 19th, 1781 Cornwallis of the English side was forced to surrender in Yorktown!

After the victory at Chesapeake Bay, the history of the Scipion becomes a little bit murky.  Historians know that she was ordered to move with the French fleet under the command of De Grasse and onto Jamaica where she met with the Spanish to join forces and lay siege at Port Royal.  En masse they continued to the north shores of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic) 20 ships in total where they met with the British Fleet under the command of Admiral Rodney.  Rodney on April 9th, 1782 attacked and a four day gun battle ensued with both sides taking heavy causalities.  The Battle is remembered as Battle of the Saints.  The Scipion, historians know endured the four day battle but what happened next has historians split down the middle.  Some say she then went on to Jamaica to meet up again with the Spanish and to lay siege at Port Royal, others say she made her way to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to take on board an unknown cargo with orders to sail back home.

Both of these are plausible stories as to what happened next in her extraordinary history, as both positions would put her in place of the Mona Passage, a treacherous stretch of deep water in the Caribbean, date being around October 17th, 1782.  Here the Scipion was spotted by two English vessels which gave chase.  With weather and size of ship being on the side of the English they quickly closed distance on the Scipion and her escort the La Sybille.  La Sybille was a 40 gun frigate. 

The two English vessels were the London a 98 gun ship and the Torbay a 74 gun ship.  However the French captain showed great strength and courage as he engaged the enemy vessels and broadsided the London with heavy cannon fire!  The London’s rigging became untangled which the Torbay got caught up in enabling the Scipion to move swiftly away trying to find a suitable place with which to launch their defensive action.  The Scipion rounded at Samana Bay and prepared to drop anchor, her Captain was seriously injured having taken a musket ball to his thigh, 15 sailors were dead with another 43 seriously injured.  Turning around in Samana Bay the Scipion struck a coral head leaving the hull of the boat ripped wide open and sadly sinking in 30 feet of water!

The Scipion toady lies at a 15 degree angle and mostly under sand. Most of the 74 guns broke loose during her sinking and lie on the ocean floor.  The guns range from large 32 pounders (the guns are measured by the weight of their shot) originally on the main gun deck to the 6 pounders which were on the quarter deck.  You may enquire as to what became of the injured Captain de Grimoard, well he was asked to account for the loss of his ship as were all French captains at the time, the King of France promoted him to Admiral a position he held right up unto his death.  Napoleon ordered this brave captains death and Admiral de Grimoard true to his King and country was beheaded rather than abandon his duty.

Present day recovery of the Scipion by Deep Blue Marine has unearthed a treasure trove of information including enough serious artifacts to place appositive identification of her.  The president of Deep Blue Marine Mr. Wilf Blum has said that in the past the French have searched for her remains and that America owes a great debt of gratitude to the brave captain and his brave man who helped in making America what it is today.  They hope to bring to the surface a history of the brave men who lived and died on board the great vessel. 

Captain Tracy Bowden who located the wreckage in Samana Bay has recovered several guns and other artifacts so far including 5 bottles of wine!  They have also found over 1,000 pages of vital information about the wreck and the gun ship including blue prints, the Scipions construction history, stores, payroll and possible cargos all once carried on board this mighty war vessel.

See below more exciting photographs courtesy of the Deep Blue Marine Inc.,..  as this fabulous discovery still unfolds today…