A View of the shipwreck and total loss of the St George and the Defence; Cressy can be seen top left of the picture
Service
On 24 December 1811 Cressy was off the west coast of Jutland, Denmark, under command by commander Charles Dudley Pater and in the company of St George, under Rear-admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds, and Defence, when an extratropical cyclone and heavy seas came up. St George was jury-rigged and so Captain Atkins of Defence refused to leave her without the Admiral's permission. As a result, both were wrecked near Ringkøbing. Cressy did not ask for permission and so avoided wrecking.[2]
Both St George and Defence lost almost all their crews, including the Admiral. Most of the bodies that came ashore were buried in the sand dunes of Thorsminde, which have been known ever since as "Dead Mens Dunes".[2]
Shortly after the outbreak of the War of 1812, on 12 August, Cressy shared in the seizure of several American vessels: Cuba, Caliban, Edward, Galen, Halcyon, and Cygnet.[a]
On 11 February 1813m Severn ran down and sank Wargrave. Cressy rescued Wargrave's crew. Wargrave, Ostler, master, was on a voyage from Dublin to Surinam.[4][b]
^Prize money was paid in November 1815. A first-class share was worth £360 2s 3d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £3 11s 7d.[3]
^Wargrave, of 175 tons (bm), had been launched in Denmark in 1801.[5]
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