Association

LOST  October 22, 1707

Off the Scilly Isles, Southwest of England

Navigation errors and Gale winds caused the peril of 1800 men and four of Britain's mighty warships.

A 90-gun, second-rate English warship, HMS Association was the flagship of Sir Cloudesley Shovell, who had worked his way up from lowly cabin boy to become Admiral of the Fleet in1705. Shovell had distinguished himself in the Nine Years' War and in early skirmishes of the War of the Spanish Succession, but after a summer spent (unsuccessfully) laying siege to the French port of Toulon, he set sail for home, departing from Gibraltar for England in late September 1707. Three other ships HMS Eagle, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand were also lost.  The Scilly naval disaster was one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history.