A fatal error in stability sank the world's largest warship

History · Published 18 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The HMS Royal George functioned as an eighteenth-century analogue to a weapon of mass destruction in 1782. Yet, this 100-gun powerhouse didn't fall to enemy fire, but to a preventable mistake during routine maintenance that claimed nearly 900 lives.

The disaster occurred on 29 August 1782, while the ship was anchored at Spithead. To perform maintenance on the hull, the crew performed a 'Parliamentary heel,' intentionally rolling the ship by moving heavy guns from the starboard side to the centerline. Nevertheless, placing heavy rum barrels on the tilted port side resulted in an unbalanced load. The vessel passed its centre of a gravity and began to sink.

The tragedy was compounded by a breakdown in command. When the ship's carpenter noticed the danger and pleaded with the officer of the watch, Lieutenant Monin Hollingbery, to signal the men to right the ship by beating a drum, Hollingberry refused. By the time the captain ordered the guns moved back, it was too late; water surged through the open port-side gun ports.

The sinking was devastating. While 255 people were saved, approximately 900 people perished, including up to 300 women and 60 children who were visiting the ship. Among the dead was Admiral Kempenfelt, whose cabin doors jammed during the tilt. The aftermath saw a court-martial that acquitted the officers, instead blaming the 'general state of decay' of the ship's timbers.

The wreck's legacy extended far beyond the tragedy. Decades later, salvage operations by the Deane brothers and Major-General Charles Pasley used innovative diving helmets and controlled gunpowder explosions to recover guns and debris. Parts of Nelson's Column in London's Trafalgar Square were eventually cast from bronze cannons recovered from the wreck.

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