The Day an American Warship Vanished: 86 Men, No Trace

The Day an American Warship Vanished: 86 Men, No Trace

The Atlantic swallowed an eighteen-gun sloop and 86 souls in December 1781 with no wreck, no bodies, and no distress signal - only one midshipman’s stunned testimony from a distant prize. What ignored flaw aboard the nearly new Saratoga set the stage for a disappearance that left no trace?

In this episode, we tell how the Saratoga’s documented ballast deficiency, noted during her first cruise and never corrected, accompanied her from Philadelphia to the Caribbean and into the squall that erased her. How did a ship praised for captures and commanded by an aggressive captain end up missing between one wave and the next?

Person: Captain John Young Date: December 18, 1781 Location: Atlantic Ocean Event: Disappearance of the sloop-of-war Saratoga Problem documented: Inadequate ballast noted during first cruise

- Saratoga’s keel was laid December 1779 and she was launched April 10, 1780 as an eighteen-gun sloop-of-war. - 86 men were aboard when the ship vanished; no wreckage or bodies were ever found. - Midshipman Penfield was watching from a prize vessel when he last saw open water where Saratoga had been. - The ballast deficiency was observed and recorded during her first cruise and remained uncorrected for nearly a year. - On December 15, 1780 Saratoga left the Delaware coast escorting twelve merchant vessels toward Hispaniola.

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