A limited number of reservations are still available for the Lewes, Del. based lecture/tours of the hull of His Majesty’s Sloop DeBraak, a British warship that was escorting and protecting a convoy of British and American merchant ships en route to the United States when it was capsized and lost off the Delaware coast on May 25, 1798. The program is a 2014 recipient of a Leadership in History Award, the American Association for State and Local History’s most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.
Lecture/tours, which are limited to 12 visitors per program, will take place at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the following Mondays during 2015 June 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29; July 6, 13, 20 and 27; Aug. 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31; and Sept. 14, 21 and 28. (Note: Tours will not be conducted on Sept. 7.) Free tours for current and former members of the U.S. military and their families will also be presented on Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 9 a.m. and Noon. Military identification is required for the June 6 tours.
All programs begin at the Zwaanendael Museum, located at 102 Kings Highway in Lewes, Del., where a lecture on the ship will be presented in conjunction with the exhibit “A Seaborne Citizenry: The DeBraak and Its Atlantic World.” The exhibit tells the story of the vessel, its crew and the historical context within which it operated in the late 18th century. Attendees of the lecture will then be transported, via van, to the DeBraak hull facility in nearby Cape Henlopen State Park for a tour of the surviving section of the ship’s hull.
Reservations for the lecture/tours are $10 per person (restricted to persons aged 10 and above) and are available only through the Shop Delaware website (go to http://shop.delaware.gov and click the “Tours” link). For additional information, call 302-645-1148.
Significance of DeBraak…
During the late-18th and early-19th centuries, sloops of war such as DeBraak played an increasingly important role in Royal Navy campaigns. These relatively small vessels combined speed, agility, shallow draft and increased firepower, all of which made them formidable naval vessels. As the only Royal Navy sloop of war from this time period that has been recovered anywhere in the world, DeBraak serves as an invaluable historical resource for a time when Great Britain was the world’s preeminent naval power.
The surviving section of the DeBraak’s hull and its associated artifact collection have been curated by the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs since they were acquired by the state of Delaware in 1992. Approximately one-third of the hull survives including the keel, keelson and framing elements of the lower hull and a large section of the starboard (right) side.
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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone: 302-736-7413
E-mail: Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web: http://history.delaware.gov