Talk:HMS Assistance (1781)

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Great article. I was just visiting the 1783 disaster's sailor's graves at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. My question is about this sentence: "A memorial was later erected by Lt Halyburton's mother, Katherine, Countess of Morton." Is this memorial in the UK? Because there is one in New Jersey, where Halyburton and his men perished, as well as the gravestone where they are interred in New York. Any help is appreciated. -- K72ndst (talk) 02:28, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

The men were in pursuit of deserters, but were themselves caught in a blizzard. Their frozen bodies were subsequently discovered in a Sandy Hook salt marsh and committed to a common grave nearby. The site was later marked by a memorial erected by Lt. Halyburton's mother, the Dowager Countess of Morton, but was subsequently lost to neglect and deterioration. When the remains of the HMS Assistance casualties were re-discovered in 1908, they were transferred to Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. The present monument on Sandy Hook, a cenotaph, dates from 1939. Shipsview (talk) 10:36, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. I knew the parts about the crew and their fate. I lead walking tours of Cypress Hills National Cemetery and was there last Sunday (photos on http://k72ndst.tumblr.com). I have a photo of the crew memorial in Brooklyn that I'll add to this article. What I didn't know was the part about the Countess erecting her own memorial. That's a shame about it falling into disrepair and being lost. I've also been to Sandy Hook but haven't visited the centotaph yet. It's about an hour outside of NYC. Do you think the Royal Navy created any memorials in the U.K. for Halyburton? -- K72ndst (talk) 02:52, 8 November 2012 (UTC)