HMS Diligent (1776)
HMS "Diligent" was the mercantile schooner "Byfield", which the Royal Navy purchased in 1776. She was wrecked in the Bay of Fundy in May 1777. The Royal Navy commissioned "Diligent " under the command of Lieutenant Edmund Dod in July 1776. On 18 May 1777 Dod went aboard , Captain Andrew Barkley, that "Diligent" "was beat to pieces upon the Gannet Rock Ledges". Barkley took "Diligent"s officers and crew aboard "Scarborough" at noon. A report, in the "Independent Chronicle" of 19 June 1777, dated Halifax 27 May, stated that "Diligent" was lost on the Gannet Rocks in the Bay  of Fundy, and that the transport brig "Berry" had carried officers and crew to Annapolis Royal. "Diligent" had been leading a convoy on 16 May towards the Bay of Fundy in poor weather. Fog gave way to rain, and visibility was highly limited. No sooner had lookouts sighted breakers than she ran aground. Measures to free her failed. She ended up on her side and her crew spent the night holding on to her upturned hull. Next morning "Berry" took off her crew; no lives had been lost. Citations and references. Citations References