"rover" was wrecked in the gulf of st lawrence on 23 june 1798, but her crew were saved. she was convoying the transport "elizabeth" to quebec when she entered a fog. the pilot got a brief sight of land that he believed was scaterie island. as a result, he was comfortable continuing to maintain course. when lookouts spotted breakers ahead early in the evening it was too late to turn her and she struck rocks on cape breton island. eventually a seaman was able to swim to shore with a line that the crew then used to leave "rover", which was by then filling rapidly with water. all the men reached the shore and the crew finally abandoned her on 26 june, at which time they sailed her boats to sydney, nova scotia. the court martial attributed the loss of "rover" to a very strong current.