Commander the Honourable Pownoll Bastard Pellew replaced him in May, and sailed Fly to Jamaica.

[1] Fly was escorting a convoy of eight merchantmen when just before midnight on 7 March 1805 she struck a reef.

Morning revealed that the vessels were close to the Florida shore, five miles south of Key Largo.

Despite attempts to lighten Fly by cutting her masts and jettisoning her guns and shot, she was taking on water as the waves pounded her, weakening her beams.

The court martial found that the chart Pellew was using contained a major error.