She was trying to deliver Grenville and his party to Cuxhaven, from where they were to proceed on a diplomatic mission to meet Frederick William III of Prussia in Berlin during the War of the Second Coalition.

At 1:30, on 2 February, all 187 persons on Proserpine left her and started the six-mile walk to the island Neuwerk, in freezing weather and falling snow.

Seven seamen, a boy, four Royal Marines, and one woman and her child died; the rest made it to safety in the tower of Neuwerk.

The diplomatic party reached Cuxhaven on 6 February to continue to Berlin via Hamburg and return to London on 23 March.

The collection is notable for its many editions of Homer, Aesop and Ariosto, for early travel books, and for literature in the Romance languages.