First and Second Rate Ships of the 18th Century

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HMS Queen Charlotte (1790)




Lord Howe's action, or the Glorious First of June by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, painted 1795, shows the two flagships engaged on 1 June 1794. Queen Charlotte is to the left and Montagne to the right.


HMS Queen Charlotte was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1790 at Chatham. She was built to the draught of Royal George designed by Sir Edward Hunt, though with a modified armament.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Queen Charlotte
Ordered:	12 December 1782
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	1 September 1785
Launched:	15 April 1790
Completed:	7 July 1790
Fate:	Blown up by accident, 17 March 1800
General characteristics
Class and type:	100-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2,286
Length:	190 ft (58 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	52 ft 5.5 in (15.989 m)
Depth of hold:	22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	100 guns: Gundeck: 30 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 28 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 12-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

In 1794 Queen Charlotte was the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, and in 1795 she took part in the Battle of Groix.

Fate.

At about 6am on 17 March 1800, whilst operating as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, Queen Charlotte was reconnoitering the island of Capraia, in the Tuscan Archipelago, when she caught fire. Keith was not aboard at the time and observed the disaster from the shore.

The fire was believed to have resulted from someone having accidentally thrown loose hay on a match tub. Two or three American vessels lying at anchor off Leghorn were able to render assistance, losing several men in the effort as the vessel's guns exploded in the heat. Captain A. Todd wrote several accounts of the disaster that he gave to sailors to give to the Admiralty should they survive. He himself perished with his ship. The crew was unable to extinguish the flames and at about 11am the ship blew up with the loss of 673 officers and men.

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HMS Ville de Paris.



The Ship Ville de Paris under Full Sail, a painting of Thomas Buttersworth

HMS Ville de Paris was a 110-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 July 1795 at Chatham Dockyard. She was designed by Sir John Henslow, and was the only ship built to her draught.

History
UK
Name:	HMS Ville de Paris
Ordered:	25 May 1788
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	1 July 1789
Launched:	17 July 1795
Fate:	Broken up, 1845
General characteristics
Class and type:	110-gun first rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2351 (bm)
Length:	190 ft (58 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	53 ft (16 m)
Depth of hold:	22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·110 guns: ·Gundeck: 30 × 32-pounder guns ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 32 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 14 × 12-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 12-pounder guns

HMS Ville de Paris was named after the French ship of the line Ville de Paris, flagship of François Joseph Paul de Grasse during the American Revolutionary War. That ship had been captured by the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782, but on the voyage to England, as a prize, she sank in a hurricane in September 1782.


She served as the flagship of John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, with the Channel Fleet.

On 17 August 1803, the boats of Ville de Paris captured the French privateer Messager from among the rocks off Ushant. Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded Lieutenant Watts, of Ville de Paris, with an honour sword worth £50 for his role in the cutting out expedition. Messager was pierced for eight guns but had six mounted, and had her owner and 40 men aboard when Watts arrived with his pinnace and 18 men. The British captured her before the other boats from Ville de Paris could arrive. The French put up a minimal resistance and only suffered a few men lightly wounded; the British suffered no casualties. The action occurred in sight of the hired armed cutter Nimrod. In January 1805 head and prize money from the proceeds of the French privateer Messager was due to be paid.

On 18 January 1808, following the Battle of Corunna, Ville de Paris (Captain John Surman Carden) evacuated twenty-three officers of the 50th, three of the 43rd, four of the 26th, three of the 18th, one of the 76th, two of the 52nd, two of the 36th, four Royal Engineers, and two Royal Artillery - a total of 44 officers, including General Sir David Baird, his ADC Captain Hon Alexander Gordon, Sir John Colborne and Lieutenant Henry Percy. Ville de Paris also embarked several thousand soldiers.

Later, Admiral Collingwood died aboard her of cancer while on service in the Mediterranean, off Port Mahón, on 7 March 1810.

On 22 July 1814, at the conclusion of the Peninsula War, Ville de Paris arrived off Portsmouth carrying the 43rd Light Infantry Battalion along with the 2nd Rifles.
Ville de Paris was placed on harbour service in 1824, and she was broken up in 1845.

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HMS Hibernia (1804)




HMS Hibernia was a 110-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Plymouth dockyard on 17 November 1804, and was the only ship built to her draught, designed by Sir John Henslow.

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Hibernia
Ordered:	9 December 1790
Builder:	Plymouth dockyard
Laid down:	November 1797
Launched:	17 November 1804
Fate:	Sold 1902
General characteristics
Class and type:	110-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2,530 (bm)
Length:	201 ft 2 in (61.32 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	53 ft 1 in (16.18 m)
Depth of hold:	22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	110 guns: Gundeck: 32 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 32 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 34 × 18-pounder guns QD: 12 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 4 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 18-pounder guns

Between 1807 and 1808, Hibernia, under the command of Sir William Sidney Smith, led the British escort of the Portuguese Royal Family during the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil.

Hibernia was flagship of the British Mediterranean Fleet from 1816 until 1855, when she became the flagship for the Royal Navy's base at Malta and stationed in Grand Harbour She remained in this role until she was sold in 1902.

After the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, HMS Hibernia was used in the service of the British Empire in other ways, such as to transport convicts to the colony of New South Wales. In 1818-1819, for example, the ship carried 160 male convicts to Sydney from Portsmouth sailing on 20 November and arriving 18 June. Also on board as passengers were the first Minister of St James' Church, Sydney, Richard Hill and his wife.

The ten-day court-martial of the surviving officers and crewmen of the battleship HMS Victoria for the loss of their ship in a 22 June 1893 collision with the battleship HMS Camperdown was held on Hibernia's deck. The proceedings began on 17 July 1893.


Hibernia in Grand Harbour Valletta.

Hibernia was sold in 1902 and broken up. Her timber ended up being used to fire bakeries in Malta, leading to an outbreak of lead poisoning on the island. A statue of the Virgin Mary, in her mantle as Queen of Heaven, was carved from a section of the ship's main mast and can be seen in the Collegiate Parish Church of St Paul's Shipwreck in Valletta.


Figurehead of HMS Hibernia.


Her figurehead is now displayed at the Malta Maritime Museum, which is housed in the former Royal Naval Bakery building in Birgu, Malta.

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HMS Caledonia (1808)



HMS Caledonia, 120 guns, lying in Plymouth Sound

HMS Caledonia was a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 25 June 1808 at Plymouth. She was Admiral Pellew's flagship in the Mediterranean.

History
UK
Name:	HMS Caledonia
Ordered:	19 January 1797
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	January 1805
Launched:	25 June 1808
Renamed:	HMS Dreadnought, 1856
Honours and awards:	Participated in bombardment of Algiers, 1816
Fate:	Broken up, 1875
General characteristics
Class and type:	Caledonia-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2616​5⁄94 (bm)
Length:	205 ft (62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	53 ft 6 in (16.31 m)
Depth of hold:	23 ft 2 in (7.06 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·120 guns: ·Gundeck: 32 × 32 pdrs ·Middle gundeck: 34 × 24 pdrs ·Upper gundeck: 34 × 18 pdrs ·Quarterdeck: 6 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades ·Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades ·Poop deck: 2 × 18 pdr carronades

Construction.

The Admiralty orders for Caledonia's construction were issued in November 1794, for a 100-gun vessel measuring approximately 2,600 tons burthen. There were considerable delays in obtaining dockyard facilities and in assembling a workforce, and actual building did not commence until 1805 when the keel was laid down at Plymouth Dockyard. By this time the designs had also been amended to stipulate construction of a 120-gun vessel of 2,616​⁵⁄₉₄ tons. When completed to this new design in 1808, Caledonia entered Royal Navy service as the largest and most heavily armed vessel of the time.

Active service.

Caledonia proved to be a very successful ship, and it was said that 'This fine three-decker rides easy at her anchors, carries her lee ports well, rolls and pitches quite easy, generally carries her helm half a turn a-weather, steers, works and stays remarkably well, is a weatherly ship, and lies-to very close.' She was 'allowed by all hands to be faultless'. In later years she was to become the standard design for British three-deckers.

On 12 February 1814 she took part with HMS Boyne in action against the French ship of the line Romulus off Toulon; the French vessel managed to escape to Toulon by sailing close to the coast to avoid being surrounded.



Fight of the Romulus against HMS Boyne and HMS Caledonia, by Gilbert Pierre-Julien (1783 - 1860)

In 1831 she was part of the Experimental Squadron of the Channel Fleet under Sir Edward Codrington. On 12 September that year she took part in an experiment whereby she was towed by the frigate HMS Galatea by means of hand-worked paddles alone.

In 1856 she was converted to a hospital ship, renamed Dreadnought and became the second floating Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital at Greenwich, where she remained until 1870. In 1871 she was briefly returned to service to accommodate patients recovering from the smallpox epidemic of that year.^] She was broken up in 1875.



Caledonia as Dreadnought towed away on her final voyage.

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Commerce de Marseille (1788)



¹⁄₄₈th scale model on display at Marseille maritime museum


Commerce de Marseille was a 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of the Océan class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the chamber of commerce of Marseille.

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History
France
Name:	Commerce de Marseille
Namesake:	Marseille
Ordered:	1786
Builder:	Arsenal de Toulon
Laid down:	April 1787
Launched:	7 August 1788
Completed:	October 1790
Out of service:	2 August 1850
Struck:	1802
Captured:	Seized as prize by Great Britain on 29 August 1793
Fate:	Broken up in 1856
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Commerce de Marseille
Out of service:	Broken up in 1856
General characteristics
Class and type:	Océan-classship of the line
Displacement:	5,098 tonnes
Tons burthen:	2,746 tonnes
Length:	65.18 m (213 ft 10 in) (196.6 French feet)
Beam:	16.24 m (53 ft 3 in) (50 French feet)
Draught:	8.12 m (26 ft 8 in) (25 French feet)
Propulsion:	sail, 3,265 m2 (35,140 sq ft)
Complement:	1,079
Armament:	Lower deck: lower deck: 32 × 36-pounder guns middle deck: 34 × 24-pounder guns upper deck: 34 × 12-pounder guns Fc: 18 × 8-pounder guns + 6 × 36-pounder carronades
Notes:	Length of gun deck was 208 ft 4 in (63.50 m), the longest of any 3-decker ever built. She was 2,746 tonnes burthen, also a record.

Career.

Built on state-of-the-art plans by Sané, she was dubbed the "finest ship of the century". Her construction was difficult because of a lack of wood, and soon after her completion, she was disarmed, in March 1791.


Commerce de Marseille at Toulon in 1788


Commerce de Marseille came under British control during the Siege of Toulon. When the city fell to the French, she evacuated the harbour for Portsmouth. She was briefly used as a stores ship, but on a journey to the Caribbean Sea, in 1795, she was badly damaged in a storm and had to limp back to Portsmouth. She remained there as a hulk until she was broken up in 1856.

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HMS. Salvador del Mundo. 1787



Salvador del Mundo receiving raking fire from HMS Victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent




Salvador del Mundo was a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Ferrol for the Spanish Navy in 1787 to plans by Romero Landa.

History
Spain.
Name:	Salvador del Mundo
Builder:	Reales Astilleros de Esteiro, Ferrol
Launched:	2 May 1787
Captured:	Captured by Royal Navy at the Battle of Cape St Vincent
Notes:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)
Great Britain.
Name:	HMS Salvador del Mundo
Acquired:	Captured on 14 February 1797
Fate:	Broken up in 1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Santa Ana-class ship of the line
Tonnage:	2,112 tonnes
Length:	56.14 m
Beam:	15.5 m
Draught:	7.37 m
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	801
Armament:	·On launch: ·30 × 36-pounder cannon ·32 × 24-pounder cannon ·32 × 12-pounder cannon ·18 × 8-pounder cannon
Armour:	None

One of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos. Salvador del Mundo served during the French Revolutionary Wars until its capture at the Battle of Cape St Vincent by a Royal Navy fleet on 14 February 1797. Salvador del Mundo remained in British hands throughout the Napoleonic Wars, serving as a harbour ship, until it was sold and broken up in 1815.

Construction.

The Santa Ana class was built for the Spanish fleet in the 1780s and 1790s as heavy ships of the line, the equivalent of Royal Navy first rate ships. The other ships of the class were the Santa Ana, Mexicano, San Hermenegildo, Conde de Regla, Real Carlos, Reina María Luisa and Príncipe de Asturias. Three of the class, including Salvador del Mundo, were captured or destroyed during the French Revolutionary Wars.

History.

In 1797 Salvador del Mundo participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent against the Royal Navy on 14 February under Brigadier Antonio Yepes. During the battle Salvador del Mundo was dismasted and badly damaged before being captured by the British, with losses of 41 killed, including Yepes, and 124 wounded. William Prowse took command of the prize ship. Three other Spanish ships were captured during the battle.

Salvador de Mundo was taken into the Royal Navy under her own name and subsequently served throughout the remainder of the French Revolutionary Wars and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars on harbour duties. At the conclusion of the wars, when she was decommissioned and broken up.

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HMS San Josef (1797)


HMS San Josef as a gunnery training ship in Plymouth


HMS San Josef was a 114-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Originally built at Ferrol in Galicia for the Spanish Navy in 1782–83, she was captured from the Spanish Navy at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797 (when she was still named in Spanish San José). In 1809 she served as the flagship of Admiral John Thomas Duckworth.

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History
Spain
Name:	San José
Ordered:	28 July 1781
Builder:	Ferrol
Laid down:	9 November 1782
Launched:	30 June 1783
Captured:	By the Royal Navy on 14 February 1797
Great Britain
Name:	HMS San Josef
Acquired:	Captured on 14 February 1797
Reclassified:	Gunnery training ship in 1837
Fate:	Broken up in May 1849
General characteristics
Class and type:	114-gun first rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2456 tons
Length:	194 ft 3 in (59.21 m) (gundeck) 156 ft 11 in (47.83 m) (keel)
Beam:	54 ft 3 in (16.54 m)
Depth of hold:	24 ft 3.5 in (7.404 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	839
Armament:	Lower gundeck: 32 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 32 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 32 × 12-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 12 × 9-pounder guns Forecastle: 6 × 4-pounder guns

Battle of Cape St Vincent.

The San José was among the Spanish fleet during the battle, during which HMS Captain, under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson came out of the line to attack the San Nicolás. After exchanging fire, Nelson led his forces aboard the San Nicolás. While the English were fighting their way aboard the San José continued to fire upon the Captain and the San Nicolás. The San José then fell upon the San Nicolás and their rigging became tangled. Trapped, the men from the San José continued to fire on the British boarding parties with muskets and pistols. Nelson then took his men from the decks of the San Nicolás aboard the San José, forcing the Spanish to surrender, with their Admiral badly injured. The San José and the San Nicolás, both captured by Nelson, were two of the four ships captured during the battle. After their capture they were renamed HMS San Josef and HMS San Nicolas respectively. The feat of using one enemy vessel as a 'stepping stone' to capture another was afterwards known in the Royal Navy as "Nelson's patent bridge for boarding first rates".


Print of San Josef in Spanish service



HMS San Josef in later Royal Naval service


Later career.


From 1839 San Josef was used as a gunnery training ship. From 10 August 1841 she was commanded by Captain Joseph Needham Tayler, serving as a guard ship at Devonport (established gunnery school). Other captains who served in her include: Captain Frederick William Burgoyne, while serving as the flagship of Samuel Pym, Plymouth; Captain Henry John Leeke; and Captain Thomas Maitland, as the flagship of Admiral William Hall Gage, Devonport. She was broken up a Devonport in May 1849.

Some small pieces of the San Josef still survive to this day. One is in the form of part of a wooden gun carriage; called a Quoin. This quoin can be found among the Valhalla figurehead collection in Tresco Abbey Gardens in the Isles of Scilly. Another is a carved Triumph of Arms from the stern rail sold at Bonhams in London in October 2014. Parts of the ship were used in the re-building of St Nicholas' Church, West Looe in 1852.