First and Second Rate Ships of the 18th Century

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HMS Prince of Wales (1794)


By Джошуа Кристалл

HMS Prince of Wales was a Boyne (old) Class 98-gun second rate ship of the line,M/ shipwright George White, and completed by Edward Tippett launched on 28 June 1794 at Portsmouth.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Prince of Wales
Ordered:	29 November 1783
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	May, 1784
Launched:	28 June 1794
Fate:	Broken up, 1822
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Groix Battle of Cape Finisterre
General characteristics
Class and type:	Boyne-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2024 ​1⁄94 (bm)
Length:	182 ft 3 in (55.55 m) (gundeck) 149 ft 11.375 in (45.70413 m) (keel)
Beam:	50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	98 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

She was commissioned in 1794 under Captain John Bazley as Flagship of Rear Admiral Henry Harvey,who commanded a squadron in the North Sea and later participated in the Battle of Groix in 1795. and 1798 at the capture of Trinidad under Captain Richard Brown.
In 1799 under Captain Adrian Renou now as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour she took part in the capture of Surinam
Prince of Wales served under Captain William Prowse as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Robert Calder in the chase of Gantheaume to the West Indies in the Spring of 1801. and at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, under Captain William Cuming in 1805.


A French prisoner's of war model of HMS. Prince of Wales.


She was not present at Trafalgar. In consequence of the strong feeling against him for his conduct at Cape Finisterre, Calder had demanded a court-martial. Nelson was ordered to send Calder home, and allowed him to return in his own flagship, even though battle was imminent. Calder left in early October 1805, missing the battle.

In Hood's squadron, on the 15th of July 1806, her boats, along with others, cut out the French 16 gun Le Cesar in the estuary of the Gironde.

She sailed for the Baltic on the 26th of July, 1807, as the Flagship of Admiral James Gambier for the expedition to Copenhagen.
In 1812 she had a short cruise in the Med under Captain John Erskine Douglas, and was then laid up at Portsmouth in the July of 1814.

Prince of Wales was finally broken up there in December 1822.

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HMS Neptune (1797)





HMS Neptune was a 98-gun second rateship of the line built at Deptford Dockyard commencing on the 15th of February, 1790, to a design developed by Surveyor of the NavySir John Henslow. She was one of three ships of the Neptune class, alongside her sisters HMS Temeraire and HMS Dreadnought. Neptune was laid down at Deptford in April 1791, having received her name on the 24th of July, 1790. The initial stages of her construction were overseen by Master Shipwright Martin Ware, though he was succeeded by Thomas Pollard in June 1795, and Pollard oversaw her completion. Neptune was launched on 28 January 1797 and sailed to Woolwich to be fitted for sea. Arriving at Woolwich on 12 February, she was immediately docked to have her copper sheathing fitted, a process that was completed by 1 March. Launched again, she finished fitting out, and received her masts and yards.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Neptune
Ordered:	15 February 1790
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	April 1791
Launched:	28 January 1797
Fate:	Broken up in October 1818
General characteristics
Class and type:	Neptune-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	2110 ​53⁄94 (bm)
Length:	185 ft (56 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	51 ft (16 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	750
Armament:	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

She was commissioned on the 25th of March, 1797 under Captain Henry Stanhope, becoming the third ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Neptune.
Stanhope sailed from Woolwich on 11 June 1797, flying the broad pendant of CommodoreSir Erasmus Gower, and made for the Nore

Mutiny at the Nore.

Shortly after her arrival at the Nore, Neptune became caught up in the mutiny that had broken out there. While lying at Gravesend, Neptune and the 64-gun ships HMS Agincourt and HMS Lancaster, together with a fleet of gunboats, were ordered to intercept and attack the mutinous ships at the Nore. Before they could proceed word came that the mutineers had entered negotiations with the Earl of Northesk, captain of the 64-gun HMS Monmouth, and by 9 June the mutiny was on the verge of collapse. The attack was called off, and on 21 September Stanhope was superseded by Gower as captain of Neptune. The crisis over, Neptune joined the Channel Fleet.

Mediterranean.

Gower remained in command of Neptune until his promotion to rear-admiral of the white, at which point Herbert Sawyer became her acting-captain. Sawyer was in command until 22 January 1799, and Gower left her on 28 February 1799. Command of the ship formally passed to Captain James Vashon on 5 March 1799.
The first half of 1799 was spent with the Channel Fleet, and in June Neptune was one of 15 ships of the line assigned to join Vice-Admiral Lord Keith's fleet in the Mediterranean.

The squadron, commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, rendezvoused with Keith's force at Menorca on 7 July, bringing the British fleet in the Mediterranean up to 31 ships. Keith intended to intercept a large Franco-Spanish force of 42 ships under Admirals Étienne Eustache Bruix and Jose Mazarredo, and set out to sea on 10 July. Bruix' expedition evaded Keith, and reached the safety of Brest on 9 August. Neptune went on to spend the rest of the French Revolutionary Wars in the Mediterranean.

Vashon was superseded on 26 March 1801, and the following day Captain Edward Brace arrived to take command. Neptune became the flagship of Vice-Admiral James Gambier during this period. Brace's period of command was brief, he was superseded by Captain Francis Austen on 12 September. With the draw down in hostilities prior to the signing of the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, Neptune was one of the many ships of the Mediterranean fleet to be ordered home, arriving at Portsmouth on 24 February. Austen paid her off on 29 April, but recommissioned her the next day. Neptune then underwent a brief refit, Austen was superseded on 30 September 1802 and the following day Captain William O'Bryen Drury took command. With Neptune fully refitted and stored, she sailed from the dockyard and joined the Channel Fleet at Spithead on 29 October.

Blockade, and approach to Trafalgar.

Drury commanded Neptune for the next two years, until his promotion to rear-admiral in 1804. He departed the ship on 13 May 1804, and the following day Captain Sir Thomas Williams took over. Neptune spent the rest of 1804 deployed with the Channel Fleet, blockading the French Atlantic ports. During this time Captain Williams' health progressively worsened, and he was invalided back to Britain on 7 May 1805. He was replaced by Captain Thomas Fremantle on 8 May, and was sent to join Robert Calder's force blockading Ferrol, after the Franco-Spanish fleet had arrived there after the Battle of Cape Finisterre. Calder decided that his eight ships were not sufficient to resist Villeneuve's fleet were it to come out of harbour, and instead went north to join Admiral William Cornwallis's fleet off Brest. Shortly afterwards Nelson's fleet returned from the West Indies, bringing 12 more ships, and Calder was given 18 ships, including Neptune, and sent back to Ferrol to search for Villeneuve. By now Villeneuve had put into Cadiz and Calder's force was ordered to join the hastily assembled British fleet under Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, that was blockading the Franco-Spanish fleet at Cadiz. As the British fleet settled in for a long blockade Fremantle commented on Neptune's sailing qualities. She had the reputation of being slow, and Fremantle complained that he did not like being in 'a large ship that don't sail and must continually be late in action. During the battle however, Midshipman William Baddock commented that 'The old Neptune, which never was a good sailer, took it into her head that morning to sail better than I ever remember to have seen her do before. Neptune went into the battle 18 men short of her complement.

Trafalgar.

Neptune formed part of the weather column in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, and was the third ship from the lead, situated between her sister HMS Temeraire, and the 74-gun HMS Leviathan. Fremantle had been promised a position second to Nelson aboard HMS Victory, and by 10 o'clock was sailing fast enough to threaten to overtake her. Fremantle hoped to pass her, and lead the line into battle, but Nelson ordered 'Neptune, take in your studding-sails and drop astern. I shall break the line myself. Neptune went into action with her band playing, and everyone except the officers and the band lying down on the deck to protect them from enemy fire. Ahead of her Fremantle saw Eliab Harvey's Temeraire turn to pass astern of the French Redoutable, but resolved to follow Nelson and HMS Victory to pass astern of the French flagship Bucentaure. As she passed under Bucentaure's stern, Neptune discharged a double-shotted broadside from her larboard (port) guns, with devastating consequences on Villeneuve's already disabled flagship. Fremantle then had the helm swung hard to starboard, bringing his ship abeam of the Bucentaure. He fired two more triple-shotted broadsides from nearly 50 guns at a range of less than 100 yards into the beleaguered French ship.



The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805: beginning of the action by Thomas Buttersworth (oil on canvas).

The ship in the right foreground is the Bucentaure in starboard-bow view, with her mizzen mast and main topgallant mast shot away. In port-bow view and passing astern of her is Neptune, delivering raking fire. On the left of the picture, the port-stern of HMS Victory is visible, passing astern of Santísima Trinidad and raking her. On Victory's starboard side is the French Redoubtable.



Neptune engaged, Trafalgar, 1805, by John Francis Sartorius. HMS Neptune, seen in bow profile, exchanges broadsides with the Spanish Santísima Trinidad

Fremantle then spotted the towering mass of the Spanish four-decker Santísima Trinidad sailing away from him, and steered towards her starboard quarter in the hope of raking her stern. Opening fire with his larboard battery, he positioned Neptune off the Spanish vessel's starboard beam and the two exchanged heavy fire for the next hour as more British ships poured through the gap astern of Neptune. Neptune took fire from other ships of the combined fleet as they sailed past Santísima Trinidad, heavily battered by Neptune's guns, as well as those from the 74-gun ships HMS Leviathan and HMS Conqueror, became completely dismasted and covered in debris. She fought on until 5.30 pm, when she struck her colours, having sustained casualties of 205 dead and 103 wounded. Neptune left the 98-gun HMS Prince to take possession and headed north to cut off the remains of the enemy fleet, briefly becoming engaged with the French 74-gun Intrépide. During the battle Neptune suffered considerable damage to her masts, although they did not fall. Most of her rigging was cut to pieces and she sustained nine shot holes in her hull. She sustained casualties of ten killed and 34 wounded. A remarkably small proportion of her officers became casualties, with only the captain's clerk, Richard Hurrell, being wounded.


H.M.S 'Victory' towed into Gibraltar, watercolour study by Clarkson Stanfield. HMS Victory, seen in full starboard view, is towed into Gibraltar by HMS Neptune, seven days after the Battle of Trafalgar.


After the battle Collingwood transferred his flag from the damaged HMS Royal Sovereign to the frigate HMS Euryalus, and on 22 October Neptune took the Royal Sovereign in tow. On 23 October, as the Franco-Spanish forces that had escaped into Cadiz sortied under Commodore Julien Cosmao, Neptune cast off the tow, surrendering the duty to HMS Mars, and took on board Villeneuve and several captured flag captains, who had originally been aboard Mars. As the weather continued to deteriorate Neptune sent her boats to assist in the evacuation of the Santísima Trinidad before she foundered. After riding out the storm she took the battered Victory, carrying Lord Nelson's body, in tow on 26 October and brought her into Gibraltar on 28 October.

West Indies.

After undergoing some repairs at Gibraltar Neptune sailed to Britain, arriving at Portsmouth on 6 December 1805, where she was paid off.

She was moved to Spithead in 1806, but was back in Portsmouth on 23 November, and was moved into a dock on 24 March 1807 to undergo a refit. The refit lasted until November 1807 and involved having her copper sheathing removed and her hull refitted. She was then recoppered, She was recommissioned on 18 August 1807 under her old commander, Captain Sir Thomas Williams, and was relaunched three days later on 21 August to complete her refit. She was initially assigned to serve in the English Channel, but was moved to the West Indies in 1808. On 9 November Williams was superseded by Captain Thomas Pinto, who only spent six weeks in command before being succeeded by Captain Charles Dilkes on 20 December.

In January 1809 an attack on the French colony of Martinique, governed by Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse, was planned. Neptune became the flagship of the expedition's commander, Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, and the invasion force, consisting of 44 vessels and transports for 10,000 troops under Lieutenant-General George Beckwith, sailed on 28 January. The force arrived at Martinique on 30 January, and 3,000 troops were landed under Major-General Frederick Maitland without resistance. 600 troops were put ashore at Cape Solomon under Major Henderson, both landings supervised by Captain William Charles Fahie aboard the 74-gun HMS Belleisle. An additional force of 6,500 men were landed in the north of the island under Major-General Sir George Prévost, and the French were driven into several fortified positions, the last of which surrendered on 24 February 1809.

Battle with Troude.



Engraving entitled Intrepid behaviour of Captain Charles Napier, in HM 18 gun Brig Recruit for which he was appointed to the D' Haupoult. The 74 now pouring a broadside into her. 15 April 1809, by G. W. Terry.

Cochrane's squadron remained in the area blockading the island, and in March a French squadron consisting of three 74-gun ships, Hautpoult, Courageux and Polonais, and two frigates, Félicité and Furieuse, under the overall command of Commodore Amable Troude, arrived in the Caribbean. Finding Martinique in British hands, Troude anchored near Îles des Saintes.

There they were blockaded until 14 April, when Cochrane removed this threat. A British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, landed troops on the islands capturing them.^[13] The British then installed heavy guns on vantage points.

Threatened, Troude put to sea, chased by Cochrane's squadron. After a running battle over several days the Hautpoult was brought to action and captured. Neptune's captain, Charles Dilkes, was given command of her, while Captain James Athol Wood succeeded him in command of Neptune on 2 August.

Neptune was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the islands.

Final years.

Dilkes resumed command of Neptune on 2 March 1810, while Wood was exchanged into HMS Pompee. Dilkes had apparently been suffering poor health, and Captain N Ballard took command in an acting capacity on 22 July. Neptune returned to Plymouth on 26 October and entered the dock on 9 November to be fitted for the ordinary, and after undocking on 8 December she was laid up in the Hamoaze until late autumn 1813. Her hull appears to have quickly deteriorated, and after a survey she was deemed unfit for further service at sea. The Navy Board proposed that she be converted into a prison ship, a recommendation the Admiralty accepted, and she was taken in hand for fitting out on 22 November.

On the completion of the work in December she was commissioned under Lieutenant George Lawrence, Neptune spent three years in this role, and was finally broken up in October 1818.

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HMS Temeraire (1798)





Temeraire was ordered from Chatham Dockyard on 9 December 1790, to a design developed by Surveyor of the NavySir John Henslow. She was one of three ships of the Neptune class, alongside her sisters HMS Neptune and HMS Dreadnought. The keel was laid down at Chatham in July 1793. Her construction was initially overseen by Master Shipwright Thomas Pollard and completed by his successor Edward Sison.



Temeraire was launched on 11 September 1798 and the following day was taken into the graving dock to be fitted for sea. Her hull was fitted with copper sheathing, a process that took two weeks to complete. Refloated, she finished fitting out, and received her masts and yards.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Temeraire
Ordered:	9 December 1790
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	July 1793
Launched:	11 September 1798
Reclassified:	·Prison ship 1813–1819 ·Receiving ship 1820–1828 ·Victualling depot 1828–1836 ·Guard ship 1836–1838
Fate:	Broken up in 1838
General characteristics
Class and type:	Neptune-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	2,120​58⁄94 (bm)
Length:	·185 ft (56 m) (gundeck) ·152 ft 8 in (46.53 m) (keel)
Beam:	51 ft 2 in (15.60 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	738
Armament:	·98 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounder guns ·Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounder guns

Commissioning.
She was commissioned on 21 March 1799 under Captain Peter Puget, Puget was in command only until 26 July 1799, during which time he oversaw the process of fitting the new Temeraire for sea. He was superseded by Captain Thomas Eyles on 27 July 1799, while the vessel was anchored off St Helens, Isle of Wight.

Duty in the Channel Fleet.

Under Eyles's command Temeraire finally put to sea at the end of July, flying the flag of Rear Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, and joined the Channel Fleet under the overall command of Admiral Lord Bridport. The Channel Fleet was at that time principally engaged in the blockade of the French port of Brest, and Temeraire spent several long cruises of two or three months at a time patrolling the area. Eyles was superseded during this period by Temeraire's former commander, Captain Puget, who resumed command on 14 October 1799, and the following month Temeraire became the flagship of Rear Admiral James Whitshed.

Lord Bridport had been replaced as commander of the Channel Fleet by Admiral Lord St Vincent in mid-1799, and the long blockade cruises were sustained throughout the winter and into the following year. On 20 April 1800 Puget was superseded as commander by Captain Edward Marsh. Marsh commanded Temeraire through the remainder of that year and for the first half of 1801, until his replacement, Captain Thomas Eyles, arrived to resume command on 31 August. Rear Admiral Whitshed had also struck his flag by now, and Temeraire became the flagship of Rear Admiral George Campbell. By this time the Second Coalition against France had collapsed, and negotiations for peace were underway at Amiens. and command of the Channel Fleet passed to Admiral Sir William Cornwallis. With the end of the war imminent, Temeraire was taken off blockade duty and sent to Bantry Bay to await the arrival of a convoy, which she would then escort to the West Indies.

Mutiny.

Many of the crew had been serving continuously in the navy since the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, and had looked forward to returning to England now that peace seemed imminent. On hearing rumours that instead they were to be sent to the West Indies, around a dozen men began to agitate for the rest of the crew to refuse orders to sail for anywhere but England.



The first open clash between the mutineers and officers came on the morning of 3 December, when a small group of sailors gathered on the forecastle and, refusing orders to leave, began to argue with the officers. Captain Eyles asked to know their demands, which were an assurance that Temeraire would not go to the West Indies, but instead would return to England. Eventually Rear Admiral Campbell came down to speak to the men, and having informed them that the officers did not know the destination of the ship, he ordered them to disperse. The men went below decks and the incipient mutiny appeared to have been quashed. The ringleaders, numbering around a dozen, remained determined however, and made discreet inquiries among the rest of the crew. Having eventually determined that the majority of the crew would, if not actually support a mutiny, at least not oppose it, and that Temeraire's crew would be supported by the ship's marines as well as the crews of some of the other warships in Bantry Bay, they decided to press ahead with their plans. The mutiny began with the crew closing the ship's gunports, effectively barricading themselves below deck. Having done so, they refused orders to open them again, jeered the officers and threatened violence. The crew then came up on deck and once again demanded to know their destination and refused to obey orders to sail for anywhere but England. Having presented their demands they returned below decks and resumed the usual shipboard routine as much as they could.



Alarmed by the actions of Temeraire's crew, Campbell met with Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell the following day and informed him of the mutineers' demands. Mitchell reported the news to the Admiralty while Campbell returned to Temeraire and summoned the crew on deck once more. He urged them to return to duty, and then dismissed them. Meanwhile, discipline had begun to break down among the mutineers. Several of the crew became drunk, and some of the officers were struck by rowdy seamen. When one of the marines who supported the mutiny was placed in irons for drunken behaviour and insolence, a crowd formed on deck and tried to free him. The officers resisted these attempts and as sailors began to push and threaten them, Campbell gave the order for the marines to arrest those he identified as the ringleaders. The marines hesitated, but then obeyed the order, driving the unruly seamen back and arresting a number of them, who were immediately placed in irons. Campbell ordered the remaining crew to abandon any mutinous actions, and deprived of its leaders, the mutiny collapsed, though the officers were on their guard for several days afterwards and the marines were ordered to carry out continuous patrols.



News of the mutiny created a sensation in England, and the Admiralty ordered Temeraire to sail immediately for Spithead while an investigation was carried out. Vice-Admiral Mitchell was granted extraordinary powers regarding the death sentence and Temeraire's marine complement was hastily augmented for the voyage to England. On the ship's arrival, the 14 imprisoned ringleaders were swiftly court-martialled in Portsmouth aboard HMS Gladiator, some on 6 January 1802 and the rest on 14 January. After deliberations, twelve were sentenced to be hanged, and the remaining two were to receive two hundred lashes each. Four men were duly hanged aboard Temeraire, and the remainder were hanged aboard several of the ships anchored at Portsmouth, including HMS Majestic, HMS Formidable, HMS Achille and HMS Centaur.

West Indies and the peace.



After the executions, Temeraire sailed for Barbados, arriving there on 24 February, and remained in the West Indies until the summer. During her time there the Treaty of Amiens was finally signed and ratified, and Temeraire was ordered back to Britain. She arrived at Plymouth on 28 September and was paid her off, Temeraire was then laid up in the Hamoaze for the next eighteen months.

Return to service.

Command was assigned to Captain Eliab Harvey, and he took up his commission on 1 January 1804, sailing to join the Channel Fleet, still under the overall command of Admiral Cornwallis.



Temeraire now resumed her previous duties blockading the French at Brest. Harvey was temporarily replaced by Captain William Kelly on 27 August 1804, and he in turn was succeeded by Captain George Fawke on 6 April 1805. Harvey returned to his ship on 9 July 1805, and it was while he was in command that the reinforced Rochefort squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder intercepted and attacked a Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre.



The Admiralty now appointed Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson to take command of the blockading force at Cadiz, which at the time was being commanded by Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. Nelson was told to pick whichever ships he liked to serve under him, and one of those he specifically chose was Temeraire.


Battle of Trafalgar.



Temeraire duly received orders to join the Cadiz blockade, and having sailed to rendezvous with Collingwood, Nelson's flagship, the 100-gun HMS Victory, arrived off Cadiz on 28 September, and he took over command of the fleet from Collingwood. He spent the next few weeks forming his plan of attack in preparation for the expected sortie of the Franco-Spanish fleet, issuing it to his captains on 9 October in the form of a memorandum. The memorandum called for two divisions of ships to attack at right angles to the enemy line, severing its van from the centre and rear. A third advance squadron would be deployed as a reserve, with the ability to join one of the lines as the course of the battle dictated. Nelson placed the largest and most powerful ships at the heads of the lines, with Temeraire assigned to lead Nelson's own column into battle. The fleet patrolled a considerable distance from the Spanish coast to lure the combined fleet out, and the ships took the opportunity to exercise and prepare for the coming battle.






An 1848 plan of the fleet positions at the Battle of Trafalgar. Temeraire forms part of the weather column, and is depicted abreast of the Victory, racing her for the Franco-Spanish line.



Henry Blackwood, a long-standing friend of Nelson and commander of the frigate HMS Euryalus that day, suggested that Nelson come aboard his ship to better observe and direct the battle. Nelson refused, so Blackwood instead tried to convince him to let Harvey come past him in the Temeraire, and so lead the column into battle. Nelson agreed to this, and signaled for Harvey to come past him. As Temeraire drew up towards Victory, Nelson decided that if he was standing aside to let another ship lead his line, so too should Collingwood, commanding the lee column of ships. He signaled Collingwood, aboard his flagship HMS Royal Sovereign, to let another ship come ahead of him, but Collingwood continued to surge ahead. Reconsidering his plan, Nelson is reported to have hailed Temeraire, as she came up alongside Victory, with the words "I'll thank you, Captain Harvey, to keep in your proper station, which is astern of the Victory". Nelson's instruction was followed up by a formal signal and Harvey dropped back reluctantly, but otherwise kept within one ship's length of Victory as she sailed up to the Franco-Spanish line.



Closely following Victory as she passed through the Franco-Spanish line across the bows of the French flagship Bucentaure, Harvey was forced to sheer away quickly, just missing Victory's stern. Turning to starboard, Harvey made for the 140-gun Spanish ship Santísima Trinidad and engaged her for twenty minutes, taking raking fire from two French ships, the 80-gun Neptune and the 74-gun Redoutable, as she did so. Redoutable's broadside carried away Temeraire's mizzen topmast. While avoiding a broadside from Neptune, Temeraire narrowly avoided a collision with Redoutable. Another broadside from Neptune brought down Temeraire's fore-yard and main topmast, and damaged her fore mast and bowsprit. Harvey now became aware that Redoutable had come up alongside Victory and swept her decks with musket fire and grenades. A large party of Frenchmen now gathered on her decks ready to board Victory. Temeraire was brought around; appearing suddenly out of the smoke of the battle and slipping across Redoutable's stern, Temeraire discharged a double-shotted broadside into her. Jean Jacques Étienne Lucas, captain of Redoutable, recorded that:-



"... the three-decker [Temeraire] – who had doubtless perceived that the Victory had ceased fire and would inevitably be taken – ran foul of the Redoutable to starboard and overwhelmed us with the point-blank fire of all her guns. It would be impossible to describe the horrible carnage produced by the murderous broadside of this ship. More than two hundred of our brave lads were killed or wounded by it."

Temeraire and Redoutable.






The Battle of Trafalgar, 1836 oil on canvas by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield.

Stanfield shows the damaged Redoutable caught between Victory (foreground) and Temeraire (seen bow on). Fougueux, coming up on Temeraire's starboard side, has just received a broadside.
Temeraire then rammed into Redoutable, dismounting many of the French ship's guns, and worked her way alongside, after which her crew lashed the two ships together. Temeraire now poured continuous broadsides into the French ship, taking fire as she did so from the 112-gun Spanish ship Santa Ana lying off her stern, and from the 74-gun French ship Fougueux, which came up on Temeraire's un-engaged starboard side. Harvey ordered his gun crews to hold fire until Fougueux came within point blank range. Temeraire's first broadside against Fougueux at a range of 100 yards (91 m) caused considerable damage to the Frenchman's rigging, and she drifted into Temeraire, whose crew promptly lashed her to the side. Temeraire was now lying between two French 74-gun ships. As Harvey later recalled in a letter to his wife "Perhaps never was a ship so circumstanced as mine, to have for more than three hours two of the enemy's line of battle ships lashed to her. Redoutable, sandwiched between Victory and Temeraire, suffered heavy casualties, reported by Captain Lucas as amounting to 300 dead and 222 wounded. During the fight grenades thrown from the decks and topmasts of Redoutable killed and wounded a number of Temeraire's crew and set her starboard rigging and foresail on fire. There was a brief pause in the fighting while both sides worked to douse the flames. Temeraire narrowly escaped destruction when a grenade thrown from Redoutable exploded on her maindeck, nearly igniting the after-magazine. Master-At-Arms John Toohig prevented the fire from spreading and saved not only Temeraire, but the surrounding ships, which would have been caught in the explosion.
After twenty minutes fighting both Victory and Temeraire, Redoutable had been reduced to a floating wreck. Temeraire had also suffered heavily, damaged when Redoutable's main mast fell onto her poop deck, and having had her own topmasts shot away. Informed that his ship was in danger of sinking, Lucas finally called for quarter to Temeraire. Harvey sent a party across under the second lieutenant, John Wallace, to take charge of the ship.

Temeraire and Fougueux.

Lashed together, Temeraire and Fougueux exchanged fire, Temeraire initially clearing the French ship's upper deck with small arms fire. The French rallied, but the greater height of the three-decked Temeraire compared to the two-decked Fougueux thwarted their attempts to board. Instead Harvey dispatched his own boarding party, led by First-Lieutenant Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, which entered Fougueux via her main deck ports and chains. The French tried to defend the decks port by port, but were steadily overwhelmed. Fougueux's captain, Louis Alexis Baudoin, had suffered a fatal wound earlier in the fighting, leaving Commander François Bazin in charge. When he learned that nearly all the officers were dead or wounded and that most of the guns were out of action, Bazin surrendered the ship to the boarders.

Temeraire had by now fought both French ships to a standstill, at considerable cost to herself. She had sustained casualties of 47 killed and 76 wounded. All her sails and yards had been destroyed, only her lower masts remained, and the rudder head and starboard cathead had been shot away. Eight feet (2.4 m) of her starboard hull was staved in and both quarter galleries had been destroyed. Harvey signalled for a frigate to tow his damaged ship out of the line, and HMS Sirius came up to assist. Before Sirius could make contact, Temeraire came under fire from a counter-attack by the as-yet unengaged van of the combined fleet, led by Rear Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. Harvey ordered the few guns that could be brought to bear fired in response, and the attack was eventually beaten off by fresh British ships arriving on the scene.

Storm.

Shortly after the battle had ended, a severe gale struck the area. Several of the captured French and Spanish ships foundered in the rising seas, including both of Temeraire's prizes, Fougueux and Redoutable. Lost in the wrecks were a considerable number of their crews, as well as 47 Temeraire crewmen, serving as prize crews.

Return to England.

Temeraire finally put into Gibraltar on 2 November, eleven days after the battle had been fought. After undergoing minor repairs she sailed for England, arriving at Portsmouth on 1 December, three days before Victory passed by carrying Nelson's body.

Mediterranean and Baltic service.

The battle-damaged Temeraire was almost immediately dry-docked in Portsmouth to undergo substantial repairs, which eventually lasted sixteen months She finally left the dockyard in mid-1807, now under the command of Captain Sir Charles Hamilton.

Having fitted her for sea, Hamilton sailed to the Mediterranean in September and joined the fleet blockading the French in Toulon. The service was largely uneventful, and Temeraire returned to Britain in April 1808 to undergo repairs at Plymouth. During her time in Britain the strategic situation in Europe changed as Spain rebelled against French domination and entered the war against France. Temeraire sailed in June to join naval forces operating off the Spanish coast in support of anti-French forces in the Peninsular War.
This service continued until early 1809, when she returned to Britain. By now Britain was heavily involved in the Baltic, protecting mercantile interests. An expedition under Sir James Gambier in July 1807 had captured most of the Danish Navy at the Second Battle of Copenhagen, in response to fears that it might fall into Napoleon's hands, at the cost of starting a war with Denmark. Captain Hamilton left the ship, and was superseded by Captain Edward Sneyd Clay. Temeraire now became the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Manley Dixon, with orders to go to the Baltic to reinforce the fleet stationed there under Sir James Saumarez. Temeraire arrived in May 1809 and was sent to blockade Karlskrona on the Swedish coast.
While on patrol with the 64-gun HMS Ardent and the frigate HMS Melpomene, Temeraire became involved in one of the heaviest Danish gunboat attacks of the war. A party of men from Ardent had been landed on the island of Romsø, but were taken by surprise in a Danish night attack, which saw most of the Ardent men captured. The Melpomene was sent under a flag of truce to negotiate for their release, but on returning from this mission, was becalmed. A flotilla of thirty Danish gunboats then launched an attack, taking advantage of the stranded Melpomene's inability to bring her broadside to bear on them. Melpomene signalled for help to the Temeraire, which immediately dispatched boats to her assistance. They engaged and then drove off the Danish ships, and then helped the Melpomene to safety. She had been heavily damaged and suffered casualties of five killed and twenty-nine wounded. Temeraire's later Baltic service involved being dispatched to observe the Russian fleet at Reval, during which time she made a survey of the island of Nargen. After substantial blockading and convoy escort work, Temeraire was ordered back to Britain as winter arrived, and she arrived in Plymouth in November 1809.


Iberian service.

After a period under repair in Plymouth, Temeraire was recommissioned under the command of Captain Edwin H. Chamberlayne in late January 1810.



The Peninsular War had reached a critical stage, with the Spanish government besieged in Cadiz by the French. Temeraire, now the flagship of Rear Admiral Francis Pickmore, was ordered to reinforce the city's water defences, and provided men from her sailor and marine complement to crew batteries and gunboats. Men from Temeraire were heavily involved in the fighting until July 1810, when Pickmore was ordered to sail to the Mediterranean and take up a new position as port admiral at Mahón. Temeraire was thereafter based either at Mahón or off Toulon with the blockading British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Pellew.

Chamberlayne was replaced by Captain Joseph Spear in March 1811, and for the most part the blockade was uneventful.



Retirement.



Temeraire arrived in Plymouth on 9 February 1812 and was docked for a survey several weeks later. The survey reported that she was "A well built and strong ship but apparently much decay'd". Spear was superseded on 4 March by Captain Samuel Hood Linzee, but Linzee's command was short-lived. Temeraire left the dock on 13 March and was paid off one week later. Advances in naval technology had developed more powerful and strongly built warships, and though still comparatively new, Temeraire was no longer considered desirable for front-line service. While laid up the decision was taken to convert her into a prison ship after which she was laid up in the River Tamar as a prison hulk. From 1814 she was under the nominal command of Lieutenant John Wharton. Despite being laid up and disarmed Temeraire and the rest of her class were nominally re-rated as 104-gun first rates in February 1817.



Temeraire's service as a prison ship lasted until 1819, at which point she was selected for conversion to a receiving ship. She was extensively refitted at Plymouth between September 1819 and June 1820 and then sailed to Sheerness Dockyard. She fulfilled this role for eight years, until becoming a victualling depot in 1829. Her final role was as a guard ship at Sheerness, under the title "Guardship of the Ordinary and Captain-Superintendent's ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Medway". For the last two years of her service, from 1836 to 1838 she was under the nominal command of Captain Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, in his post as Captain-Superintendent of Sheerness.

Sale and disposal.

Kennedy received orders from the Admiralty in June 1838 to have Temeraire valued in preparation for her sale out of the service. She fired her guns for the last time on 28 June in celebration of the Coronation of Queen Victoria, and work began on dismantling her on 4 July.



Kennedy delegated this task to Captain Sir John Hill, commander of HMS Ocean. Her masts, stores and guns were all removed and her crew paid off, before Temeraire was put up for sale with twelve other ships. She was sold by Dutch auction on 16 August 1838 to John Beatson, a shipbreaker based at Rotherhithe Beatson was then faced with the task of transporting the ship 55 miles from Sheerness to Rotherhithe, the largest ship to have attempted this voyage. To accomplish this he hired two steam tugs from the Thames Steam Towing Company and employed a Rotherhithe pilot named William Scott to sail her up the Thames.


Last voyage.




The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 by J. M. W. Turner, 1838



Temeraire laid up at Beatson's Yard, Rotherhithe, by artist J. J. Williams, 1838–39



Temeraire was hauled up onto the mud, where she lay as she was slowly broken up.

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HMS Dreadnought (1801)



HMS Dreadnought was a 98-gun second rate. Designed by Sir John Henslow, and built by M/S George White, then Edward Tippett and completed by Henry Peake. This ship of the line was launched at Portsmouth at midday on Saturday, 13 June 1801, after she had spent 13 years on the stocks. She was the first man-of-war launched since the Act of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and at her head displayed a lion couchant on a scroll bearing the Royal arms as emblazoned on the Standard.

Launch.

After the launch, Dreadnought was brought into dock for coppering, and a great number of people went on board to view her. The following day, due to the exertions of Mr Peake, the builder, and the artificers of the dockyard, she was completely coppered in six hours and on Monday morning she went out of dock for rigging and fitting.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Dreadnought
Ordered:	17 January 1788
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	July 1788
Launched:	13 June 1801
Fate:	Broken up, 1857
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Trafalgar
General characteristics
Class and type:	Neptune-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	2110 (bm)
Length:	185 ft (56 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	51 ft (16 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounder guns Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounder guns

Active service.

Her first commander was Captain James Vashon. After cruising for some time in the Channel he proceeded off Cádiz and Menorca where he continued until the summer of 1802.

In the April of 1803 she was briefly Captained by James Bowen, but from May Captain Edward Brace briefly took command as flag captain to William Cornwallis, and then William Dommett in July, until he in turn was relieved in the September of that year by Captain John Child Purvis. Purvis served under the orders of Admiral Cornwallis for the blockade of Brest until the latter was promoted to rear-admiral in the April of 1804. The next commander from The May of 1804 until August was George Reynolds., who, in turn, was replaced in the January of 1805 by Edward Rotheram, who stayed as flag captain to Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood in the Channel Fleet until just before Trafalgar. The winter gale weather off the French coast badly damaged five of the major warships maintaining the blockade. Dreadnought lost most of her powder when water poured into her magazine.

In the spring of 1805, Admiral Cornwallis was superseded by the ailing Lord Gardner who allowed the close blockade to be slackened due to adverse weather conditions. On the 30th of March the French fleet slipped out of Toulon and sailed for Cádiz reaching it on the 9th of April. The French and Spanish squadrons then sailed separately from there and re-joined forces at Martinique on the 26th of May with Admiral Nelson in close persuit. On the15th of May, Collingwood and his squadron of seven ships received orders from the Admiralty to sail for Barbados. Before they could depart; however, Horatio Nelson arrived still in pursuit of the French, and Dreadnought proceeded to Cádiz to allow Collingwood to establish a close blockade of that Naval base.

Early in the October of 1805 Captain John Conn assumed command of Dreadnought, after having brought Royal Sovereign out from England for Vice-Admiral Collingwood. Collingwood and Rotheram then moved to the newly recoppered first rate on 10 October 1805, leaving Conn in command of the now sluggish Dreadnought, with her barnacled hull badly in need of careening, but nevertheless with a well exercised ship's company, who for months having been under Collingwood's watchful eye, now contained one of the most efficient gun crews in the fleet.

At the battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October, 1805, Dreadnought was the eighth ship in the lee division to enter the action. She started firing on San Juan Nepomuceno at two o'clock and fifteen minutes later ran her on board and forced her to surrender after her commander Commodore Cosme Damian de Churruca y Elorza had been killed in action. She then attempted to engage Principe de Asturias but the Spanish ship hauled off. During the battle Dreadnought lost seven killed and 26 wounded.

After Trafalgar, Dreadnought continued in the blockade of Cadiz. On 25 November, Thunderer detained the Ragusan ship Nemesis, which was sailing from Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. Dreadnought shared the prize money with ten other British warships.

In the September of 1806 she was ordered to Portsmouth for a refit. She was recommissioned in the December of that year, under the Captaincy of William Lechmere, for service in the Channel. She remained as part of the Channel Fleet, from that date until 1809.From 1808 she was under Captain G. B. Salt serving as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Thomas Sotheby, off Ushant.

On 9 November Dreadnought, Gibraltar, Christian VII, Milford, Naiad, Unicorn, and the hired armed cutters Nimrod and Adrian were all in sight when the Ballahoo class schoonerSnapper captured the French brig Modeste.

In 1810, still under Sotheby, she had another change of Captin to Samuel Linzee. On 7 September of that year, the Snapper sighted a ship among the rocks on the west side of Ushant. She made a signal to Dreadnought, who carried off a cutting out expedition which culminated in the taking of the Spanish merchant brig Maria-Antonia, which had previously been captured by a French privateer. However, the success was bought at the cost of six dead, 31 wounded, and a further six men missing, in addition to two ship’s boats. This was as a result of an ambush by a large party of French troops with two field pieces positioned upon a cliff overlooking the anchorage.

In the spring of 1811, Dreadnought, under Captain Samuel Linzee, was berthed in Lisbon from whence she was ordered to the Baltic at the end of that year. On the 16th of December, 1811, a fleet of about 150 merchant ships sailed from Wingo, near Gothenburg, under the escort of a number of ships, including Dreadnought. A gale resulted in the loss of St George and Defence as previously mentioned in the Article about the former Providently, Dreadnought and the other ships survived to arrive safely at their destination.

Paid of at Portsmouth in December of that year Dreadnought underwent large repairs not completed until the August of 1812. She then went into Ordinary.

Fate.

In 1825 she was fitted out as a Lazarett to berth at Pembroke. Next fitted as a Hospital ship at Sheerness in mid 1831, she was then moved to Woolwich.She became the second of the ships used by the Seamen's Hospital Society, from this date until 1857, as a hospital ship for ex-members of the Merchant Navy or fishing fleet, and their dependents.



Dreadnought at Greenwich 1841 by William Parrott
https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus...4b.jpgGallery:


Dreadnought as a Quarantine ship.

Dreadnought was finally broken up in 1857.

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HMS Ocean (1805)





HMS Ocean was an Ocean class 98-gun second-rateship of the line designed by Sir john Henslow, M/shipwright John Tovery, and completed by Edward Sison. She was launched from Woolwich Dockyard on the 24th of October, 1805. She was the only ship built to her draught.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Ocean
Ordered:	4 May 1797
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	1 October 1792
Launched:	24 October 1805
Fate:	Broken up, 1875
Notes:	Depot ship from 1841
General characteristics
Class and type:	98-gun second rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	2276​49⁄94 (bm)
Length:	196 ft (60 m)(gundeck)
Beam:	51 ft (16 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·98 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs ·Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs ·Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs

She was commissioned in November 1805 under Captain Francis Pender, and sailed in 1806 for the Med.

In 1807 still in the Med, she was commanded by Captain Richard Thomas as Flagship of Admiral Collingwood. In the July of 1809 she was paid off and returned to Plymouth for repairs.





In the May of 1812 she was re commissioned under Captain Robert Plamplin and returned to the Med on the 17th of April of that year.

Paid off once more in the July of 1814, she was placed in Ordinary at Plymouth, and re-classed as a First Rate ship of 110 guns in the February of 1817.

This alteration was dramatically reversed in the October of 1819 when she was cut down to a Third rate two decker of only 80 guns.



Fitted as a Guard ship at Plymouth in 1824.



Between the August of 1830 and the July of 1831 she served as a Lazarette.
In 1832 she was once more fitted as an 80 gun Flagship at Sheerness, then between the September of 1837 and the January of 1838 for the Captain of the Ordinary also at Sheerness.



In the Autumn of 1852 she was fitted as a coal hulk at Chatham there to lie and later at Sheerness.
She was eventually broken up at Chatham on the 11th of December,1875.




Her figurehead is preserved at Queenborough, Kent.

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HMS Impregnable (1810)



HMS Impregnable was a 98-gun second rate three-decker ship of the line and the sole one in its class. She was Designed by Sir William Rule in 1798, and built by M/shipwright David Polhill, but completed by Robert Seppings. Launched on the first of August, 1810 at Chatham, purportedly as originally built she was a near copy of the famed first rateHMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Impregnable
Ordered:	13 January 1798
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	February 1802
Launched:	1 August 1810
Renamed:	HMS Kent, HMS Caledonia
Fate:	Sold, 1906
General characteristics
Class and type:	98-gun second rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	2406 bm
Length:	197 ft (60 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	51 ft (16 m)
Depth of hold:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	98 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs Upper gundeck: 30 × 12 pdrs Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs

She was commissioned in July 1811 under Captain James W Maurice, and fitted for sea at Portsmouth between the January and May of 1812 when she was handed over to Captain George McKenzie for service in the English Channel and North Sea.
She became the Flagship of Admiral William Young in 1813. under Captain John Loring. Then the from May of 1814 Captain Charles Adam.

In June 1814 it was Captain Adam who commanded her when she was used as the flagship of the Admiral of the Fleet H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV).

"On the occasion of the visit of several Crowned Heads of State. H.R.H. soon after removed his flag into the Impregnable, of 98 guns, on board which ship the Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, and their respective suites, embarked June 6th following, and were landed in the evening at Dover."

A grand naval review at Spithead took place under the able management of the Duke of Clarence, assisted by the talents of Sir Richard Bickerton,the Port Admiral, and the Hon. Henry Blackwood, Captain of the Fleet, whose indefatigable zeal and exertion in arranging and reducing into form these proceedings, H.R.H. was pleased to acknowledge in general orders.

Recommissioned in the June of 1816 under Captain Edward Brace, she took part in the bombardment of Algiers on the 27th of August as the Flagship of Rear Admiral David Milne. where she was second in the order of battle. In the attack, Impregnable, isolated from the other ships was a large and tempting target, attracting attention from the Algerian gunners who raked her fore and aft, she was severely damaged. 268 shots hit the hull, the main mast was damaged in 15 places. Impregnable lost Mr. John Hawkins, midshipman, 37 seamen, 10 marines and 2 boys killed and Mr. G. N. Wesley, Mr. Henry Quinn, 111 seamen, 21 marines, 9 sappers and miners and 17 boys wounded.

In October1816 she came under the command of Captain James Nash as the Flagship of Admiral Sir John Duckworth and then in 1817 was re-classed as a 106 gun First Rate ship of the line. From the September of 1817 she came under the captaincy of Pownall Pellew, and later in 1821 Captain Alexander Skene. Between the February of 1825 and April of 1826 she was extensively remodeled with a circular stern, at Plymouth Dockyard where she became the Harbour Flagship in 1839. From May of that year until October 1841 she relieved HMS Royal Adelaide as the Commander-in-Chief's flagship moored at the entrance to the Hamoaze.


HMS Impregnable in a gale of Wind off Sardinia 29 October 1841. By Giovanni Schranz (artist and engraver)


She then saw service again in the Mediterranean until May 1843, when she was once again laid up with the reserve fleet at Devonport.



Quarterdeck of HMS Impregnable circa 1853

Impregnable was rated as a training ship in 1862 and removed from the reserve fleet to begin service at Devonport training boy seamen for the Royal Navy.
On 27 September 1886, Impregnable was replaced by HMS Howe which was renamed HMS Bulwark as she became a training ship. The old Impregnable ended her days first as a tender to HMS Indus and then on 9 November 1888 she was renamed HMS Kent to be used as a hulk in the event of an epidemic. On that date, her name, Impregnable, was given to HMS Bulwark (the former HMS Howe), still serving at Devonport. Three years later on 22 September 1891, she was once again re-named, this time HMS Caledonia, and became a Scottish boys training / school ship moored at Queensferry in the Firth of Forth.

As HMS Caledonia, she was to spend the next 15 years at anchor in the Firth of Forth as a training ship for boys. The ship was divided up for training by decks: The Upper Deck was used exclusively for sail drill, gunnery and recreation. The Main and Middle decks were used for seamanship classes and instruction. The Lower and Orlop decks were devoted to living and sleeping spaces. The training ship accommodated 190 Officers and men as well as 800 boys. Instruction covered boat pulling, sailing & gunnery. It was hoped that this form of training would instil in the boys the qualities of resourcefulness, courage and self-reliance. Theoretical instruction was undertaken in the 'Schoolroom'. This room could accommodate 200 boys at once and often did. The 200 boys were broken down into classes of 15 – 20. Commander the Hon. Robert Francis Boyle was in command from August 1901.




Impregnable in her new role in 1898 as HMS Caledonia in the Firth of Forth
She was sold to JB Garnham for breaking up on the 19th of July, 1906. The heavy oak beams of the cloister of St Conan’s Kirk were made from Caledonia and HMS Duke of Wellington. The church is situated by the side of Loch Awe.

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HMS Boyne (1783)




HMS Boyne was a 98-gun second-rateship of the line Designed by Edward Hunt and built by M/shipwright Henry Peake, then Martin Ware, and completed by John Nelson. She was launched on the 27th of June, 1790 at Woolwich.
.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Boyne
Ordered:	21 January 1783
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	4 November 1783
Launched:	27 June 1790
Commissioned:	August 1790
Fate:	Accidentally burnt, 1 May 1795
General characteristics
Class and type:	Boyne-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	2021 (bm)
Length:	182 ft (55 m) (gundeck) 149 ft 8 in (45.62 m) (keel)
Beam:	50 ft 4 5⁄8 in (15.357 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

HMS Boyne was commissioned in the August of 1790 under Captain George Bowyer for the Spanish Armament.
Recommissioned in the December of 1792, under Captain William Ottway. in the June of 1793 she captured the 20 gun Privateer Le Guidelon in the Channel.

Invasion of Guadeloupe.

From the November of 1793 she came under the captaincy of George Grey as the flagship of Vice Admiral John Jervis. She sailed for the West Indies on the 26th of November carrying Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Grey and Vice-admiral Sir John Jervis for an invasion of Guadeloupe. On the way, Yellow fever ravaged the crew. Still, the British managed to get the French to surrender at Fort St. Charles in Guadeloupe on 21 April of the following year. The capture of Fort St. Charles, the batteries, and the town of Basse-Terre cost the British army two men killed, four wounded, and five missing; the navy had no casualties.

Fate.



The Loss of the HMS Boyne by Thomas Elliott.

Boyne caught fire and blew up on 1 May 1795 at Spithead. She was lying at anchor while the Royal Marines of the vessel were practicing firing exercises. It is supposed that the funnel of the wardroom stove, which passed through the decks, set fire to papers in the Admiral's cabin. The fire was only discovered when flames burst through the poop, by which time it was too late to do anything. The fire spread rapidly and she was aflame from one end to the other within half an hour.
As soon as the fleet noticed the fire, other vessels sent boats to render assistance. As a result, the death toll on Boyne was only eleven men. At the same time, the signal was made for the vessels most at danger from the fire to get under way. Although the tide and wind were not favourable, all the vessels in any danger were able to escape to St Helens.
Because the guns were always left loaded, the cannons began to 'cook off', firing shots at potential rescuers making their way to the ship, resulting in the deaths of two seamen and the injury of another aboard Queen Charlotte, anchored nearby. Later in the day, the fire burnt the cables and Boyne drifted eastward till she grounded on the east end of the Spit, opposite Southsea Castle. There she blew up soon after.

Post-script.

The wreck presented something of a hazard to a navigation and as a result it was blown up on 30 August 1838 in a clearance attempt. Today the Boyne buoy marks the site of the explosion. A few metal artifacts from the ship remain atop a mound of shingle.