HMS Montagu (1779)
HMS Montagu by Serres, Dominic.
HMS Montagu was a 74-gun Alfred Class third rateship of the line,designed by Sir John Williams and ordered on the 16th of July, 1774. Built at Chatham dockyard by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll until the April of1779 and then completed by Nicholas Phillips. She was launched on the 28th of August, 1779.
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:
HMS Montagu Ordered: 16 July 1774 Builder: Chatham Dockyard Laid down: 30 January 1775 Launched:
28 August 1779 Fate:
Broken up, 1818 Notes:
·Participated in:
·Battle of Cape St Vincent
·Glorious First of JuneClass and type: Alfred-classship of the line Tons burthen:
1631 (bm) Length:
169 ft (51.5 m) (gundeck) Beam: 47 ft 2 in (14.4 m) Depth of hold: 20 ft (6 m) Propulsion: Sails Sail plan:
Full rigged ship Armament:
·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns
HMS Montagu was commissioned in the August of 1779.
Her first action was on the 16th of January.1780 when she took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. , under Captain John Houlton. She suffered no losses during the battle.
She was driven ashore and damaged at Saint Lucia in the Great Hurricane of 1780 in the Antilles, but recovered.
She was paid off in 1782 after wartime service.
Between the November of 1782 and the June of 1783 she underwent repairs at Portsmouth.
She was not recommissioned until the February of 1793 under Captain James Montagu and then joined Admiral Howe’s fleet. On the 1st of June 1794 she took part in te battle of The Glorious First of June off Ushant. In this action she lost 4 killed, including Montagu, and 13 wounded. After the battle Lt Ross Donnelly became acting captain for a short period. Later in 1794 she came under the command of Captain William Fooks and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 25th of October in that year. On the 30th of October Montague and Ganges captured the French corvette Le Jacobine. Jacobine was armed with twenty-four 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 220 men; she was only nine days out of Brest and had taken no prizes. The Royal Navy took Jacobin into service as HMS Matilda.
Paid off in November 1795 for a small repair she recommissioned in the August of 1796 under Captain John knight.
At the Battle of Camperdown, on the 11th of October 1797, in the Lee Division, Montagu, still under John Knight’s command, suffered slight damage and had three men killed and five wounded.
On the 2nd of June in the following year she sailed for the Med, where she remained until the end of 1779 under the command of Captain Charles Patterson.
In 1801 under Captain Robert Cuthbert she sailed for Jamaica. In the March of that year under Captain Edmond Nagle in Calder’s squadron, Montagu was in hot pursuit of Ganteaume’s squadron.
After her return to Portsmouth between the January of 1802 and the March of 1803 she was undergoing major repairs.I suspect from this painting below that she had been involved in a great storm which would account for the time spent in dock, but only have the above reference to her repairs to go upon.
.
The situation of H.M. Ship Montagu at 10 mins after 12 o'clock on the night of the 13th February 1801 off Cape Ortagol
Recommissioned in the March of 1803 under Captain Robert Otway, she took part in the blockade of Brest, and the attempt on the French Fleet on the 21st of August, 1803.
She was in Strachan’s squadron from May to September 1806, and then refitted at Portsmouth from May to June 1807. From here, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral George Martin she sailed for the Med on the 3rd of June.
In 1809 she was still in the Med now commanded by Captain Richard Moubray, and then in 1811 by Captain John Halliday.
After a small repair and refit for Foreign service at Chatham between the December of that year and the April of 1812, she was placed under the command of Captain Manley Hall Dixon, as Flagship of Rear Admiral Manley Dixon and sailed for South America on the15th of May of that year.She served in Brazil until 1813 , and then in the North sea from the July of that year under Captain Peter Heywood, and afterwards in the Mediterranean under Lord Exmouth, until July 1816 when she was paid off and laid up at Chatham.
Fate.
Montagu was broken up there in 1818.
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