Third Rate ships of 74 guns.

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HMS Majestic (1785)

HMS Majestic was a Modified Canada Class 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, ordered on the 23^rd of July 1781, originally designed by William Batley, M/shipwright William Barnard. She was launched on the 11^th of December, 1785 at Deptford

GREAT BRITAIN.
Name:	HMS Majestic
Ordered:	23 August 1781
Builder:	Adams & Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	June 1782
Launched:	11 December 1785
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of the Nile
Fate:	Broken up, April 1816
General characteristics
Class and type:	Canada-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1623 (bm)
Length:	170 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	As third rate: Gundeck (GD): 28 × 32-pounder guns Upper gundeck (UG): 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns As fourth rate: GD: 28 × 42-pounder carronades UG: 28 × 32-pounder guns QD: 2 × 12-pounder guns

Career.

In 1790, Majestic came under the command of Captain William Waldegrave before being partly fitted, and then undergoing a very small unspecified repair at Chatham costing £4,581.8.5d., between the September of 1790 and October 1791.

Commissioned under Captain Charles Cotton, for Howe’s Fleet at the Glorious First of June on the 1st of June, 1794, she lost 3 killed and 18 wounded during the action.

In the January of 1795, under Captain George Westcott, Majestic became the flagship of Vice Admiral Benjamin Caldwell on the Leeward Islands station. She was later the flagship of Admiral Sir John Laforey before returning from the West Indies in the March of 1796.

On the 8^th of January 1797 in the company of several other ships she sank the French storeship Le Suffren off Brest.

After making repairs at Plymouth, in the of that year she set sail for the Med, where on the 14^th of November she captured the 16 gun El Bolador.

Her next encounter with the enemy came on the 1^st of August, 1798, at the Battle of the Nile, where she engaged the French ships Tonnant and Heureux, helping to force their surrenders. She was still under the captaincy of George Blagdon Westcott, who was unfortunately killed in the battle along with 50 of the crew and with a further 143 wounded.



Tonnant at the Battle of the Nile, by Louis Lebreton. HMS Majestic is seen in the background.


She then came under the command of Lt. Robert Cuthbert, acting from the 1^st of August until the July of 1779. On 22 February of that year , Majestic was in sight when Espoir, under the command of Captain James Sanders, captured the Spanish 14-gun xebec Africa some three leagues (14 km) from Marbello on the Spanish coast. Captain Cuthbert, of Majestic, transmitted Sanders's letter, adding his own endorsement extolling "the meritorious Conduct of Captain Sanders and his Ship's Company on the Occasion." Espoir and Majestic shared the prize money for the xebec, whose full name was Nostra Senora de Africa.

On 4 April, Majestic and Transfer destroyed a French privateer of unknown name. Head money was paid in 1828, almost 30 years later.

From the July of 1799 command devolved upon Captain George Hope, until she was paid off at Naples in the December of that year.

Recommissioned in the March of 1801, under Captain Davidge Gould she served for a time in the Channel, before sailing for the West Indies on the 11^th of February 1802. She was again paid off in the October of that year, and in the June of 1803 came under the captaincy of Lord Amelius Beauclerk and then in the following year, temporarily Captain Edward Hawker. On the 11^th of November, C,and Glatton, together with Eagle, Princess of Orange, Raisonable, Africiane, Inspector, Beaver, and the hired armed vessels Swift and Agnes, shared in the capture of Upstalsboom, whose Master was one H.L. De Haase.
In 1805, Captain Joseph Hanwell commanded Majestic as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Thomas Macnamara Russell in the North Sea.

In 1807, still acting as Russell’s Flagship, she came under the captaincy of George Hart. On the 4^th of September of that year, Majestic, anchored off the Island of Heligoland, enforcing its capitulation to the British.
She then had a quick succession of captains during 1808 until coming under Captain Frederic Watkins command in the January of 1809 in the Baltic. Later that year under Captain Thomas Harvey her boats took the two gun Spider .
Having been paid off and laid up at Chatham in the January of 1810, Majestic was razeed into a 58-gun fourth-rate frigate between the January and May of 1813. She was then refitted for sea, and under Captain John Hayes sailed for North America on the second of June of that year.

On the 3^rd of February, 1814, Majestic encountered the French frigates Terpsichore and Atalante, a 20-gun ship, and an apparently unarmed brig. Majestic was able to catch up with and engage the stern-most of the French vessels. After an engagement lasting two and a half hours, the frigate struck. She turned out to be the Terpsichore, of 44 guns and 320 men, under the command of "capitaine de frigate Breton Francois de Sire". In the action, Terpsichore lost three men killed, six wounded, and two drowned as the prisoners were being transported to Majestic; British casualties were nil. Because of the weather and the approach of night, Majestic was unable to pursue the other three French vessels, which therefore escaped. The Royal Navy named Terpsichore HMS Modeste, but never commissioned her.

On 22 May 1814 Majestic recaptured the former British naval schooner Dominica,sailing as a privateer under American colours, the American privateer Decatur having captured her in the year previous. At the time of her recapture, Dominica was sailing under letters of marque, had a crew of 38 men, and was armed with four 6-pounder guns. With HMS Endymion and others she also took the USS President on the 15^th of January, 1815.

Fate.

Paid off in the July of 1815, Majestic was finally broken up at Pembroke in the April of 1816 after stranding.

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HMS Minotaur (1793)





HMS Minotaur was a 74-gun third-rate Carnatic class ship of the line, designed on the lines of the French Courageux 74. Ordered on the 3rd of December, 1782, she was built by Woolwich dockyard. Her M/shipwright was John Nelson until the August of 1790 and thereafter to her completion by William Rule. Minotaur was launched on the 6^th of November, 1793 at Woolwich, and she was named after the mythological bull-headed monster of Crete.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Minotaur
Ordered:	3 December 1782
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	January 1788
Launched:	6 November 1793
Honours and awards:	·Participated in: ·Battle of the Nile ·Battle of Trafalgar ·Battle of Copenhagen (1807) ·Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Wrecked, 22 December 1810
General characteristics
Class and type:	Carnatic class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1723 (bm)
Length:	172 ft 3 in (52.50 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 9 in (14.55 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 9 1⁄2 in (6.3 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

Career.

Minotaurwas Commissioned in the February of 1794, under Captain Thomas Louis, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral John Macbride in Montagu’s Squadron. Then from the August of 1795 under the temporary captaincy of Captain Charles Jones she joined Vice Admiral William Waldegrave as his Flagship in the West Indies.


On the 26th of September, 1795 Minotaur and Porcupine recaptured the Walsingham Packet. The French corvette brig Insolent, of 18 guns and 90 men, had previously captured her, whilst she was sailing from Falmouth to Lisbon on the 13th of September. Insolent, herself, narrowly escaped being captured at the recapture of the Walsingham Packet, narrowly slipping into Lorient as the British ships steadily closed their range upon her.



Minotaur was involved in the mutiny at Spithead during the April and May of 1797, but in the June of that year sailed for the Med. During the Battle of the Nile on the 1st^t of August, 1798, she fought an engagement alongside HMS Theseus forcing the French 74 Aquilon to surrender. In the battle Minotaur lost a total of 23 men killed and 64 wounded.



Later that year Minotaur served at the blockade of Malta, and in the September of 1799 at Naples became the Flagship of Vice Admiral Lord George Keith. After the French surrendered Rome on the 29^th of September, Captain Thomas Louis had his barge crew row him up the Tiber River where he raised the Union Jack over the Capitol.
In the May of 1800, Minotaur still under Vice-Admiral Keith took part in the siege of Genoa. On the 28^th of April, the squadron captured the Proteus, just off the city, and on the 3^rd of September. Her ships boats accompanied with those from the HMS Niger succeeded in cutting out the Esmeralda and Paz at Barcelona.



Having then sailed to Egypt, . Minotaur on the 8th of January, 1801 witnessed the Penelope’s capture of the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delft cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. As the HMS Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schooner Malta, were all in sight at the time they thus all qualified for a share in the proceeds from the capture.



She was also present at the landings in Aboukir Bay during the invasion of Egypt in 1801 where she lost a total of three men killed, and six wounded. Because Minotaur served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 to all surviving claimants.
Having returned to Chatham for minor repairs between the March and November of 1802, she was recommissioned in the march of 1803 under Captain Charles John Moore Mansfield, who remained in command until 1807. Sailing to take up service in the channel, on the 28th of May, 1803 Minotaur, in company with Thunderer, and later joined by Albion, captured the French frigate LaFranchise. 33 days out of Port-au-Prince, and being pierced for twenty-eight 12-pounder guns on her main deck and sixteen 9-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle, ten of which were stowed in her hold. She had a crew of 187 men under the command of one Captain Jurien.



Minotaur was present at the surrender of the French garrison at Civitavecchia on 21 September 1804. She shared the prize money for the capture of the town and fortress with Culloden, Mutine, Transfer, and the bomb vesselPerseus. The British also captured the French polacca Il Reconniscento.



On the 21^st of October 1805 Minotaur, under Captain Mansfield, saw action in the Battle of Trafalgar, Minotaur was towards the rear of Nelson's wing of the fleet just ahead of Spartiate and astern of the Prince of Wales. Before the commencement of the battle Mansfield had promised his crew that he would “stick to any ship he engaged till either she strikes or sinks – or I sink". Late in the battle and aided by Spartiate he deliberately interposed the Minotaur between the damaged HMS Victory and Dumanoir’s attacking French ships. Minotaur also managed to isolate the 80 gun Spanish ship Neptuno and was responsible for causing the Spanish ship, to strike her colours. However, Neptuno's crew were able to recaptured her shortly afterwards in the storm that occurred after the battle. The total of Minotaur’s losses in this Pell Mell action was surprisingly light. In all she only suffered 3 killed and 23 wounded.



For his gallantry in this action, Mansfield was later awarded a sword and gold medal. Both of which can now be seen displayed at the National Maritime Museum.



During 1806 Minotaur became the Flagship of Rear Admiral John Child Purvis in the Med, and in 1807 Minotaur went on to serve as the flagship of Rear-Admiral William Essington on the Lisbon station, and then in the Copenhagen expedition in the August of that year. At the end of 1807 she came under the command of Captain Norborn Thompson and then temporarily under Captain Robert Neve. From the December of that year she came under Thompson once more as Flagship to Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cotton in the North sea during 1808.



Then during the Anglo-Russian War, on the 25th of July 1809, Minotaur, now under the command of Captain John Barrett, took part in an action where some 17 boats from the British Baltic squadron consisting of Minotaur, Princess Caroline, Cerberus and Prometheus, under the overall command of Captain Charles Pater, attacked a flotilla of four Russian gunboats and a brig offf Aspö Head near Fredrickshaven in the Grand Duchy of Finland, Russia (present-day Hamina, Finland). Captain Forrest of Prometheus commanded the boats and succeeded in capturing gunboats Nos. 62, 65, and 66, and the transport brig No. 11. In the action the British lost 19 men killed and 51 wounded, and the Russians lost 28 men killed and 59 wounded. Minotaur alone lost eight men killed and had 30 wounded, of whom, four died of their wounds during the next few days.

In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "25 July Boat Service 1809" to surviving claimants from the action.




The shipwreck of the Minotaur, oil on canvas, by J. M. W. Turner

Fate.


Whilst sailing from Gothenburg to Britain, still under the command of John Barrett, Minotaur in darkness and heavy weather struck the Haak Bank, or Razende Bol, on the Texel off the Netherlands, then part of the First French Empire, in the evening of the 22^nd of December, 1810, after becoming separated from her consorts, HMS Plantagenet and Loire. Minotaur grounded on the sand, rolled onto her side and rapidly began to take on water. All the masts were cut away to lighten the ship and lower her centre of gravity, however, whilst carrying out this process several of her boats were damaged or destroyed. Despite this action, by the early hours of the morning the ship had taken on so much water that her forecastle was awash. Waves battered her hull, and about 8:00am, the hull began to break up. The crew, having taking refuge on the poop deck, attempted to evacuate from the ship by using the only remaining Launch and a couple of Yawls. Firstly 32 men escaped aboard one of the yawls. On reaching the Dutch coast, another eighty-five men observing this took to the Launch and they were also successful in making it to the shore. Finally, Captain Barrett, accompanied by almost hundred of the remaining crew, attempted to achieve the same result by using the remaining Yawl. Unfortunately, the Yawl was overwhelmed by the heavy seas, and all the men aboard her were drowned including the Captain. At about 14:00hrs, the Minotaur turned turtle, drowning the remaining members of her crew. The 110 men of her crew who had survived informed the Dutch authorities about the disaster. This resulted in a further twenty survivors being rescued by a pilot vessel. The authorities placed the survivors under custody and refused to hazard further rescue vessels until the following morning. On doing so they discovered, that apart from four men who had reached shore by clinging onto floating wreckage, there were no further survivors on the vessel, or in the surrounding waters. The death toll amounted to somewhere between 370 and 400 souls all told. All of the survivors were dispatched to France as prisoners of war.




The Noorderhaaks bank, in the mouth of the Texel, is today an island

Footnote.



Some three and a half years later, on the release of the imprisoned seamen, a Courts Martial was held to apportion the blame for the loss of the Minotaur. The court concluded that the blame for steering the ship into an unsafe position, resulting in her loss, devolved solely onto the shoulders of the deceased pilots, due to them having misjudged their location by more than 60 miles, which mistake had been induced by the inclement weather at the time.

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HMS Monarch (1765)

HMS Monarch was a 74-gun Ramillies Class third rate ship of the line,designed by Sir Thomas Slade. Ordered on the 22nd of November 1760, and built by M/shipwright Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard. She was launched on the 20th of July, 1765.

History.
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Monarch
Ordered:	22 November 1760
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Launched:	20 July 1765
Fate:	Broken up, 1813
General characteristics.
Class and type:	Ramillies-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1612 bm
Length:	168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

Monarch was commissioned, after a small repair at Portsmouth, in the October of 1776, initially as a guardship there until the October of 1777. Following this she had a very active career, fighting in her first battle on the 27th of July, 1778 at the Battle of Ushant under Admiral Kepple and her second, captained by Adam Duncan, later First Viscount Duncan, under Admiral Rodney at Cape St. Vincent on the 16th of January, 1780. Monarch suffered 3 killed and 26 wounded.

In the May of 1780 she was coppered and refitted at Portsmouth.
She fought in the van of Graves' fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes, under Captain Francis Reynolds on the 5th of September 1781, and received no casualties in the battle.



Jong(1807) - Zeegevecht (near Sint Eustatius Island, 1781)

In the February of 1781 was actively engaged at the Capture of Sint Eustatius, under Admiral Sir George Rodney, the Battle of Saint Kitts, also known as the Battle of Frigate Bay, which took place on the 25th and 26th of January,1782 during the American Revolutionary War between a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and a larger French fleet under the Comte de Grasse. Next up was the Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), or Battle of Dominica, which was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place from the 9th to the 12th of April, of that year. Monarch still under Captain Francis Reynolds, serving with the British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse, forcing the French and Spanish to abandon a planned invasion of Jamaica. Casualties for Monarch amounted to 16 killed and 33 wounded.

Between the August of 1787 and the January of 1790 Monarch underwent a great repair at Chatham.
She was fitted for Channel service in the July of that year under Captain Peter Rainier and paid off in the September of 1791. The next change was when she was recommissioned in the December of 1792 under Captain Sir James Wallace. Fitted as a Guardship in the January of 1793, she, however, sailed for the Leeward Islands. From the 5th of February to the 24th of March 1794, she took part in the attack on Martinique.



The Capture of Fort Saint Louis, Martinique, 20 March 1794' painting by William Anderson


Wallace was appointed a Rear Admiral in the April following the surrender, and from that date Monarch came under Captain Frank Sotheron as Wallace’s Flagship.

In the April of 1795, she changed command to Captain John Elphinstone, as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir George Elphinstone and sailed for the Cape of Good Hope. On arrival she was deployed as part of the small fleet under Admiral Elphinstone at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East India Company at the Battle of Muizenberg. Major-General Sir James Henry Craig was supported by Craig's forces were supplemented with 1,000 sailors from Elphinstone's squadron redeployed on land under captains Temple Hardy and John William Spranger. Among this force were a number of American citizens who immediately deserted to the Dutch and were promised repatriation. At noon on 7 August, HMS America, HMS Stately, HMS Echo and HMS Rattlesnake opened fire on Dutch forward positions. Return fire from Dutch field guns killed two men on America and wounded three more, while Craig's troops were able to advance against the Dutch positions and seize them, with the Dutch defenders falling back in confusion. A second attack by soldiers of the 78th captured a rocky height nearby and a Dutch counterattack the following morning was driven off by Hardy's sailors and marines. The Dutch Governor finally capitulated on the 15th of September.

On the 17^th of August 1796 Monarch aided in the capture of Lucas’s Squadron at Saldanha Bay.
She sailed for home and was refitted at Portsmouth, and from the August of 1797 came under the command of Captain Edward O’Brien as Vice Admiral Richard Onslow's flagship in the Lee coloumn at the Battle of Camperdown, on the 11th of October, 1797 where she lost 36 men killed and 100 wounded.
In the October of 1798 Monarch was in the North Sea under Captain Samuel Sutton, and from the May of 1799 under Captain Archibald Collingwood she served as the Flagship of Sir Archibald Dickson.


HMS Monarch in the lead, forcing the Passage of the Sound, 30 March 1801, prior to the Battle of Copenhagen

On the 2^nd of April,1801 she was part of Admiral Nelson's fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen, where her then captain, James Robert Mosse was killed as she suffered over 200 casualties including 55 dead, which was the highest number of casualties of any ship engaged in the battle.

Having made good her damage at Chatham,in the August of that same year she came under firstly Captain Thomas Peyton and then in November Captain Peter Puget.

After another refit in 1803 she came under Captain John Clarke Searle as the Flagship to Admiral Lord Keith in catamaran attempts on invasion craft berthed at Boulogne on the 1st of August, 1804.
Under Captain Richard Lee she took part in a boats attack on the Gironde on the 15^th of July 1806 resulting in the capture of the 16 gun Le Cesar.

In Sir Sydney Smith’s squadron at Lisbon in the November of 1807, she helped escort the Portuguese royal family in its flight from Portugal to Brazil.

Fate.

In 1809 she took part in the Walcheren operations. After som further time in the North sea she was paid off in 1812.
Monarch was broken up at Chatham in the March of 1813.

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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.

History
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 June
General characteristics
Class 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 16^th 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 1^st 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 25^th of October in that year. On the 30^th 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 11^th 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 2^nd 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 21^st 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 3^rd 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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HMS Orion (1787)

Model of HMS Orion at the Vancouver Maritime Museum

HMS Orion was a Canada-class 74-gun third rateship of the line, designed by William Batley. Ordered on the 2^nd of October, 1782, M/shipwright William Barnard. She was launched at Deptford on the first of June, 1787.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Orion
Ordered:	2 October 1782
Builder:	Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	February 1783
Launched:	1 June 1787
Honours and awards:	·Participated in: ·Glorious First of June ·Battle of Groix ·Battle of Cape St. Vincent ·Battle of the Nile ·Battle of Trafalgar
Fate:	Broken up, 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Canada classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1646 (bm)
Length:	170 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 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

Completed on the 1^st of November 1787 she was fitted as a guardship at Plymouth and commissioned in the July of 1788 under Captain Andrew Southerland. Continuing as a guardship from 1789 until the end of the Spanish armament under Captain Charles Chamberlayne , she was recommissioned in the September of 1791 under Captain john Duckworth sailing for the Leeward Islands in the March of 1793.She took the privateer Le Sans-Culotte off the American coast on the 25^th of August of that year before returning to home waters.

On the first of June,1794 she fought in Howe’s Fleet at the Glorious First of June , still under Captain Duckworth, suffering three killed but no wounded.

In early 1795, Captain James Saumarez was appointed to the command of Orion. She took part in Bridport’s defeat of the French fleet at the Battle of Groix off Lorient on the 23^rd of June, and also at the blockades of Brest and Rochefort.
Having been refitted at Portsmouth, Orion sailed for the Med on the 4^th of January, 1797. she joined the Mediterranean Fleet and distinguished herself at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent on the14th of February, losing only 9 men wounded. She then took part in the blockade of Cadiz from the March of 1797 until the April of 1798, when she was dispatched to the Med once again as part of a small squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson. On the 1^st of August of that year, Nelson finally caught up with the French fleet, resulting in the Battle of the Nile. Orion lost 13 killed and 29 wounded of which Captain Saumarez was one.

Paid off in 1799 for a refit at Plymouth she was recommissioned in the March of 1801. Between the 31^st of March. 1801 and the 10^th of July, 1802, the Surgeon's First Mate on board the Orion was Henry Plowman. On the 15^th of January, 1802, whilst still on board the Orion, anchored at Spithead, he wrote his will which is witnessed by his Captain, Robert Cuthbert.

After a refit at Portsmouth between the April and July of 1805, Orion was recommissioned under Captain Edward Codrington and joined Nelson’s fleet off Cadiz.

On October the 21st, she took part in the Battle of Trafalgar where, in the lee column to the rear of Agamemnon and Ajax and with the aid of the latter ship she forced the surrender of the French 74-gun ship Intrépide. Her casualties incurred during the battle totalled only one killed and 23 wounded.


After Trafalgar, Orion continued in the blockade of Cadiz, and on the 25^th of November, HMS Thundererr captured the Ragusan ship Nemesis, sailing from the Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spices, Indigo dye, plus other general merchandise. Being in sight of the action, Orion took a share in the prize money along with ten other Royal Naval ships.

In the December of 1806 Orion came under the command of Captain Sir Archibald Dixon, and under him she was at the Second battle of Copenhagen in the August of 1807, having sailed in Admiral Gambier’s Squadron.

Fate.

From 1808 to 1809 she served both in the Baltic and North Sea as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Bertie.

Paid off from this service in the January of 1814,Orion was broken up at Pmouth in the July of that year.

.

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HMS Powerful (1783)



HMS Powerful was a Revised Elizabeth Class 74 gun third rateship of the line, designed by Sir Thomas Slade, ordered on the 8^th of July, 1780 and built by Perry and Co. at Blackwall. She was launched on the 3^rd of April, 1783.






Plan of HMS Powerful

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Powerful
Ordered:	8 July 1780
Builder:	Perry, Blackwall Yard
Laid down:	April 1781
Launched:	3 April 1783
Fate:	Broken up 1812
General characteristics
Class and type:	Revised Elizabeth-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1627 (bm)
Length:	168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	46 ft (14 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 9 in (6.02 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

Career.



Powerful was commissioned shortly after launching during the April of 1783 under Captain Thomas Fitzherbert.



By 1785, her crew included John Lyddiard, an American prisoner of war forcibly enlisted into the Royal Navy in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. In July 1785, Lyddiard wrote to the United States ambassador to Britain, John Adams, to secure Lyddiard's release. In response to an appeal by Adams, the British government ordered the release of Lyddiard.



Paid off in late 1785 she was recommissioned in the May of 1786,under Captain Andrew Southerland as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Graves.



Between the May of 1788 and March of 1789 she was in for repairs at Plymouth.



Recommissioned under Captain Thomas Hicks, On the 15^th of January 1794 she sailed for Jamaica under Captain William Otway. Paid off in the the August of that year, she recommissioned under Captain Richard Fisher, and then under Captain William O’Bryen Drury from August 1795 until 1799 . Under O’Bryen she took part in the battle of Camperdown on the 11^th of October,1797. Fighting in the Lee column during the battle, she suffered 10 killed and 78 wounded.




Powerful at the Battle of Camperdown 1797, by Nicholas Pocock



Following the battle the ship the ship was refitted at Plymouth before sailing for Med on the 2^nd of June,1798.



Having been refitting from the March to the August 1805, and now under the command of Captain Robert Pamplin, Powerful arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Trafalgar, In the November of that year she was with Duckworth’s Squadron off Cadiz, and then in early 1806 the Med, before being detached to reinforce the East India squadron.

On the 13^th of June, 1806 she captured the French privateer Henriette off Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Powerful had received intelligence of her presence in the area and set out from Trincomalee on the 11th. Powerful sighted Henriette on the morning of the 13th. After an 11-hour chase, during which Henriette fired her stern guns without any effect. Powerful succeeded in catching her quarry, which surrendered forthwith. During the chase, Henriette's crew had cast four of her 6-pounder guns overboard in an effort to lighten her and thus gain speed. Head money was finally paid for Henriette in the January of 1814.

In an Action of the 9^th of July, 1806, cruising off Ceylon in the guise of an East Indiaman, accompanied by the sloop Rattlesnake, she took the privateer La Bellone, who had been causing serious mischief amongst the British merchantmen in the area. She then joined Pellew’s Squadron off Jarva on the 27^th of November of that year.
In the December of 1807 Powerful was placed under the acting command of Pellew’s son Lieutenant Fleetwood Pellew at Sourabaya. In 1808 she returned to the Cape of Good Hope, and by February 1809 she was back in the North Sea under Captain Charles Johnson at Walcheren.

Fate.



Following the failure of the Walcheren operations she was paid off.
Powerful was broken up at Chatham in the May of 1812.

[Bligh]

HMS Ramillies (1785)



HMS Ramillies was a 74-gun Modified Culloden Class third rateship of the line, modified from Slade’s design. Ordered on the 19^th of February 1782, built by Randall and Brent at Rotherhithe, she was launched on the 12^th of July, 1785.






Hull plan of HMS Ramillies

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Ramillies
Ordered:	19 January 1782
Builder:	Randall, Rotherhithe
Laid down:	December 1782
Launched:	12 July 1785
Fate:	Broken up, February 1850
General characteristics
Class and type:	Modified Culloden-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1677 17⁄94 (bm)
Length:	170 ft 4 in (51.92 m) (gundeck); 1,390 ft 9 in (423.90 m) (keel)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 11 1⁄2 in (6.083 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

French Revolutionary Wars.



After a small repair at Chatham between the August and December of 1791 Ramilies was commissioned under Captain Henry Harvey in the February of 1793. In the Battle of the Glorious First of June off Ushant in 1794, she lost only 2killed and 7 wounded. In the August of that year under Captain Sir Richard Bickerton she sailed for the West Indies Leeward Islands. On her return to England in the February of 1796 for a refit at Portsmouth, Ramilies was soon in action once more bound for North Sea duty, when on the 4^thof April, she ran down and sank the hired armedluggerSpider in a collision whilst manoeuvring.
Next came her involvement in the mutiny at Spithead from the April to May of 1797. By July she was off to the Channel and then the Irish station under Captain Bartholomew Rowley.

In the October of 1798 she came under Commander Henry Inman, and then in the February of 1799, Captain Richard Grindall for the Quiberon operation.



In the January of 1801 Ramilies came under the command of Captain John. W.T. Dixon as part of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker's reserve squadron at the Battle of Copenhagen, and thus took no active part in the battle.



In the June of that year she came under the command of Captain Sir Robert Barlow and then in the August Captain Samuel Osborne and thence to the Channel and Spanish coast before paying off.
Recommissioned in the December of 1804 under Captain Francis Pickmore, on the 7^th of July 1805 in company with HMS Illustrious she took the 2 gun Privateer La Josephine.


Expedition to the Danish West Indies.



On the 10^th of January,1807 Ramillies sailed to the Leeward Islands in the West Indies as part of a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, who sailed in HMS Belleisle. The squadron, which included HMS Prince George, HMS Northumberland, HMS Canada and HMS Cerberus, captured the Telemaco, Carvalho and Master on 17 April 1807.



Following the concern in Britain that neutral Denmark was entering an alliance with Napoleon, in December Ramillies participated in Cochrane's expedition that captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless. In the April of 1808 Ramillies came under the command of Captain Robert Yarker and then having returned to home waters, from the July of 1810 until the November of 1812 underwent a large repair at Chatham.



War of 1812.

Recommissioned under Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy Ramillies sailed for North America in the August of 1812, at the outbreak of the war. Hardy led the fleet in the ship which provided the escort for the army commanded by John Coape Sherbrooke, capturing significant portions of eastern coastal Massachusetts, including Fort Sullivan, Eastport, Machias, Bangor, and Castine.



As the flagship of Rear Admiral George Cockburn, on the 4^th of December 1813 Ramilies and HMS Lorie recaptured the whalerPolicy, J.Bowman, master, which the United States Navy had previously taken in the South Pacific. Her liberators dispatched Policy to Halifax in Nova Scotia.



Following these triumphs, Ramillies suffered a reverse, when on the 10^th of August, 1814, a landing party from her was defeated at Stonington, Connecticut. The men were to have burned Stonington Borough and the shipping, but they were repulsed by a superior force of the enemy.



During the Battle of North Point, a composite battalion of Royal Marines were landed from HMS Tonnant, HMS Ramillies, HMS Albion, and HMS Royal Oak, under the command of Brevet Major John Robyns. The only two fatalities were from HMS Ramillies.



Post-war.



In June 1815 Ramillies was under the command of Captain Charles Ogle. In November, Captain Thomas Boys replaced Ogle, while Rear-Admiral Sir William Hope raised his flag in her at Leith.
Fitted as a guardship at Sheerness in the June of 1816, by the September of 1818 Ramillies was at Portsmouth doing the same duty under Captain Askew Hollis., HMS Viper being employed as her tender. On the 30^th of November, 1820 and 6 February 1821, Viper made some captures, presumably of smugglers, which resulted in a payment of prize money not only to the officers and crew of Viper, but also to those of Ramillies.



In the August of 1821, Ramillies came under the command of Captain Edward Brace and served in the Downs on the Coastal Blockade. She then underwent repairs between the May of 1822 and the June of1823, and was fitted for a guardship at Portsmouth again. In the May of 1823 Captain William M'Cullock took command and then In the November of 1825 Captain Hugh Pigot ,in turn, replaced M'Cullock. The Admiralty ordered Ramillies to the Reserve for Harbour Service in 1830, and Ramillies was on harbour service from early in 1831.

Fate.


In the June of that year, Ramillies was at Chatham Dockyard, being fitted as a lazaretto, a hospital for quarantine. She then moved to Sheerness to serve in that capacity there. Ramillies was eventually broken up at Sheerness in the February of 1850.