Third Rate ships of 74 guns.

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French ship Courageux (1753)



Courageux was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, built at Brest from 1751 and launched in 1753.

History
France
Name:	Courageux
Builder:	Brest
Launched:	11 October 1753
Captured:	13 August 1761, by Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name:	Courageux
Acquired:	13 August 1761
Fate:	Wrecked off Gibraltar, 18 December 1796
General characteristics
Class and type:	74-gun third-rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,721​30⁄94 bm
Length:	172 feet 3 inches (52.5 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 3⁄4 in (14.6 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 10 1⁄2 in (6.4 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	French Navy: 74 guns Gundeck: 28 × 36-pounders Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders Quarterdeck: 16 × 8-pounders Royal Navy: 74 guns Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounders Quarterdeck: 18 × 9-pounders

FRENCH SERVICE.

Battle of Cape Finisterre (1761)

In the late evening of 13 August 1761, Courageux was off Vigo in the company of the frigates Malicieuse and Hermione, when the 74-gun British ship HMS Bellona and the frigate Brilliant were seen. Mistaking them for ships of the line, Courageux and her compatriots sought escape into the darkness. The moon was bright, however, and the British were able to pursue.

The next morning, Courageux's captain decided that Bellona was a 50-gun ship and, believing he had the superior force, ordered the frigates to attack Brilliant while he turned to close with Bellona. When the ships were within musket-shot, Courageux opened fire and, within nine minutes, had brought down Bellona's mizzen-mast and cut her rigging so badly that the ship became difficult to handle. Bellona's captain, seeing the danger, ordered a boarding party, but Courageux sheered off. With difficulty, the British ship was able to wear and, coming up on Courageux's starboard quarter, unleashed a series of devastating broadsides. Courageux was greatly damaged and, with about 200 men killed and a further 100 wounded, struck her colours.




Bellona vs Courageux.

BRITISH SERVICE.

Courageux was purchased by the Admiralty on the 2nd of February of the following year, and taken into the Royal Navy as the third-rate HMS Courageux. In the July of that year a large repair was begun at Portsmouth, which took until the middle of the June of1764 to complete. A further substantial repair was made between the January of 1772 and the July of1773, In the July of 1776, Courageux was commissioned under Captain Samuel Hood, and, in November, and she was fitted out as a guardship at Portsmouth.

In 1778 she joined the Channel Fleet, and she was later part of the squadron commanded by CommodoreCharles Fielding that controversially captured a Dutch convoy on the 31st of December, 1779, in what became known as the Affair of Fielding and Bylandt.
Courageux was in the Western Approaches on 12 March 1780, in the company of another seventy-four, HMS Alexander, when a large frigate was seen to the south-east. Alexander set off in pursuit and after eighteen hours was close enough to engage with her chase guns. After two hours more, as she was overhauling her quarry, Alexander's fore-top mast snapped. Courageux had by this time caught up and continued the chase, eventually forcing the French frigate's surrender. The prize was the Monsieur, a privateer from Granville of 40 guns and a crew of 362.

In 1781, Courageux was under the command of Lord Mulgrave, and on 4 January, she and HMS Valiant recaptured Minerva, approximately 5 miles west of Ushant. Minerve had sailed in company from Brest the previous day for a fortnight's cruise around the Scilly Isles. Courageux exchanged fire at close range for more than an hour, during which time all of Minerve's masts were put out of action and extensive damage done to her hull, while fifty of her crew were killed and a further twenty-three injured. Courageux's mizzen, foremast and bowsprit were damaged, and ten of her crew were killed and seven wounded. Valiant, in the meantime, had gone off in pursuit of another ship. Courageux towed her prize to Spithead, arriving on the morning of 8 January






A 1779 depiction of British-occupied Gibraltar, under siege from Spanish forces.

In April, Courageux was part of the convoy under George Darby sent to relieve the Great Siege of Gibraltar, maintained by French and Spanish forces since June 1779. Courageux shared in the prize money for the French brigs Duc de Chartres and Trois Amis and the Spanish frigate Santa Leucadia captured during the cruise.

A refit was carried out in the April of1782. Then, in the June of 1787 a greater repair was required, taking until the July of 1789. Following a dispute with Spain over territorial rights along the Nootka Sound, Courageux was commissioned in the April of 1790 under George Countess for the Spanish Armament. The crisis was largely resolved through a series of agreements signed between the October of 1790 and the January of 1794. In the February of 1791, Courageux was under the command of Captain Alan Gardner when she was recommissioned for the Russian Armament. Again, the matter was settled before she was called into action, and she paid off in September of that year.

Toulon and Corsica.

France declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic in the February of 1793, and Courageux, under Captain William Waldegrave, was dispatched with other British ships to blockade the French fleet in Toulon. By the middle of August, this British force, under Admiral Hood, in the 100-gun First Rate ship HMS Victory, had expanded into twenty-one ships of the line. On the 23rd of August, a deputation of French royalists came aboard the Victory to discuss the conditional surrender of the town, and on the 27th of August 1500 troops were landed to evict the republicans occupying the forts guarding the port. The landings were covered by Courageux, Meleager, Tartar, Egmont and Robust. Once the forts were secured, the remainder of Hood's fleet, accompanied by seventeen Spanish ships of the line, which had just arrived, sailed into the harbour.

In September 1793, during the occupation, Courageux, captained temporarily by Captain John Matthews, joined a squadron under Robert Linzee, which was sent to Corsica to support an insurrection there. General Pasquale Paoli, the leader of the insurgent party, had assured Hood that a small show of strength was all that was needed to force the island's surrender. This turned out not to be the case, however, and Linzee's appeals to the French garrisons there were rejected. His force, of three ships of the line and two frigates, was too small to blockade the island, so an attack on San Fiorenzo was decided upon.

The two frigates, Lowestoffe and Nemesis, were charged with destroying a Martello tower at Forneilli, two miles from the town, which guarded the only secure anchorage in the bay. After taking a few salvos from the ships, the French garrison deserted, and the British landed men to secure the fort. Linzee's squadron entered the bay but was prevented from engaging the batteries of San Fiorenzo by contrary winds. During the night, HMS Ardent was warped into a position where, at 03:30 on the1st of October, she was able to attack the batteries and cover the approach of the other British ships. Half an hour later, HMS Alcide tried to take up a station nearby but was blown towards some rocks by a sudden change of wind and had to be towed clear. Courageux in the meantime covered Alcide's stern by coming between it and the gunfire from a redoubt on the shore. Alcide eventually got into a position where she could join in the action, and the three ships bombarded the redoubt until 08:15 when, there being little sign of damage, Linzee gave the order to withdraw. Courageux bore the brunt of the action, having been exposed to a raking fire from the town, and caught on fire four times after being hit by heated shot.

During the same month, French troops laid siege to the city of Toulon, and in the December, the allied force within was driven out. When the order to withdraw was given, Courageux was being repaired and was without a rudder, but she was able to warp out of the harbour and assist in the evacuation of allied troops from the waterfront. A replacement rudder was brought out, suspended between two ship's boats, and fitted later.

Battle of Genoa.

Courageux, now commanded by Captain Augustus Montgomery, was one of thirteen ships of the line, which, together with seven frigates, two sloops and a cutter, were anchored in the roads of Livorno on the 8th of March 1795. The following day, a British scout, the 24-gun sloop Moselle, brought news that a French fleet of fifteen ships of the line, six frigates and two brigs, had been seen off the islands of Sainte-Marguerite. Vice-Admiral William Hotham immediately set off in pursuit, and on the10th of March the advanced British frigates spotted the French fleet at some distance, making its way back to Toulon against the wind. Two days later, on the night of the 12th of March, a storm developed which badly damaged two French ships of the line. These ships were escorted to Gourjean Bay by a pair of French frigates, thus leaving the opposing fleets of roughly equal in strength and numbers.

The next morning, Hotham attempted to arrange his ships into a Battle line, but seeing no response from the French fleet, changed his orders to give general chase. At 08:00 the 80-gun Ça Ira at the rear collided with Victoire, and her fore and main topmasts went by the board. The leading British ship, the 36-gun frigate HMS Inconstant under Captain Thomas Fremantle, reached the damaged Ça Ira within the hour and opened up such a furious fire at close range that she caused even further devastation. Seeing the danger, the French frigate Vestale fired upon Inconstant from long range before taking the limping Ça Ira in tow. Shortly after this, HMS Agamemnon under Captain Horatio Nelson joined in the action, until several of the French ships bearing down upon him forced her to drop back into proper station in the line.

Throughout the day and the following night, the British van sporadically engaged the French rearguard, with Ça Ira dropping further behind the main body of the French force. In order to better protect the damaged ship, the French admiral, Pierre Martin, ordered the ship of the line Censeur to replace Vestale as the towing ship. By morning the fleets were 21 nautical miles (39 km) south-west of Genoa, with the British rapidly gaining ground. Ça Ira and Censeur had fallen even further behind, and Hotham sent his two fastest ships after them. Captain and Bedford which unfortunately did not arrive simultaneously and thus both were repulsed, although further damage had been inflicted on the French stragglers during the process. Martin then ordered his line to wear in succession and get between the British fleet and the badly damaged Ça Ira and Censeur, which in the meantime had come under a new threat from the recently arrived Courageux and HMS Illustrious. A sudden lull in wind made manoeuvres more difficult, and the leading French ship, Duquesne under Captain Zacharie Allemand, found itself sailing down the opposite side of the British vanguard.

At 08:00, Duquesne was in a position to engage Illustrious and Courageux, which, in their efforts to reach Ça Ira and Censeur, were now far ahead and to leeward of their own line. Two other French ships, Victoire and Tonnant, now joined in the action, and, for an hour, the French and British vanguards exchanged heavy fire. Both British ships were badly mauled: Illustrious had drifted out of the battle, having lost her main and mizzen masts over the side, while Courageux also had two masts shot away and her hull much holed by the French fire. The Duquesne, Victoire, and Tonnant then exchanged passing broadsides with the British ships coming up, before turning away and leaving Ça Ira and Censeur to their fate. Hotham, considering the condition of the ships in his van, and content with his prizes, chose not pursue the French any further.

Action off Hyeres.

The fleet was re-victualling in San Fiorenzo bay on the 8th of July, 1795, when a small squadron under the command of Commodore Horatio Nelson approached, pursued by the French Fleet from Toulon. The British fleet was not able to put to sea immediately, due to contrary winds, but was spotted by the French, who abandoned their chase. Hotham finished refitting and supplying his ships, and finally managed to set off in persuit of his quarry at 21:00, almost twelve hours later. On the night of the 12th of July, the British ships were struck by a viscious storm, and they were still carrying out repairs the following morning when the French fleet was sighted again. At 03:45 Hotham gave the order to make all possible sail in pursuit of their enemy, which by then was 5 nautical miles away from them, bearing towards Fréjus.

By 08:00, the French had formed a line of battle, but the British ships were strung out over 8 nautical miles in total. The leading British ships, Victory, Culloden, and Cumberland, at ³⁄₄ of a mile were the only ships within range and opened fire. After six hours, as more ships arrived on the scene, one of the rearmost French ships, Alcide struck her colours.However, before the British could take possession of her, she caught fire and exploded. Courageux, under the command of Benjamin Hallowell, and some wayto the rear, was unable to get into the action before Hotham, believing the fleet to be running out of sea room, hoisted the signal to disengage.

Fate.

In the December of 1796, Courageux was with St Vincent's fleet, anchored in the bay of Gibraltar, when a great storm tore her from her mooring and drove her onto the rocks. Sources differ as to which day this occurred and the number of lives lost. William James records that on 10 December a French squadron under Admiral Villeneuve left the Mediterranean, but the British were unable to pursue due to a strong lee-shore wind. The weather took a turn for the worse, and that night several ships cut or had their cables snapped, including HMS Culloden and HMS Gibraltar.

When Courageux parted from her anchor, Captain Benjamin Hallowell was ashore at Gibraltar, serving on a court martial, and Lieutenant John Burrows was in command. The ship drifted across the bay and almost under the guns of the Spanish batteries, after which she was blown towards the Barbary coast under close-reefed topsails; Burrows was reluctant to run through the Straits for fear of meeting with Villeneuve's ships. Towards evening, the wind and rain increased to hurricane force, and soon after 20:00, the crew, who had been exhausted from trying to sail the ship out of trouble, were sent to dinner; the officers also retired below, except for a lieutenant of the watch. At 21:00, when land was sighted, there were too few men available to prevent the Courageux hitting the rocks at the foot of Mons Abyla on the African coast. She turned broadside on to the wind , losing her masts over the side, and water entered rapidly as waves and winds lashed her hull. Of the 593 officers and men who were on board, only 129 escaped with their lives: five by means of the ship's launch, and the remainder by moving along the fallen mainmast to the shore.

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HMS Culloden (1783)



HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third rate Ganges class ship of the line designed by Edward Hunt of only three were built. Ordered on the 12th of July,1781 she was built by M/shipwright John Randall at Rotherhithe and launched on the16th of June,1783 at Deptford.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Culloden
Ordered:	12 July 1781
Builder:	Randall, Rotherhithe
Laid down:	January 1782
Launched:	16 June 1783
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Glorious First of June Battle of Cape St Vincent Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Battle of the Nile
Fate:	Broken up, February 1813
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ganges-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1683 (bm)
Length:	169 ft 6 in (51.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 8 1⁄2 in (14.5 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 3 in (6.2 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

She was commissioned in the August of 1783 under Captain Rowland Cotton as a guardship at Plymouth until paid off in 1786. Recommissioned in the June of that year under Captain Sir Thomas Rich she continued in her role as a guardship until the September of 1791 under a series of different captains. She was then Recommissioned for Channel service. Recommissioned again under the auspices of Sir Thomas Rich, she sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 24th of March,1793.

French Revolutionary Wars.

One of her first engagements was at the Glorious First of June, on the 7th of June 1794 under Captain Isaac Schomberg. She was captained by Sir Thomas Troubridge during the next six years. During the Mutiny in the December of that year, and then sailed for the Med in the May of 1795 taking part in Hotham's action off Hyeres on the 13th of July of that year losing two killed and five wounded.

Her next major action was in the Battle of Cape St Vincent,on the 14th of February,1797, in which she led the line. Culloden was damaged, and had 10 men killed and 47 wounded. On the 27th of July of that same year Culloden took part in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In the following year on the first of August, 1798 she participated in the Battle of the Nile, but ran aground on shoals off Aboukir Island before being able to engage the French fleet, and subsequently did not actively engage the enemy. She was assisted by HMS Mutine whilst aground.



Her next action was in 1799 and again in 1800 at the blockade of Malta. Under Commander John Richards she then returned to England for major repairs at Plymouth.

Napoleonic Wars.

In November of 1802 she recommissioned under Captain Charles Lane for Channel service. In 1803 she served first as the Flagship of Admiral Sir George Keith and then Rear Admiral George Campbell.
In 1803 she took part in the chase of Le Douguay-Trouin and La Guerriere to Corruna.
In 1804 she served as Flagship to Vice Admiral Collingwood, and then Rear Admiral Sir Edward Pellew.

In the September of that year she sailed for the East Indies under Captain Christopher Cole, and captured the French privateer Émilien on the 26th of September, 1806 after a chase that lasted two days and a night. He described her as a ship corvette of 18 guns and 150 men. When the British took possession of Emilien at 2a.m. on the 25th, close off the shoals of Point Guadaveri they found out that they had driven her ashore on the previous night. She had had to jettison 12 guns, her anchors, and her boats, to enable her to be refloated. Cole noted that Émilien was "formerly His Majesty's Sloop Trincomalee". He further noted that she was copper fastened, and that under the name of Gloire had "annoyed our Trade". However, on this cruise she was two months out of Île de France without having made any captures.

Lloyd's List reported that Culloden had captured a large French privateer named Ameleon in the Indian Sea and taken her into Madras. The Royal Navy took Émilien into service as HMS Emilien, but sold her in 1808 and it is not clear that she ever saw active service.
On 5th of July, 1808 Culloden captured the French privateer Union off Ceylon. Union had been at sea for 27 days, having sailed from Mauritius, when she encountered Culloden, but had not captured anything. Union was armed with eight guns and had a crew of 60 Europeans and 20 lascars.

In the December of that same year under the command of Captain Pownoll Pellew she made her way home.
Laid up at Plymouth in the July of1809 she remained thus in what was to be her final decommissioning.

Fate.

Culloden was finally broken up there in the February of 1813.

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HMS Cumberland (1774)




HMS Cumberland was a 74-gun Elizabeth Class third rateship of the line, designed by Thomas Slade and ordered on the 8th of June 1768 . Built by M/shipwright Adam Hayes she was launched on the 29th of March,1774 at Deptford Dockyard and fitted out at at Portsmouth in 1777.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Cumberland
Ordered:	8 June 1768
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	7 January 1769
Launched:	29 March 1774
Fate:	Broken up, 1804
Notes:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape St Vincent ·Battle of Cuddalore
General characteristics
Class and type:	74-gunthird-rateElizabeth-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1647 (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

Having been coppered at Plymouth, in 1780, she saw her first action at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on the 16th of January.

She then went on to capture the French 18-gun privateer ship-sloopDuc de Chartres in the February of 1781. The Royal Navy bought in the privateer as HMS Duc de Chartres.

Cumberland then sailed to the East Indies, where she took part in the Battle of Cuddalore in 1783.



Returning home to Plymouth in 1784 for a refit, she was paid off after her wartime service. fitted as a guard ship she was recommissioned for the Spanish Armament in 1793 under Captain Thomas Lewis as Flagship for Rear Admiral John McBride( having himself been her Captain since 1787), in Howe's Fleet.


From the October of 1793 she became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Benjamin Caldwell. In the following October now commanded by Captain Bartholomew Rowley she sailed for the Med and on the 23rd of May, 1795 was involved in Hotham's action off Hyeres. On the 13th of July of that year Cumberland was part of Mann's squadron in pursuit of de Richery's Squadron.
Following the very active period, she was dispatched back to Portsmouth for a refit.



From 1799 until 1801 she came under the command of Captain Robert Graves as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton.
From 1801 she was commanded by Captain Robert Reynolds in Calders Channel Squadron which then proceeded to the West Indies in pursuit of Gauteaume.




Napoleonic Wars.



During the Napolonic wars Cumberland took an active part in the Action of 28 June 1803, during the Blockade of Saint-Domingue. Two days later, Cumberland and her squadron were sailing in between Jean-Rabel and St. Nichola Mole in the West Indies, having just parted with a convoy when they spotted a sail of what appeared to be a large French warship. Cumberland and Vanguard approached her and after a few shots from Vanguard the French vessel surrendered, having suffered two men badly wounded, and being greatly outgunned. She proved to be the frigateCréole, of 44 guns, primarily 18-pounders, under the command of Citizen Le Ballard. She had been sailing from Cape François to Port au Prince with General Morgan (the second in command of San Domingo), his staff, and 530 soldiers on board, in addition to her crew of 150 men. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Creole.



While the British were taking possession of Creole, a small French navy schooner, under the command of a lieutenant, and sailing the same trajectory as Creole, sailed into the squadron and she too was seized. She had on board 100 bloodhounds from Cuba, which were "intended to accompany the Army serving against the Blacks."



Fate.



Cumberland finally arrived back in England to pay off in the January of 1804 and was broken up at Portsmouth later that year.

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HMS Defence (1763)

.

HMS Defence was a Common Class of which its offshoot was the Ballona Class 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, ordered on the 13th of December 1758, designed by Thomas Slade, and built by M/shipwright Thomas Bucknall until the May of 1762. Completed by Israel Pownoll she was launched on the 31st of March. 1763 at Plymouth Dockyard.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Defence
Ordered:	13 December 1758
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Launched:	31 March 1763
Fate:	Wrecked, 24 December 1811
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Cape St Vincent Battle of Cuddalore Glorious First of June Battle of the Nile Battle of Trafalgar
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bellona-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1603​8⁄94 (bm)
Length:	168 ft (51.2 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	46 ft 9 in (14.2 m)
Draught:	21 ft 6 in (6.6 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 9 in (6.0 m)
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.

She was commissioned on the 19th of October 1770 as a guardship until the May of 1771.

Recommissioned at Chatham for Channel service,during the American War of Independence, Defence served with the Channel Fleet, seeing action at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1780. She was sent out to India in early 1782 as part of a squadron of five ships under Commodore Sir Richard Bickerton, arriving too late for the battles of that year. But in 1783 she took part in the last battle of the war, at Cuddalore. She returned to England at the end of 1785. She was then laid up during the years of peace until the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.

Recommissioned into the Channel Fleet in 1793 under Captain James Gambier, she fought at the Glorious First of June in 1794, distinguishing herself in action against Mucius and Tourville, and becoming one of only two British ships to be completely dismasted in the battle.



HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious First of June 1794, dismasted and with severe injury to the hull. Painted by the artist Nicholas Pocock

After repairs, she was sent to the Mediterranean in the May of 1795 under Captain Thomas Wells, joining Admiral William Hotham in time to take part in the Battle of Hyeres in the July of that year.
* In 1798 she came under the command of Captain William Brown, and then on the 6th of May of that year returned to the Mediterranean under Captain John Peyton, taking part in the Battle of the Nile on the first of August.
During 1799 she was commanded firstly by Captain Thomas Stephenson, and then by Captain Lord Henry Paulett at the blockade of Cadiz and Brest.

On 1 July 1800, Defence, Fisgard, Renown and the hired armed cutter Lord Nelson were in Bourneuf Bay when they sent in their boats to attack a French convoy at Île de Noirmoutier. The British destroyed the French ship Therese (of 20 guns), a lugger (12 guns), two schooners (6 guns each) and a cutter (6 guns), of unknown names. The cutting out party also burned some 15 merchant vessels loaded with corn and supplies for the French fleet at Brest. However, in this enterprise, 92 officers and men out of the entire party of 192 men, fell prisoners to the French when their boats became stranded. Lord Nelson had contributed no men to the attacking force and so had no casualties.

In 1801, Defence sailed to the Baltic under Captain Lord Henry Paulet with Admiral Hyde Parker's fleet. She was present at the Battle of Copenhagen, but did not see action as she was part of the reserve under Parker.
She next sailed for the West Indies, but saw no action, returning to England to be paid off in 1802. Refitted at Chatham, she was recommissioned in the May of 1803 under Captain George Hope firstly in the North Sea and thence to Cadiz.
In 1805 she saw action again at the Battle of Trafalgar, where still under Captain George Johnstone Hope, she was positioned in the Lee coloumn and went on to captured the San Ildefonso and fought the Berwick, suffering 36 casualties of which seven were killed and 29 wounded.

Following her return from the battle, she was paid off again in December for a large repair which took from May 1806 until the January of 1807 to effect. on the completion she was recommissioned under Captain Charles Ekins for the Channel once more.
She took part in the Copenhagen expedition during the August of 1807,and later on the blockade of Cadiz during December.

Loss.



The beach near Thorsminde

In 1809 she was dispatched under Captain David Atkins for North sea and Baltic service.
On the 24th of December,1811 she ran aground off the west coast of Jutland, Denmark. She was still under the command of Captain Atkins and in the company of the St George, under Rear-admiral Robert Carthew, Reynolds, and Cressy, when a violent gale and heavy seas came up. St George was jury-rigged and so Atkins refused to leave her without the Admiral's permission. As a result, both were wrecked on Laland Island near Ringkobing.




The last cruise.

Defence lost all but 14 of her crew of 597 men and boys, including her captain. St George also lost most her crew entire, including her Admiral. Most of the bodies which were washed ashore were buried in the sand dunes of Thorsminde, which have been known, ever since that event, as " The Dead Mens' Dunes".

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HMS Defiance (1783)



HMS Defiance was a 74-gun Revived Elizabeth Class third rateship of the line. Ordered on the 11th of July,1780. Designed by Thomas Slade and built by M/shipwright John Randall and John Brent at Rotherhithe. She was launched on the10th of December,1783.

History
Great Britain.
Name:	HMS Defiance
Ordered:	11 July 1780
Builder:	Randall, and Brent, Rotherhithe
Laid down:	April 1782
Launched:	10 December 1783
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Copenhagen Battle of Cape Finisterre Battle of Trafalgar
Fate:	Broken up, 1817
General characteristics
Class and type:	Revised Elizabeth-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1685 bm
Length:	168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	46 ft 4 in (14.12 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

History.


She was commissioned in the August of 1794 by Lt M.T. Hewitt for Captain George Keppel.
After undergoing some repairs, in May 1795 she was placed under the Captancy of Captain George Home.
In the March of 1796 she was commanded by Captain Theophilus Jones until 1798. He sailed her with the Channel Fleet during September and October 1796 at which time it was reported that,

Her qualifications are described as having been of a very superior order. She stowed her provisions well, and when sailing with the Channel fleet in September and October, 1796, beat all the line of battle ships, and kept pace with the frigates. " Upon a wind," Rays the Master's report, " spared them" (the line of battle ships) " main-sail and top-gallant sails, and sailing two or three points free or before the wind, beat them still more." At this time the Defiance's draught of water forward was 20 feet 5 inches; aft, 22 feet 5 inches; height of the midship port, 5 feet 8 inches. Her masts were stayed thus: "foremast nearly upright, main and mizenmasts rake aft."

Her crew mutinied three times, firstly in October 1795, Her captain initially had to release the ringleaders when the ratings attempted to storm the officer's quarters, but later these and additional mutineers were put in irons when.......

...in the afternoon a strong party of the 7th, or South Fencible regiment, and several officers, arrived on board. On the 20th, at 10 a.m., a general muster of the ship's company was made, and the eight men, previously in irons, together with three more, were placed in confinement, and others were subsequently added. A few days afterwards the South Fencibles were relieved by a detachment of the 134th Regt., in number 132, under Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, and with these the Defiance sailed from Leith and returned to the Nore.
The stationing of the Army troops was required because the ship sailed without its contingent of 60 Marines, which later embarked at Sheerness.

On 23 March 1796 Captain Theophilus Jones took command.

The crew of the Defiance mutinied for a second time in 1797 during the Spithead mutiny. Captain William Bligh of the Calcutta was ordered to embark 200 troops and take them alongside in order for the troops to board Defiance and regain control, however the threat of the soldiers was sufficient to bring about an end to the mutiny.
Her ship's company mutinied again in 1798 during the rising of the United Irishmen. Eleven men were hanged and ten transported for life in the penal colony of New South Wales.

Her next Captain was Thomas Revell Shivers, who took command in 1799 at Torbay. She joined Rear Admiral Sir James Whitshed's squadron in the Med,and in the June of that year was part of the persuit ofde Bru\x's squadron.
In the summer of 1800, Defiance was attached to the squadron under Sir Alan Gardner, stationed off the Black Rocks. On the 24th of December of that year, Capt. Richard Retallick superseded Capt. Shivers, Defiance being selected for the flagship of Rear AdmiralSir Thomas Graves.



Copenhagen

She fought at the Battle of Copenhagen on the 2nd of April, 1801, as the flagship of Graves, with Captain Retallick commanding her. The station in the line occupied in the battle was abreast of the Crown battery, which mounted thirty-six heavy guns, and was provided with a furnace for heating shot. Owing to the mishaps that kept Bellona, Russell, and Agamemnon from taking up their assigned stations, the Defiance became exposed to a severe cross fire, from which she suffered very severe damage.
In furtherance of the designs of Lord Nelson, when Sir Hyde Parker made the signal to discontinue the action, which Nelson would not see, Rear-Admiral Graves in the Defiance repeated the signal at the lee main topsail yardarm, from whence it could not be seen on board the Elephant. The Defiance continued firing until 3h. 15m. p.m., when the action ceased ; and her spring being cut and sail made, she dropped out of the station she had occupied. Shortly afterwards, the Defiance grounded, and was with difficulty hove off, after starting thirty butts of water. During the action the ship was frequently set on fire by the hot 42-pound shot fired from the batteries, and her damages were consequently serious. Her loss in killed and wounded was as follows Lieutenant George Gray*, Matthew Cobb, pilot, 17 seamen, 3 marines, and 2 soldiers, killed; and the boatswain Lewis Patterson, James Galloway, Midshipman, Harry Niblett, Captain's Clerk, — Stephenson, pilot, 35 seamen, 5 marines, and 7 soldiers, wounded: total, 24 killed, and 51 wounded.
She was paid off late in 1801, and recommissioned in the May of 1803 under Captain Phillip Durham the Channel Fleet.



Battle of Cape Finisterre.

She also participated in Calder's action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on the 22 of July, 1805, where she suffered only one killed and seven wounded.



Trafalgar.

At the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October, whilst under the command of Captain Philip Charles Durham, he claimed that:-

"she was the fastest 74 gun ship in the British fleet".

During the battle Defiance captured the Spanish San Juan Nepomuceno, and the French Aigle (although the following day the French crew managed to recapture the Aigle from the British prize crew shortly before she was wrecked during the storm of 23 October).
Prior to the boarding of the Aigle by a full boarding party from the Defiance, James "Jack" Spratt dived into the sea from Defiance, swimming with a cutlass between his teeth to the Aigle he climbed in through a stern window and boarded her single handed. He found his way to the French poop deck and threw himself on the French crew, one man against several hundred. In the melee he killed two French seamen, and was grappling with a third when he fell from the poop deck to the main deck, killing his opponent but injuring himself badly. He was saved by the timely arrival of a full boarding party from Defiance.

During the battle of Trafalgar Defiance and sustained casualties of 17 killed, and 53 wounded.

After the battle she was ordered back to Portsmouth for repairs and a refit. This was completed by the April of 1806,when she was recommissioned under Captain Henry Hotham for service in Rear Admiral Robert Stopford's squadron off Rochfort. On the 24th of February, 1809, she took part in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne. where she assisted in the destruction of three French 40 gun Frigates, La Cybele, Le Calypso, and L'Italienne.



Battle of the Basque Roads.

In early1809 she was involved in the Basque Roads operations, and thence to Plymouth for repairs. From the August of 1810 she was under Captain Richard Raggett and in 1811 under him as flagship to Rear Admiral John Ferrier in the North Sea.

In 1813 she was transferred to become the Flagship of Rear Admiral George Hope in the Baltic, before returning home to Chatham.

After serving as a prison ship for a short period, from the December of 1813, she went into ordinary in the winter of 1814/15. She was finally broken up there in 1817.

[Bligh]

HMS Edgar (1779)

HMS Edgar in the Downs circa 1810


HMS Edgar was a 74-gun third-rateship of the line

She was ordered from Woolwich Dockyard on the 16th of August ,1774. Built to slightly modified lines of the Arrogant-class, which had been designed by Sir Thomas Slade, built by M/shipwright Nicholas Phillips until the December of 1777, and completed by George White.



The Arrogant class of third rates was a development of his previous Bellona-class, and a further nine ships were ordered from various yards, both Royal and commercial, to the same lines as Edgar. Originally, the Admiralty had intended to order her to be built to the lines of Sir John Williams' Alfred-class, specifically HMS Alexander. Her keel was laid down on the 26th of August. 1776, and she was launched on the 30th of June, 1779.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Edgar
Ordered:	25 August 1774
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	26 August 1776
Launched:	30 June 1779
Renamed:	HMS Retribution, 1815
Honours and awards:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 1780 ·Battle of Ushant, 1781 ·Battle of Cape Spartel, 1782 ·Battle of Copenhagen, 1801 ·Naval General Service Medal with clasp: o "11 Aug Boat Service 1808"
Fate:	Broken up, 1835
General characteristics
Class and type:	Arrogant classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1609​93⁄94 (bm)
Length:	168 ft (51 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-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9-pounder guns ·Forecastle: 4 × 9-pounder guns

A list composed in or around 1793, giving details of twelve Royal Navy ships, reveals that Edgar possessed a white figurehead, with details painted in red and black. Of the other eleven ships mentioned, seven had the plain white figureheads as completed by the dockyards, whilst four had painted theirs with a larger palette since being launched.



SERVICE.



Edgar was launched when Britain was embroiled in the American Revolutionary War. She commissioned under her first captain, John Elliot, in May 1779, while her first action came on the 16th of January, 1780, when she fought in the Battle of Cape St Vincent as part of Admiral Sir George Rodney's fleet. After a two-hour chase, Edgar was one of the first ships to engage the numerically inferior Spanish fleet.



In the November of1781, the Admiralty had received intelligence that a large convoy was preparing to sail from Brest under Admiral de Guichen. It was a convoy of transports carrying naval supplies for the West Indies and the French fleet in the East Indies. Edgar was part of Admiral Richard Kempenfelt's squadron of 18 ships (11 of which mounted 64 or more guns), which he commanded from his flagship the HMS Victory. Kempenfelt was ordered to intercept the convoy, which he accomplished in the Bay of Biscay on the afternoon of the 12th of December, approximately 150 miles (241.4 km) south-west of Ushant. With the French naval escort to leeward of the convoy, Kempenfelt attacked immediately, capturing 15 of the transports before nightfall. The rest of the convoy scattered, most returning to Brest. Only five of the transports reaching the West Indies.



After a short refit in the February of 1782, her second major action took place on the 20th of October, of that year, whilst she was part of Admiral Richard Howe's fleet of 35 ships of the line at the Battle of Cape Spartel. The fleet had encountered the combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 46 ships of the line under Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova, and some exchange of fire took place before Admiral Howe ordered a retreat.



Edgar spent the remainder of the war in the Channel Fleet under Admiral George Darby.



Between the wars.



After the conclusion of the war in 1783, Edgar was fitted for service as a guardship in Portsmouth Harbour. In 1787 Captain Charles Thompson took command, and in the spring of 1788 she served as the Flagship to Rear-Admiral John Leveson-Gower's when he commanded his fleet of observation on its two-month cruise off the Irish coast and to the west of the Scilly Isles. At the end of this cruise, Edgar returned to Portsmouth where she resumed her role as guardship in the May of 1790.



Edgar was recommissioned in April 1791 under Captain Albermarle as a guard ship once again and next joined the home fleet.



French Revolutionary War.



After France's declaration of war against Great Britain brought the country into the French Revolutionary War in 1793, Edgar, under the command of Captain Bertie, captured the French privateer Dumourier, which had earlier captured the Spanish ship Santa Jago (or St Jago), in the April of that year. Edgar was a component part of a squadron commanded by Admiral John Gell. A large quantity of treasure was discovered in the hold of the Dumourier, valued at over £½ million. Edgar, St George, Egmont, Ganges, and Phaeton escorted St Jago into Portsmouth. The ownership of the Spanish ship was a matter of some debate and was not settled until the 4th of February, 1795, when the value of the cargo was put at £935,000.sterling. At this time all the crew, captains, officers and admirals received a share of the prize money, with Admiral Hood's share standing at £50,000.


Recommissioned in the August of 1794 under Captain Sir Charles Knowles, the crew of HMS Defiance rose up in mutiny whilst the ship lay in Leith Roads. Edgar was ordered alongside Defiance, and if it were deemed necessary to restore order, to engage her. A comment left by one of Edgar's crew suggests that had the order been given to fire, it would not have been obeyed, as the crew thought that the mutineers aboard Defiance were in the right.



In the May of 1795 she was once more returned to Chatham for a refit. In the August of 1796 she recommissioned under Captain John McDougall who continued in command until1799. During this period she served in the Channel. From the November of 1799 her commander was Captain Edward Buller.

In 1800 Edgar was part of the Channel Fleet under Admiral Sir Alan Gardner blockading the important French port of Brest. She was forced to return to Plymouth on the 18th of February after sustaining damage to her mainmast, and on completion of repairs repairs sailed from Plymouth with HMS Dragon, rejoining the Fleet on the 13th of May of that year. Edgar was driven from her station on blockade duty on the 9th of November by hurricane-force winds, and again put into Plymouth for repairs.
On the 28th of February, 1801, Captain George Murray took command of Edgar, transferring from Achille. On the 2 April of that year, Edgar participated in the Battle of Copenhagen. After passing down the Outer Channel, in order to negotiate the southern tip of the Middle Ground shoal off the coast from Copenhagen, Edgar was leading Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's line, and was the first to commence firing, as soon as she was in range of the Danish Prövesteen. Edgar was forced to fight unsupported for some time, as the next ship in line, Agamemnon, had run aground on the poorly charted Middle Ground shoal, requiring Polyphemus, the next in line after Agamemnon, to manoeuvre around the stranded ship. During the course of the battle, Edgar had 31 killed, including the First Lieutenant and three soldiers of the 49th Regiment, and 115 men were wounded.
From the August of 1801 commasnd devolved upon Captain Robert Ottway.



Napoleonic Wars.



The Revolutionary War was brought to close on the 25th of March, 1802 with the Treaty of Amiens, and war gave way to a period of uneasy peace. In the June of 1802 Edgar returned to Chatham for repairs. She was not recommissioned until the July of 1805 under Captain John Clarke Searle, and later served as Admiral Lord Keith's flagship off the Texel, blockading the Dutch coast. Edgar, along with several other ships, was in the Downs on the 17th of December, when HMS Victory came in to shelter from gales that had blown up, hampering her progress to Chatham. Victory was returning to England after the Battle of Trafalgar, and on board was the body of the late Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson.



In 1806 she was under the command of Captain Robert Jackson in the Downs.
During 1807 she served as the Flagship of Admiral Viscount George Keith, from the May of that year under the captaincy of James Macnamara.



On 28th of March,1808, there was an attempted mutiny aboard whilst Edgar was lying in Cawsand Bay. The crew had congregated on the quarter deck, but were dispersed by the threat of a musket volley from the ship's company of marines. Five men, including the captain of the main-top and the bosun's mate, were arrested and placed in irons. The five were tried for mutiny aboard Salvador del Mundo in the Hamoaze between the 9th and 11th of April. All were found guilty, despite attempts by Edgar's petty officers to prove that they had been goaded into their actions by threats from the rest of the crew. Each of the men was sentenced to be flogged round the fleet, with the captain of the main-top, Henry Chesterfield, receiving a total of 700 lashes and two-years' solitary confinement; the bosun's mate, John Rowlands, received one-year's confinement and 300 lashes; two of the remaining men received 200 lashes each, and one 500 lashes.



Gunboat War.



In the May of 1808 Edgar was one of the 12 ships of the line forming part of Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez's squadron sent to the Baltic following Denmark's declaration of war against Sweden. By this point in time, Sweden had allied herself with Britain, but both Denmark and Russia were allied to Buonaparte. Saumarez, flying his broad pennant aboard the Victory, was, therefore, faced with the task of keeping the Baltic open to British trade, and also promoting British interests in the region. The hostilities with Denmark lasted from 1807 until 1814.



When word of the uprising of the Spanish against the French in 1808 reached Denmark, some 12,000 Spanish troops stationed in Denmark and under the command of the Marquis de la Romana decided that they wished to escape from French service and return to Spain. The Marquis contacted Rear-Admiral Keats, on Superb, commanding the British squadron in the Kattegat. They agreed a plan of action and on the 9th of August, 1808 the Spaniards seized the fort and town of Nyborg. Keats then prepared to take possession of the port and to organize the departure of the Spanish. The Admiral informed the Danish authorities that if they did not impede the operation he would spare the town. The Danes agreed, with the exception of the captains of two small Danish warships in the harbour.



On 11 August Keats sent in the boats from Edgar, under the command of her captain, James Macnamara. The boats captured the brig Fama, of 18 guns and under the command of Otto Frederick Rasch, and the cutter Søormen, of 12 guns and under the command of Thøger Emil Rosenørn. Despite the odds Rasch and Rosenørn refused to capitulate, and put up a stiff resistance before they finally struck. British losses were an officer killed and two men wounded; the Danes lost seven men killed and 13 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "11 Aug. Boat Service 1808" to all surviving claimants of the action.



The British organized the evacuation of the Spanish troops using some 50 or so local boats. Some 10,000 troops returned to Spain via Great Britain.



In the early July of 1810 Edgar under Captain Stephen Poyntz, in company with Dictator and Alonzo, sighted three Danish gunboats commanded by Lieutenant Peter Nicolay Skibsted, who had captured the Grinder in April of that year. The gunboats (Husaren, Løberen, and Flink) sought refuge in Grenå, on eastern Jutland, where a company of soldiers and their field guns could provide covering fire.Nevertheless, the British mounted a cutting out expedition consisting of some 200 men in ten ships’ boats just after midnight on the 7th of July, successfully capturing the three gunboats.



Fate.



Edgar was laid up in ordinary at Chatham in 1811. and by 1812 she underwent a conversion to serve as a prison hulk for convicts in 1813, and was renamed Retribution on the 19th of August 1814. She continued to serve in the role as a hulk until the February of 1835, when the decision was finally taken to have her broken up.

[Bligh]

HMS Egmont (1768)


A model of Egmont, held in the National Maritime Museum

HMS Egmont was a 74-gun third rateship of the line.developed from the Rammilies design with a sightly increased breadth.Ordered on the 2nd of May 1765, she was re designed by Sir Thomas Slade, and was the only ship built to her specification. The M/shipwright was Adam Hayes.
Launched on 29th of August, 1768 at Deptford.

.
History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Egmont
Ordered:	6 June 1765
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	October 1766
Launched:	29 August 1768
Fate:	Broken up, Chatham, Kent, 1799
Notes:	Participated In: Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)
General characteristics
Class and type:	74-gun third rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	1642​76⁄94 (bm)
Length:	168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	46 ft 11 1⁄2 in (14.3 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

SERVICE.

She was commissioned in the November of 1770 for the Falkland Islands dispute.

Egmont suffered heavy damage in the Battle of Ushant in 1778. Her captain reported to Admiralty that the vessel received eleven cannonballs to the starboard side and two more through the mainmast. The mizzen mast had been shot away and had gone by the board and the foremast had been shivered along its centre section.

Coppered and fitted out at Portsmouth in the February of 1780, having sailed out to the West Indies later that year under Captain Robert Fanshawe, Egmont, was dismasted in the Great Hurricane of 1780 on the 11th of October near the Island of St Lucia.




On her return to England, she was paid off after wartime service in the August of 1781 until she was re fitted for service in the North sea by AO on the 25th of February 1782. From the April until the August of that year she was being refurbished with all Carronade armament and the yards of a 64. After recommissioning for further war service she was again paid off in the April of 1783.

She now underwent a great repair at Plymouth from the first month of 1788 which was not completed until the July of 1790. Recommissioned under Captain George Hope for the Spanish Armament, she was re established with 32lbr long guns on LD by AO. and with the rest of her original armament on the 18th of December 1792.

Recommissioned in the January of 1793 by Captain Archibald Dickson she sailed for the Med on the 5th of April of that year. Egmont joined part of the squadron commanded by Admiral John Gell on the 14th of April, which escorted the St. Jago, a Spanish ship which they had captured from the French, to Portsmouth. The ownership of the Spanish ship was a matter of some debate and was not settled until the 4th of February, 1795 when the value of the cargo was set at £935,000. At this time all the crew, captains, officers and admirals could expect a share of the prize money—Admiral Hood's share for instance was £50,000. Apart from Egmont, the other ships that escorted her into Portsmouth were HMS St George, HMS Edgar, HMS Ganges and HMS Phaeton.

In late 1793 she took part in the Toulon operations and also Corsica in 1794. Under Captain John Sutton from 1795 to 97 she saw action off Genoa on the 13th of March 1795 and the Hyeres on the 13th of July of that year. She took the 22 gun La Sardine and retook the 28 gun Nemesis off Tunis on the 9th of March, 1796.

At the Battle of St. Vincent on the 14th of February 1797 still under the captaincy of John Sutton she suffered no casualties.

FATE.

She was broken up at Chatham in 1799.