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.
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 CuddaloreClass 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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