3rd Rate ships of the Royal Navy. 1793 to 1815.

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HMS Warspite (1807)


Warspite (1807)

HMS Warspite was a Colossus Class, 74-gun third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 23rd of November 1797. She was designed by Sir John Henslow as one of the large class 74s, and was the second, and last, ship of a class of two, the other being Colossus as the named ship of the class. As a large '74', she carried 24-pdrs on her upper gun deck instead of the 18-pdrs found on the middling and common class 74s. Laid down on the 3rd of December, 1805, she was built by Robert Steppings at Chatham Dockyard. After a long delay due to the shortage of timber, Warspite was eventually launched on the 16th of November, 1807.




The Warspite returning to Spithead from her voyage round the World, 28 July 1827

HISTORY
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Warspite
Ordered:	13 January 1798
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	3 December 1805
Launched:	16 November 1807
Decommissioned:	1815
Notes:	original construction cost £59,725
Recommissioned:	As a 76-gun ship, 1817
Recommissioned:	As a 50-gun frigate, 1840
Decommissioned:	1846
Reclassified:	Boys' training ship, 1862
Fate:	Burnt, 3 January 1876
General characteristics As built
Class and type:	74-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1890 bm
Length:	179 ft 10 in (54.8 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	49 ft (14.9 m)
Draught:	Underside of keel to uppermost point of taffrail 16.5m
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	600
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pdr guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pdr guns Quarterdeck: 12 × 9-pdr guns Forecastle: 4 × 9-pdr guns
Notes:	One of the earliest to be refitted with diagonal framing trusses
General characteristics 1840 razee
Class and type:	50-gun frigate
Length:	179 ft 10 in (54.8 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	49 ft (14.9 m)
Depth of hold:	13 ft 10 in (4.2 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	475
Armament:	50 guns: Upperdeck: 28 × 32-pdr guns Quarterdeck: 16 × 32-pdr guns Forecastle: 6 × 32-pdr guns

Service.

Napoleonic Wars.

HMS Warspite was commissioned in the March of 1808 under Captain Henry Blackwood who held the post until 1813, Warspite spent the three years between 1807 and 1810 playing a supporting role in the Peninsular War, although she temporarily came under the captaincy of William Bowles in the Spring of 1809 off Cherbourg. On the 2nd of November of that same year she was also temporally under Captain Henry E R Baker whilst in the Med from 1810 to 1812 where she took part in the long blockade of Toulon in 1810 until she returned to Chatham to make repairs from the June until the August of that year. In 1813 she was serving in the Channel Fleet protecting British trade while intercepting French and American ships. During early 1813 Warspite took a couple of lucrative ‘prizes’ including a US schooner bound for Philadelphia ‘with brandy, wine, silks, etc.,’ from France. This took place on the 12th of March, the vessels in question being 4 gun US privateer William Bayard, and on the 14th the 8 gun Cannonier. On the 29th of May she also successfully intercepted the Flash.
In the November of that same year, now under Captain Lord James O’Bryen she headed for North America carrying troops for Quebec and being the first 74-gun ship to go so far up the Saint Lawrence River,. On return to Portsmouth she was decommissioned in 1815. Warspite underwent a large repair between the January of 1816 and the May of 1818 during which process she was converted to a 76-gun ship in 1817. At the same time her stern was altered and she was given diagonal bracing on the framing introduced by Sir Robert Seppings.
In 1825 she sailed from Portsmouth with Rear Admiral Philip Woodehouse as the new commanding officer of the West Indies station.

During 1826-27 she circumnavigated the World under Captain William Parker, but bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Gage, departing from Spithead for India. At Trincomalee Rear-Admiral Gage was replaced by Commodore Sir James Brisbane as the new South Atlantic (Rio de Janeiro) Station commander-in-chief. However, following Commodore Brisbane's death from a contracted tropical disease, Captain Richard Saunders Dundas of the accompanying 6th rate Survey ship HMS Volage took command for the rest of the voyage which saw Warspite as the first ship of the line to visit Port Jackson in the colony of New South Wales in Australia.



The Lord High Admiral returning from his inspection of the Warspite on 31 July 1827 by Henry Moses

Returning to the station with the Malta squadron late in 1828 she was detached to transport Count Capo d'Istria, President of the Greek republic, to various locations around the Eastern Mediterranean while blockading Navarino, Modon and Coron in coordination with the French and Russian allied squadrons. In this capacity it helped to interdict two Egyptian corvettes at Navarino, one suffering substantial damage when it ignored warning shots and was engaged with the main battery. Captain Parker then participated in several conferences with Ibrahim Pasha to negotiate the withdrawal of Egyptian troops from Greece.

Repairs were carried out at Plymouth between the November of 1828 and the April of 1829.
In 1831 she was at the South American (Rio de Janeiro) station as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Baker, Captain Charles Talbot, at one time contribution towards salvage of HMS Thetis (1817) cargo off Cape Frio in 1830.

50-gun frigate (1840–46)

By AO issued on the 19th of June 1837, Warspite was cut down to a fourth rate 50-gun frigate in 1840, for service on the Home station, and for demonstrations at Portsmouth, under Lord John Hay, and is recorded to have visited the United States in 1842, exchanging salutes with USS North Carolina and the frigate Columbia in the New York harbour. She was then used for anti-piracy patrols in the Mediterranean, including the blockade of the mouth of the river Xanthus in 1844. Her last senior officer was Captain Wallis, serving at the Gibraltar station before she was paid off in 1846.

Training ship (1862–79)

In 1862 she was loaned to The Marine Society as a boys' training ship, for which she was permanently moored on the Thames between Woolwich and Charlton. Training for about 150 boys at a time was conducted over about 10 months to provide basic seaman knowledge, including of ship lore, rigging and discipline, sufficient to be employed as Boy Seaman in either the Royal Navy or the merchant marine. On 6 August 1863 she was struck by the Russian ironclad Pervenets while the latter was undergoing sea trials.

Fate.

She was destroyed by fire (arson was suspected but never proven) on the 3rd of January, 1876, whilst still on loan. The wreck was sold to McArthur and Co for £2,610 on 2nd of February, 1876 to be broken up.

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HMS Bulwark (1807)

HMS Bulwark was the only ship of her Class. She was a 74 gun, third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 6th of November 1784. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the large class 74s, and was the only ship built to her specifications. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck instead of the 18 pounders found on the middling and common class 74s. Laid down in the April of 1804 and built at Portsmouth Dockyard by M/shipwright Nicholas Diddams, she was launched on the 23rd of April, 1807.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Bulwark
Ordered:	6 November 1794
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	April 1804
Launched:	23 April 1807
Fate:	Broken up, 1825
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bulwark Class 74-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,939​80⁄94 (bm)
Length:	·181 ft 10 in (55.4 m) (gundeck); ·150 ft 4 1⁄4 in (45.8 m) (keel)
Beam:	49 ft 3 in (15.0 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 7 in (6.3 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns. Later 4x 12- pounders + 10 32- pounder Carronades ·Fc: 2× 9-pounder guns. Later 2x 12- pounders and 2x32-pounder Carronades ·Rh: 6x18-pounder Carronades.

Service.

HMS Bulwark was commissioned in the March of 1807 by Captain Charles Fleming, and sailed for the Med on the 12th of October in that year. From 1807 to 1809 she served at the blockade of Cadiz, and returned to Plymouth for middling and large repairs between the May of 1811 and the January of 1812, during which time she was under first Captain Joshua Horton and from the December of 1811 Captain James Worth. On the 24th of March 1812, Bulwark was in company with Tonnant, Hogue, Colossus and Poictiers when they captured Emilie.

From the May of 1812 and throughout 1813 Bulwark served as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Philip Durham in the Channel.

From the December of 1813 she came under Captain David Milne, and sailed for North America early in 1814.On the 22nd of May, Bulwark recaptured Tiger, Cowan, master. The American privateer Yankee had captured Tiger as Tiger was sailing from Malaga to London. Tiger arrived at Halifax on the 28th of July. The records of the Vice admiralty court at Halifax show that Tyger, Henry Davidson, master, had been sailing from Malaga to Stettin, and that Bulwark had recaptured her on the 24th of July.

On the 3rd of September, she took a hand in the destruction of the US Corvette Adams in the Penobscott river, and on the 23rd of October Bulwark captured the American 10 gun privateer schooner Harlequin, which had been out port for only four days when she was captured.

In the December of 1814 she was given a new captain. He was Farmery Epworth and lost no time in taking over the mantle of command by capturing the American privateer schooner Tomahawk, of Baltimore on the 22nd of January,1815. She was of 210 tons (bm), had a crew of 84 men under the command of Philip Besson, and was armed with eight 9-pounder carronades and a 24-pounder on a pivot carriage. She had been commissioned on the 11th of January and was two days out of Boston, having not been given the opportunity to capture anything.
In the June of 1815 Bulwark returned home to England and was paid off. She was fitted as a guard ship and served in this capacity at Sheerness from the December of 1815 until the July of 1816. After a small repair she continued in the role of a guardship this time at Chatham, between the February of 1819 and the March of 1822.



HMS Bulwark (centre left) as a hulk in Portsmouth in 1826


Fate.

Bulwark was broken up at Portsmouth, which operation was completed on the 26th of September,1826.

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HMS Aboukir (1807)





A drawing of HMS Aboukir



HMS Aboukir was a Carnatic Class 74-gun third rate ship of the line based on the French ship Courageux. She was ordered on the 16th of August,1800, or on the 24th of November,1802. Laid down in the June of 1804, and built by Josiah and Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury, She was launched on the 18th of November.1807, and fitted out in 1808 at Chatham.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:		HMS Aboukir
Ordered:		24 November 1802?
Builder:		Brindley, Frindsbury
Laid down:		June 1804
Launched:		18 November 1807
Fate:		Sold, 1838
General characteristics
Class and type:	Lengthened Courageux-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1703 bm
Length:	172 ft 3.5 in (52.515 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 9 in (14.55 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·74 guns: o Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders o Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounders o Quarterdeck: §2 × 9-pounders §12 × 32-pounder carronades o Forecastle: §2 × 9-pounders §2 × 32-pounder carronades o Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Service.



HMS Aboukir was commissioned in the May of 1808 by Captain George Parker for Channel service. Initially she came under Captain Charles Cockburn but then Captain Percy Fraser.
In 1810 she took part in the Scheldt operations, and then and throughout 1811 served off the Texel.

In the summer of 1812 she came under the command of Captain Thomas Browne, as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Byam Martin in the Baltic
In 1813, under Parker again, she sailed for the Med on the 19th of June. In September she came under the command of Captain Norbert Thompson and in 1814 she was at Genoa.
Between 1817 and 1838 she was in ordinary at Chatham, and then was finally fitted as a receiving ship between the July of 1823 and the June of 1824.


Fate.


She was placed on harbour service late in 1824, and in 1831 was fitted as a hospital ship in the June of that year.
In 1838 Aboukir was sold to J. Lachlan for £4250 to be broken up on the 16th of August of that year .

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HMS Marlborough (1807)





HMS 'Marlborough' and 'Minotaur' by William Adolphus Knell (1802–1875)


HMS Marlborough was a revived Hero class 74-gun third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 21st of January 1805, and built by Mrs Francis Barnard at Deptford. She was laid down in the August of 1805 and launched on the 22nd of June, 1807.





Marlborough

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Marlborough
Ordered:	21 January 1805
Builder:	Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	August 1805
Launched:	22 June 1807
Fate:	Broken up, 1835
General characteristics
Class and type:	Revised Hero Class ship of the line.
Tons burthen:	1754 bm
Length:	175 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·74 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs ·Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades ·Forecastle: 4 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades ·Poop deck: 6 × 18 pdr carronades

Service.


HMS Marlborough was commissioned by Captain Graham Moore in the July of 1807 and he commanded her until 1809.
He served with Sydney Smith’s in Lisbon in the November of 1807 and in 1808, he aided in escorting the Portuguese Royal Family during its flight from Portugal to Brazil.


Between the June and October of 1809 Marlborough was captained by John Phillimore for the Walcheran operations and then later in the North Sea. In the November of 1810 year Captain George Scott took over command firstly in the Channel and then back in the North Sea. She later came under the temporary command of Captain Francis Beaumont, but in 1812 she became the Flagship to Sir George Cockburn under Captain Robert Honeyman, and sailed to North America on the 23rd of September in that year.


From 1813 she was under Captain Charles Ross and still serving as Cockburn’s flagship, she took part in the capture of Washington between the 24th and 25th of August of that same year.


Between the February of 1814 and the February of 1816, she underwent a large repair at Portsmouth. She then went into ordinary.


Marlborough was broken up in Portsmouth in the July of 1835.

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HMS YORK (1807)



HMS York was a Revived Hero class 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, ordered 0n the 24th of January 1805, and built by Samuel & Daniel Brent,at Rotherhithe. Laid down in the August of that year, she was launched on the 7th of July,1807.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS York
Ordered:	31 January 1805
Builder:	Brent, Rotherhithe
Laid down:	August 1805
Launched:	7 July 1807
Fate:	Broken up, 1854
Notes:	Prison ship from 1819
General characteristics
Class and type:	Revived Hero Class ship of the line.
Tons burthen:	1743 (bm)
Length:	175 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 8.5 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	13 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: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades ·Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades ·Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Service.

HMS York was commissioned in the August of 1807 under Captain Robert Barton who commanded her until 1812.
One of the many British warships ordered after they were most needed. Although the major naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars had already occurred by the time of her launching, York was employed on some notable campaigns.


After her launch, York, under the command of Barton, sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 30th of November,1807, as part of Sir Samuel Hood's squadron on the 26th of December in that year she participated in the occupation of Madeira.


In 1809, York was on the West India Station, and was involved in the capture of Martinique in the February of that year. In April a strong French squadron arrived at the Îles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until the 14th of April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, invaded and captured the islands.York was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the islands.


In July and August of that same year, back in home waters, York was involved in the disastrous landings at Walcheren. On the 14th of November York sailed for the Med, and combined with the Mediterranean Squadron off Toulon.



In the August of 1812, now under Captain Alexander Schomberg, she was back in the North sea and then the Channel.

On the 17th of December, 1813 York captured the French ship Marie Antoinette.

In 1814 York sailed to Nort America conveying troops.

On her return in the August of1815 she was paid off at Plymouth and went into ordinary.


Fate.


In the November of 1819, York entered Portsmouth harbour, where she was stripped of her masts and guns, and converted into a convict ship, serving in this role from 1824 to 1850. HMS York is best remembered in this state, thanks to a contemporary drawing by Edward William Cooke, which shows her fully converted, and with laundry above her decks where sails once would have been. She would have typically contained approximately 500 convicts.




HMS York in Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour with the convicts going on board, by Edward William Cooke


After many years at this harbour service, she was finally broken there up in the March of 1854.

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HMS Sultan (1807)



Sultan.



HMS Sultan was a Hero Class 74-gun third rateship of the line,ordered on the 24th of January 1805, and built by John Dudman and Co at Deptford Warf. Laid down in the December of that year, she was launched on the 19th of September.1807, and fitted at Woolwich.

History
Great Britain
Name:		HMS Sultan
Ordered:		24th January 1805
Builder:		Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Laid down:		December 1805
Launched:		19 September 1807
Fate:		Broken up, 1864
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	Hero class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1751 (bm)
Length:	175 ft (53.3 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 10 in (14.5 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades ·Fc: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades ·Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Service.


HMS Sultan was commissioned in the October of 1807 under Captain Edward Griffith Colpoys and sailed for the Med on the 18th of February 1808. Whilst there she served off Cadiz.

In the late October of 1809, still under Captain Colpoys in Collingwood’s squadron, she took part in the Battle of Maguelone which wasa minor naval action that took place during the Peninsular War, between the escort of a French convoy, comprising three ships of the line and two frigates, and a 6-ship strong squadron of the Royal Navy. In a running battle, the French covered the retreat of the convoy and attempted to escape by sailing in shallow waters close to the shore of Maguelone. After two of the ships of the line ran aground, their crew evacuated them and scuttled them by fire after removing valuable equipment, including the artillery. The remaining ship and frigates made good their escape to Toulon. A British cutting-out party attacked the convoy in Baie des Roses on the 1st of November, destroying most of it and capturing three ships.


In the April of 1810 she came under the command of Captain John West until 1814. On the 19th of July 1811 she had a brush with the Toulon ships, and on the 4th of December in that year her boats were in an operation at Bastia.


During 1813 her duties were confined to the Channel.

In 1814 Sultan took part in the Bordeaux, operations and then, on the 10th of October, whilst she was escorting several transports vessels when the Baring was wrecked at Beerhaven. Sultan's boats, and those of Shamrock, were able to rescue the crew and all the troops, save for five men. The troops consisted of 200 men from the 40th Regiment of Foot.


Between the March of 1816 and the September of 1818 she went under a massive series of repairs at Portsmouth, and then in the Novemberr of 1829 a further very small repair. She then went into ordinary from that date until the November of 1833.


Fate.


She was next fitted as a receiving ship at Portsmouth between the May and December of 1861, then as a target ship in 1862 between the February and May of that year. In August she was designated to take part in the trials for armour plate. Unsurprisingly, following this, Sultan was broken up in 1864. The demolition being completed by the 28th of January.

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HMS Bombay (1808)



HMS Bombay was another modified Carnatic Class, 74 gun third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 9th of July 1801, and reaffirmed on the 23rd of July,1805, she was built by M/ shipwright Henry Peake at Deptford Dockyard. She was laid down in the October of 1805, and launched on the 28th of March,1808. She completed fitting out at Woolwich on the 11th of June in that same year.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Bombay
Ordered:	9 July 1801,Confirmed 23 July 1805.
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	October 1805
Launched:	28 March 1808
Renamed:	HMS Blake, 1819
Fate:	Broken up, 1855
General characteristics
Class and type:	Modified Carnatic class third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1701 (bm)
Length:	172 ft 3 1⁄2 in (52.515 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 9.5 in (14.55 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounders ·QD: 2 × 9-pounders, 12 × 32-pounder carronades ·Fc: 2 × 9-pounders, 2 × 32-pounder carronades ·Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Service.

HMS Bombay was commissioned in the June of 1808 under Captain William Cumming, who continued in command until 1811. She sailed for the Med on the 7th of February 1809.

In 1812 still in the Med she came under Captain Norburn Thompson, and on the 24th of January 1813 Bombay detained the Dumpteur des Ondts.
Subsequently under Captain George Parker, she returned to Portsmouth for defects to be made good between the March and July of 1814.During this period, she exchanged captains. Her new commander from the May of that year was Captain Henry Bazely, and under him, Bombay was created the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir John Beresford in the July of 1814, and then Rear Admiral Sir Charles Penrose in 1816. She was paid off in the July of that year.

Fate.

Bombay was renamed HMS Blake by Admiralty Orders on the 28th of April,1819 in honour of Admiral Robert Blake, and was fitted as a receiving ship at Portsmouth in the December of 1823.Converted for harbour service in 1828. She was broken up on the 22nd of December 1855.