HMS Northumberland (1798)
HMS Northumberland was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line, the name ship of her class,ordered on the 10th of june 1795 and built at the yards of Mrs Frances Barnard, Deptford, and launched on the 2nd of February, 1798.
GREAT BRITAIN Name: HMS Northumberland Ordered: 10 June 1795 Builder: Barnard, Deptford Laid down: October 1795 Launched: 2 February 1798 Honours and
awards:·Participated in Battle of San Domingo
·Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"Fate: Broken up, 1850 Notes: Hulked, February 1827 Class and type: Northumberland classship of the line Tons burthen: 1907 (bm) Length: 182 ft (55 m) (gundeck) Beam: 48 ft 7 1⁄2 in (14.821 m) Depth of hold: 21 ft 7 in (6.58 m) Propulsion: Sails Sail plan: Full rigged ship Armament: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns
·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns
Service.
HMS Northumberland was commissioned in the April of 1798 by Captain Edward Owen, and from the August of that year came under Captain George Martin as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir John Colpoys, and sailed to the Med in the October of that year. In the June of 1789 she was in Rear Admiral Sir John Duckworth’s squadron, and took part in the blockade of Malta in 1800. On the 18th of February of that year she took Le Genereux, Northumberland, Alexander, Penelope, Bonne Citoyenne, and the brigVincejo shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valletta, Malta on the 6th of April 1800, and together with Genereux and Success, on the 24th of August the 42 gun La Diane off Malta.
Egypt Operation 1801.
On 8 January 1801 Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delfth cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schoonerMalta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.
Because Northumberland 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 authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.
Northumberland was recommissioned in the June of 1803 under Captain Alexander Cochrane for Channel service.In the August of that year she detained and sent into Plymouth Comet, a vessel that the French had captured on the1st of July as she was sailing from England to Bengal under charter to the British East India Company. An American house with an office in London had purchased Comet at A Coruña as a prize and was sending her to London when Northumberland intercepted her.
In 1805 she was under Captain George Tobin as the Flagship to the now Rear Admiral Cochrane at the blockade of Ferrol, and then in pursuit of Missiessy’s squadron to the West Indies.
Northumberland participated in the Battle of San Domingo on the 6th of February,1806, under acting Captain John Morrison. She was damaged in the battle, and suffered 21 killed and 74 wounded, the highest casualty rate of any British ship taking part in the battle.
From the June of that year she had another temporary Captain in the person of Commander Joseph Spear, and later in the year Captain Nathaniel Cochrane, still as commander of Rear Admiral Cochrane’s flagship in the Leeward Islands. In 1807 Northumberland was part of a squadron, with Rear Admiral Cochran now sailing in HMS Belleisle. The squadron, which included Prince George, Canada, Ramillies and Cerberus, captured Telemaco, Carvalho and Master on the17th of April,1807.
Following the concern in Britain that neutral Denmark was entering an alliance with Napoleon, Northumberland participated in the expedition to occupy the Danish West Indies. The British captured St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December 1807. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.
Her return to Portsmouth followed and in the February of 1808 she came under the captaincy of William Hargood and sailed for the Med via Cadiz on the 28th of the month.
In 1810 she came under Captain Henry Hotham and on the 23rd of November of that year, Northumberland, while in the company of HMS Armada, a 74-gun third rate, captured the 14-gun French privateer ketch La Glaneuse.
Her next significant action was on the 22nd of May, 1812 when the destruction of the 40 gun L’Ariane, and L’Andromache, plus the 16 gun Le Mamelouk took place near Le Graul rocks off Lorient.
Destruction of the French Frigates Arianne & Andromaque 22nd May 1812.
The image shows the last stages of the Action of 22 May 1812. From left to right: Mameluck, Ariane, Andromaque and Northumberland.
In1813 she went into ordinary at Chatham for a large repair which took from the September of that year until the April of 1815.
Now fitted as a Flagship, she was recommissioned under Captain Charles Ross for Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn. She received a measure of fame when she transported Napoleon I into captivity on the Island of Saint Helena. Napoleon had surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon, on the15th of July, 1815 and was then transported to Plymouth. Napoleon was transferred in Tor Bay, Devon from Bellerophon to Northumberland for his final voyage to St. Helena because concerns were expressed about the suitability of the ageing ship. HMS Northumberland was ,therefore, selected instead.
Napoléon on the ship to Saint Helena, by Denzil O. Ibbetson. Drawn aboard HMS Northumberland, 1815. Watercolour, ink and pencil.
In the August of 1816 Northumberland came under the command of Captain James Walker as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Rowley at Sheerness. Northumberland shared with the tender Seagull in the proceeds of the seizure of some glass on Mary, of London, on 17 March 1817.
Under Captain Sir Michael Seymour she served as a guard ship in the Medway during 1818. Sher continued in this capacity under several commanders until fitted as a Lazarette in the September of 1826.
Fate.
Northumberland was converted to a hulk inthe February of 1827. She returned to Deptford to be broken up in the July of 1850.
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