Third Rate 64 gun ships of the Royal Navy.

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HMS Ruby (1776)

HMS Ruby was a John Williams designed 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built at Woolwich Dockyard by M/shipwright William Grey until the March of 1777, and completed by Nicholas Phillips. Ordered on the 30th of November, 1769 and approved on the 12th of March, 1770, she was laid down in the 9th of September 1772, and launched on 26 November, 1776. She was finally completed on the 27th of February, 1778.


Ruby

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Ruby
Ordered:	30 November 1769
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	9 September 1772
Launched:	26 November 1776
Fate:	Broken up, 1821
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1374 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	19 ft (5.8 m) 11ft 2in / 16ft 10in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Ruby was commissioned in the September of 1777, and sailed for Jamaica under Captain Michael John Everitt on the 24th of May 1778.

On the 2nd of June, 1779 whilst cruising off Haiti, Ruby, in company with Aeolus 32, and the 18 gun Sloop Jamaica, were sailing in the Bay of Gonave when they fell in with the 36 gun French frigate Prudente under the command of one Captain d’Escars. Ruby chased the Prudente for several hours and was much inconvenienced by the well directed fire of the enemy's stern chasers. Captain Everitt and a member of the crew were actually killed by this fire.. Just before sunset Ruby eventually came into close range of Prudente, and forced her surrender, with the loss of two killed and three wounded. The British Navy took Prudente into service under the same name.

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Representation of the Distressed Situation of His Majesty's Ships Ruby, Hector, Berwick and Bristol when Dismasted in the Great Hurricane, 6 October 1780

On return to England Ruby was paid off in the January of 1782 after wartime service. She was then fitted and coppered at Portsmouth for £ 15,326.15.1d between the March and August of that year. She was then recommissioned and sailed to the relief of Gibraltar on the 11th of September in that same year. A small to middling repair followed between the July of 1785 and the March of 1786 at a cost of £15,038.
She was next fitted at Portsmouth for the Channel under Captain Sir Richard Bickerton, in the May of 1793, and sailed in the June of 1794 to join Montague’s squadron.

On the 27th of February, 1795, HMS Ruby, now under Captain Henry Stanhope, sailed with the squadron under Capt John Blankett to take part in the 1st British Occupation of the Cape of Good Hope, Whilst there she was employed on patrols and general duties but saw no action. The surrender of the Dutch squadron at Saldanha Bay on the 17th of August combined with the fact that the Dutch army had just lost the battle of Muizenberg on the 7th, triggered the total collapse of the Dutch forces which controlled the Cape at the time, and having capitulated, this relieved the British ships of some of their duties.

In the March of 1796 Ruby came under the command of Captain George Brisac and sailed to the East Indies where Captain Thomas Bertie took over command, and in the February of 1797 it would then seem that a Captain Jacob Waller had her until she paid off into ordinary at Chatham in the November of 1797.

She was once again repaired and fitted at at Chatham, between the January of 1798 and July of 1799, before being recommissioned under Captain Alan Gardner for the Channel. In the year of 1800 she was under Captain Solomon Ferris, when on the 14th of July she fell in with and took the 22 gun La Fortune in the South Atlantic. In the March of 1801 she was back at Chatham making good her top hamper and in the following month she came under the command of Sir Edward Berry destined for the Baltic. In the April of 1802 she came under Captain Henry Hill and was then fitted once more at Chatham between the following month and the the July of 1803.
Recommissioned under Captain Francis Gardiner she then had a rapid series of Captains until Captain John Draper took command in the July of 1806 under whom she spent some time in the North sea.

On the 25th June, 1807, Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon entered an accord at Tilsit, one of the secret clauses of which entailed the joint seizure of the Portuguese fleet. This led Napoleon to send a large army into Portugal in October of 1807, with a demand that Portugal should detain all British ships and sequester British property. This led to the departure of a Naval Squadron under Sir Sidney Smith to blockade the Tagus estuary. The squadron consisted of the Hibernia (120 guns), the London (98), the Foudroyant (80) and Elizabeth, Conqueror, Marlborough, Monarch, Plantagenet and Bedford (all78s). On arrival Smith arranged for the Portuguese Royal Family, all the serviceable Portuguese fleet and 20 armed merchantmen to leave for Brazil, which they did on the 29th October. Smith and his squadron accompanied them part of the way, leaving Marlborough, London, Monarch and Bedford to escort the fleet to Brazil. On the 30th October a Russian squadron under Admiral Seniavin entered Lisbon, where they became blockaded by the return of Smith's squadron. A few days after the Tsar's hostile declaration became known in London, five ships left Portsmouth to reinforce the blockade. These were the Ganges Defence and Alfred (74s) and Ruby and Agamemnon (64s). On arrival at the Tagus they enabled the Foudroyant, Conqueror and Plantagenet to leave for Cadiz.

The blockade continued for some time, as evidenced by this extract from a letter written by a seaman, John Williams, on board HMS Ruby off Lisbon in the June of1808 :-

"We are at present at anchor at the mouth of the harbour in sight of our Enemies. We are in sight of all of their Shipping with a naked eye there is of them 13 Saile of the Line of Battle Ships & 25 Sloops and Brigs of War all the Gun Boats we do not know the number of them. We are only 10 Saile of the Line and 2 Frigates 2 Sloops and Brigs. There is very heavy Batteries which the French has got the possession of them one of them has mounted as many heavy guns as there is Days in a year. We expect orders to go in Every Day So Dear Brother Remember me in your prayer."

In the December of 1808 her Captain was Robert Hall and once again she was destined for the Baltic.
In the June of 1809 Ruby became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Manley Dixon for a time under Captain Matthew Bradby and then in the July of that year Commander Thomas White as acting captain. Recommissioned in the October of 1810 and fitted at Chatham between the April and June of 1811, Ruby became a depot ship bound for Bermuda, and sailed for North America on the 25th of July in that year.

Fate.

In 1812 she came under the command of Lieutenant Peter Trounce As a receiving ship under the broad pennant of Captain Andrew Evans until 1817. During 1813 and 1814 she was under Lieutenant James Ward and from 1815 Lieutenant James Knight. Ruby was finally broken up in Bermuda during the April of 1821.

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HMS St Albans (1764)

HMS St Albans was a Thomas Slade designed St Albans Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by John Perry of Perry, Wells & Green at Blackwall Yard. Ordered on the 1st of January 1761 and confirmed on the 20th of that month, she was laid down in the August of that year, and launched on the 12th of September, 1764. She was completed at Deptford Dockyard on the 27th of that month.


St Albans

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS St Albans
Ordered:	1 January 1761
Builder:	Perry. Blackwall yard London.
Launched:	12 September 1764
Fate:	Broken up, 1814
Notes:
Class and type:	St Albans Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1380 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 3.75 in (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6.5 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught;	18 ft 10 in (5.74 m) ?
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounders Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounders QD: 10 × 9-pounders Fc: 2 × 9-pounders +10 x 24-pounder Carronades from 12.1806

Service.

HMS St Albans was commissioned in the January of 1771 as a guardship at Portsmouth, and was recommissioned for sea in the November of 1776 under Captain Richard Onslow who had taken command in the previous month. She escorted a convoy to New York in the April of 1777 and then joined Lord Howe’s fleet in time for the repulse of Comte d’Estang at Sandy Hook on the 22nd July in that year. On the 4th of November, 1778, Onslow sailed for the West Indies in Commodore Hotham’s squadron and took part in the capture of Saint Lucia and its defence against d'Estaing that December at the Cul-de-Sac. In the August of 1779, St Albans escorted a convoy from St Kitts back to England. She was then paid off after wartimer service and underwent a middling repair, and coppering at Chatham between the March and October of that year for the sum of £17,583.16.8d.During her refit she was recommissioned by Captain Charles Inglis

On the 10th of December, St Albans, in company with the Monsieur, Portland, Solebay and Vestal, captured the Comtess de Buzancois.
On the 13th of March, 1781 St Albans sailed with Vice Admiral George Digby’s fleet to the relief of Gibraltar. She was with Admiral Robert Digby’s squadron later that year, before being dispatched to join Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron at Barbados.

She was thus with Hood during the Battle of St. Kitts, when he attempted to relieve the island and on the 25th and 26th of January, 1782, successfully repulsed several attacks by the Comte de Grasse. On the 9th of April in that year, St Albans was in action once more with the French Fleet, when Hood came to blows with de Grasse in the Dominica Channel, and on the 12th of April, when the main British fleet under Inglis' old captain, now Admiral Sir George Rodney, decisively defeated de Grasse at the Battle of the Saints. During the action St Albans suffered only six men wounded.

In late July St Albans sailed to North America with, Admiral Hugh Pigot who had succeeded to the command of the fleet. Having returned to the West Indies by the November of that year, Inglis had been promoted to the command of a squadron of four ships cruising independently. The squadron, consisted of St Albans, the 74 gun Magnificent, the 64 gun Prudent, and the sloop Barbados. On the 12th of February, 1783 they were dispatched from Gros Islet Bay to investigate a report that a French squadron, consisting of Triton, Amphion and several frigates, had sailed from Martinique. On the15th, Captain Robert Linzee’s Magnificent, cruising in company with Prudent and St Albans, sighted a strange sail and gave chase. She was close enough to identify the ship as a frigate by 18:00, and by 20:00 as darkness fell Linzee’s quarry opened fire on Magnificent with her stern chasers. Magnificent closed with the French Frigate at 21:15, and after fifteen minutes bombardment forced her to strike. Magnificent boarded the 36 gun Frigate which turned out to be the Concorde commanded by M. le Chevalier du Clesmaur. Shortly after surrendering, Concorde's main topsail caught fire, requiring her crew to cut away the mainmast in order to extinguish the conflagration. Two hours later the St Albans and Prudent came up, and Magnificent then towed Concorde to St Johns in Antigua.

Returning to England in the July of 1783 St Albans was paid off after wartime service and underwent a Great Repair and refit at Portsmouth between the October of 1790 and the April of 1793.at a cost of £32.201.She was recommissioned in the January of 1793 under Captain James Vashon, and on the 23rd of May she sailed for the Med, and on returning from this cruise, in the April of 1794 she sailed for Jamaica. On the 8th of November in that year St Albans in company with Porcupine shared in the capture of the Brig Molly, and on the 26th, off Bermuda, she rescued the crew of the ex French Gun-Brig HMS Actif which had developed leaks and was foundering.
Returning to England in 1795, she was refitted at Chatham between the April and May of that year for £8,184. and in the August she was recommissioned under Captain Thomas Macnamara Russell. Then in 1796 under Captain William Lechmere as the flagship of Vice Admiral George Vanderput, she sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 12th of April in that year.

By the start of 1797 she had returned to Europe and was at Lisbon when, on the 28th of February, she took the Spanish privateer El Atrebedo, alias Le Concepcion. In the August of that year she came under Captain Francis Pender who would command her until 1799.

In the March of that year she sailed once more for Halifax, now under the command of John Oakes Hardy. In the October of 1801 command was passed to Commander Frederick Thesiger, and St Albans returned to England to be placed in ordinary at Chatham in the July of 1802.Here, she was fitted as a floating battery in the September of 1803 and commissioned under Captain john Temple for service in Hosley Roads.

In The June of 1805 St Albans became the Flagship of Admiral Viscount George Keith, and in the December of 1806 was refitted as a 64 gun ship. She was recommissioned in the February of 1807 under Captain Francis Austin who would retain this position until the April of 1810.On the 5th of April ,1809, St Albans sailed for the East Indies and China.

From the November of 1810 she was returned to Chatham for re-fitting under Captain Edward Brace.
From the December of 1810 she was at Spithead then on the Cadiz station until the December of 1812 under Captains Brace, Captain Charles Grant in 1811 and then Captain John. F. Devonshire from the January of 1812.
She was paid off in the November of 1812, taken out of commission and docked in Chatham for a refit between the December of that year and the October of 1813.

Fate.

By the September of that year St Albans was in process of being converted for use as a floating battery once more, but she was broken up less than a year later in the June of 1814.

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HMS Sampson (1781)

HMS Sampson was a John Williams designed, Intrepid Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright Nicholas Phillips until the end of 1777, then George White until the April of 1779, and completed by John Jenner at Woolwich Dockyard. The ship was ordered on the 25th of July, 1776, laid down in the 20th of October 1777, and launched on the 8th of May, 1781. She was completed on the 29th of June in that year.


Sampson

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Sampson
Ordered:	25 July 1775
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	20 October 1777
Launched:	8 May 1781
Fate:	Broken up, 1832
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1380 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 5.5 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5.75 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught;	18 ft 10.5 in (5.8 m) 11ft 6in / 16ft 5in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs QD: 10 × 4 pdrs Fc: 2 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Sampson was commissioned in the April of 1781, paid off and recommissioned in the April of 1783 and fitted as a guardship at Plymouth between the Nay and September of 1783. Paid off once more in the June of 1786, she underwent a small repair in the June and July of 1792 for £19,255. She was recommissioned in the February of 1793 under Captain Robert Montague, and after fitting at Plymouth in the July of that year, sailed with a convoy for the East Indies on the 20th of March, 1794. On her return in the December of that year she was paid off and then recommissioned during that same month. In the April of 1795 she came under Captain Thomas Louis, but prior to making sail for Jamaica on the 23rd of May, had Captain William Clark appointed to command her.
In the February of 1796 Sampson came under Captain George Gregory, who was superseded in the May of that year by Captain George Tripp, and even later Captain Joseph Bingham before she was paid off in the February of 1797.

Recommissioned in the November of that same year under Lieutenant William Bevians until 1800 for use as a prison ship at Plymouth, in the September of 1801,she was under Lieutenant John Norris but opaid off once more in the May of 1802. Hulked as a Powder magazine in the August of that year it seemed as if Sampson’s
short seagoing life had been curtailed, and she wound up as a receiving ship at Cork in the October of 1805. However, between the December of that year and the January of 1806 she was recalled to service, fitted and rearmed as a 64 gun ship at Plymouth, and recommissioned in the April of that year under Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy. In the July of that year she was placed under the command of Captain Samuel Warren, and shortly after that Captain Captain William Cumming as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Stirling. On the 30th of August she sailed as escort to a convoy bound for the Cape of Good Hope, and then continued to the River Plate. On her return home in the December of that year she was paid off into ordinary at Chatham.

Fate.

Sampson was commissioned in the March of 1808 as a prison hulk in the Medway under Lieutenant John Watherston until 1811. He was followed by several other commanders until 1814 when Sampson was fitted as a sheer hulk at Woolwich.

On the 30th of May 1832 she was sold to John Levy at Deptford, and was then broken up.

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HMS Sceptre (1781)

HMS Sceptre was a John Williams designed Inflexible Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Randall and Co. at Rotherhithe. Ordered on the 5th of February 1777, confirmed on the 11th of February, 1779, laid down in the May of 1780, and launched on the 8th of June, 1781.She was completed and coppered at Deptford on the 17th of August in that same year.


Sceptre

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Sceptre
Ordered:	16 January 1779
Builder:	Randall, Rotherhithe
Laid down:	May 1780
Launched:	8 June 1781
Fate:	Wrecked in Table Bay, 5 November 1799
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Trincomalee Battle of Cuddalore 1783 Battle of Muizenberg
General characteristics
Class and type:	Inflexible Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1398 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 9in (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 9 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 0 in (5.74 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Sceptre was commissioned in the January of 1781, and shortly after her completion under Captain Samuel Graves, was dispatched to the Indian theatre in order to join the squadron of Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hughes. Her first action took place on the 3rd of September, 1782 at the Battle of Trincomalee off the coast of Ceylon. This was the fourth battle of a bloody campaign between Vice-Admiral Hughes and the French Admiral Bailli de Suffren’s squadron. In the battle the British total losses were 51 killed and 285 wounded, vs. the French losses of 82 killed and 255 wounded.

In the year following, on the night of the 11th of April, 1783 Sceptre was fortunate in capturing a 20 gun Coquette Class Corvette the Naiade, under the command of captain Villaret,. Naïade was taken into service by the Royal Navy, but was never commissioned. Instead she was sold in the August of 1784.
On the 20th of June, in the Bay of Bengal, Sceptre was involved in the Battle of Cuddalore, which turned out to be the final episode in the campaign.


The Battle of Cuddalore, Auguste Jugelet

She returned to England in the June of 1784, and was paid off after wartime service and was then laid up at Portsmouth and went into ordinary.

She underwent a small repair costing £15,148.18.11d in the January to June of 1785 but was not recommissioned until the March of 1793 under Captain James Dacres, for Howe’s Fleet. Having been fitted for sea between the April and May of that year, she sailed for Jamaica on the the 1st of November in that same year.
In 1794, under the command of Commodore John Ford, Sceptre took part in the San Domingo operations in the May and June of that year and on June the 4th assisted in the capture of Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
On the 12th of March, 1795, now under the command of Captain William Essington, Sceptre became the Flagship of Vice Admiral John McBride in the North Sea prior to sailing as escort to a convoy of East Indiamen bound for India and China via St Helena and the Cape of Good Hope.

When Sceptre arrived at St. Helena she brought the news that France had invaded the Netherlands in the January of that year. Furthermore, under an order dated the 9th of February, 1795, Royal Navy vessels and British ships under Letters of Marque were ordered to detain Dutch vessels and cargoes and bring them into British ports that they might be detained provisionally. Then, on the 2nd of June the British East India Packet Swallow arrived from the Cape with the news than a convoy of Dutch East Indiamen had left there, in transit to the Netherlands.
On the18th of May, the Dutch brig Komeet, commanded by Captain-Lieutenant Mynheer Claris, and the Dutch Corvette Scipio, Captain de Jong, set out from Table Bay with a further sixteen East Indiamen, for Europe. Inclement weather conditions forced eight Indiamen to return to the Cape. The remaining eight Indiamen, which had sailed on the 18th of May and their two escorts, and a private Dutch ship from the Cape, the whaler Herstilder, pressed on despite the storm and all but two of this group reached ports in the then neutral Norway.
Essington prevailed upon Colonel Brooke, the governor of St Helena, to loan him some troops and to allow the British EIC vessels which were in port there to form a squadron in an attempt to intercept the Dutch. On the 3rd of June, Sceptre, General Goddard, Manship,and Swallow set out. Five other HEIC ships set out later, of which only Busbridge caught up with the squadron. On the10th, the British succeeded in capturing the Dutch Indiaman Hougly, which Swallow escorted into St Helena, before returning to the squadron with additional seamen. Due to bad weather, Manship and Busbridge then lost contact with Essington's squadron.

In the afternoon of the 14th of June, Essington's squadron sighted seven sail. At 1 a.m. the next morning General Goddard penetrated the Dutch fleet, which fired on her. She did not ,however, return fire. Nevertheless, later that morning, after a brisk exchange of shots between the fleets,the Dutch surrendered. The HEIC ships Busbridge, Captain Samuel Maitland, and Asia, Captain John Davy Foulkes, arrived on the scene and helped board the Dutch vessels. There were no casualties on either side. The British then brought their prizes into St Helena on the 17th of June.



General Goddard, HMS Sceptre, and Swallow capturing Dutch East Indiamen, byThomas Luny; National Maritime Museum.

On the 1st of July, Sceptre, General Goddard and the prizes sailed from St Helena to gather in other returning British East Indiamen. They then returned to St Helena, where George Vancouver and Discovery, which had arrived there in the meantime, joined them. The entire convoy, now comprising some 20 vessels, sailed for Shannon in August, the majority arriving there on the13th of December, although three of the Dutch vessels were lost, Houghly on the 1st of September, and Surcheance on the 5th. Zeelelie escaped, but was wrecked off the Scilly Islands on the 26th. General Goddard reached the Downs on the 15th of October.
Because the captures occurred before Britain had declared war on the Dutch, now the new Batavian Republic, the vessels become Droits to the Crown. Nevertheless, prize money, in the amount of two-thirds of the value of the Dutch ships still amounted to £76,664.14. Of this, £61,331 15s 2d was distributed among the officers and crew of Sceptre, General Goddard, Busbridge, Asia, and Swallow.
On the 17th of August, 1796 Sceptre, was present at the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. In the March of 1797 she came under the command of Captain Thomas Alexander and then in the September of that year Captain Valentine Edwards. On the 19th of September 1799 she destroyed the 10 gun Privateer L’Eclair at Rodrigues.

Fate.


HMS Sceptre sinking

While still under the command of Captain Edwards, Sceptre, riding at anchor in table Bay, was caught a storm on the 5th of November in that year, along with seven other vessels. At 10:30am, Captain Edwards ordered the topmasts to be struck down, and the fore and main yards lowered in order to ease the ship in the strengthening winds. At midday, the ship fired a feu de joie on the occasion of the Gunpowder Plot, suggesting no apparent apprehension about the oncoming storm. However within half an hour, the main anchor cable parted followed by the secondary one. At approximately 7pm, the ship was driven ashore onto a reef at Woodstock Beach. The ship was battered to pieces, and approximately 349 seamen and marines lost their lives. One officer, two midshipmen, 47 seamen and one marine were saved from the wreck, but nine of these died on the beach.



A sketch of wreckage showing the guns from Sceptre at Craig's Tower by Lady Anne Barnard

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HMS Scipio (1782)

HMS Scipio was an Edward Hunt designed Crown Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by William Barnard at Deptford. Ordered on the 11th of November 1779, laid down in the January of 1780, se was launched on the 22nd of October, 1782 and completed between the November of that year and the 15th of January 1783 at Woolwich.


Plan of the orlop deckdeck of Scipio
.

History
Great Britain
Name:		HMS Scipio
Ordered:		11 November 1779
Builder:		Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:		January 1780
Launched:		22 October 1782
Fate:		Broken up, 1798
General characteristics
Class and type:	64-gun Crown Class third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1401 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 8 in (48.90 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 8.75 in (13.67 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 5 in (5.880 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Scipio was commissioned in the October of 1782 and fitted for Channel service at Sheerness in the September of 1783, where she was recommissioned as a guardship in the April of 1784.Refitted at Chatham for £4604.17.8d she remained a guardship in theMedway until 1789.

Fitted at Chatham, and recommissioned under Captain Thomas Pasley in the March of 1790 for the Spanish Armament, in the August of that year she came under the command of Captain Edward Thornbrough.

Scipio returned to chatham for repairs between theApril of 1794 and the May of 1795 at a cost of £8.805.Having been Recommissioned in the November of 1794 under Captain Mark Robinson, in the January of 1795 she came under the command of Captain Richard fisher and in the following month Captain Robert M’Dougall and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 8th of August in that year. In the March of 1796 she came under Captain Francis Laforey, and then exactly a year later Captain Charles Davers. In the September of that year she returned to England and was paid off in the December.

Fate.

She was broken up at Chatham in the October of 1798.

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HMS STANDARD (1782)

HMS Standard was the last of the 15 Inreepid Class 64 gun third rate ships of the line built to a design by John Williams, and built by m/shipwright Adam Hayes at Deptford dockyard. Ordered on the 5th of August 1779, she was laid down in the May of 1780, and launched on the 8th of October, 1782. The ship was completed at Woolwich between the 18th of October and the19th of December in that year, her total cost amounting to £34,347.11.4d.


Plan of Standard

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:		HMS Standard
Ordered:		5 August 1779
Builder:		Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:		May 1780
Launched:		8 October 1782
Fate:		Broken up, 1816
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1369 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	19 ft (5.8 m) 12ft 2in x 17ft 1 in
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Standard was commissioned under Captain William Dickson in the September of 1782, and recommissioned in March 1783 as a guardship at Plymouth, and fitted for this role in the September of that year. She was paid off in the September of 1786, and recommissioned in the same month for the same duty, under Captain Charles Chamberlyane. She was next paid off in the February of 1788.

She was next fitted at Plymouth between the February and June of 1795 for £12,490, recommissioned under Captain Joseph Ellison, for Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren’s squadron, and dispatched forthwith for the Quiberon operations which conclueded in the September of that year. On the 28th of February, 1796 Standard sailed for the East Indies, temporarily under the command of Captain H Lukin. By the October of that year she was back in the North Sea. In the February of 1797 she was under Captain Thomas Parr, and then in the September of that same year Captain Thomas Shivers. From mid April to mid May, Standard was involved in the Nore Mutiny. On the 5th of May her crew had taken over the ship and trained cannon on officer’s enraged over the issue of the dilatory practice of payment in arrears. After the mutiny collapsed, William Wallis, one of the leaders on Standard, shot himself to avoid trial and hanging. William Redfern, her surgeon's mate, was sentenced to death for his role in the mutiny, which was later commuted to transportation for life to the colony of New South Wales. Order having been thus restored she was paid off in the December of that year.

She was recommissioned in February 1799 as a prison ship at Sheerness under lieutenant Thomas Pamp. In November she was fitted as a convalescent ship at Chatham. One month later she was recommissioned under Lieutenant Jacques Dalby as a hospital ship at Sheerness.

Between March and May 1801 Standard was refitted at Chatham, for the sum of £15,110. as a 64 gun ship once more, being commissioned during this time in the April of that year under Captain Charles Stewart, for service in the North Sea. She was paid off in the April of 1802, repaired by Barnard and Co. at Deptford, refitted at various times, and recommissioned in August 1805 under Captain Thomas Harvey, who would remain in command until 1808, and then sailed for the Eastern Mediterranean in order to join Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis’s squadron.

During 1807, whilst based in the Med, she took part in Vice admiral Sir John Duckworth’s unsuccessful operation in the Dardanelles On the 19th of February; Standard suffered three crewmen wounded while forcing the passage.


Duckworth's squadron forcing the Dardanelles.

Near a redoubt at Port Pesquies the British encountered a Turkish squadron of one ship of 64 guns, four frigates and eight other vessels, most of which they ran aground. Marines from HMS Pompee spiked the 31 guns on the redoubt, and Standard aided by Thunderer destroyed three Turkish frigates which had run ashore. On the 27th of that month Standard had two men wounded assisting a Royal Marine landing party on the island of Prota.
During their retirement, the British squadron were subjected to fire from the Turkish castle at Abydos. Granite cannonballs weighing 700–800 pounds and measuring well over 6 ft in circumference smote the Active, Standard, and Windsor Castle. the shot itself killing four men aboard Standard. It also started a fire and explosion which led to four seamen jumping overboard. In total, Standard lost four dead, 47 wounded, and four missing (believed drowned). In all, the British ships suffered 29 killed and 138 wounded.

On the 26th of March, 1808, cruising off Cape Blanco, Standard, accompanied by the 38 gun frigate Active, captured the Franco-Italian 18 gun Brig, Friedland. After a chase lasting several hours Captain Richard Mowbray of Active took possession of the Brig. Had she not had the misfortune to lose her topmast, she might well have made her escape. Active accompanied her prize to Malta, together with the prisoners, who included Commodore Don Amilcar Paolucci, commander in chief of the Italian Marine and Knight of the Iron Crown.

On the 16th of June, whilst Standard was cruising off the island of Corfu, she encountered the Italian gunboat Volpe, armed with an iron 4-pounder cannon, escorting the French dispatch boat Legera. The wind having fallen off, Captain Harvey dispatched his ships pinnace, cutter, and yawl in an attempt to capture the enemy ships. The British overhauled their quarry after having rowed for two hours. They captured Volpe despite facing stiff resistance, and then caused the Legera to run aground about four miles north of Cape St. Mary. The French crew took to the rocks above their vessel and kept up a continuous small arms fire on the British seamen who took possession of the vessel and towed her off. They then burnt both vessels. Despite the resistance and small arms fire the British had suffered no casualties.

During 1809 Standard served in the the Baltic under Captain Aiskew Hollis during the Gunboat War. On the 18th of May in that year a squadron consisting of Standard, the frigate HMS Owen Glendower, and the vessels Avenger, Rose, Ranger and Snipe, took the island of Anholt, with a landing party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of the Owen Glendower, together with the assistance of Captain Edward Nicholls contingent of Royal Marines from Standard. The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance which only killed one British marine and wounded two others. The garrison then quickly capitulated, and the British took immediate possession of the island.

Hollis, in his report, stated that Anholt was strategically important insofar as it could furnish not onlt supplies of water to His Majesty's fleet, but also afforded a secure anchorage for merchant vessels sailing to and from the Baltic seaports. However, the principal objective of the mission was to restore the lighthouse on the island to its pre-war state to facilitate the movement of British men of war and merchantmen navigating the dangerous seas in the vicinity.

On the 19th of December, 1810, still under Captain Hollis, Standard sailed for the Med again. By the February of 1811 she had reached the Portuguese station, now temporarily under the command of Captain Joshua Horton, and then In May command was passed temporarily to Captain Charles Fleeming.

Fate.

On her return to England, Standard was paid off into ordinary in 1813. She was broken up in the October of 1816 at Sheerness.

[Bligh]

HMS STATELY (1784)



HMS Stately was a Thomas Slade designed, Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Thomas Raymond at Northam. Ordered on the 5th and confirmed on the 10th of February, 1777, she was laid down on the 25th of May, 1779, and launched on the 27th of December, 1784. The ship was completed between the 30th of that month and the 25th of February 1785 at Portsmouth at a cost of £25,037.9.11d plus £6,735 for extras.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Stately
Ordered:	5 December 1778
Builder:	Raymond, Northam
Laid down:	25 May 1779
Launched:	27 December 1784
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Egypt" "Stately 22 March 1808"
Fate:	Broken up, 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1388 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 0.5 in (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft6.5 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 9 in (5.8 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Lower deck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

Starting life in ordinary at Portsmouth, HMS Stately underwent a small repair and coppering between the September of 1787 and the April of 1788. She was partly fitted for The Spanish Armament under Captain Robert Calder in 1790 but saw no service.


In 1793 Stately was commissioned under Captain John Samuel Smith as the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Richard King who took command at Portsmouth on the 24th of July in that year, as was reported in The Times newspaper.
In 1794 she came under Captain Richard fisher and then in 1795 Captain Billy Douglas, and sailed for the East Indies on the 12th of March. She then joined Elphinstone’s squadron at the Cape of Good Hope, where on the 7th of July, 1796 accompanied by other vessels she took the privateer Milanie. On the 17th of August in that year she took part in the capture of the Dutch squadron at Saldanha Bay. In the March of 1797 she was under the command of Captain Patrick Campbell until the August of that year, when Captain Andrew Todd took over her command.

In the August of 1798 she came under Captain John Spanger, followed in the November, by Captain John Osbourn.
It was during this year of Stately’s sojourn at the Cape that she became the venue for the court-martial of Mr. Reid, second mate of the East Indiaman King George. Whilst they were both on shore, Reid had struck Captain Richard Colnett, captain of the ship. The court-martial sentenced Reid to two years in the Marshallsea prison. This was because Colnett held a Letter of Marque Certificate. King George being a "private man-of-war", and the Navy's Articles of War applying only at sea. Had Reid struck Colnett aboard ship, the charge would have been mutiny, for which the penalty would have been hanging.

The Admiralty had Stately converted for use a troopship between the June and August of 1799.
Having been recommissioned in that July by Captain George Scott for service in the Med, she sailed for that theatre in the April of 1800. In 1801 she took part in the Egyptian operations armed en flute, and remained in this guise until 1804 when she returned home for necessary repairs performed by Perry and Co. at Blackwall between the November of 1804 and the May of 1805, at a cost of £22,422. Because Stately served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised to all surviving claimants in 1847.

Napoleonic Wars.

In the April of 1805 was refitted under Captain George Parker, as a fully armed 64 gun warship intended for North Sea service but by 1808 she was in the Baltic, where on the 22nd of March, accompanied by the Nassau she took and burnt the Danish 74 gun ship Prinds Christian Frederick near Grenaa off Zealand Point.



Stately and Nassau destroying the last Danish ship of the line, Prinds Christian Frederick, commanded by Captain C.W.Jessen, at the Battle of Zealand Point.

In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasps "Stately 22 March 1808" and "Nassau 22 March 1808" to any still surviving crew members of those vessels that chose to claim them.
In the June of 1808 Stately came under Captain William Cumberland’s command, and shortly afterwards returned to England. Between the August and September of that year she underwent a trifling small repair at Portsmouth for £6,402.

In the April of 1809 her Captain was thought to be James Whitley Dundas acting as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Bertie, once more in the Baltic, bur by the February of 1810 she was back at Portsmouth for repairs which took until April. She next came under the command of Captain Robert Campbell and sailed for the Med on the 28th of December in that year. Her next commander was Captain Edward Dixon, who was in turn superseded by Captain William Stewart in the August of 1812. From then until 1813 she served off Portugal, although she had another change of Captain in the November of 1812 when command passed to Captain Charles Bateman. During 1813 she came under Captain Charles Englis for her final duty as the Flagship of Vice Admiral George Martin.

Fate.

Stately was broken up at Portsmouth in the July of 1814.