Third Rate 64 gun ships of the Royal Navy.

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HMS Prothee (1772)



Protee was a Joseph-Louis Ollivier designed Artesien Class 64 gun ship of the line of the French Navy, built from the February of 1771,launched on the 10th of November,1772, and completed in the February of 1773.

History
FRANCE
Name:	Protée
Launched:	1772
Captured:	24 February 1780, by Royal Navy
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	Prothee
Acquired:	24 February 1780
Fate:	Broken up, 1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Artesian Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1480 (bm)
Length:	164 ft 1 in (50.01 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 7 in (13.59 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	LD 26 x 24pdrs UD 26 x 18 pdrs QD 10 x 9 pdrs Fc 2 x 9 pdrs

Service.

On the 16th of February, 1780, Protée under the command of Captain Charles Louis du Chilleau de la Roche and acting as the flagship escorting a convoy bound for India, with troops and ammunition sailed from the port of Lorient.
On the 23rd of February, just off the Spanish Biscay coast the convoy met Admiral Rodney’s fleet. Hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, Protée struck while Charmante retreated to Lorient, arriving there on the 3rd of March. In the action, three merchantmen were also taken. Although Court-martialled for the loss of his ship, Duchilleau was honourably acquitted.

British service.

Protée was commissioned into the Royal Navy on the 3rd of March 1780 as the 64 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Prothee, fitted at Spithead for £5,330.9.8d.
Refitted and coppered at Portsmouth for £14.036.7.4dbetween the March and July of 1781 she saw her first and only action under the British flag, commanded by Captain Buckner, on the 12th of April, 1782 against a huge French fleet at the Battle of the Saints. Serving in the Centre, during the battle she lost five killed and 25 men wounded.

In the August of 1783 she was paibd off after wartime service.

She was converted to serve as a prison ship at Portsmouth in the September of 1795, she was recommissioned in the December of 1796 under Lieutenant Joseph Novil Eastwood, and then under Lieutenant William Bevians in the September of 1797.Her next commander was Lieutenant John Mackenzie from 1798 to 1800, followed by William Taylor, and then William Todman until1811. Lieutenant Timothy Bird followed, and finally Lieutenant Abraham Chapman during 1813 and 1814.

HMS Prothee was broken up at Portsmouth in the September of 1815. Eight of her small cannons were purchased by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland and are currently on display at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. The cannon are still fired on special occasions, such as weddings and the Duke's birthday.

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HMS Raisonnable (1768)

HMS Raisonnable, also spelt Raisonable, was an Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, designed by Thomas Slade and built by M/shipwright Edward Allin until the July of 1767 and completed by Joseph Harris at Chatham Dockyard. Ordered on the 4th of December 1762 and confirmed on the 11th of January 1763, she was laid down in the November of 1765, launched on the 10th of December, 1768, and completed on the 15th of March 1771. Raisonnable was named on the 30th of April, 1763 after the ship of the same name captured from the French in 1758.

Raisonnable
History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Raisonnable
Ordered:	11 January 1763
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	November 1765
Launched:	10 December 1768
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Copenhagen Battle of Cape Finisterre
Fate:	Broken up, 1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1386
Length:	160 ft 1 in (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	19 ft (5.8 m) 12ft 1 in / 17ft 4in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	500 officers and men
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs QD: 10 × 4 pdrs Fc: 2 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Raisonnable was commissioned under Captain Maurice Suckling on the 17th of November, 1770 for the Falkland Islands dispute. Suckling was Horatio Nelson’s maternal uncle, and this was the first ship in which Nelson served. The ship was paid off on the 15th of May, 1771 to be fitted as a guardship for the Medway, and at this time, Suckling took command of the 74 gun HMS Triumph, and took Nelson with him. Just 10 days later on the 25th, Raisonnable was recommissioned under Captain Henry St. John St for service with the Channel Fleet. On the 23rd of January, 1773, command passed to Captain Thomas Greaves. Raisonnable paid off at Plymouth on the 23rd of September, 1775. After a small repair she was refitted once more as a guardship for £11,964.16.3d.

The American Revolution.

Raisonnable was re-commissioned on the 25th of February, 1776 under Captain Thomas Fitzherbert, and fitted for sea between the February and March of 1777. In the July of 1778 she was despatched to the North American Station to join Lord Howe’s squadron, which was lying off Sandy Hook in opposition to French Admiral d’ Estang’s large fleet The engagement in battle by the two fleets was only prevented by the inclement weather and sea conditions, which compelled both fleets to disperse.


Raisonnable seen here in the far left background firing into Hunter on the Penobscot Expedition

On the 5th of December, 1778, command of Raisonnable passed to Captain Henry Francis Evans, and in the May of the following year, serving in Commodore Sir George Collier's squadron, she took part in the attack upon Hampton Roads. On the 1st of the month following, Raisonnable was in action upon the river Hudson, during which time, two forts were invested and taken. In August, with Sir George now aboard her, Raisonnable sailed for Penobscot Bay to join British forces who were suffering a siege. On arrival Collier's squadron of only 7 ships engaged a rebel fleet of 41, 2 of which were captured, and the rest either sunk or destroyed to prevent capture.
In the January of 1780, Raisonnable joined Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot’s squadron in the siege of Charleston, although Raisonnable, returned to New York before the siege began.

On the 30th of August in that year, command passed to Captain Sir Digby Dent and Raisonnable returned to England to be paid off in January of the following year after wartime service. On the 11th of May she went into Portsmouth dockyard to undergo middling repairs and re-coppering at a total cost of £17,885.19.4d.
She was recommissioned on on the14th of January, 1782, under Captain Lord Hervey for West Indies service, but returned to Chatham in the August of that year for decommissioning. Her crew were to be discharged to other vessels, but there were delays in finalising their departures and they became mutinous. Captain Hervey made an unsuccessful appeal to the crew to return to their stations, and then had the ringleaders of the mutiny arrested at gunpoint. The mutiny promptly collapsed, and Raisonnable was sailed to Sheerness Dockyard where she was placed under guard. Four of the mutineers were then sentenced to death for their part in the uprising.

With the American war petering out and Raisonnable being surplus to requirements she sailed for home and was laid up in ordinary. From the May of 1785 until theApril of 1786 she underwent a large repair for £26,339. And then in 1791 another small repair.

French Revolutionary War.

When war with France broke out in 1793, Raisonnable, along with many other vessels, was brought out of ordinary, and made ready for service once more. On the 31st of January she was re-commissioned under Captain James, Lord Cranston for service on the Irish station. However, changing circumstances dictated that she joined the Channel Fleet in the April of that year, but by the 14th of January, 1794 she was back in Portsmouth for a refit costing £ 7,323. In the September of that year, under Captain Robert Packer, she once more re-joined the Channel Fleet on the1st of November, and remained on active service firstly under Packer, and then Captain Charles Boyle from the December of 1795 until the14th October, 1796 when she was docked at Plymouth for re-coppering between the end of October of that year and the January of 1797 costing £9,124. In that month she returned to duty still under Boyle’s command. Docked again between the April and August of 1800, she was recommissioned on the 21st of January, 1801, when Captain John Dilks was appointed as Raisonnable's commanding officer.

The ship then rejoined the North sea Squadron. 1801 saw the creation of an alliance between the Danes, Norwegians, and Prussians with Russia in the League of Armed Neutrality which would effectively cut Britain off from the supplies relied upon from the Baltic in order to maintain its ships as seaworthy.

Raisonnable was dispatched as part of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker’s fleet's fleet sent to neutralize the Danish Fleet based at Copenhagen. On the second of April, after negotiations failed, and with the prospect of the Leagues ships combining once the thaw set in, Hyde Parker reluctantly attacked. Although present, Raisonnable took no active part in the Battle of Copenhagen. Following the battle, she was attached to a squadron under Captain George Murray in HMS Edgar, tasked with monitoring the activities of the Swedish Navy based at Karlskrona.. Once the situation in the Baltic had been satisfactorily resolved from the British point of view, Raisonnable returned to the North Sea, prior to being paid off in the April of 1802.

With the Treaty of Amiens having been signed in the March of that year, Raisonnable had defects made good and then underwent a refit at Chatham, and Sheerness. Her copper was repaired at a cost of £10,848, all this being undertaken between the April of that year and the May of 1803.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Having been recommissioned for Channel service in March by Captain William Hotham, once war broke out again with France in that same month Raisonnable was almost ready for sea. She sailed to joined Admiral William Cornwallis and the Channel Fleet, participating in the blockade of Brest.

In the April of 1804 she came under Captain Charles Malcolm, and then in the September of that year Captain Robert Barton. On the 11th of November, Raisonable, together with, Eagle, Glatton, Princess of Orange, Africane, Majestic, Inspector, Beaver, and the hired armed vessels Swift and Agnes, all shared in the capture of Upstalsboom, In the September of that same year Hotham was replaced by Captain Robert Barton, and in the April of 1805 he in turn was replaced by Captain Josais Rowley.
By the end of the following month, she was with Admiral Sir Robert Calder’s squadron off Ferrol, when they uncovered Villeneuve’s combined Franco-Spanish fleet. The ensuing Battle of Cape Finisterre although inconclusive, at least forced the Combined Fleet to seek sanctuary in Vigo in order to refit. During the action Raisonnable lost 2 killed and six wounded.

Raisonnable remained on blockade duty she sailed from Cork in late 1805 for the Cape of Good Hope with Commodore Sir Home Riggs Popham's squadron. This consisted of 9 vessels, which also contained Raisonnable's sister ship, Belliqueux, The following campaign, documented more fully in one of my previous posts, saw British troops drive the Dutch out of Cape town, and the annexation of the Cape Colony by the British. In April 1806, after receiving news that the populous of Buenos Aires were discontented under Spanish rule, and it was rumoured that they would welcome the British as liberators, Popham, without consulting the British Government or Admiralty, unilaterally sailed with his squadron to the Rio de La Plata. Unsuprisingly, Popham was superseded by Rear Admiral Murray and, following a disastrous second attempt to take Buenos Aires, Raisonnable returned to the Cape. In 1809, Captain Rowley with Raisonnable as his flagship, was in command of a squadron which proceeded to blockade the Isle of Mauritius, known to the French as the Isle de France,and Reunion, the Isle de Bourbon. On the 20th of September, Rowley, commanding the squadron from HMS Nereide, captured the town of Saint Paul, the batteries defending it, a 40 gun Frigate Caroline, a 16 gun brig, and 2 merchantmen, as well as rescuing two East India Company ships, the Europe and Streatham. Captain Rowley transferred to HMS Boadicea during the March of 1810, and command of Raisonnable devolved onto the shoulders of Captain John Hatley, who returned with her to England where she was paid off in the July of that year.

Fate.

Between the August and the November of 1810, Raisonnable was fitted as a receiving ship at Chatham, and towed to Sheerness where she was recommissioned under Commander Francis Dickinson as a guardship and receiving ship. In 1811 she came under Commander Thomas New, followed in the May of 1812 by Commander Charles Hewitt, and in the July of that year Captain Edward Clay who was to be her final commander befor she was paid off for the last time in the June of 1814, and going to the breakers yard in the March of 1815.

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HMS Repulse (1780)

HMS Repulse was a John Williams designed, Intrepid Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Robert Fabian at East Cowes. Ordered on the 5th of February 1777 and confirmed on the 16th of May in that year, she was laid down on the 12th of January 1778, and launched on the 28th of November 1780. Completion took place at Portsmouth between the 11th of December in that year and the15th of February 1781.

Repulse
History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Repulse
Ordered:	5 February 1777
Builder:	Fabian, East Cowes
Laid down:	12 January 1778
Launched:	28 November 1780
Fate:	Wrecked, 10 March 1800
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1386 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 7.5 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Repulse was commissioned in the November of 1780.
She saw her first action between the 9th and 12th of April, 1782 under the command of Captain Thomas Dumaresq, in Admiral Sir George Rodney’s centre Division of the Fleet at the Battle of the Saints. During the battle Repulse suffered only 14 casualties, three killed and eleven wounded. Her crew were described as "fine Guernsey lads".

In the following year she returned to England and was paid off in the July of 1783 after wartime service.
Refitted and with her defects made good at Portsmouth for £ 10.180.13.4d between the August of that year and the May of 1784, she was not fitted for sea again until the December of 1794 at Woolwich. The refit was completed in the June of 1795 at a cost of £ 16,722. During this time she was recommissioned for sea under Captain William Fairfax in the May of that year. On the 3rd of December whilst cruising off the coast of the Dutch coast, she fell in with, and took the 6 gun Privateer Le Petit Pearen.

In the November of 1796 she came under the command of Captain James Alms who was to hold this post until 1800.

The Mutiny at The Nore.

During the Mutiny at The Nore in 1797, on the 9th of June. Repulse made a 'miraculous' escape from the mutineers reaching shore despite receiving 'as was calculated two hundred shot'. Its First Lieutenant T. Frances Douglas, was presented with a commemorative sword with the inscription engraved upon it :

‘PRESENTED by the Committee of Merchants &c OF LONDON to LIEUT.T FRANCIS DOUGLAS for his Spirited and active conduct on board His Majesty’s Ship the REPULSE. Ja.s Alms Esq.r Commander during the MUTINY at the NORE in 1797. Marine Scociety Office, May 1o 1798 } Hugh Inglis Esq.r Chairman’

Repulse was refitted at Portsmouth between the October of 1798 and the February of 1799 for £11,062. On the 6th of May in that year she sailed for the Med.

Fate.

On the 10th of March, 1800, having been driven off course by heavy weather, Repulse struck a submerged rock off Ushant and began taking on water. The crew eventually abandoned the ship somewhere in the vicinity of the Cap Sizun, on the Pointe de Penharn from where the majority of the survivors were taken away as prisoners of war. Only three men were lost drowned. The first lieutenant escaped with a number of men in Repulse's large cutter, and headed for England. But, on the 16th of March, actually made landfall at Guernsey.

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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.

[Bligh]

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