Third Rate 64 gun ships of the Royal Navy.

[Bligh]

HMS Indefatigable (1784)


‘HMS Indefatigable 1784’ by George Shaw (1929-1989

HMS Indefatigable was a Thomas Slade 1761 designed, Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Henry Adams at Bucklers Hard. She was ordered on the 3rd of August, 1780, long after Slade's death. She was laid down in the May of 1781 and launched in early in the July of 1784. She was completed between the 11th of July and the 13th of September of that year, at Portsmouth dockyard, as a 64 gun two decked third rate ship of the line at a cost of £ 25,210 4. 5d, her total outlay including fitting out and coppering, being £ 36,154 18. 7d. By the time of her completion, she was already an anachronism in her role as a ship of the line, because the French were now only building more powerful 74 gun ships, and she was consequently never commissioned in that format.


Indefatigable

History
Great Britain
Name:		HMS Indefatigable
Ordered:		3 August 1780
Builder:		Adams, Bucklers Hard
Laid down:		May 1781
Launched:		July 1784
Commissioned:		December 1794
Honours and awards:		Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Indefatigable 20 Apl. 1796" "Indefatigable 13 Jany. 1797" "16 July Boat Service 1806" "Basque Roads 1809"
Fate:		Broken up at Chatham, March 1816
Notes:		Razeed to 44 guns between September 1794 and February 1795
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1384 3⁄94 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 1 1⁄4 in (48.8 m) (gundeck); 131 ft 10 3⁄4 in (40.2 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 5 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m) (as frigate, 13 ft 3 in (4.0 m))
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	As built: GD: 26 × 24-pounder guns UD: 26 × 12-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns As a frigate: GD: 26 × 24-pounder guns QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns + 4 × 42-pounder Carronades Fc: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 42-pounder Carronades

Service.

During 1794, HMS Indefatigable was razeed. Her upper gun deck was cut away in order to convert her into a large and heavily armed frigate. The original intention had been to retain her twenty-six 24-pounder guns on her gundeck, and to mount eight 12-pounder guns on her quarterdeck, with a further four on her forecastle, which would have rated her as a 38-gun vessel. However, it was at this time that the Carronade was beginning to show its potential to the Navy, and her intended armament was altered on the 5th of December, 1794 to include four 42-pounder carronades for her quarterdeck and a further two on the forecastle. Indefatigable was thereafter rated as a 44 gun fifth rate frigate. The work was carried out at Portsmouth between the September of 1794 and the February of 1795 at a cost of £8,764. On the 17th of February in that year, a further two 12-pounder guns were added to her quarterdeck armament, although her official rating remained as that of a 44.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

Indefatigable was first commissioned in the December of 1794 under Captain Sir Edward Pellew, who commanded her until 1798.

She began her service in a cruising capacity and on the 9th of March, 1795, Indefatigable, Concorde, and Jason captured numerous French prizes including Temeraire, Minerve, Gentille, Regeneration, and a brig and sloop of unknown names. In the October of that same year, the Dutch East Indiaman Zeelilee was wrecked on the Isles off Scilly with the loss of 25 of her 70 crew. Displaying extreme bravery, Pellew and his crew rescued the survivors.
On the 20th of March, 1796, Indefatigable and her squadron chased three French corvettes, of which the Volage of 26 guns ran ashore under a battery at the mouth of the Loire, losing her masts as she struck, the French were, however, able to refloat her at a later date. Her two consorts Sagesse and Eclatant succeeded in escapeing up the river. The squadron also captured or sank a number of merchant vessels between the 11th and the and the 21st of March.

• Favorite Sultana, laden with salt—captured;
• Friends, Brig, laden with flour—captured;
• Brig of unknown name, in ballast—sunk;
• A Chasse Maree of unknown name, empty—sunk;
• Providence, Chasse Maree, laden with wine and brandy—captured;
• Brig of unknown name, laden with empty casks—sunk;
• Four Marys, Brig, in ballast—captured;
• Aimable Justine, Brig, in ballast—captured;
• Nouvelle Union, Brig, in ballast—captured.

The vessels sharing in the prize money were: Indefatigable, Concorde, Revoloutionnaire, Amazon, Argo, and the hired armed cutter Dolly along with the hired armed Lugger Duke of York.

On the 13th of April in that same year, Indefatigable was in pursuit of a French frigate. Pellew signalled to Revolutionnaire to cut her off from the shore. Revolutionnaire then captured the French frigate Unite after having fired two broadsides into her. Unite suffered nine men killed and 11 wounded, whilst Revolutionnaire received no casualties. The Royal Navy later took the frigate into service as HMS Unite.



Virginie fighting HMS Indefatigable.

On the morning of the 20th of April, 1796, Indefatigable sighted the French 44 gun frigate Virginie off the Lizard. Indefatigable, Amazon, and Concorde gave chase, with Indefatigable coming up with her just after midnight on the 21st of April, after a chase of 15 hours and 168 nautical miles. After an hour and three quarters of fighting, Virginie had still not struck her colours and had somewhat outmanoeuvred Indefatigable when Concorde arrived on the scene. Seeing that she was now outnumbered, Virginie finally conceded and struck.

Virginie carried 44 guns, 18 and 9 pounders, and supported a crew of 340 men under the command of, Capitaine de Vaisseau Citizen Bergeret. She had 14 or 15 men killed, 17 badly wounded, and 10 only slightly injured. She had also taken on four feet of water in the hold from shot holes below the waterline. In contrast Indefatigable had suffered no casualties. Pellew dispatched the Virginie to Plymouth escorted by Concorde, and followed on the next day together with Amazon, which had sustained some damage during the action. The Royal Navy took Virginie into service under its own name.

In the July of that year, there was an initial distribution of £20,000 in prize money for the capture of Unite and Virginie. Indefatigable shared this with Amazon, Revolutionnaire, Concorde, and Argo. Apparently, Duke of York also shared in some or all of the prize money. In 1847, the Admiralty authorised the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Indefatigable 20 Apl. 1796".

On the 12th of June, Indefatigable, Amazon, Concorde, Revolutionaire, and Phoebe took two French brigs off Ushant, the Trois Couleurs and the Blonde (alias Betsey). This time the chase took them 24 hours before they overhauled their quarry. Trois Couleurs carried 10 guns and a crew of 70. Blonde had 16 guns and a crew of 95 men. Each was under the command of an ensign de vaisseau and both vessels had left Brest two days earlier for a six-week cruise, but had not yet succeeded in taking any prizes.

In September 1796, Indefatigable, Phoebe, Revolutionnaire, and Amazon captured five Spanish ships.
On the 1st of October, Indefatigable, Amazon, Revolutionnaire, Phoebe, and Jason shared in the capture of the Vrow Delenea Maria. The next day, Pellew and Indefatigable captured the privateer schooner Ariel of Boston off Corunna. Earlier, Pellew had recaptured the brig Queen of Naples, which had been sailing from Lisbon to Cork. From her, he learned that there were two privateers operating in the vicinity of Corunna. One of which had captured a brig from Lisbon with a cargo of bale goods two days earlier. Pellew immediately set off towards Corunna and was able to intercept the Ariel. She had 12 guns and a crew of 75 men, and was 14 days out of Bordeaux. Her consort, the schooner Vengeur, was of the same strength, and Pellew was also hopeful of catching her. The brig from Bristol, however, had escaped into the port of Ferrol, the same port into which Pellew had earlier chased two French frigates.

In the beginning of January, 1797, Indefatigable and Amazon first captured the Packet Sangossee and then on the 7th they captured the Emanuel. On the 13th, Indefatigable was destined to fight the action for which she and Captain Pellew became famous.

This engagement took place off the Penmarks and once again involved the two frigates Indefatigable and Amazon, on this occasion against the French Droits de l’Homme, a 74 gun ship of the line. The battle ended with Droits de l'Homme being driven ashore during a gale. Amazon also ran onto the shore. Almost her entire crew survived both the battle and the grounding, but were captured. Despite being embayed and having damaged masts and rigging, Indefatigable was able to repair her own damage and beat off the lee shore showing the excellent seamanship of her Captain, Master and crew. She suffered only 19 officers and men wounded, with most of those not being serious. This action resulted in the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Indefatigable 13 Jany. 1797" for any crew still surviving in 1847.


Fight of the Indefatigable (left) and Droits de Homme, as depicted by Leopold le Guen (1853)

By the 18th of January Indefatigable had returned to Falmouth. When a fire destroyed the American merchantman Indian Chief, leading his crew Pellew saved all the crew that were on board her.
Subsequently, either Indefatigable, or Pellew's squadron took more vessels, including privateers, primarily in the Channel. Thus, Pellew was able to report that, on the 30th of April, 1797, "we" captured the French Brigantine privateer Basque. armed with eight guns and carried a crew of 50 men.

On the 11th of May, Indefatigable in company with Phoebe, Cleopatra, Childers, and Duke of York captured Nouvelle Eugénie. She was a razeed privateer of 16 guns and carried a crew of 120 men. Four days out of Nantes on a 30-day cruise, she had taken no prizes. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Eugenie.

On the14th of October, Indefatigable arrived at Teneriffe. At midnight she captured the French brig corvette Ranger which was armed with 14 guns and carried a crew of 70 men. She had been carrying dispatches to the West Indies, which her Captain was able to destroy before surrendering. On the following day, Pellew captured a Spanish schooner carrying a cargo of fish. Indefatigable was short of water, so he put the crew of Ranger on board the schooner (though not Ranger's officers) and put them ashore at Santa Cruz.

Not content with this feat,ten days later, Indefatigable captured the privateer Hyène after a chase of some eight hours. Hyène was armed with twenty four 9 pounder guns and had a crew of 230 men. She was two weeks out of Bayonne but had not achieved any captures. Hyène had apparently mistaken Indefatigable for a vessel from Portuguese India. Pellew estimated that, had she not lost her foretopmast in the chase, she might well have escaped him. She had been the post ship Hyaena until being captured in 1793. The Royal Navy took her back into service under her original name.

Indefatigable then returned to the Channel and on the 11th of January, 1798, whilst in company with Cambrian and Childers they took the French privateer schooner Vengeur, a new vessel of 12 guns and 72 men. She was eight days out of Ostend but had as yet taken no prizes. Pellew dispatched her to Falmouth.

Five days later, in the evening of the 16th, Pellew's squadron captured the French privateer Inconcevable. She was armed with eight guns and had a crew of 55 men. She was 10 days out of Dunkirk and had taken nothing. Prize money was paid to Indefatigable, Cambrian, and the Success.

On the 28th of the month, Indefatigable and Cambrian captured the privateer Heureuse Nouvelle. She was armed with 22 guns and had a crew of 130 men. She was 36 days out of Brest and, during that time, had captured only one ship, a large American vessel named the Providence which had a cargo of cotton and sugar. Pellew dispatched Cambrian in pursuit. Duke of York also shared in this capture.

On the 30th of April in that same year, Indefatigable captured the brigantine privateer Basque. She was armed with eight guns and had a crew of 50 men. For good measure Indefatigable and Cleopatra also captured the Hope on the 11th of July.

At daylight on the 4th of August, Indefatigable sighted the privateer Heureux together with a prize and as usual gave chase. The two separated, with the prize heading directly for Bayonne. After a chase of 32 hours on a great circular route, Indefatigable and her quarry found themselves off Bayonne where Indefatigable intercepted the prize and captured her. The privateer was the Heureux, of 16 guns and 112 men. Her prize was the Canada, John Sewell Master, which had been sailing from Jamaica to London, having stopped in Charlestown, with a cargo of sugar, rum, and coffee. Pellew exchanged prisoners, taking off the crew of the Canada and putting on her the crew of Heureux. He then drove Canada on shore where he hoped that her cargo at least would be destroyed.

Indefatigable’s next capture was the French corvette Vaillante while cruising in the Bay of Biscay on the 8th. After a chase of 24 hours, she was finally taken, the corvette having fired a few shots before her commander Lieutenant de Vaisseau La Portee struck he colours. She was armed with twenty-two 9 pounder guns and had a crew of 175 men. She had left Rochefort on the 1st of the month. The ship was only 18 months old, coppered, and a fast sailer. The British took her into service as Danea. There was now a pause in the proceedings, for it was not until the 15th of November that Indefatigable captured her next victim the Mercurius. To round off this most successful year at dawn on the 31st of December, Indefatigable captured the Minerve, five leagues off Ushant. This ship was armed with 16 guns and carried a crew of 140 men. She was four weeks out of Saint- Malo and waiting to enter Brest when the Indefatigable swooped. She had already taken several prizes, one of which, the Asphalon, Indefatigable captured on the 1st of January 1799 thus starting the New year in fine style. Aspahalon, a Newcastle vessel, had been sailing from Halifax to London with a cargo of sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Other vessels which Minerve had captured included Martinus a Bremen brig, Tagus a Portuguese brig, Minerva an English Snow, and Ann and Dorothea, aka Beata Maria, a Danish schooner.

More captures or recaptures of merchantmen followed. Indefatigable, Melpomene, and Nymph recaptured the Providence on the 10th of January and on the 14th, Indefatigable recaptured Argo, which had been sailing from Gothenburg for Boston when a French privateer had captured her. After her recapture Argo was dispatched to Falmouth. Next came the Pomona on the 5th of February, and the Wohlfarden on the 9th.

Indefatigable’s subsequent commanders.

From the March of 1799 until the end of 1800 Indefatigable came under the command of Captain Henry Curzon. On the 31st of May she captured the brig Vénus armed with twelve 4 pounder guns and two 9 pounders, carrying a crew of 101 men. She was nine weeks out of Rochefort and had captured two prizes, the schooner Clarence, sailing from Lisbon to London, and a ship from Lisbon sailing to Hamburg with a cargo of salt. Indefatigable was apparently also in company with Fisgard and Diamond.

On the 9th of October in that year Indefatigable, Diamond, Cambrian, Stag, Nymphe and Cerberus shared in the capture of the Spanish brig Nostra Senora de la Solidad. Then on the 7th of November Nymphe, Indefatigable and Diamond also shared in the recapture of the ship Brailsford.

Indefatigable began the new centaury in fine style because on the 6th of January, 1800 she shared with Defiance, Unicorn Sirius and Stag in the capture of the French brig Ursule. And on the 11th of February Indefatigable captured the Vidette.

There was now another break in the proceedings because it was not until the 12th of June that Indefatigable captured the French privateer brig Vengeur. She was armed with six long 4-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades, and carried a crew of 102 men. Two days out of Bordeaux and sailing for the coast of Brazil. Vengeur was in company with three Letters of marquee vessels, a ship, a brig and a schooner bound for Guadeloupe. On the 11th of June Vengeur had captured the Jersey-privateer Lugger Snake. Indefatigable shared the prize money with the Sirius.

On the 3rd of July Indefatigable recaptured the brig Cultivator, from the French. Eleven days later, Indefatigable and Sirius captured the French ship Favori. On the 22nd of October Indefatigable, took the French 28-gun frigate Venus off the Portuguese coast. Indefatigable had been chasing her from the early morning, and then during the afternoon Fisgard came in sight and forced Venus toalter her course. Both British vessels then trapped Venus at almost the same time of 7pm.^[Venus was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 200 men. She was sailing from Rochefort to Senegal.

In the January of 1801, Indefatigable was under Captain Matthew Scott. Indefatigable was part of the squadron that shared by agreement in the prize money from the Temeraire, which Dasher had captured on 30 May. Similarly, the same vessels shared by agreement in Dasher's capture of Bien Aimé on 23 July 1801.
Indefatigable was then paid off later that year, and was laid up in ordinary at Plymouth between the March and April of 1802, as a result of the peace treaty signed with France in 1801.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Following the resumption of hostilities, the Indefatigable was fitted out for sea between the July and September of 1803. In the December of that year she was recommissioned under Captain Graham Moore, younger brother of Sir John Moore of Corunna fame.

On the 9th of August, 1804 Indefatigable was in sight when HMS Nautilus recaptured the West Indiaman William Heathcote off Bayonne, and thus shared in the salvage money. On the 5th of October of that year,Indefatigable, with Moore now as Commodore, and accompanying frigates Medusa, Lively, and Amphion intercepted four Spanish frigates of the Montevideo treasure fleet off Cadiz, under the command of Rear-Admiral Don Joseph Bustamente, Knight of the Order of St. James, They were carrying bullion to Spain. Spain, a neutral country at the time, was on the verge of declaring war strong signs of declaring war on Britain, under a coercive alliance with Napoleon.. Acting on Admiralty orders, Moore instructed the Spaniards to change their course and sail for England. Admiral Bustamente refused and a short engagement ensued.

First Mercedes blew up. Then Indefatigable captured the Medée, and Lively captured Clara. After a further chase, Lively and Medusa took the Fama.

• Medée the flagship was armed with forty-two 18-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 300 men. She lost two men killed and 10 wounded.
• Fama, the Commodore's ship, was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 180 men. She lost 11 killed and 50 wounded.
• Clara was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 300 men. She lost seven killed and 20 wounded.
• Mercedes was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 280 men. After she exploded, the British were only able to rescue her second captain and 40 men.

In the action Indefatigable suffered no casualties. Amphion had five men wounded, one badly. Lively had two killed and four wounded. Indefatigable and Amphion escorted Medée and Fama to Plymouth, whilst Medusa and Lively brought in Clara. The Royal Navy took Medea into service as Iphigenia and Clara as Leocadia. The value of the treasure was very large and, if it had been treated as Prizes of War, then Moore and his brother captains would have become extremely wealthy. As it was, the money and ships were declared to be "Droits of Admiralty" on the grounds that war had not been declared, and the captains and crew shared a relatively small ex gratia payment of £160,000 for the bullion, plus the proceeds of the sale of the hull and cargo.

In the October of 1805 Indefatigable, now under Captain John Tremayne Rodd, who would stay in command until 1809, took part in the blockade of Brest. One boat each from the ships of the line of the squadron, plus three boats each from Indefatigable and Iris entered the Gironde on the 15th of July, 1806 to attack two French corvettes and a convoy. A change in the wind permitted all but one corvette to escape. The British captured the French corvette Caesar, which the Royal Navy took into service as HMS Cesar. She was armed with 18 guns, had a crew of 86 men, and was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Monsieur Louis Francois Hector Fourré. The French were expecting the attack and put up a strong resistance. The British lost six men killed, 36 wounded and 21 missing. Indefatigable alone losing two killed and 11 wounded. This cutting out expedition resulted in the participants qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "16 July Boat Service 1806".
On the 19th of October 1806, Indefatigable, Hazard, and Atalante captured the chasse marees Achille, Jenny, and Marianne. On the 5th of December, 1807 Indefatigable captured the Pamelia., Then on Boxing Day, Indefatigable accompanied by Tribune captured the American ship Eliza.

On the 7th of January, 1808 Indefatigable and Tribune took the French Galiot Fanny and her cargo. Then on the 31st of July in that same year, Indefatigable, in company with the gun-brig Conflict captured the letter of marque Diane, which was on her way to Ille de France, carrying naval stores, as well as letters and dispatches, those latter of which her captain threw overboard during the chase. She was six armed with fourteen 9 and 6 pounder guns, and had a crew of 68 men. She had left the Gironde the evening before on this, her second voyage, to the Indian Ocean.

On the 19th of August, Indefatigable, still in company with Conflict, captured the Adele. In the December of that year a distribution of £10,000 was payable for the proceeds coming from Diane and Adele. On the 1st and 9th of September, 1808 Indefatigable captured two American ships, Sally and Peggy. Theseus and Impeteuex were in company with her at the time. On the 1st of November Indefatigable captured Bonne Louise.

On the 14th of January, 1809 Indefatigable captured the French privateer Lugger Clarisse in the Channel. She was pierced for 14 guns but had only three mounted. She had left Saint-Malo on the previous evening and had not captured any prizes. At the time of the capture, Amazon, Iris, Ralieigh, and Goldfinch were in sight. They shared with Indefatigable in the proceeds for the hull, but not the bounty money for the captured crew. On the 20th of the following month Statira captured the French schooner Matilda whilst Indefatigable was in company.

Indefatigable arrived at the Basque Roads on the 25th of that month, and captured two vessels, the Danish ship Neptunus on th 24th of March and the French ship Nymphe on the 28th. At the capture of Neptunus Indefatigable was in company with the sloops Foxhound and Goldfinch. Foxhound was also in company for the capture of Nymphe.

In the April of that year, Indefatigable participated in the battle of the Basque Roads. She was engaged on the 12th of April but withdrew on the 13th with no casualties. The action earned her crew another clasp to the Naval General Service Medal: "Basque Roads 1809"

In the October of that year Indefatigable came under the command of Captain Henry E. R. Baker, succeeded by Captain John Broughton in the December of that year, and who would remain in command until 1812.
On the 11th of January, 1810, Indefatigable captured Mouche No 26 near Cap de Penas, whilst under the command of Enseigne de vausseau provisorie Fleury. She had sailed from Pasajes with despatches for Ille de France. On the following day Mouche foundered close to the Penmarks and Fleury went down with his ship.
Four months later, on the 6th of May Indefatigable with Scipion and Piercer in company captured two French chasse marees, Camilla and Bonne Rencontre. Next, Indefatigable captured Flora on the 13th of the month following. Then on the 20th of October she re-captured the Portuguese brig Intrigua. Then on the 15th of January, 1811, Dryad captured Matilda and her cargo whilst Indefatigable and Lyra were in sight.

In the June of 1812, with Captain John Fyffe now taking up her command, Indefatigable was cruising on the South American station, where she visited the Galapagos Islands. During this cruise she gave the second largest island, now known as Santa Cruz island, its own English name – Indefatigable.

By July Indefatigable was back in Portsmouth, when news of the outbreak of the War of 1812 with the United States reached Britain. The Royal Navy immediately seized all American vessels then in British ports. Indefatigable was among the Royal Navy vessels then lying at Spithead off Portsmouth and so was entitled to a share in the grant for the American ships Belleville, Janus, Aeos, Ganges, and Leonidas seized there on the 31st of July.
On the 17th of September Indefatigable, Hearty, Desiree, Drake, Primrose, and Cretan shared in the capture of the Dankbarheide. When the Gun-Brig Hearty detained the Prussian vessel Friede on the 29th of the month, Indefatigable, Desiree, Primrose, Cretan, Drake, again took a share either because they were in company, or by agreement.

Indefatigable was reported to have been at Lima on the 11th of July, 1815, about to sail for the Galipagos for a second visit.

Fate.

After a most illustrious career, Indefatigable was finally paid off in 1815. She was broken up at Sheerness in the August of 1816.

[Bligh]

HMS Intrepid (1770)



HMS Intrepid was designed by John Williams as an Intrepid Class, 64 gun, third rate ship of the line,built by M/shipwright Joseph Harris until the July of 1767 and completed by William Grey at Woolwich. Ordered on the 16th of November, 1765 and approved in the following month, she was laid down in the January of 1767, and launched on the 4th of December, 1770. She was completed on the 31st of January, 1771.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Intrepid
Ordered:	16 November 1765
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard (M/Shipwright Joseph Harris to July 1767; completed by William Gray)
Laid down:	January 1767
Launched:	4 December 1770
Fate:	Sold out of the service, 1818
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of the Chesapeake
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1374​65⁄94
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (keel) 131 ft 0 in (39.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 0 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24 pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 x 24 pounder Carronades from 1794

Service.

HMS Intrepid was commissioned in 1770 for the Falklands Islands dispute. She was then fitted as a guardship at Portsmouth in the October of 1771. The following year she was fitted for the East Indies at a cost of £5,547.5.7d.
On the 17th of April, 1772 Intrepid sailed to the Dutch East Indies. The ship's commander for the journey was Captain John Hunter, who later became an admiral and the second Governor of New South Wales. On her return to England she was laid up at Plymouth in the May of 1773, and paid off in the April of 1775. She was fitted for Home service at Plymouth between the July of 1778 and the April of 1779. She was then transferred to Portsmouth where she was refitted and coppered between the May and December of that year at a cost of £5,071.2.4d.She was recommissioned in the January of 1779 and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 30th of January 1780.
Under her Captain Antony James Pye Malloy, on the 5th of September 1781 she took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake. The combatants were a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves and the French fleet led by Rear Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse. During the action, Intrepid positioned initially in the Van, but in what was to became the Rear during the battle, lost a total of 21 killed and 35 wounded. She was paid off in the August of 178 after wartime service. Between the January and September of 1787 she underwent middling repairs at Portsmouth, and was fitted for service and recommissioned in the June of 1790 under Captain Seymour Finch for the Spanish Armament. She was paid off in the September of 1791.Fitted again at Portsmouth between the March and July of 1793 she was recommissioned under Captain Charles Carpenter, took part in the occupation of Toulon and on the 20th of May 1794 she sailed for Jamaica.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

On the 31st of July, Intrepid and Chichester captured the French 36 gun Brig- sloop La Serine off San Domingo The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Serin.
Her next capture was on the 1st of February, 1795 when she took the privateers Le Perroux, La Republicain Pagest, and Le Sans Pareil.

On the 23rd of April, 1796, Intrepid was patrolling near Cap- Francois looking for reinforcements expected from Cork when she encountered a French corvette. After a chase of ten hours, the corvette ran ashore in a cove to the east of Porto Plata, where her crew abandoned her, enabling the British to retrieve her. She turned out to be La Percante, armed with twenty 9 pounder guns and six brass 2 pounders, with a crew of 200 men under the command of Citoyen Jacque Clement Tourtellet. She had left La Rochelle on the 6th of December, 1795 under orders from the Minister of Marine and Colonies not to communicate with any vessel during her passage. The British took her into service as the sixth rate HMS Jamaica.

Intrepid returned to Portsmouth in the November of 1896 and was paid off. Between the following month and the May of 1797 she underwent a refit costing £15,239. She was recommissioned by Captain Robert Parker during her refit but unfortunately he was drowned in the November of that year.

Captain Sir William Hargood, who would be her captain until 1792, then took up the command of Intrepid and sailed with a fleet of nine East Indiamen to the Cape of Good Hope. She then sailed for the East Indies in the March of 1798 where she remained until the Peace of Amiens in 1802, having defended Macau at the Macau incident in January 1799.

On the 4th of April, 1801, Intrepid captured Chance. The prize agents business failed and what prize money could be recovered from his estate was not paid until 1828.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Having returned to England Intrepid was paid off and between the October of 1804 and the July of 1805 she underwent repairs at Daniel Brent of Rotherhithe for £ 38,215. Her fitting out was completed at Deptford in the August of that year when she was recommissioned under Captain Philip Woodhouse who would command her until 1807.

She sailed for the med to join Sidney Smith’s squadron at Napls in the June of 1806. Then in 1807 she came under Captain John Laugharne, followed by Captain Richard Worsley in the October of that year, and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 30th of November. She was with Hood’s squadron at Madeira between the 24th and the 26th of December 1808 under Captain Warwick Lake in an acting capacity.

In the February of 1809 she was under Captain Christopher Nesham at the capture of Martinique.
In the April of that year, a strong French squadron arrived at the Iles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until the 14th of April, when a British force under Major-GeneralFrederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, invaded and captured the islands. Intrepid was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of those islands.

Fate.

On her return to England Intrepid was fitted as a receiving ship at Plymouth in the May of 1810. She then went into Ordinary until 1815.

On the 26th of March, 1828, the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered for sale at Plymouth "Intrepid, of 50 guns and 1374 tons". The Navy sold Intrepid for £3,030 on that day to D. Beatson.

[Bligh]

HMS Lion (1777)


HMS Lion

HMS Lion was a Thomas Slade designed Worcester Class, 64 gun, third rate ship of the line, built at Portsmouth Dockyard by M/shipwright Thomas Bucknell until the October of 1772 and completed by Edward Hunt. Ordered on the 12th of October 1768, and laid down in the May of 1769, she was launched on the 3rd of September 1777, and completed on the 7th of September, 1778.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Lion
Ordered:	12 October 1768
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	May 1769
Launched:	3 September 1777
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Grenada
Fate:	Sold for breaking up, 30 November 1837
General characteristics
Class and type:	Worcester Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1378 (bm)
Length:	159 ft (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.56 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 10 in (6.05 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 Lion was commissioned in the May of 1778 and then sailed for the Americas.

The American Revolution.

She fought at the Battle of Grenada in Admiral John Byron’s fleet, under Captain William Cornwallis in the Rear squadron, on the 6th of July, 1779, where she was badly damaged and forced to run downwind to Jamaica. She remained on the Jamaican Station for the next year.

In the March of 1780, Lion fought an action in company with two other ships against a larger French force off Monte Christi on San Domingo. A second action took place in the June of 1780 near Bermuda when Cornwallis in Lion, with three other ships of the line and a fifty-gun ship, met a larger French squadron carrying the troops of General Rochambeau to North America. The French were too strong for Cornwallis's squadron, but were content to continue with their mission instead of attacking the smaller British force. Lion then returned to England, carrying with her Horatio Nelson, who was sick with malaria.

On her return to England she was decommissioned and then coppered at Portsmouth between the December of that year and the January of 1781, at a cost of £8,255.14.11d She was paid off in the August of 1783 following wartime service.In 1787 she underwent a middling repair at Portsmouth and then in the July of 1790 she was fitted and recommissioned for the Spanish Armament, but paid off again in the September of 1791.

Refitted at Portsmouth between the March and July of 1792 for £9460 she was recommissioned under Sir Erasmus Gower and on the 26th of September of that year sailed for China escorting the East Indiaman Hindostan, which carried the British ambassador Lord Macartney on his way to visit the Emperor of China with Lord Macartney’s Embassy. On their way they stopped at New Amsterdam Island or Ile Amsterdam. There they found a gang of seal fur hunters under the command of Pierre Francois Peron. Later, Lion captured the French ship Emélie, the vessel that had landed the sealers. Deprived of the ship that had landed them, Péron and his men spent some 40 months marooned on the island until Captain Thomas Hadley, in Ceres rescued them in late 1795 and took them to Port Jackson.

The French Revolutionary War.

Between 1792 and 1793 Lord George Macartney’s Embassy proceeded to the Bohai Gulf, off the Hai River The ambassador and his party were then conveyed up river by light craft to Tianjin before proceeding by land to Beijing. On reaching Tianjin, Macartney sent orders to Lion to proceed to Japan, but because of sickness among the crew she was unable to do so. The embassy rejoined Lion at Canton in the December of 1793. The ship's journal from this voyage is in the library of Cornell University.



HMS Lion under sail, 1794.

On her return to England following the Embassy Lion was paid off in the October of that year at Chatham and immediately underwent a refit which was completed in the May of 1795. She was recommissioned under Captain George Palmer for service in the North Sea. And later came under the command of Captain Henry Inman.

In 1796,under Captain Edmund Crawley she visited Cape Town; but in 1797, her crew were among those who joined the Mutiny at the Nore. In the July of that year she was put under the command of Captain Charles Cobb and then In the September of 1798, under the command of Sir Manley Dixon., Lion sailed for the Medon the 2nd of June in that year and fought a squadron of Spanish 34 gun frigates, comprising the Santa Cazilda, Pomona, Proserpine, and Santa Dorothea, in the Action on the 15th of July, in the process Lion captured the Santa Dorothea.


Capture of the Dorothea, 15 July 1798 (HMS Lion is at centre right), Thomas Whitcombe, 1816

She then proceeded to take part in the blockade of Malta where with the aid of HMS Penelope and HMS Foudroyant she captured the French 80 gun ship Le Guillaume Tell as it attempted to escape the blockade. During the action Lion lost a total of 8 killed and 38 wounded. Guillaume Tell was subsequently bought into the Royal Navy as HMS Malta.



The Disabled situation of the Guillaume Tel of 84 Guns... as she appeared at Daylight on the 30th March 1800, after having been Engaged by His Majesty's Ship Penelope... the Stromboli Brig, Lion & Foudroyant coming up, by the two latter of which ships she was afterwards engaged

In the May of 1800 she came under the captaincy of Lord William Stuart, and then in the July of that year Captain George Hammond, before being paid off in the November of that year. She then had a refit at Chatham between the February and May of 1801 at a cost of £13,545.She was then recommissioned under Captain Henry Mitford, and sailed for the East Indies on the 20th of May. By 1804 she was back in England and undergoing more repairs at John Dudman’s Deptford yard from the 12th of December of that year until the December of 1805 at a cost of £58,124. She then completed her fitting out there at a further cost of £15,509 completed in the January of 1806. Meanwhile being recommissioned in the previous month under Captain Robert Rolles. She sailed once again for the East Indies in the May of that year, and in the July of 1807, in the Straits of Malacca she successfully protected a convoy homeward bound from China from the French frigate Semillante, without the need to engage her.

Homeward bound, on the 27th of December in that year, Lion captured the French privateer Lugger La Reciprocité off Beachy Head. The Frencc ship was from Dieppe, had a crew of 45 men, and was armed with 14 guns. Lion then dispatched her to the Downs under a Prize crew.

In the February of 1808 she came under Captain Henry Heathcoat, who would command her until the end of 1811, and she set sail for China on the 5th of March 1808. In the July of 1811, Lion was one of a large fleet of ships involved in the capture of Java from Dutch forces.

On the 26th of January,1812 Commander Henderson Bain of the Harpy became acting captain of Lion. which became the Flagship of Vice Admiral Robert Stopford at the Cape of Good Hope. Later in the year Lion was transferred to becoming the Flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Tyler. Bain returned to command of Harpy a few weeks before he received promotion to Post Captain on the 6th of April, 1813. Captaincy of Lion now underwent a rapid succession of commanders, commencing with Captain James Johnstone, and then George Douglas, Henderson Bain, and finally John Eveleigh.

Fate.

Lion was converted to a sheer hulk, for service at Plymouth in the August of 1814 and then at Sheerness, in the September of 1816, following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.

Lion was eventually sold to John Levy and Son of Chatham for £2,300, to be broken up on the 30th of November, 1837.

[Bligh]

HMS Magnanime (1780)


Magnanime

HMS Magnanime was a Sir John Williams designed, Intrepid Class, 64-gun, third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard. Ordered on 16th of October 1775, approved on the 7th of November of that year, and laid down on the 23rd of August 1777, she was launched on the 14th of October, 1780,and completed fully coppered, between the 26th of October and the 29th of December in that year at Woolwich.
In 1795 Magnanime was razeed into a 44 gun Frigate.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Magnanime
Ordered:	16 October 1775
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	23 August 1777
Launched:	14 October 1780
Commissioned:	October 1780
Fate:	Broken up at Sheerness Dockyard, July 1813
Notes:	Razeed to a 44-gun fifth rate, 1795
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1370 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck) 131 ft 6 in (40.08 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	500 (as 64-gun ship); 310 officers and men (as frigate)
Armament:	As third rate: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Magnanime was commissioned in the October of 1780 under Captain Charles Wolsely. She sailed on the 13th of March, 1781 with the Relief Expedition to Gibraltar, and subsequently on the 26th of June from there to the East Indies, where she participated in several of the series of battles against French forces off India – including that of Providien, which was the second in a series of running naval battles fought between the British fleet, under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, and a French fleet, under the Baili de Suffren, off the coast of India during the Anglo French War. The battle was fought on the 12th of April, 1782 off the east coast of Sri Lanka, near a rocky islet called Providien, south of Trincomalee,in which neither side gained any real advantage.

Negapatam, followed and was the third in the series of battles fought between the British and the French in which Magnanime was a participant. This battle was fought on the 6th of July, and was indecisive but Suffren was stopped in his goal by Hughes and withdrew to Cuddalore, whilst the British remained in control of Negapatam. Trincomalee fought on the 3rd of September, in which the British tried to retake the port from the French, was a defeat for Hughes, his fleet being forced to withdraw after suffering severe damage. The final act in the drama was enacted at Cuddalore. In the battle, which took place on the 20th of June, 1783, Suffren commanded the engagement from the frigate Cleopatre and won what is generally considered a victory. Peace had, however, already been agreed upon in Europe, but that news had yet to reach India, making this the final battle of the war. 1783. Following the peace being ratified in India Magnanime returned to the United Kingdom and paid off into ordinary, following her wartime service in the June of 1784. She underwent a small repair between the July of 1785 and the January of 1786, but then little of consequence took place until she was cut down into a 44 gun Frigate by Admiralty Order issued on the 11th of August ,1794. She was fitted at Plymouth for £ 17,066.


Magnanime

During this period she was recommissioned under Captain Isaac Schomberg in the November of 1794. In the December of 1795 command was transferred to Captain the Honourable Michael de Courcy who would continue in this role until 1798. On the 27th of June 1796 Magnanime took the 8 gun Privateer Le Triton off Cape Clear, and on the 15th of August the 8 gun Le Tiercelet. Her next success came on the 16th of March1798 whilst she was escorting a small convoy. Her lookouts spied a privateer lurking about, seeking an opportunity to pick off a prize. Magnanime immediately gave chase and Twenty-three hours and 256 nautical miles later, she captured the 18 gun Le Eugenie at Latitude 42 and Longitude 12. She had thrown 8 of her guns overboard during the chase in an attempt to outsail Magnanime, but failing in her attempt despite the fact that she was coppered and appeared completely new. The Royal Navy took her into service under the name HMS Pandour, but never actually commissioned her.

On the 1st of April Magnanime was again involved in a successful chase. On this occasion it proved to be one of 180 miles in 18 hours. The privateer captured on the 2nd, was the Audacieux, and although pierced for 22 guns, she was only carrying 20 when apprehended. Her crew of 137 men were all taken as prisoners of war. She too was coppered and new. De Courcy remarked that Audacieuz was so fast that had her captain done a better job of steering she would have escaped. She was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Audacieux but like Le Eugenie was never commissioned. On the 16th of August,1798, in concert with Naid, Magnanime took the 36 gun Le Decade off Finisterre, and on the 12th of October in that same year as part of Warren’s squadron, took part in the action with Bompart, taking the 36 gun L Embuscade.

Returning to Plymouth, Magnanime made good her repairs between the May and June of 1799, and came under the command of Captain William Taylor until 1801, on the African coast from the April of 1800. Whilst on that station, she took part in the capture of Goree from the French in the April of 1801, while cruising with a squadron under the command of Captain Sir Charles Hamilton. The squadron received intelligence that there were three French frigates at anchor there and Hamilton sailed to investigate in the 38 gun Frigate HMS Melpomene, accompanied by Taylor in Magnanime, and Captain Ferris, in the 64-gun HMS Ruby. The frigates being absent, Hamilton ordered the governor to surrender, to which he agreed, and Hamilton and his force took possession on the 5th. Magnanime then sailed for the Leeward Islands, where she remained for the rest of the French Revolutionary Wars, during which period she was firstly under Captain John Giffard and then Captain Henry Vansittart and was at the mutiny of the West Indies Regiment at Dominica in the April of 1802, paying off into ordinary again in the August of that year.

She was then fitted to lie in the Clyde from the September to the November of 1803.

The Napoleonic Wars.

During the Napoleonic Wars she served in a variety of ancillary capacities, being initially commissioned under Captain John Broughton as a floating battery at Bristol, and then laid up at Sheerness in the October of 1804. Recommissioned again in the January of 1805 under Lieutenant James Cuthbert as a hospital ship, she remained at Sheerness subsequently under Lieutenants Isaac Collett from 1806 to 1807, Cuthbert again from 1809 to 1810, and John Molyneux from 1810.

Fate.

Magnanime went into ordinary between 1812 and 1813, being eventually broken up there in the July of that year.

[Bligh]

HMS Monmouth (1772)

HMS Monmouth was an Intrepid-class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, one of the first in a batch of four ships built to a design by Sir John Williams in 1765, and built by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll at Plymouth. Ordered on the 10th of September, 1767, it was approved on the 22nd of October, and the name Monmouth assigned in the November of that year. She was laid down in the May of, 1768, and launched on the18th of April, 1772, being completed and fitted at the dockyard between the October of 1777 and the 9th of May, 1778,


Ship plan for the Monmouth

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Monmouth
Ordered:	10 September 1767
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	May 1768
Launched:	18 April 1772
Renamed:	Captivity in 1796
Reclassified:	Prison ship from 1796
Fate:	Broken up in January 1818
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,369 ​51⁄94 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (gundeck) 131 ft (39.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 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 Monmouth was commissioned under Captain Thomas Collingwood, in the January of 1778, and after fitting out she sailed for the Leeward Islands in the June of that year with the squadron under Vice-Admiral John Byron. She came under the command of Captain Robert Fanshawe in 1779, and under him saw action at the Battle of Grenada on the 6th of July in that year. Monmouth was in Hyde Parker’s rear squadron and was heavily involved in the fighting with the Comte D’Estaing’s fleet, and following the battle was ordered to Antigua to carry out repairs. She returned to Britain in the December of that year and was then refitted and coppered at Portsmouth between that date and the December of 1780 at a cost of £ 13,034.9.3d. She recommissioned in late 1780 under the command of Captain James Alms, and was immediately assigned to the squadron under Commodore George Johnstone, whose squadron was dispatched on a secret expedition to capture the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. The squadron left Spithead on the 13th of March, 1781 comprising 46 ships and 3,000 troops under General Sir William Meadows. The French had learned of the expedition's intent through the services of a spy based in London, and quickly prepared an expedition under Admiral Pierre Andre de Suffren to foil Johnstone by beating him to the Cape and reinforcing it. Johnstone at first made for the Cape Verde Islands anchoring at Porto Praya, for taking on fresh water and revictualing.


Combat de la baie de la Praia dans l'île de Santiago au Cap Vert, le 16 avril 1781, by Pierre-Julien Gilbert.

He was taken by surprise on the 16th of April whilst still at anchor by the unexpected arrival of Suffren's squadron, which had also not anticipated finding an enemy force at Porto Praya. The French launched an immediate attack, and it was sometime before the British could respond effectively, eventually driving the French off. Johnstone ordered a pursuit, but his damaged ships were unable to catch up with the French. Suffren sailed directly to the Cape, with Johnstone following after completing repairs. Finding the Dutch forewarned and reinforced on his arrival there, Johnstone did not attempt an attack, instead contenting himself with takingseveral Dutch merchant vessels sheltering in Saldanha Bay. Johnstone decided to return to Britain with his prizes, detaching the troops and supplies he was escorting for the East Indies station, and his best warships under Captain Alms in the Monmouth to escort them.

Service in the East Indies.

Alms struggling with adverse winds and a high incidences of sickness, eventually forced him to leave the troop transports on the coast of Arabia in order to allow his warships to reach India in time for the campaigning season. The British fleet rendezvoused with Sir Edward Hughes at Madras on the 11th of February, 1782, and Monmouth went on to be involved in a number of indecisive clashes between Hughes and Suffren; at Sadras on the 17th of February, Providien on the 12th of April, Negapatam on the 6th of July, and Trincomalee on the 3rd of September in that same year.


Depiction of theBattle of Trincomalee on the 3rd of September, 1782, byDominic Serres.

For more information see my post on HMS Magnanime. Monmouth had a particularly important part in the battle of Providien, when she was the second ship in the line to Sir Edward's Flagship HMS Superb. At one point in the action, Alms saw that Suffren had put up his helm with a view of boarding Hughes's ship, and brought Monmouth about to defend his commander, the ship receiving heavy fire as he did so. In this engagement, the Monmouth had seven guns dismounted,had her wheel twice cleared, and only two seamen , besides the captain, were left alive on the quarterdeck. 45 men were killed, and 102 wounded, Alms, himself, suffering two splinter wounds in the face and brace of musket-balls through his hat.

Monmouth sailed back to Britain at the conclusion of the American Revolution, and was paid off at Portsmouth in the July of 1784. She spent a number of years laid up, and was not returned to service on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, but was renamed Captivity on the 20th of October 1796, and fitted out as a Prison ship between the October and November of that year for £1,331.

Fate.

Placed under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Blow until 1799, She continued in this role for over a decade, serving under a number of commanders. Blow’s replacement in 1800 was Lieutenant Emanuel Hungerford until the September of 1801, and then Lieutenant Jacob Silver from September 1801 until the December of 1805. Thereafter, command devolved upon Lieutenant McDonald until well into 1806.

She was finally broken up at Portsmouth in the January of 1818.

[Bligh]

HMS Nassau (1785)



Silhouette of the ship of the line Nassau.

HMS Nassau was a Slade designed, Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by James Martin Hillhouse at Bristol. Ordered on the 14th of November 1782, and laid down in the March of 1783, she was launched on the 28th of September, 1785, and completed between the 8th of November of that year and the second of February, 1786, at Bristol, and then coppered at Plymouth.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:		HMS Nassau
Ordered:		14 November 1782
Builder:		Hillhouse, Bristol
Laid down:		March 1783
Launched:		20 September 1785
Fate:		Wrecked 14 October 1799
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1384 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 1 in (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 1 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Nassau was commissioned in the July of 1790 under Captain Andrew Southerland for the Spanish Armament, fitted at Plymouth and then paid off. She was recommissioned in the March of 1795 under Captain Herbert Sawyer, who commanded her until the spring of 1797, for duty in the North Sea.



‘Hand-coloured etching (July 1797) of Richard Parker, President of the Delegates in the Mutiny at the Nore.

During the Mutiny at the Nore led by Richard Parker between the 26th of May and the 13th of June, she was commanded by Captain Edward O’Bryen, and under him went on to become the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Richard Onslow. On the outbreak of the mutiny, his authority was challenged and resisted by his crew. When they attempted to hang two men who would not join them, O'Bryen insisted that if anyone should die he would be the first and threatened to throw himself overboard. This checked the actions of the mutineers, but reportedly O'Bryen was left close to suicide. He left the ship shortly afterwards, and although the crew, who expressed their affection for him, invited him to return, he refused until the mutiny was over. In July, Onslow and O'Bryen moved to HMS Monarch and Nassau then came under the command of Captain William Hargood. Between the June and July of 1799 she was converted for use as a troopship at Chatham for £2,010, the command then passing to Captain George Tripp.

Fate.

Nassau was wrecked on the Haak sands off the Texel, the Netherlands, on the 14th of October, 1799. 205 members of her crew survived, out of a total of approximately 400.

[Bligh]

HMS Nonsuch (1774)

HMS Nonsuch was a John Williams designed Intrepid Class,64-gun, third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwrightand Israel Pownoll at Plymouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 30th th of November, 1769, and approved on the 12th of March 1770, she was laid down in the January of 1772, and launched on the 17th of December, 1774. She was completed on the 25th of April, 1776.


Nonsuch

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Nonsuch
Ordered:	30 November 1769
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	January 1772
Launched:	17 December 1774
Fate:	Broken up, 1802
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1373 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 5 in (48.6 m) (gundeck);130 ft 10 1⁄2 in (39.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 0 7⁄8 in (13.4 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 0 1⁄2 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship.
Complement:	As a third rate: 500 (491 from 1794) As floating battery: 230 officers and men, 14 Marines, and 50 supernumeraries.
Armament:	As third rate: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns As floating battery: Lower deck: 20 x 68-pounder Carronades Upper deck: 26 x 24-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Nonsuch was commissioned in the August of 1775 as a guardship at Plymouth, and refitted as such again in the December of 1776. She was next refitted for service in North America, and sailed on the 23rd of March, 1777.

The American Revolution.


The Nonsuch is pictured here in this depiction of Barrington's action at St Lucia in 1778, by Domonic Serres.

On her return to England in 1779 she was paid off and underwent a small repair and coppering at Chatham between the January and the May of 1780 at the cost of £10,339.12.7d.
On the 7th of July in that year, Nonsuch, now under the command of Sir James Wallace, captured the Brig-rigged Curtter Hussard of Saint Malo. Hussard was armed with eighteen 6 pounder guns. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Echo.
On the 14th of July, Nonsuch captured the 26-gun Frigate Belle Poule off the Loire. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.
In April of 1781, Nonsuch formed part of Admiral George Darby’s's relief fleet during the Seige of Gibraltar . Then on the 14th of May, on her homeward voyage, whilst scouting ahead, Nonsuch chased and brought to action the French 74-gun Actif, hoping to detain her until some others ships in the fleet came up. However, Actif was able to repulse Nonsuch, causing her to suffer 26 men killed and 64 wounded, and continued on to Brest unmolested.
After this action Nonsuch was paid off, and underwent repairs at Portsmouth between the June and September of that year, costing £9,146.2.1d. following her refit she sailed for the West Indies on the 15th of January 1782. at the Battle of the Saints on the 12 th of April in that year, Nonsuch was fourth in the line attacking the French fleet under the command of Captain Truscott, and suffered only 3 killed and 3 wounded.

Late in the year, Nonsuch and Zebra formed the escort to Jamaica of a fleet from Georgia "with the principal inhabitants, their Negroes, and their Effects". Returning to England at the conclusion of her wartime service in 1783 she was paid off once more.

Floating battery.

By Admiralty Orders issued on the 3rd of February 1794 Nonsuch was at Chatham, being cut down and fitted as a floating battery at a cost of £ 7,998. Recommissioned by Captain Billy Douglas in the March of that year, the alterations were completed two months later. In June she was removed to Jersey under Captain Philipe d’ Auvergne,Prince de Bouillon, and Senior Officer of Gunboats in the Channel Islands, in charge of a small flotilla of obsolete gunvessels, which included the Eagle, Lion, Repulse, Scorpion, and Tigre. The Navy was to disposed of most of them within a year or so. Nonsuch was paid off in the December of that year and recommissioned in the February of 1795 by Captain William Mitchell as a floating battery at Hull in the Humber estuary. In the August of that year, Captain Henry Blackwell succeeded to the command and Nonsuch's logs state that she arrived in the Humber at the end of June, having sailed up from Chatham under Blackwood's command. By the 2nd of July she had been established at her permanent mooring in Hull Roads.

In April 1796 Captain Robert Dudley Oliver replaced Blackwood, only to be superseded himself in the October of the following year by her final commander, Captain Isaac Woolley, who held the commission until 1799.

Fate.

In the June of 1802 Nonsuch was broken up at Sheerness.