HMS Ajax (1809)
HMS Ajax was a 74-gun, Armada Class, third rate ship of the line, built at the Admiralty’s instigation as a joint venture by the two ship designers Peake and Rule to incorporate the best features taken from both men’s designs. Ordered on the 1st of July, 1807 the ship was laid down in the following month, the shipbuilders being Perry, Wells, and Green of Blackwall Yard. She was launched there on the 2nd of May, 1809, and her fitting out was completed at Woolwich on the 15th of June.
Great Britain Name: HMS Ajax Ordered: 1 July 1807 Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard Laid down: August 1807 Launched: 2 May 1809 Fate: Broken up, 1864 Class and type: Armada Class ship of the line Tons burthen: 1761 bm Length: 176 ft (54 m) (gundeck) Beam: 47 ft 9.5 in (14.48 m) Depth of hold: 21 ft (6.4 m) Propulsion: Sails Sail plan: Full rigged ship Armament: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
·QD: 4 × 12-pounder guns, 10 × 32-pounder carronades
·Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades
·PD: 6 × 18-pounder carronades
Service.
HMS Ajax was commissioned in the June of 1809 under Captain Robert Otway, who commanded her until 1811. On the 4th of October,1809 she sailed for the Med, and by the 20th of July, 1810 had become a member of Blackwood’s squadron operating off Toulon. On the 11th of September in that year, Ajax took part in a ship action off Elba, in which action Charles Benyon aged 22, a Lieutenant on the ship, was killed attempting to board a French vessel. He was the third son of Richard Benyon of Englefield House, Berks, where the Benyon family still live.
On the 13th of December, 350 sailors and 250 marines from Ajax, and two other third rates, the Cambrian and Kent attacked Palamós whilst the sloops Sparrowhawk and Minstrel covered the landings. The landing party succeeded in destroying six of eight merchant vessels conveying supplies intended for the French army at Barcelona, as well as the ships escorting them. These comprised a national ketch of 14 guns and 60 men and two xebecs of three guns and thirty men each. The vessels were lying inside the mole under the protection of 250 French troops, a battery of two 24-pounders, and a 13" mortar in a battery on a commanding height. Although the attack was successful, the withdrawal was not. The British lost 33 men killed, 89 wounded, and 86 taken prisoner, plus one seaman who took the opportunity to desert.
On the 31st of March, 1811, Ajax and HMS Unite encountered a French squadron comprising the frigates Adrienne and Amélie, and the armed transport French corvette, Dromadaire.which was armed en flute, Ajax captured Dromadaire, while the frigates managed to escape to Portoferraio. Captain Otway reported that Dromadaire was frigate-built and sailed remarkably well. Her cargo consisted of 15,000 shot and shells of various sizes and 90 tons of gunpowder. Apparently Napoleon Bonaparte intended them as a present for Hammuda ibn Ali, the Bey of Tunis. Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, commander in chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet, decided to buy her and her stores for the Royal Navy.
The following month command passed to Captain James Brisbane, and then in the October of that year to Captain Sir Robert Lawrie, who commanded her in the Med until 1812.
Ajax then returned to Plymouth for defects to be repaired between the April and July of 1813. During this period of inactivity Captain Otway was reinstated as her Captain in the May of that year. By the 8th of September she was at San Sebastian, and on the 17th of March 1814, Ajax captured the French 16-gun brig L’Alcyon near the Lizard. The Frenchman was armed with sixteen 24-pounder Carronades, and was crewed by 120 men. She was provisioned for a four-month cruise, but was only 24 hours out from Saint-Malo when Ajax took her. Ajax then proceeded to North America transporting troops, but had returned to the Med, now under Captain George Mundy by the October of that year.
Post-war.
She returned to Portsmouth and was paid off in the July of 1816. She went in for a major which cost £67.758 and then between the October of 1820 and the June of 1829 Ajax was converted to a blockship with screw propulsion under Admiralty Orders. The rebuild was carried out by White’s of Cowes between the November of 1845 and the September of 1846. £15.908 being paid to White for the work to convert her for coastal defence (also called 'steam-guard-ships'. The conversion process had involved removing her copper, ballast and some of the bulkheads, and cutting her down in the shape of a blockship.
From 1846 until 1853 she was stationed as a guardship in Queenstown, now Cobh. She took part in the Crimean War 1853-1856. In 1854 she was involved in the Bombardment of Bomarsund, Finland. In 1858 she resumed guardship duties, this time in Kingstown, now Dún Laoghaire.
Ajax as guardship at Kingstown
Captain John McNeil Boyd R.N. was master of the Ajax while she was in Dún Laoghaire. On the 8th of February,1861 there occurred the worst storm in living memory. 29 ships were lost between Wicklow Head and Howth Head, all close to Dún Laoghaire. Boyd organised rescues, but he and five of his crew were lost in the attempt. Fifteen surviving members of the Ajax crew were decorated for bravery and most were promoted.
Fate.
On the 3rd of December,1863, Ajax was driven ashore at Kingstown. Although she was successfully refloated, It was announced in the February of 1864 that the Royal George would replace her as the Coast-guard ship at Devonport.
She was broken up in 1864.
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