Naval/Maritime History 27th of August - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 17 September

1574 – Death of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Spanish admiral and explorer, founded St. Augustine, Florida (b. 1519)

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾo mẽˈnẽndeθ ðe aβiˈles]; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral and explorer from the region of Asturias, Spain, who is remembered for planning the first regular trans-oceanic convoys and for founding St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. This was the first successful Spanish settlement in La Florida and the most significant city in the region for nearly three centuries. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously-inhabited, European-established settlement in the continental United States. Menéndez de Avilés was also the first governor of Florida (1565–74).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Menéndez_de_Avilés



1812 Boats of HMS Eagle (1804 – 74 – Repulse-class), Cptn. Charles Rowley, capture 2 gunboats and 15 vessels laden with oil and destroy 6 gunboats off the mouths of the Po.

HMS Eagle was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 February 1804 at Northfleet.

On 11 November 1804, Glatton, together with Eagle, Majestic, Princess of Orange, Raisonable, Africiane, Inspector, Beaver, and the hired armed vessels Swift and Agnes, shared in the capture of the Upstalsboom, H.L. De Haase, Master.
In 1830 she was reduced to a 50-gun ship, and became a training ship in 1860. She was renamed HMS Eaglet in 1919, when she was the Royal Naval Reserve training centre for North West England. A fire destroyed Eagle in 1926


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for 'Eagle' (1804), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as cut down to a 50-gun Fourth Rate Frigate at Chatham Dockyard in 1831. Signed by William Stone [Master Shipwright, Chatham Dockyard, 1830-1839].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81585.html#514HmyLO46aZgtcm.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eagle_(1804)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulse-class_ship_of_the_line


1921 – Launch of SS Munargo, commercial cargo and passenger ship

SS Munargo was a commercial cargo and passenger ship built for the Munson Steamship Lines by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey launched 17 September 1921. Munargo operated for the line in the New York-Bahamas-Cuba-Miami service passenger cargo trade. In June 1930 the United States and Mexican soccer teams took passage aboard Munargo from New York to Uruguay for the 1930 FIFA World Cup. The ship was acquired by the War Shipping Administration and immediately purchased by the War Department for service as a troop carrier during World War II. Shortly after acquisition the War Department transferred the ship to the U.S. Navy which commissioned the ship USS Munargo (AP-20). She operated in the Atlantic Ocean for the Navy until returned to the War Department in 1943 for conversion into the Hospital ship USAHS Thistle.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Munargo_(1921)


1940 – Italian destroyer Borea sunk

Italian destroyer Borea was a Turbine-class destroyer built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) during late 1920s. She was named after a northerly wind, Borea, bringing frigid, dry air to the Italian peninsula.

In the evening of September 16, 1940 Borea together with destroyers Aquilone and Turbine was berthed in Benghazi harbor. At 19:30 steamers Maria Eugenia and Gloria Stella escorted by Fratelli Cairoli arrived from Tripoli bringing the total number of vessels present in the harbor to 32.[10] During the night of September 16 and 17, nine Swordfish bombers of 815 Squadron RAF carrying bombs and torpedoes, and six from 819 Squadron RAF armed with mines took off from Illustrious and approximately at 00:30 arrived undetected over Benghazi harbor. The anti-aircraft defenses opened fire but were unable to stop the attack. After passing over the harbor to determine their targets, Swordfish bombers made their first attack at 00:57 hitting and sinking Gloria Stella and severely damaging torpedo boat Cigno, harbor tug Salvatore Primo and an auxiliary vessel Giuliana. The bombers then conducted a second assault at 1:00 striking and sinking Maria Eugenia. Borea was also targeted during the second sweep, with the first bomb exploding between the destroyer and the steamer Città di Livorno but causing no damage to either ship. A short while later, a second bomb hit Borea on her port side, around 40/39 mm cannon platform. The bomb penetrated all the way down into the hold and exploded breaking the ship in two causing rapid flooding and sinking in shallow waters of the harbor. Due to rapid sinking most of the crew was able to easily abandon ship either by jumping or simply walking off the bridge and swimming towards destroyer Aquilone. There was a single casualty, a sailor who at the moment of the attack was sleeping in the engine room, near the area of bomb explosion.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_destroyer_Borea_(1927)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1740 - George Anson's voyage around the world begins in Spithead


While Great Britain was at war with Spain in 1740, Commodore George Anson led a squadron of eight ships on a mission to disrupt or capture Spain's Pacific possessions. Returning to Britain in 1744 by way of China and thus completing a circumnavigation, the voyage was notable for the capture of an Acapulco galleon but also horrific losses to disease with only 188 men of the original 1,854 surviving.


George Anson, 1st Baron Anson

Background
In 1739, the riches that Spain derived from the New World were well known throughout Europe. Huge quantities of silver were shipped from Peru, carried over the isthmus at Panama and then loaded on another ship at Portobelo bound for Spain. Other ships carried luxury goods from Manila to Acapulco from where they were taken to Vera Cruz and loaded along with Mexican silver. Spain's Caribbean possessions provided sugar, tobacco, dyes and spices.

Various schemes were proposed to attack Spanish possessions. Edward Vernon captured Portobelo in November 1739 with just six ships, and a second squadron to be led by George Anson, was to sail around Cape Horn with six warships carrying 500 troops with instructions that might be described as ambitious. These were to capture Callao in Peru (the port that served the nearby capital Lima) and if possible take Lima as well, capture Panama with its treasure, seize the galleon from Acapulco and lead a revolt of the Peruviansto Spanish colonial power. An earlier proposal to also capture Manila was dropped.


Model of HMS Centurion, made in 1748.

The squadron based in Portsmouth was composed of six warships:

• HMS Centurion (a fourth-rate ship of 1,005 tons, 60 guns, 400 men and the flagship)
• HMS Gloucester (853 tons, 50 guns, 300 men)
• HMS Severn (853 tons, 50 guns, 300 men)
• HMS Pearl (600 tons, 40 guns, 250 men)
• HMS Wager (599 tons, 24 guns, 120 men)
• HMS Tryal (200 tons, 8 guns, 70 men)

Two merchant vessels, Anna and Industry, would carry additional supplies.

The provision of 500 troops was farcical. No regular troops were made available so 500 invalids were to be collected from the Chelsea Hospital. In this case, the term invalid referred to soldiers that were too sick, wounded or old for active duty but might be able to perform lighter duties. In any case, on hearing details of the proposed voyage, those that could get away did and only 259 came aboard, many on stretchers. To make up for the 241 missing, marines were ordered aboard but these were such fresh recruits that few of them had yet been trained how to fire a gun.


Path of the Centurion under the command of George Anson

The squadron was as ready as it was going to get by mid-August but strong winds kept the ships in harbour. Before heading to South America, Anson was required to escort a huge fleet of transports and merchant vessels out of the English Channel and the initial attempt to get to sea was abandoned as ships crashed into each other. Finally the squadron sailed from Spithead on 18 September 1740 overseeing a convoy of 152 ships.

Unfortunately, with the long delays, French agents had picked up word of the expedition and passed the information to Spain. In response, they sent five warships under Admiral Pizarro to lie in wait near Portuguese Madeira which was neutral territory and to be Anson's first port of call.

Voyage
The squadron reached Madeira on 25 October 1740, the journey taking four weeks longer than normal. Portuguese officials reported that warships, probably Spanish, had been seen at the western end of the island so Anson sent a boat out to investigate but it returned without sighting them. Fresh food and water were taken on with extra urgency and the ships slipped out without incident on 3 November. Had contact been made with Pizarro's squadron, the expedition likely would have ended since Anson's ships would need to throw overboard the huge quantity of provisions cluttering the decks and preventing the effective working of the guns.

After taking three days at sea to transfer supplies, Industry turned back on 20 November. By now, food had started to rot and the ships were infested with flies. There was a desperate need to provide additional ventilation to the lower decks. Normally the gun ports would be opened but since the ships were riding so low in the water with the weight of provisions, this was impossible so six air holes were cut in each ship.

However, this was only part of a bigger problem that was to have disastrous consequences. With the ships' regular crew, the conditions were crowded with hammocks placed 14" apart, though the rotating watch system meant that only half would be below at any one time so effectively each had 28". However, the invalids and marines boosted the number of men on board by about 25% and were forced to stay below most of the time as they would be in the way on deck. Typhus, or ship fever, is spread by body lice which thrived in the hot, humid and unsanitary conditions. After two months at sea, this disease and dysentery raced through the crews.

The squadron reached Isla de Santa Catarina (St Catherine's), a large island just off the coast of Portuguese southern Brazil on 21 December and the sick were sent ashore, eighty from Centurion alone. A thorough cleaning then commenced with the below-deck areas first scrubbed clean, then fires lit inside and the hatches closed so that the smoke would kill rats and other vermin, then everything was washed down with vinegar.

Anson had hoped to stay only long enough to pick up firewood, fresh water and provisions but the main mast of Tryal needed repairs that took almost a month. Meanwhile, the men on shore in makeshift tents were exposed to mosquitoes and malaria. Although 28 men from the Centurion had died while in port, the number of sick taken back on board when they left on 18 January 1741 had increased from 80 to 96. A wide variety of fruits and vegetables were available but it is unclear how much actually came on board. The official account noted a "great plenty" but one journal keeper said it was enough only to feed all the crew for a single day. Although Portugal was not at war with England and in theory was an ally under the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, the governor was later revealed to have notified Spanish Buenos Aires where Pizarro's squadron had arrived. Although waiting for provisions, Pizarro immediately put to sea sailing south to get around Cape Horn before the British.

Anson sailed 18 January 1741 intending to stop at Puerto San Julián (near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Magellan) where there was no European presence but supposedly bountiful supplies of salt. Four days later, in a storm, the repaired mast of Tryal broke, forcing the Gloucester to take it in tow. During the same storm, the Pearl was separated from the squadron and her captain died, with First Lieutenant Sampson Salt taking command. Sampson then sighted five ships with the lead ship bearing English colors, but was dismayed to find at the last moment it was the Spanish ships. The crew frantically threw overboard everything not immediately needed and hoisted extra sail. The Spanish ships held back from chasing believing Pearl was headed for a shoal but it was spawning fish, not rocks, that were disturbing the water, and the Pearl was able to escape as darkness fell.

Even though the Spanish ships were known to be somewhere in the area, the squadron had no choice but to stop at St Julian, which was found to have no trees or fresh water and barely any salt. Tryal's broken topmast was simply removed and a spare topmast used to replace the broken foremast, effectively reducing her rigging but probably the key to allowing her to weather the ferocious storms to come. The ships reached Strait of Le Maire, the entrance to the path around Cape Horn, on 7 March 1741 in unseasonably fine weather but shortly afterwards it turned to a violent gale from the south. Having avoided being blown onto Staten Island, Anson ordered Tryal to lead, on the lookout for ice. However, carrying sufficient sail to keep ahead of the other ships left the ship dangerously unstable, with the men on deck frequently exposed to the freezing water. Since the deck cannon were getting continually doused, it would have been impossible to fire warning shots even if they had seen ice so Tryal was removed from this duty and the Pearl took its place leaving her Captain Saumarez to write that 'really life is not worth pursuing at the expense of such hardships'. While fighting gale-force winds and huge seas with a crew weakened by typhus and dysentery, scurvy broke out. What little useful information available on its prevention was ignored and it is unlikely that the navy could have procured sufficient vitamin C for 1,000 men even if it had recognized the need. Hundreds of men died of disease in the weeks during and immediately after battling around the Horn. In one incredible case, a man who had been wounded at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 but had made a complete recovery, now found, 50 years later, that his wounds reopened and a broken bone fractured again.

At the beginning of April, the ships headed north believing that they were 300 miles (480 km) west of land. However, through lack of alternatives at that time, ships had to estimate their east-west position by dead reckoning - calculating the distance covered knowing the ship's speed and heading – which could not account for unknown ocean currents and so on the night of 13-14th, the crew of the Anna were alarmed to see the cliffs of Cape Noir just 2 miles (3.2 km) away. They fired cannon and lit lamps to warn the others and they were just able to claw their way out to sea although there was great concern that the Severn and Pearl were already lost as they had not been sighted since the 10th.

Another storm hit just as the Wager fell from sight and on 24 April, both Centurion and Gloucester reported that every sail was torn or loose but the crew was too few and too weak to attempt repairs until the next day by which time the ships were scattered. The sailing instructions included three rendezvous points if the ships were scattered and Centurion reached the first, Socorro on 8 May. After waiting two weeks and seeing no other ships, Anson decided to sail for Juan Fernandez, the third rendezvous point, since the second, Valdivia, was on the coast and would be too dangerous to find being on a lee shore.

Anson, unsure of his charts and his navigator's skills headed east and soon saw the coast of Chile. Turning back west, it took nine days to reach the area he had left during which time 70–80 men died. Juan Fernandez was then sighted at daybreak on 9 June. However, by now there were only eight men and the remaining officers and their servants able to work the ship. After anchoring for the night they were too weak to lift the anchor the following morning but were lucky to be blown free by a sudden squall. As they manoeuvered into the bay they were appalled to find no other ships waiting there but then sighted the tiny Tryal approaching. Of the 86 crew and marines, 46 had died and now only the captain, Charles Saunders, his lieutenant and three seamen were able to stand on deck. Those still able worked desperately to get the sick ashore.

Engravings from A voyage round the world, in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV, by George Anson, Esq:

• 
  Anson's ships in the Strait of Magellan
• 
  At Puerto San Julián
• 
  At Juan Fernández Islands
• 
  Anson's tent at Robinson Crusoe Island

Given the mortality rate on Centurion and Tryal, it seemed likely that the crews of the other ships would all be dead if they were unable to reach Juan Fernandez in the next few days. On 21 June a ship was sighted with only one sail, apparently in trouble but it was another six days before the ship was close enough to be identified as Gloucester. A long boat was sent out to meet the ship and but they were unable to get the ship into the anchorage at Cumberland Bay. The ship was then blown out to sea and it was not until 23 July that Gloucester was finally able to make anchorage. Since leaving Port St Julian, 254 had died leaving 92 men, most debilitated by scurvy. Fresh greens and fish allowed some to recover quickly but others were too weak and died ashore.

Remarkably, the Anna was sighted on 16 August and without apparent difficulty worked its way into Cumberland Bay. After losing sight of the other ships on 24 April, she had attempted to make the rendezvous at Socorro and had been blown ashore. Just as all hope seemed lost, they saw the entry to a harbour and were able to take refuge. For two months they stayed to perform makeshift repairs to the ship and allow the crew to recover their health before departing for Juan Fernandez. The harbour had a good fresh water supply, wild greens and game. Given the abundant provisions and minimal crew on the merchant ship, the crew was in much better health even than those on the warships at the time she was blown ashore. However, a survey after arrival at Juan Fernandez reported that she was so badly damaged that she was beyond repair so Anson had the ship broken up and the crew transferred to Gloucester. Anson prepared to sail in September 1741 but before leaving took a census which found that of the original 961 that had left Britain on Centurion, Gloucester and Tryal, 626 or roughly two-thirds, had died. The fate of those on the other three ships was at that time unknown.


Anson's burning and plundering of Paita in 1742 - painting by Samuel Scott


READ MUCH MORE ON wikipedia about the voyage



The Centurion capturing the Covadonga by Samuel Scott

Return to England
They sailed from Canton and stopping at Macau, sold the galleon at the heavily discounted price of 6,000 dollars, allowing the Centurion to leave on the 15th. Anson was anxious to reach England before news of the treasure he was carrying reached France or Spain, lest they attempt to intercept him.

They reached home at Spithead on 15 June 1744, having slipped through fog and thus avoided a French squadron that was cruising the English Channel.

Of those on board, 188 were all that remained of the original crews of Centurion, Gloucester, Tryal and Anna. Together with the survivors of Severn, Pearl and Wager, about 500 had survived of the original 1900 that had sailed in September 1740, all but a handful falling to disease or starvation.

Anson took three-eighths of the prize money available for distribution from the Covadonga which by one estimate came to £91,000 compared with the £719 he earned as captain during the 3 year 9-month voyage. By contrast, a seaman would have received perhaps £300, although even that amounted to 20 years' wages.

Consequences
Anson was compared with Francis Drake and was promoted accordingly, reaching First Lord of the Admiralty in 1751 but he assisted the careers of many of the officers that sailed with him. Immediately after his return though, Anson had promoted Philip Saumarez and Peircy Brett but after the Admiralty refused to confirm Brett, Anson declined his own promotion.

The return of Anson's expedition raised interest in the Pacific as an object of British trade and imperial power but given the treacherous conditions around Cape Horn and the Spanish hold of South America, there was hope that an alternative route to the Pacific might be found through a North-west passage over the top of North America. An expedition led by Middleton had been mounted while Anson was away but has been blocked by ice. The government offered £20,000 to anyone that could find a navigable route but a private expedition by Moor and Smith in 1746–47 likewise returned empty-handed.

Although several private journals of the voyage had been published, the official version of events was eagerly awaited. In 1748, his Voyage Round the World in the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV was published, having been edited from his notes and Richard Walter's journals by Benjamin Robins. It was a vast popular and commercial success. As well as detailing the adventures of the expedition, it contained a huge amount of useful information for future navigators and with 42 detailed charts and engravings, most based on drawings by Piercy Brett, it laid the basis for later scientific and survey expeditions by Captain Cook and others. Spanish charts seized from the Covadonga added many islands to the British charts of the Pacific, and those in the Western North Pacific became known as the Anson Archipelago.

Given the horrific losses to scurvy, it is hard to understand why there was no official investigation into its cause and possible cures. That it could be cured was obvious from the rapid improvements shown by Anson's men after reaching both Juan Fernandez and Tinian. In one of the first world’s first controlled experiments, James Lind made his own investigations on the Salisbury in 1747. Working with twelve victims he separated them into six pairs and tried something different on each pair. The pair that received oranges and lemons showed definite improvement. However, the idea of a nutritional-deficiency disease, and the complex mechanism of action involved in scurvy, were not yet imagined. It would be another 50 years before Lind's conclusion was put into practice, and even longer before the science behind it was understood.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson,_1st_Baron_Anson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson's_voyage_around_the_world

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1778 – Launch of French Auguste, a 80-gun Third Rate Ship of the Line ("vaisseaux de 80") at Brest


Auguste was an 80-gun ship of the line in the French Navy, designed by Léon-Michel Guignace, laid down in 1777 and in active service from 1779. She tooks part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War and later in the French Revolutionary Wars, notably fighting at the Combat de Prairial. She was lost with most hands during the Croisière du Grand Hiver in January 1795.


Auguste fighting at the Battle of the Chesapeake

Soon after her commissioning, from June to September 1779, Auguste patroles the Channel under Captain de Rochechouart. She took part in the Battle of St. Lucia, the Battle of Fort Royal and the Battle of the Chesapeake under captain Bougainville.

In 1793, she was renamed to Jacobin and was part of the Brest squadron. She was involved in the Quibéron mutinies in September 1793.

The next year, she took part in the Combat de Prairial, where she followed the flagship Montagne, and failed to prevent HMS Queen Charlotte from breaking the French line.

In December 1794, she was renamed Neuf Thermidor. On 29 January, as she took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver, she was caught in a tempest off Brest and wrecked with the loss of most of her crew on 9 January 1795.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Auguste_(1779)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=1937

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1781 – Re-Launch of French Couronne (later Ça Ira) , a 80-gun Third rate purpose built Ship of the Line at Brest


Couronne was built at Brest, having been started in May 1781 and launched in September that year. She probably was built from the salvaged remains of her predecessor, Couronne, which had been accidentally burnt at the dockyard in April 1781. She had a refit at Toulon in 1784.


Model of Couronne, on display at the Château de Brest.

French Revolution

In 1792 she was renamed Ça Ira, in reference to the revolutionary anthem Ah! ça ira.


Ça Ira fighting at the Battle of Genoa on 14 March 1795

On 14 March 1795, she took part in the Battle of Genoa under Captain Coudé, in which a French squadron, under Admiral Pierre Martin, was pursued off Alassio by a superior British fleet consisting of 15 ships of the line under Lord Hotham. During the chase, around 9:00, Ça Ira ran afoul of Victoire, losing her fore and main topmasts and falling back of the French squadron. The frigate HMS Inconstant under Captain Thomas Fremantle caught up and engaged Ça Ira; Vestale came to help, fired distant broadsides at Inconstantand took Ça Ira in tow. Ça Ira began a heavy fire on Inconstant which forced her to retreat. At 10:45, HMS Agamemnon under Captain Horatio Nelson caught up and opened fire, shortly aided by HMS Captain; the artillery duel continued for four hours until French ships came to support Ça Ira, compelling Agamemnon to retreat.


The ninth, but third in order of events, in a series of ten drawings (PAF5871–PAF5874, PAF5876, PAF5880–PAF5881 and PAF5883–5885) of mainly lesser-known incidents in Nelson's career, apparently intended for a set of engravings. Pocock's own (unnumbered) description of the subject in a letter of 9 July 1810 is: 'the "Agamemnons" engagement with the "Ca Ira", within Gun Shot of a Tremendous Force and no Support near', 'Agamemnon' being on the right. For the rather complex circumstances of the commission, and Pocock's related letters, see 'View of St Eustatius with the "Boreas"' (PAF5871). A variant of this drawing of the 'Ca Ira' in action, slightly extended on the right, was formerly in the collection of Sir Bruce Ingram. Signed by the artist and dated, lower right. Exhibited: NMM Pocock exhib. (1975) no. 46.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/100699.html#EPThJyjxHxOmqkVz.99

During the night, Vestale was relieved by the 74-gun Censeur in towing the now dismasted Ça Ira. In the morning, the British fleet had come in windward; HMS Captain caught up and engaged the two French ships, which battered her for 1 hour and 15 minutes, leaving her severely damaged, in distress, and eventually to be towed away from the action. HMS Bedford came to reinforce Captain, and had her rigging also severely damaged. The British fire had also reduced Ça Ira and Censeur to an almost helpless state. The main of the French fleet attempted to come to the rescue of her rear again and seize the opportunity of the battered state of the British vanguard, but the lack of wind, incompetent French gunnery, and opposition by HMS Illustrious and HMS Courageux prevented any effective action. Only the Duquesne intervened, and had to retreat after she sustained damage and casualties. Ça Ira and Censeur tried to fight but due to a false manoeuvre Ça Ira collided with Censeur; her rigging fell on Censeur, stranding both ships. As a favourable wind built up, the French squadron retreated, leaving Censeur and Ça Ira without hope of rescue. Men from Agamemnon boarded Ça Ira and captured her. Reduced to hulks, the French ships eventually struck. They were taken into Spezia Bay.


Lord Hotham's Action, March 14th 1795 (PAD4074)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/108225.html#TYvcVisp3JKlvkeX.99

Late career
Ça Ira was commissioned in the Royal Navy, but in too battered a state to serve, she was used as a hospital hulk in Saint-Florent.

Ça Ira was destroyed on 11 April 1796 in an accidental fire; boats from other ships attempted to aid, but as the fire became out of control, Ça Ira was evacuated and brought away from the anchorage. She drifted and ran aground half a mile to the northward of the citadel and burnt to the water line. An inquiry subsequently concluded that the fire had been accidentally put on by a "bottle of combustible matter improperly kept in the carpenters cabin", and acquitted the officers from blame.

Archaeological discovery
In 1988, a 19th-century map was discovered, allowing the discovery of the wreck the following year, and its subsequent excavation. From 1990 to 1995, underwater archaeological survey was undertaken by Tech Sub, a non-profit organisation.



Plate depicting ships captured by Nelson 1793-1801 and also the Battle of Genoa, Battle off Cape St Vincent, Battle of the Nile and Battle of Copenhagen (PAG8678) - The Ca Ira is at top left
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/138626.html#Uqm6pAy7PDVuEEPq.99

The Ships Nelson captured:
San Josef, San Nicholas, San Isidro, Tonnant (captured 1798), Holstein, Wagren, Mercure fl.1812 [French navy], Jutland, L'Orient fl.1798 [French navy], Alcide (1782), Aquilon (1786), Ca Ira (captured 1795), Censeur [French navy], Franklin 1796 (French, captured), Le Genereux (1785), Heureux fl.1799 (French, captured), Provesteen, Salvador del Mundo (captured 1797), Spartiate (captured 1798), Zealand [Dutch navy]
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/138626.html#fV61yApr7gq5q2mq.99



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Ça_Ira_(1781)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1804 - The Battle of Vizagapatam - HMS Centurion (50) engaged French Marengo (74), Atalante (40) and Semillante (36) in Vizagapatam Road

was a minor naval engagement fought in the approaches to Vizagapatam harbour in the Coastal Andhra region of British India on the Bay of Bengal on 15 September 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars. A French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois in the ship of the line Marengo attacked the British Royal Navy fourth rate ship HMS Centurion and two East Indiaman merchant ships anchored in the harbour roads. Linois was engaged in an extended raiding campaign, which had already involved operations in the South China Sea, in the Mozambique Channel, off Ceylon and along the Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal. The French squadron had fought one notable engagement, at the Battle of Pulo Aura on 15 February 1804, in which Linois had attacked the Honourable East India Company's (HEIC) China Fleet, a large convoy of well-armed merchant ships carrying cargo worth £8 million. Linois failed to press the attack and withdrew with the convoy at his mercy, invoking the anger of Napoleon when the news reached France.


Defence of the Centurion in Vizagapatam Road, Septr. 15th 1804, Engraving by Thomas Sutherland after a painting by James Lind

Atalante, Barnaby (active 1804), Centurion 1774 [British navy], Marengo [French navy], Princess Charlotte [HEIC], Semillante [French navy]

Background
During the Napoleonic Wars, the British economy depended on the movement of trade from the British Empire, particularly the trading posts and colonies in British India, managed by the Honourable East India Company (HEIC). This company transported goods from India to Europe using a fleet of large and well-armed merchant ships named East Indiamen, which travelled in convoys for protection, and were escorted during wartime by ships provided by the Royal Navy. The main Royal Navy base in the Bay of Bengal was at the city of Madras, but East Indiamen sailed from ports all around the Bay. As a result, the force in Madras was often dispersed to provide escorts to smaller convoys travelling to Madras or Calcutta to merge with other ships to form the large oceanic convoys. At the outbreak of the Napoleonic War, the commander of British forces in the Indian Ocean was Rear-Admiral Peter Rainier. The principal threat to British control of the region was a squadron sent from France shortly before war broke out, led by Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois in the ship of the line Marengo.

Rainier and Linois had clashed in June 1803, before news of the outbreak of war had reached India. Linois had anchored at Pondicherry, a French Indian port, and Rainier had led a powerful squadron to anchor off the harbour in anticipation of the declaration of war. Concerned that Rainier's numerically superior force would overwhelm his squadron before they could operate against the British merchant convoys in the region, Linois slipped away under cover of darkness and eventually reached Île de France, where he learned that the Napoleonic Wars had begun on 16 May. Sailing to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, Linois resupplied and then departed for a cruise in the South China Sea on 28 December, seeking the large annual convoy of HEIC merchant ships from Canton, known as the China Fleet. This convoy was normally escorted from Canton by several Royal Navy ships of the line, but in 1804 the escort had been delayed. Linois discovered the convoy near the island of Pulo Aura at the eastern entrance to the Strait of Malacca at 08:00 on 14 February and advanced. The convoy commander Commodore Nathaniel Dance had disguised several of the East Indiamen as ships of the line in the hope of convincing Linois that the convoy was well protected. Linois hesitated for over a day, eventually attacking on the morning of 15 February. Dance resisted and Linois withdrew without contesting the engagement. Dance's merchant ships chased Linois's squadron away before resuming their course and meeting their escorts several days later. Linois's failure to engage and defeat the China Fleet infuriated a number of his officers and provoked an angry letter from Napoleon, who accused Linois of believing "that war can be made without running risks".

In the aftermath of the engagement, Linois returned to Batavia and then to Île de France, arriving on 2 April. There he was criticised by the governor, General Charles Decaen, who wrote a letter to Napoleon complaining of Linois's conduct at the Battle of Pulo Aura.[7] In mid-June 1804, Linois departed Île de France with Marengo and the frigates Atalante under Captain Camille-Charles-Alexis Gaudin-Beauchène and Sémillante under Captain Léonard-Bernard Motard, cruising off Madagascar in stormy weather before sailing to the coast of Ceylon. He enjoyed some success against individual merchant vessels, and gradually moved northwards during the late summer. The squadron passed Madras 60 nautical miles (110 km) off the coast to avoid encountering Rainier's squadron and raided along the Coastal Andhra region, visiting Masulipatam and Coasanguay. On 14 September 1804 off Masulipatam, Linois captured a country ship and learned from the crew that a small convoy was anchored at Vizagapatam to the north. The convoy was reported to consist of two East Indiamen with the 36-gun frigate HMS Wilhelmina, a former Dutch vessel captured in 1798, as their escort. Linois immediately sailed for Vizagapatam, expecting an easy victory over the convoy.

Battle
At Madras Admiral Rainier had become increasingly concerned during September by Linois's depredations, and had decided to strengthen his convoy escorts. He replaced Wilhelmina with the 50-gun HMS Centurion. Centurion was under the nominal command of Captain John Sprat Rainier, who was seriously ill at Madras, so Captain James Lind assumed temporary command. Lind sailed from Madras to Vizagapatam earlier in the month with the Indiamen Barnaby and Princess Charlotte and anchored in the roads, while the Indiamen loaded cargo ready for the return journey to Madras. The ships were still anchored in the roads at 06:00 on 15 September when Linois's squadron appeared on the horizon to the south-west, approximately 12 nautical miles (22 km) away. The only flag visible on the strange ships was on board one of the frigates, which displayed the St George's Cross. Lieutenant James Robert Phillips, in command of Centurion while Lind was ashore, was not convinced by this ensign: he was aware that a French squadron was in the region, and positioned his ship so that his broadside faced the approaching vessels. At 09:45 the French came within range and Phillips opened fire, cautiously at first until he could be sure of the identity of the strangers.

The ship of the line exchanged signals with the frigates as Centurion began to fire, and as the signals were different from those used by the Royal Navy, Phillips was certain he was facing an overwhelming enemy squadron. Centurion made urgent signals to the Indiamen, warning them of the approaching threat. The crew of Barnaby panicked and cut her anchor cables, causing her to drift on shore where she was wrecked. Captain John Logan on Princess Charlotte was calmer and remained at anchor, although he ignored requests from Phillips for assistance from his ship's gun battery. Linois's ships spread out, Atalante closing to within 0.5 nautical miles (900 m) of Centurion, with Sémillante close behind. Marengo remained out of range, as Linois was unwilling to risk his flagship in shallow coastal waters for which he did not have accurate charts: the approaches to Vizagapatam were protected by a series of sandbars and if Marengo grounded during the engagement then his flagship could have been wrecked. When the French frigates came within 200 yards (180 m), Phillips opened fire on Atalante as Sémillante attempted to reach the other side of the British ship to batter from the other side. The French frigates also came under long range fire from the three-gun battery at Vizagapatam, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Campbell, on detached service from the 74th Regiment of Foot. Campbell despatched 50 sepoys in small boats to assist the crew of Princess Charlotte, whose armament of 24 guns continued to remain silent.

By 10:00, all three French ships were within range of Centurion and a heavy exchange of fire began. Within 15 minutes, both Centurion and Marengo had their colours shot away and at 10:45 the ship of the line turned away for open water, followed by the frigates, her rigging in disarray. Damage had rendered Centurion unable to manoeuvre rapidly and she began slowly limping inshore to shelter from Marengo among the coastal shoals. Captain Lind rejoined his ship by boat, hailing the Princess Charlotte, which had still not participated in the battle, to cut her anchor cables and go ashore to avoid being captured. Logan refused and at 11:15 surrendered without a fight as the whole French squadron moved back towards the harbour. Marengo again remained beyond the sandbars that marked the entrance. The boatloads of sepoys, who were still en route to Princess Charlotte, turned about and rowed back to shore to avoid capture. Sémillante took possession of the merchant ship while Marengo and Atalante engaged Centurion, which had moved out of range of support from the shore batteries.

Despite her 50 guns, Centurion's armament left her vulnerable as most were carronades, short-range heavy cannon that were useless in the face of the long-range gunnery from Marengo. Centurion consequently suffered severe damage and by 13:15 had been holed, with her rigging wrecked and her anchor cable shot through, which caused her to slowly drift away from the shore, out of control. Seeing that his opponent was disabled, Linois decided not to press the attack and issued orders for his squadron, accompanied by their prize, to sail away. Lind gradually regained control of his ship and even managed to raise some sail in pursuit, but the French were too far ahead. After some final parting shots, Centurion anchored as her crew set about repairing the damage. Linois remained within sight for the rest of the day, but showed no sign of renewing the action; he disappeared on the north-east horizon at dusk.

Aftermath
Despite the destruction of Barnaby and the capture of Princess Charlotte, British losses were mild, Centurion having one man killed and nine wounded. The ship was very badly damaged, however, with a number of holes shot in her hull and badly torn rigging and masts. There were no recorded casualties among the troops onshore. The French suffered slightly heavier losses, Marengo having two men killed and an officer wounded and Atalante with three killed and five wounded. Sémillante, which had not been closely engaged in the battle, suffered no casualties. Damage to the French ships was severe, and Linois was forced to abandon further operations and slowly make his way back to Île de France, arriving in November. There Marengo underwent a full refit, lasting six months.

Both nations claimed the encounter as a victory, the French for the capture of Princess Charlotte and the British for the survival of Centurion in the face of overwhelming French numerical superiority. Linois justified his withdrawal in a letter, explaining that risking irreparable damage his squadron in a close engagement with Centurion would have curtailed his raiding operations. Privately however, Napoleon was angered by the survival of Centurion and wrote in response that "France cared for honour, not for a few pieces of wood." British historians have echoed Napoleon's criticism, judging that Centurion was at Linois's mercy and that he had failed to destroy her, in words of William Laird Clowes, because of his "half-hearted and timid action . . . [that] cannot but provoke censure."


The Ships:

HMS Centurion was a 50-gun Salisbury-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, and during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

During the war with America, Centurion saw action in a number of engagements and supported British forces in the Caribbean and the North American coasts. Spending the period of peace either serving as a flagship in the Caribbean or laid up or under refit in British dockyards, she was recommissioned in time to see action in the wars with France, particularly in the East Indies.

Her most important action came in the Battle of Vizagapatam in 1804, in which she fought against the French squadron of Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois that consisted of a 74-gun ship, and two frigates. Despite sustaining severe damage, she continued fighting, and survived the assault by the considerably heavier forces.

Returning to Britain shortly afterwards, she was refitted and transferred to Halifax, where she served as a hospital and receiving ship for the rest of her career. She sank at her moorings there in 1824, and was raised the following year and broken up, ending 50 years of Royal Navy service.


Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, active during the French Directory, French Consulate and First French Empire. Renamed Marengo in 1802, she took part in Linois' operations in the Indian Ocean before her capture by the Royal Navy.


Capture of Marengo (ex-Jean-Jacques Rousseau, left) by HMS London (right)


Brilliant Naval Action of the East India Fleet. The representation of the Naval Action Fought in India 15th Feby 1804 wherein Capt. Dance.... defended the Ships under his Convoy, and ships Marengo... & four frigates (PAF4755)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/128890.html#DcEMfcfrJ8f1qmJR.99

The Sémillante (French: "Shiny" or "Sparkling") was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and turned her into a merchant vessel. The British captured her and broke her up in 1809.

The Atalante was a 40-gun Virginie class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1802.


The Antelope Packet engaging the Atalanta (PAD5482)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109633.html#yL5GTXx4r6vUzMYw.99

Princess Charlotte was an "extra ship’’ of the British East India Company (EIC), launched in 1796. She made four voyages for the EIC. On her second voyage she suffered a short-lived mutiny and then spent almost a year as an armed ship in the service of the EIC, including a voyage to the Red Sea. A squadron of the French Navy captured her in the Vizagapatam roads in 1804, on her fourth voyage.

Barnaby (active 1804) was a Country Ship, i.e. "a ship which was employed in the local trade in Asia and the Far East was known as a Country Ship. These ships were owned by local shipowners in the east, many of which had long standing connections with the Company. As well as collecting cargo from outlying places to particular ports, ready for loading on the Regular ships for transhipment to England, the Country ships traded freely all year round." (Source: http://www.eicships.info/help/shiprole.htm


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vizagapatam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Centurion_(1774)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Jean-Jacques_Rousseau_(1795)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Sémillante_(1792)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Charlotte_(1796_EIC_ship)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1810 - The Action of 18 September 1810

was a naval battle fought between British Royal Navy and French Navy frigates in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was one of several between rival frigate squadrons contesting control of the French island base of Île de France, from which French frigates had raided British trade routes during the war. The action came in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Grand Port, in which four British frigates had been lost, and just four days after a fifth British frigate had been captured and subsequently recaptured in the Action of 13 September 1810. In consequence of the heavy losses the British force had suffered, reinforcements were hastily rushed to the area and became individual targets for the larger French squadron blockading the British base at Île Bourbon.


Ceylon and Vénus, Pierre Julien Gilbert, 1835

HMS Ceylon had been despatched by the British authorities at Madras after the Battle of Grand Port to reinforce the remains of the squadron under Commodore Josias Rowley on Île Bourbon. Searching for Rowley off Île de France, Ceylon was spotted by French Commodore Jacques Hamelin who gave chase in his flagship Vénus, supported by a corvette. Vénus was faster than Ceylon, and although Captain Charles Gordonalmost reached the safety of Île Bourbon, he was run down and forced to engage the French ship during the night, both frigates inflicting severe damage on one another before the wounded Gordon surrendered to the approaching corvette. As dawn broke, Rowley's flagship HMS Boadicea arrived, recaptured Ceylon, drove off the corvette and forced the battered French flagship to surrender, capturing Hamelin. This was the last ship-to-ship action in the region before the successful invasion of Île de France in December 1810: without Hamelin the French squadron, short on supplies and low on morale, did not contest British control of the region and failed to even attempt to disrupt the invasion fleet.

Background
The French Indian Ocean island bases of Île de France and Île Bonaparte had been ideal positions from which French cruisers could raid the valuable trade routes from Britain to India since the start of the war in 1803. However, it was not until 1808 that the French authorities spared a significant force to operate from the region, providing a squadron of four frigates under Commodore Jacques Hamelin. In 1809 and early 1810, these frigates operated with impunity along British trade routes, capturing seven valuable East Indiamen, a number of smaller merchant ships and several small warships. In response, the British admiral at the Cape of Good Hope, Albemarle Bertie, provided a small force of British warships to blockade the islands under Commodore Josias Rowley. Rowley knew that it would be almost impossible find and defeat the French ships out in the wider ocean with his limited resources, but he was able to limit French effectiveness by attacking their bases, raiding Saint Paul harbour in 1809 and capturing Île Bonaparte in 1810, renaming it Île Bourbon.

In August 1810, a squadron of four of Rowley's frigates, making up the majority of the forces under his command and led by Captain Samuel Pym, were despatched to Île de France to blockade Grand Port on the south-eastern coast. The arrival of a French squadron under Captain Guy-Victor Duperré on 20 August prompted Pym into ordering an inadequately planned attack on the harbour on 23 August and two of his vessels were wrecked on the reefs that protected the harbour entrance. Pym was unable to withdraw his remaining ships and the entire squadron was lost, leaving Rowley with only his flagship HMS Boadicea and two small brigs to conduct his campaign against six large French frigates. Urgent reinforcements were requested, as French ships under Captain Pierre Bouvet blockaded Île Bourbon.

The first ship to arrive was HMS Africaine under the Captain Robert Corbet. In the Action of 13 September 1810, Corbet engaged Bouvet's two frigates alone and was defeated, dying of his wounds shortly after the battle. Rowley in Boadicea was able to recapture Africaine later in the day, but the frigate was severely damaged and unable to provide any reinforcement to the British squadron. Bouvet retired to Grand Port several days later for repairs, and thus was not on blockade duty on 17 September when HMS Ceylon arrived. Ceylon was an unusual ship, constructed by the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) in Bombay as an East Indiaman merchant ship designed to operate as a 32–gun frigate during wartime. In 1805 she was purchased by the British government and commissioned into the Royal Navy for service in the Indian Ocean. In 1810, her commander was Captain Charles Gordon, who had been ordered to sail to Rowley's aid when word of the losses suffered at Grand Port reached Madras. In his haste to depart, Gordon had been unable to obtain any Royal Marines, whose place was taken by 100 men of the 69th Regiment and the 86th Regiment from the Madras garrison. Also embarked was General John Abercromby and his staff, who were to lead a planned assault on Île de France.

Pursuit
Gordon arrived off Port Napoleon on 17 September, hoping to find Rowley maintaining the blockade off the port in Boadicea. Rowley was however off Île Bourbon, sparring with Bouvet's frigates, and therefore Gordon only found Hamelin's squadron in the harbour. This force consisted of the frigates Vénus and Manche with the corvette Victor. Recognising that he was heavily outnumbered, Gordon sailed westwards towards Île Bourbon to meet with Rowley and pass on the location of Hamelin's squadron. French lookouts on shore spotted Ceylon but mistook her for a troopship due to her unusual construction. The sighting was rapidly passed on to Hamelin, who immediately gave chase with Vénus and Victor.

At 14:00, Ceylon spotted Hamelin's ships in pursuit and her crew increased their efforts to escape, mistaking Victor, which carried three masts, for a larger ship and therefore considering themselves significantly outnumbered. As night fell, Gordon slowed Ceylon by shortening sail in the hope of meeting Vénus (which had outdistanced Victor) alone. However, the French flagship also slowed to allow the corvette to catch up and so Gordon increased sail once more, leading Hamelin southwest towards Île Bourbon.

Battle
At 00:15 on the morning of 18 September, Vénus caught up with Ceylon, which began firing on the larger French frigate as she passed. Hamelin, recognising that his vessel had the advantage in size and weight of shot, did not wait for Victor but attacked immediately, passing Ceylon and tuning across her bows to open a raking fire.

For an hour the frigates exchanged broadsides, until 01:15 when Hamelin, who had realised that he was fighting a warship not a troopship or East Indiaman, dropped back to effect repairs after suffering damage to his rigging. Ceylon was more severely damaged than the French ship and when Hamelin returned at 02:15, her repairs were not complete, preventing her escape. The battle began again, both frigates suffering serious damage in the second encounter. By 03:00, Vénus had lost her mizzenmast and two topmasts, while Ceylon had lost all of her topmasts, which had destroyed much of the ship's rigging as they fell. With both ships now unable to manoeuvre, the action continued at close range until 04:00, when Vénus was able to haul herself away to await the arrival of Victor.

The French corvette had been struggling to catch up during the night and did not arrive until dawn approached, revealing the flagship in a damaged state and the British vessel even more stricken. Sailing directly at Ceylon, the corvette was able to manoeuvre around the frigate and place herself in a raking position, from which her cannon could cause heavy damage and casualties to Ceylon without reply. Rather than have his ship destroyed, the wounded Gordon surrendered (although it is not clear whether Victor opened fire or not before the British surrender). Victor's men boarded Ceylon and Gordon and his officers, including Abercromby, were taken to Vénus as prisoners of war.



As dawn broke and visibility cleared, the sailors on Ceylon, Vénus and Victor realised that they were within sight of Saint Denis on Île Bourbon, and thus vulnerable to counterattack from Rowley's flagship Boadicea. Despite hasty repairs, neither Ceylon nor Vénus were seaworthy by 07:30, when British lookouts on the island spotted the three ships and sent word to Rowley. Within ten minutes, Rowley was at sea, taking 50 volunteers from Africaine to augment his crew. Hamelin made desperate efforts to limp back to Île de France, ordering Victor to tow Ceylon, but progress was slow and strong winds, which did not help the dismasted Ceylon and Vénus, repeatedly broke the tow rope.

During the day, Boadicea continued to close until Victor was forced to abandon Ceylon and sail in support of Vénus at 15:30. As soon as the French prize crew was removed, Lieutenant Philip Fitz Gibbon, the remaining officer on Ceylon, rehoisted British colours and assumed control of the ship. This allowed Boadicea to sail past the recaptured frigate and engage the French ships directly, reaching Vénus at 16:40. Hamelin recognised that the battered state of his flagship meant that he would not be able to adequately defend against Rowley's attack and ordered Victor to take news of his defeat back to Port Napoleon. Readying his ship for a token action, Hamelin fired at Boadicea as she came up but was forced to surrender within ten minutes.

Aftermath
With the assistance of HMS Otter, which had followed Boadicea from Saint Denis, Rowley was able to return his prize and the battered Ceylon to Île Bourbon without significant difficulty. British casualties had been relatively minor for such a difficult engagement, Ceylonsuffering 10 men killed and 31 wounded and Boadicea just 2 wounded. French losses were also comparatively light, with only 9 dead and 15 wounded on Vénus and none at all on Victor. Rowley repaired Ceylon and restored Gordon in command. Vénus was also repaired, and entered British service as HMS Nereide to replace the Nereide lost at Grand Port. Nearly four decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by the clasps "BOADICEA 18 SEPT. 1810", "OTTER 18 SEPT. 1810" and "STAUNCH 18 SEPT. 1810" attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.

With the British squadron bolstered and the French commander and best frigate in British hands, the campaign stalemated. The French were no longer able to repair or maintain their ships due a lack of naval stores on Île de France, and so remained in port and prepared for the inevitable invasion. Rowley meanwhile was busy preparing troops, stores and his squadron for the coming attack, which was led by Admiral Bertie in November 1810. The French squadron made no attempt to disrupt the invasion forces and were captured intact in their harbours. Bertie was credited with the final defeat of Île de France and was made a baronet as reward for the successful campaign, sending Rowley back to Britain with despatches. A court martial, held on HMS Illustrious in the aftermath of the invasion cleared Gordon of any blame in the defeat of his ship, although historian William James criticised Gordon's assumption during the battle that Victor was a French frigate rather than a much smaller corvette, and identified discrepancies between Gordon's published account and the ship's log.


The Ships

HCS Bombay, later HMS Bombay and HMS Ceylon, was a teak-built fifth rate, 38-gun wooden warship built in the Bombay Dockyard for the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) and launched in 1793. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 and renamed her HMS Bombay. She served with the Royal Navy under that name until 1 July 1808, when she became HMS Ceylon. She was sold at Malta in 1857 and broken up in 1861

HMS Boadicea was a frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1858.

The Vénus was a Junon-class frigate of the French Navy. She was captured in 1810 by the Royal Navy and taken into British service as HMS Nereide. She was broken up in 1816

Revenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette, launched in 1807, and designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. The French Navy later requisitioned her and renamed her Iéna, after Napoleon's then-recent victory. The British captured her and she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor. The French Navy recaptured her in 1809, and she served for a year under her original name. The British again captured her when they captured Isle de France (now Mauritius) in December 1810. They did not restore her to service and she was subsequently broken up.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_18_September_1810
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bombay_(1805)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Boadicea_(1797)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Vénus_(1808)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Revenant

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1846 - Birth of Richard Bernhard With (18 September 1846 – 9 February 1930)

who was a Norwegian ship captain, businessman and politician for the Liberal Left Party. He is known as the founder of the shipping companies Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab and Hurtigruten.


Bust of Richard With Stokmarknes, Norway

Background
Richard Bernhard With was born at Tromsø in Troms, Norway. He was a son of shipmaster Sivert Regnor With (1810–97) and his wife Anne Bergitte Dahl (1814–ca 1875). His father was of Dutch descent and became a pioneer in shipping from Tromsøe. With took the mate's examination in Trondhjem during 1864, and then spent eight years at sea. In 1873 he settled in Risøyhamn as a merchant. In September the same year he married Oline Sophie Wennberg (1844–1878) in nearby Andenes. They had the child Nanna With in 1874. After the death of his first wife, he married her sister Augusta Septimia Wennberg (1847–1938).

Career
Richard With realized a growing transportation need in the region, particularly due to the widespread herring fishing, and was the driving force in the creation of Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab in 1881. The first two years, he was even the captain of the company's SS Vesteraalen. Two new ships were acquired in the 1880s; SS Lofoten was built and SS Fiskeren was bought. Trade routes were set up between Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja in the north and Bergen in the south.


Vesteraalen near Bodø on her first round-trip in 1893.

In 1891, With took up the idea of establishing a year-round passenger route along the coast of Norway. In 1893 the Parliament of Norway agreed to the government's proposal of funding the route—Hurtigruten—with 70,000 kr. The route Trondheim–Hammerfest (in the summer: Trondheim–Tromsø) would be sailed weekly, and Vesteraalen was the first ship to sail on 2 July 1893.

In 1894, With retired as a shipmaster and instead became CEO of Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab. He remained here until 1909. From 1896, Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab used SS Lofoten for a passenger route between Hammerfest and Adventfjorden. The shipmaster was renowned polar explorer Otto Sverdrup, and the route propelled growth of a modern society in the Svalbard archipelago. In 1908, With became involved in the work to create the Norwegian America Line. At its establishment in 1910, he served as deputy chairman of the board.


Richard With memorial stone at Richard Withs plass in Tromsø

With had been involved in local politics. He served as a member of the Parliament of Norway for the constituency Vesteraalen from 1910 to 1912. He then remained in Kristiania (now Oslo) and lived here until his death in February 1930. In 1896, he was made Knight 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. With was a leader of the Nordlendingenes Forening and in 1912, he was awarded the Petter Dass Metal (Petter Dass-medaljen).



MS Richard With

Legacy
His name has been used for two Hurtigruten ships: SS Richard With (1909) and current MS Richard With (1993). In Tromsø there is a square named Richard Withs plass, while roads are named after him (Richard Withs gate or Richard Withs vei) in Andenes, Trondheim, Bodø, Sandnessjøen and Vardø.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_With
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurtigruten

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1849 - Launch of SMS Niobe, a Diamond-class 28-gun sixth-rate sailing frigate built for the Royal Navy, but sold to Prussia.


Niobe was never commissioned into the Royal Navy, which was converting to steam power, and was sold to Prussiain 1862. She was named after Niobe, a figure from Greek mythology. She served with the Prussian Navy, the North German Federal Navy and the Imperial German Navy as a training ship until stricken and hulked in 1890. Niobe was eventually broken up in 1919.


The German frigate SMS Niobe (launched 1849) painted by Christopher Rave.

Description
Niobe was a three-masted, ship-rigged frigate that had a sail area of 1,650 square metres (17,800 sq ft). Her maximum speed was 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). The ship was considered to be a very good sea boat and very manoeuvrable, although she did suffer from severe pitching. Niobe was designed for a crew of 240 officers and enlisted men, but her crew numbered 34 officers and 316 enlisted men in Prussian service.

Measured at the gundeck, Niobe had a length of 140 feet (42.7 m), a beam of 42 feet (12.8 m) and a depth of hold of 11 ft 1 in (3.4 m). She was 1051 1⁄94 tons burthen in size and displaced 1,590 long tons (1,620 t). Forward, the ship had a draught of 16.6 ft (5.05 m) and 17.7 ft (5.39 m) aft.



Scale: Unknown. A contemporary half block model of HMS Diamond (1848), a 28 gun sixth rate sloop. A plaque is inscribed "206 Diamond 28 guns, 1848. Scale 1/48 (1/4inch to 1'). Built at Sheerness. In Black Sea 1854, became a mission ship at North Shields under the name Joseph Straker, 1872. Dimensions gun deck 140ft beam 42ft 2in.". The number "40" is on the backboard and "206" on a label.

In British service, Niobe was intended to be armed with twenty 32-pounder (45 cwt) smoothbore on the upper deck. The ship was also fitted with one 68-pounder (56 cwt) smoothbore shell gun and ten short 32-pounder guns on her quarterdeck and another 68-pounder and four more short 32-pounders on her forecastle. All of these 32-pounders were of the lighter 25 cwt model. The Prussians rearmed her with sixteen 68-pounder guns and four 30-pounder smoothbore guns. Niobe was later rearmed with six 22-calibre 15-centimetre (5.9 in) rifled guns. These were later replaced by six 23-calibre 12-centimetre (4.7 in) rifled guns.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with half stern board outline, sheer lines with figurehead and longitudinal half breadth as proposed, and approved, for Diamond (1848), Tribune (cancelled 1848), Niobe (1849), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate, later classed as Cornettes. Signed W.Symonds (Survyor of the Navy)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83119.html#AuqWkczi9GXJPU48.99





Service history
Niobe was laid down in May 1847 at the Devonport Dockyard and launched on 18 September 1849. Completed on 5 October, the ship was never commissioned in the Royal Navy. She was sold to Prussia on 9 July 1862 for the price of £15,892 and used as a training ship for naval cadets from 12 October. In 1865, Niobe was commanded by the future admiral, Carl Ferdinand Batsch and among its cadets were seven future admirals, Alfred von Tirpitz, Wilhelm Büchsel, Oscar Klausa, Iwan Oldekop, Otto von Diederichs, Richard Geissler, and Oscar Boeters. Accompanied by the brig SMS Rover, the ship visited Plymouth, Madeira, the Cape Verde Islands, Cadiz, and Lisbon from 30 September 1865 to 15 May 1866. After serving in the successive navies of the emerging German state, Niobe was stricken from the navy list on 18 November 1890 and hulked at Kiel, eventually being broken up in 1919. The ship's figurehead survives and is located at the Naval Academy at Mürwik.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Niobe_(1849)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...5;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=D;start=0

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1860 - The sloop of war, USS Levant, sails from Hawaii for Panama. She is never seen again.

In June 1861 a mast and a part of a lower yardarm believed to be from USS Levant are found near Hilo. Spikes had been driven into the mast as if to a form a raft. Some rumors had her running aground on an uncharted reef off California; others had her defecting to the Confederacy.


The sloop-of-war USS Levant under way in stormy seas. Artist and source unknown.

The first USS Levant was a second-class sloop-of-war in the United States Navy.
Levant was launched on 28 December 1837 by New York Navy Yard; and commissioned on 17 March 1838, with Commander Hiram Paulding in command.

Service history
West Indies & Pacific, 1838–1845
Levant sailed from New York on 1 April 1838 for four years’ service in the West Indies Squadron protecting American interests in the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Returning to Norfolk, Virginia, the sloop-of-war decommissioned 26 June 1842.

She recommissioned 27 March 1843, Comdr. Hugh N. Page in command, and departed Norfolk to join the Pacific Squadron under Commodore John D. Sloat. From 1843 to 1845 Levant cruised between Panama and Latin American ports carrying diplomats and dispatches and generally furthering American national policy.

Mexican-American War, 1846–47
With the Mexican-American War impending, Levant was ordered to the California coast to protect American citizens and property, and was en route when Mexico declared war on 12 May 1846. The sloop arrived off Monterey, California on 1 July, and six days later a landing force from Levant, Savannah, and Cyane took possession of the recently proclaimed Republic of California.

On 23 July, Commodore Sloat relinquished command of the Pacific Squadron because of illness, and sailed 29 July in Levant for the east coast. Upon arriving at Norfolk on 28 April 1847, the sloop was placed in ordinary.

Mediterranean, 1852–1855
Levant was recommissioned on 12 July 1852, Comdr. George P. Upshur in command, and sailed for the Mediterranean. When Commander Upshur died on board Levant off Spezia, Italy on 3 November, Comdr. Louis M. Goldsborough, later to win fame in the American Civil War, took command. On 7 April 1853 at Leghorn, Italy, Levant loaded statues by American sculptor Horatio Greenough, including one of George Washington, destined for the Capitol at Washington, D.C. After embarking the U.S. Minister to Turkey and his family at Piraeus, Greece on 24 June, Levant sailed to Constantinople, arriving on 5 July. Returning to Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 29 April 1855, Levant decommissioned at New York Navy Yard on 4 May.


Attack on the Barrier Forts (Second Opium War) near Canton, China, by the American squadron, 21 November 1856 - consisting of the U.S. sloops-of-war USS Portsmouth and USS Levant with the officers and crew of the steam frigate USS San Jacinto.
Painting by A. Poinsett; Maker John Henry Bufford (1810–1870). Courtesy National Maritime Museum, London, England.

East India Squadron, 1855–58
See also: Battle of the Pearl River Forts
Recommissioned on 31 October, Comdr. William N. Smith in command, Levant sailed on 13 November for Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, and Hong Kong, where she arrived to join the East India Squadron on 12 May 1856. On 1 July she embarked the U.S. Commissioner to China for transportation to Shanghai, arriving 1 August. At the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the Chinese, Levant arrived Whampoa on 28 October. Comdr. Andrew H. Foote then sent a landing party from Levant and his own ship, Portsmouth, to Canton to protect American lives and property there. On 15 November, while in the process of withdrawing this force, Commander Foote was fired on while passing in a small boat by the "Barrier Forts" on the Pearl River below Canton. On the 16th Levantwas towed upriver to join Portsmouth and San Jacinto in keeping the Pearl open to American shipping. As the forts were being strengthened in disregard of American neutrality, Foote was ordered by Commodore James Armstrong, commanding the squadron, "to take such measures as his judgment would dictate... even the capture of the forts."

Commander Foote complied with all the dash and courage for which he became famous during the Civil War. On 20 November he took the first fort by leading an amphibious assault with 300 men, then silenced the second with cannon captured from the first. Next day he took the third, and by the 24th all four were in American hands and the Pearl once again safe for American shipping.

Levant, close in through most of the action, received the major part of the Chinese bombardment, with 22 shot holes in her hull and rigging, one man dead, and six injured. Destruction of the earthworks was completed by 5 December, and Levant cruised between Hong Kong and Shanghai until she departed Hong Kong on 7 December 1857 for home, arriving at the Boston Navy Yard 6 April 1858.

Pacific Squadron, 1859–60
After repairs into 1859, Levant, Comdr. William E. Hunt in command, sailed on 15 June for the Pacific, arriving at Valparaíso, Chile on 11 October, to serve as Pacific Squadron flagship, wearing Commodore John B. Montgomery's broad pennant, through December. In January 1860 Levant sailed for the coast of Nicaragua, where she relieved Saranac and began five months of showing the flag off the coasts of Central and South America.

In May 1860, Levant was ordered to the Hawaiian Islands at the request of the Secretary of State to investigate the disbursement of relief funds to American merchant seamen. After receiving a state visit by King Kamehameha IV at Honolulu on 7 May, and investigating at Lahaina, Maui, and Hilo, Hawaii, Levant sailed for Panama on 18 September, 1860, but never made port.

Disappearance[edit]
Commodore Montgomery reported that a violent hurricane had occurred in September 1860 in a part of the Pacific Ocean which Levant was to cross. In June 1861, a mast and a part of a lower yardarm believed to be from Levant were found near Hilo. Spikes had been driven into the mast as if to form a raft. Rumors also circulated that she had run aground on an uncharted reef off California; or that her crew had defected to the Confederacy.

In July 1861, a small bottle was found at Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia. It was corked and contained a card that read in part: "Pacific Ocean" "Levant" "Written by the last remaining" "three" "in a boat" "God forgive us". Unfortunately, the card was damaged when it was removed from the bottle and parts of the message were unreadable. This card was in the possession of Thomas Willett of Pubnico, Nova Scotia, in 1862, who lost a son aboard this vessel.

On 24 July 1861, the United States Congress passed a law to compensate the widows and orphan children of the officers, seamen, marines and others who were lost with the Levant. The law made a provision for accounts paid and received by the ship's purser, Andrew J. Watson, which were to be settled. The law was included in the “Private Acts” section of the statutes book.

Literary Reemergence
In 1863, when Edward Everett Hale wrote the patriotic short story The Man Without a Country, the announcement of the death of the exiled Philip Nolan while at sea is said to have been while he was aboard the USS Levant on May 11, 1863. In reality, the ship was last heard from in September 1860.


NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive
USS Levant (I)
Sloop-of-War:

• Laid down, date unknown, as a second-class sloop-of-war At New York Navy Yard
• Launched 28 December 1837
• Commissioned USS Levant, 17 March 1838, CDR. Hiram Paulding in command
• Levant sailed from New York, 1 April 1838, for four years service in the West Indies Squadron protecting American interests in the Caribbean and South Atlantic
• Levant returned to Norfolk, for decommissioning on 26 June 1842
• Recommissioned, 27 March 1843, CDR. H. W. Page in command, she joining the Pacific Squadron under COMO. John D. Sloat
• With the threat of war with Mexico Levant was ordered to the California coast to protect American citizens and property, putting a landing force ashore at Monterey, 6 July 1845
• COMO Sloat relinquished command of the Pacific Squadron, 23 July 1845, because of illness, and sailed 29 July in Levant for the east coast
• Levant was placed in ordinary at Norfolk, 28 April 1847
• Recommissioned 12 July 1852, CDR. George R. Upshur in command, she sailed for the Mediterranean
• CDR. Upshur died on board Levant off Spezia, Italy, 3 November, CDR, L. M. Goldsborough, took command
• The sloop-of-war returned to Hampton Roads, 29 April 1855, but not before loading a statue of George Washington at Leghorn, Italy destined for the US Capitol and embarking the U.S. Minister to Turkey and his family at Piraeus, Greece
• Levant was decommissioned, 4 May 1855, at New York
• Recommissioned 31 October 1856, CDR. William N. Smith in command, Levant joined the East India Squadron 12 May 1856
• At the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the Chinese, Levant arrived Whampoa 28 October 1856.
• CDR. A. H. Foote then sent a landing party from Levant and his own ship, Portsmouth, to Canton to protect American lives
• On 15 November, while in the process of withdrawing this force, Foote was fired on while passing in a small boat by the "Barrier Forts" on the Pearl River below Canton
• On the 16th Levant was towed upriver to join Portsmouth and San Jacinto in keeping the Pearl open to American shipping
• Foote was ordered by COMO James Armstrong, commanding the squadron, "to take such measures as his judgment would dictate...even the capture of the forts."
• Between 20 and 24 November Foote leading an amphibious assault with 300 men, silenced the four forts on the river once again making it safe for American shipping
• Levant received the major part of the Chinese bombardment, with 22 shot holes in her hull and rigging, one man dead, and six injured
• Levant departed Chinese waters, 7 December 1857, arriving at the Boston Navy Yard 6 April 1858
• From Boston Levant, CDR. William E. Hunt in command, sailed 15 June 1859 for the Pacific, arriving at Valparaiso, Chile, 11 October, to serve as COMO. John B. Montgomery's flagship for the Pacific Squadron
• Ordered in May 1860 the Hawaiian Islands at the request of the Secretary of State to investigate the disbursement of relief funds to American merchant seamen
• Final Disposition, Levant sailed for Panama 18 September and was never seen again

Specifications:
Displacement 792 t.
Length 132' 3"
Beam 34' 3"
Depth of Hold 15' 9"
Draft 16' 6"
Speed unknown
Complement 200
Armament four 24-pdr guns / thirteen 32=pdr carronades


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Levant_(1837)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86630.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1876 – Launch of french ironclad Redoutable


Redoutable was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. She was the first warship in the world to use steel as the principal building material. She was preceded by the Colbert-class ironclads.


Redoutable in 1889

Compared to iron, steel allowed for greater structural strength for a lower weight. France was the first country to manufacture steel in large quantities[citation needed], using the Siemens process. At that time, steel plates still had some defects, and the outer bottom plating of the ship was made of wrought iron.

All-steel warships were later built by the Royal Navy, with the dispatch vessels Iris and Mercury, laid down in 1875-1876.

Construction
Contemporary description in Scientific American

“The Redoutable is built partly of iron and partly of steel and is similar in many respects to the ironclads Devastation and Courbet of the same fleet, although rather smaller. She is completely belted with 14 in [360 mm] armour, with a 15 in [380 mm] backing, and has the central battery armoured with plates of 9½ in [240 mm] in thickness.
The engines are two in number, horizontal, and of the compound two cylinder type, developing a horsepower of 6,071 [4.527 MW], which on the trial trip gave a speed of 14.66 knots. Five hundred and ten tons of coal are carried in the bunkers, which at a speed of 10 knots should enable the ship to make a voyage of 2,800 nautical miles [5,200 km]. Torpedo defense netting is fitted, and there are three masts with military tops carrying Hotchkiss revolver machine guns.
The offensive power of the ship consists of seven breechloading rifled guns of 27 centimeters (10.63 in.), and weighing 24 tons each, six breechloading rifled guns of 14 centimeters (5.51 in.), and quick-firing and machine guns of the Hotchkiss systems. There are in addition four torpedo discharge tubes, two on each side of the ship.
”




“The positions of the guns are as follows: Four of 27 centimeters in the central battery, two on each broadside; three 27 centimeter guns on the upper deck in barbettes, one on each side amidships, and one aft. The 14 centimeter guns are in various positions on the broadsides, and the machine guns are fitted on deck, on the bridges, and in the military tops, four of them also being mounted on what is rather a novelty in naval construction, a gallery running round the outside of the funnel, which was fitted when the ship was under repairs some months ago.
There are three electric light projectors, one forward on the upper deck, one on the bridge just forward of the funnel, and one in the mizzen top.
”
Crew
Full complement: 30 officers + 679 ratings.
Trials or 1st category reserve: 8 officers + 371 ratings.
2nd category reserve: 5 officers + 139 ratings.
3rd category reserve: 0 officers + 27 ratings.

Service
Redoutable formed part of the French Mediterranean squadron.
Redoutable was present during the negotiation of the Boxer Protocol, a treaty signed on 7 September 1901 with China


Dismantling of Redoutable in Toulon, 1912


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ironclad_Redoutable

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1903 – Launch of german pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Hessen,


SMS Hessen was the third of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Braunschweig class. She was laid down in 1902, was launched in September 1903, and was commissioned into the German Kaiserliche Marine(Imperial Navy) in September 1905. Named after the state of Hesse, the ship was armed with a battery of four 28 cm (11 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Like all other pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, Hessen was quickly made obsolete by the launching of the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.


Hessen ca. 1931

Hessen's peacetime career centered on squadron and fleet exercises and training cruises. She was involved in two accidental collisions, with a Danish steamship in 1911 and a German torpedo boat in 1913. Hessenwas slated to be withdrawn from service in August 1914, but the start of World War I in July interrupted that plan and she remained in service with the High Seas Fleet. She performed a variety of roles in the first two years, serving as a guard ship at the mouth of the Elbe, patrolling the Danish straits, and supporting attacks on the British coast, including the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914 and the Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916. The following month, Hessen was present at the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of the war. In the last daytime action between capital ships on 31 May, Hessen and the other pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron covered the retreat of the battered German battlecruisers away from the British battlecruiser squadron.

Jutland revealed how inadequate pre-dreadnoughts like Hessen were in the face of more modern weapons, so she and the rest of II Squadron ships were withdrawn from service with the fleet. She was decommissioned in December 1916, disarmed and used as a depot ship for the rest of the war. Hessen was one of the few obsolete battleships Germany was permitted to retain under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Rearmed, she served with the fleet in the 1920s and early 1930s, though she was withdrawn from front-line service in 1934. The following year, Hessen was converted into a radio-controlled target ship. She served in this capacity through World War II, also working as an icebreaker in the Baltic and North Seas. The ship was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1946 after the war, renamed Tsel, and served until she was scrapped in 1960.


Design
Main article: Braunschweig-class battleship


Line-drawing of the Braunschweigclass

With the passage of the Second Naval Law under the direction of Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz in 1900, funding was allocated for a new class of battleships, to succeed the Wittelsbach-class ships authorized under the 1898 Naval Law. By this time, Krupp, the supplier of naval artillery to the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), had developed quick-firing, 28-centimeter (11 in) guns; the largest guns that had previously incorporated the technology were the 24 cm (9.4 in) guns mounted on the Wittelsbachs. The Design Department of the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Navy Office) adopted these guns for the new battleships, along with an increase from 15 cm (5.9 in) to 17 cm (6.7 in) for the secondary battery, owing to the increased threat from torpedo boats as torpedoes became more effective.

Though the Braunschweig class marked a significant improvement over earlier German battleships, its design fell victim to the rapid pace of technological development in the early 1900s. The British battleship HMS Dreadnought—armed with ten 30.5 cm (12 in) guns—was commissioned in December 1906,[3] just over a year after Hessen entered service. Dreadnought's revolutionary design rendered every capital ship of the German navy obsolete, including Hessen and her sister ships.


Hessen passing under the Levensau High Bridge in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal

Hessen was 127.7 m (419 ft) long overall and had a beam of 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in) and a draft of 8.1 m (26 ft 7 in) forward. At full load, she displaced 14,394 t (14,167 long tons; 15,867 short tons). Her crew consisted of 35 officers and 708 enlisted men. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by eight naval and six cylindrical Scotch marine boilers, all of which burned coal. Hessen's powerplant was rated at 16,000 metric horsepower (15,781 ihp; 11,768 kW), which generated a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). She could steam 4,530 nautical miles (8,390 km; 5,210 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

Hessen's armament consisted of a main battery of four 28 cm SK L/40 guns in twin-gun turrets,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Hessen#cite_note-8 one fore and one aft of the central superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of fourteen 17 cm (6.7 inch) SK L/40 guns and eighteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/35 quick-firing guns. The armament suite was rounded out with six 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, all mounted in the hull below the waterline. Hessen was protected with Krupp armor. Her armored belt was 110 to 250 millimeters (4.3 to 9.8 in) thick; the heavier armor in the central portion protected her magazines and propulsion machinery, with thinner plating at either end of the hull. Her deck was 40 mm (1.6 in) thick. The main battery turrets had 250 mm of armor plating.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Hessen

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1940 – World War II: The British liner SS City of Benares is sunk by German submarine U-48;
248 died, those killed include 77 child refugees.


SS City of Benares was a steam passenger ship built for Ellerman Lines by Barclay, Curle & Co of Glasgow in 1936. During the Second World War the City of Benares was used as an evacuee ship to evacuate 90 children from Britain to Canada. The ship was torpedoed in 1940 by the German submarine U-48 with heavy loss of life, including the death of 77 of the evacuated children. The sinking caused such public outrage in Britain that it led to Winston Churchill cancelling the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) plan to relocate British children abroad.



History
City of Benares was built by Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow. She was launched on 5 August 1935, and completed in October 1936. City of Benares was 486 ft 1 in (148.16 m) long, with a beam of 62 feet 7 inches (19.08 m) and draught of 30 feet 8 inches (9.35 m). She was powered by three steam turbines which were supplied by Cammell Laird. They were oil-fired and drove a single screw via single-reduction gearing, giving her a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h). Her maiden voyage departed Bombay on 7 December 1936. She was managed by City Line Ltd on behalf of her owners, Ellerman Lines Ltd.[6] City of Benares had the UK Official Number 164096 and used the Code Letters GZBW.

Last voyage
City of Benares was part of convoy OB-213, and was being used as an evacuee ship in the overseas evacuation scheme organised by CORB. She was carrying 90 child evacuee passengers who were being evacuated from wartime Britain to Canada. Also aboard were Mary Cornish, an accomplished classical pianist who had volunteered as a children's escort, James Baldwin-Webb, a parliamentarian, Rudolf Olden an exiled German writer, and his wife, documentary director Ruby Grierson, Anne Fleetwood-Hesketh, mother of Roger Fleetwood-Hesketh, 15-year-old Anthony Quinton, with his mother, Letitia, as well as Monika Mannwith her husband. The ship left Liverpool on 13 September 1940, bound for the Canadian ports of Quebec and Montreal, under the command of her Master, Landles Nicoll. She was the flagship of the convoy commodore Rear Admiral E.J.G. Mackinnon DSO RN and the first ship in the centre column.



Late in the evening of 17 September, the City of Benares was sighted by U-48, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt, who fired two torpedoes at her at 23.45 hours. Both torpedoes missed, and at 00.01 hours on 18 September, the U-boat fired another torpedo at her. The torpedo struck her in the stern, causing her to sink within 30 minutes, 253 miles west-southwest of Rockall.

Fifteen minutes after the torpedo hit, the vessel had been abandoned, though there were difficulties with lowering the lifeboats on the weather side of the ship. HMS Hurricane arrived on the scene 24 hours later, and picked up 105 survivors and landed them at Greenock. During the attack on the SS City of Benares, the SS Marina was also torpedoed. Hurricane mistakenly counted one of the lifeboats from the SS Marina for one of the lifeboats from SS City of Benares. As a result, Lifeboat 12 was left alone at sea. Its passengers had three weeks supply of food, but enough water for only one week. In the lifeboat were approximately 30 Indian crewmen, a Polish merchant, several sailors, Mary Cornish, Father Rory O'Sullivan (a Roman Catholic priest who had volunteered to be an escort for the evacuee children), and six evacuee boys from the CORB program. They spent eight days afloat in the Atlantic Ocean before being sighted from the air and rescued by HMS Anthony. In the end, of the 90 children, 73 died of exposure on lifeboats or were missing presumed lost at sea. (inconsistency: 80 died of 100 children)

Legacy

Ullapool, Old Telford Church: memorial to J H Wallace, lost in the sinking of the SS City of Benares 1940.

In total, 260 of the 407 people on board were lost. This included the master, the commodore, three staff members, 121 crew members and 134 passengers. Out of the 134 passengers, 77 were child evacuees. Only 13 of the 90 child evacuee passengers embarked survived the sinking. The sinking was controversial, the Allied powers criticised the "barbaric" actions of the Germans, and there was an outpouring of sympathy and support for those who had lost children in the sinking. The Germans defended the attack as being on a legitimate military target, and insisted that the British government was to blame for allowing children to travel on such ships in war zones when the German government had issued repeated warnings. They claimed that Baldwin-Webb and Olden were travelling to America with the aim of persuading the United States to enter the war, and that the City of Benares would be used to transport war materiel back to Britain on her return voyage.

The future of the CORB was already in question after the torpedoing of an evacuation ship, the SS Volendam, by U-60 two weeks earlier. 320 children had been aboard, but all had been rescued by other ships. The directors of the CORB were hopeful that the programme could be continued, and presented a report into the sinking which made recommendations for future operations, which included the use of faster transports and escorts on the North Atlantic routes, and the concentration of the evacuation programme on routes to Australia, India and South Africa, where the weather was better and there were felt to be fewer enemy submarines. The Admiralty pointed out that there were insufficient fast escorts and ships available, and public opinion was opposed to the continuation of overseas evacuation, fearing further tragedies. Winston Churchill also opposed the scheme, believing evacuations gave aid and comfort to the enemy. The government announced the cancellation of the CORB programme, and all children who were currently preparing to sail were ordered to disembark and return home. Official child evacuation efforts came to a halt with the end of the CORB, but large-scale private evacuation of a further 14,000 child continued until 1941.

Bleichrodt was tried for war crimes related to the sinking of the City of Benares, after the war. He denied any prior knowledge of the presence of children, and refused to apologise for the sinking, stating his actions were within the bounds of military policy. Several historians have supported the contention that Bleichrodt was unaware of the presence of children, including Kate Tildesley, Curator at the Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, who wrote "What was not known by Bleichrodt was that the liner he was attacking carried 90 children ... Only 13 of the children survived, and the understanding that Bleichrodt could not have known which passengers were on board the liner made little difference to his perceived culpability." Several of the crew of U-48, including the radio operator, later expressed their shock and regret once it became known that the ship they had sunk had been carrying children. They "reaffirmed the German position that there was no way that the submarine could have known who was on board."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_Benares
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Benares
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-48_(1939)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1944 - Jun'yō Maru, a Japanese cargo ship (one of the "hell ships") that was attacked and sunk in 1944 by the British submarine HMS Tradewind, resulting in the loss of over 5,600 lives.



Japanese cargo ship Jun'yō Maru.

Ship history
The ship was built in 1913 by Robert Duncan & Co. of Glasgow. It displaced 5,065 tons, was 405 ft (123 m) long, 53 ft (16 m) wide, and 27.2 ft (8.3 m) deep. The engines were rated at 475 hp (354 kW).

The ship was built for Lang & Fulton of Greenock as SS Ardgorm. In 1917, she was sold to the Norfolk & North American Steamship Company (part of Furness Withy), London, and renamed Hartland Point. In 1918, she was acquired by the Johnstone Line of Liverpool, who renamed her Hartmore in 1920, and sold her in 1921 to the Anglo-Oriental Navigation Company (part of Yule Catto), Liverpool, who renamed her Sureway. In 1926, she was sold to a Japanese company and renamed Junyō Maru, and later taken over by the Japanese government.

Sinking
In order to transport prisoners, the ship was fitted out with extra decks constructed of bamboo subdivided into cages of the same material. Deck space was also used for the prisoners. When she was attacked and sunk on September 18, 1944, by HMS Tradewind, Junyō Maru was packed with 1,377 Dutch, 64 British and Australian, and 8 U.S. prisoners of war along with 4,200 Javanese slave labourers (Romushas) bound for work on the railway line being built between Pakan Baru and Muaro in Sumatra. It was the world's greatest sea disaster at the time with 5,620 dead. 680 survivors were rescued, only to be put to work in conditions similar to those of the Burma Railway where death was commonplace.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun'yō_Maru
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Tradewind_(P329)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 September 1998 - MV Princess of the Orient, a passenger ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines, sank off Fortune Island, off Batangas province in the Philippines, 150 of the 388 passengers lost their life


MV Princess of the Orient was a passenger ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines that sank off Fortune Island, off Batangas province in the Philippines in September 1998.The ship was originally built in Japan as the Sunflower 11 before being sold to Sulpicio Lines.


Princess of the Orient as Sunflower 11.

The sinking
On September 18, 1998, the 13,935-ton, 195.1-metre (640 ft) long Princess of the Orient, sailed from Manila to Cebu during a typhoon. The ship capsized at 12:55 p.m. near Fortune Island in Batangas and sank, and out of the 388 passengers on board, 150 were killed. Passengers were floating at sea for more than 12 hours before rescuers were able to reach the survivors.



The wreck
The wreck is resting on her port side at 122 meters (400 ft) below sea level just outside Manila Bay.[2] In the early 2000s, John Bennett and Ron Loos made the first scuba dives to the wreck site. The possible cause of the sinking is cargo collapse due to the cargoes not properly lashed. The shifting of the cargoes caused the ship to list to one side, causing the ferry to sink.

In 2018 , A mixed gas 5 man international rebreather team organized by Karl Hurwood and Miguel Zulueta successfully managed to capture never before seen images of the wreck as well as carry out extensive exploration of it, at depths up to 128m. The team also managed successfully circumnavigate the wreck using long range DPVs ( diver propelled vehicles ) and carry out some video survey & photography. Exploration divers were: Karl Hurwood – UK Miguel Zulueta- Philippines Ali Fikree- UAE Jin Hui- China Cei Wui- China Further exploration into the cargo holds is planned for 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Princess_of_the_Orient

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 18 September


1666 - Capture of the French Rubis (1665 - 64) by British squadron under Ad. Sir Thomas Allin

French ship Rubis (1665), a 64-gun ship of the line, captured in 1666, taken into service as HMS Ruby. She was hulked after sustaining storm damage in 1682 and broken up in 1685.


1743 - HMS Bridgewater (1740 - 24), Cptn. William Fielding, lost off Newfoundland

HMS Bridgewater was a sixth-rate 20-gun ship of the Royal Navy, built in 1740 and wrecked in 1743.

She was commissioned in August 1740 under Captain Robert Pett for service in the North Sea and English Channel. In December 1741 Bridgewater was assigned to coastal duties off Newfoundland under Captain Frederick Rogers.
On Christmas Day 1742 she engaged and captured an 18-gun privateer, Santa Rita, off the Scilly Isles. A month later she received her third captain, William Fielding, and returned to her Newfoundland patrol.
Bridgewater was wrecked in St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland on 18 September 1743.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bridgewater_(1740)


1770 – Launch of French Tourterelle at Bordeaux - condemned 1783 and taken to pieces at Brest 1784. / Dédaigneuse class (32-gun design by Leon-Michel Guignace, with 26 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns).

1773 – Launch of Spanish Ángel de la Guarda, 74 at Cartagena

1812 - Capture of 8 armed and 18 merchant vessels by boats of HMS Bacchante (1811 - 38), Cptn. William Hoste, off the coast of Apulia.

HMS Bacchante (1811) – 38-gun fifth rate launched in 1811 at Deptford. She was converted to harbour service in 1837 and scrapped in 1858.


The frigate HMS 'Bacchante' off the Royal Dockyard at Deptford. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the demand for new warships and for repair work kept the yard very busy. Inscribed: "The Bacchante off Deptford 1811". Unidentified artist.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/140732.html#p6pAfIUTZBHrdYHx.99

1854 – Launch of Spanish Rey Don Francisco de Asís, 86 at Ferrol - Decommissioned 1876, BU

Spain built no further ships of the line after 1808 for nearly half a century, although five 74-gun ships were acquired from Russia. Finally, two 86-gun ships were ordered in 1850 and laid down on 19 November and 2 December 1850 respectively.

1878 – Launch of german SMS Iltis, Kanonenboot


Kanonenboot Hyaene sistership of Iltis

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Iltis_(1878)


1941 – british submarine HMS Upholder sinks Italian sisterships MS Neptunia and MS Oceania (both 19.500 GRT) in one day,

The day following their return—2 September 1941—several of the crew received awards. Wanklyn received the Distinguished Service Order. The Victoria Cross award for his sinking of Conte Rosso had not been publicly announced. The London Gazette published the exploits of Wanklyn and he became a well-known figure in Britain and the men were given two weeks leave on Malta. Simpson summoned all of his commanding officers to his harbour headquarters. Upholder, Upright, Ursula and Unbeaten were to patrol the Tripoli sea lanes and intercept the convoy Wanklyn had failed to intercept two weeks earlier. On 16 September Upholder departed Malta. At 3 a.m on the morning of 18 September 1941, Wanklyn received a message from Unbeaten, which had spotted the convoy.

At night as the liners were illuminated by the moon, Wanklyn attacked with four torpedoes. The submarine could only manage 10.5 knots and a swell was rocking her from side to side, making aiming difficult. It was too dark to begin a submerged attack against a fast-moving convoy. Wanklyn deduced that the attack must be made at long range, outside the escorts' protective screen. Wanklyn saw that on occasion the targets overlapped, and as they did so he fired at the bow of one and stern of the other. Bringing back the aiming point to the centre of the overlapping mass, he fired two more torpedoes. Two torpedoes struck. The first destroyed the propellers of the Oceania and she stopped dead in the water. The other struck and tore a large hole in Neptunia. The escorts stopped to pick up survivors. Wanklyn retired to a safe distance and reloaded. Closing to finish the crippled Oceania, Wanklyn was forced to crash-dive because of an Italian destroyer. Too close to fire, he continued under the liner and emerged on the other side. There he fired a single torpedo which blew the ship apart and it sank. Unbeaten had arrived and was about to fire but saw the second strike disintegrate the ship, which was carrying several thousand German soldiers (most of whom, however, had abandoned the ship by this time). Neptunia limped off with a destroyer at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) but her bulkheads collapsed due to the damage and she came to a stop with a single destroyer in attendance. Two more torpedoes from Upholder sank her. Wanklyn had accounted for nearly 40,000 tons in the same attack. The gyro-compass had been put out of action during the action. The escorting destroyers rescued 5,434 of the 5,818 troops and crew carried by Neptunia and Oceania.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Upholder_(P37)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Wanklyn

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 September 1670 – Launch of Terrible and Tonnant, two french Ships of the line at Brest at the same day
-> strange fact in addition: both wrecked at the same day at the same location in 1678


Le Terrible 68/70-guns designed and built by Laurent Hubac, launched 19 September 1670 at Brest – wrecked 1678

Dimensions

Dimension - Measurement - Type - Metric Equivalent
Length of Gundeck - 140' 0" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 45.472 (149′ 2″ Imperial)
Length of Keel - 125' 0" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 40.6 (133′ 2″ Imperial)
Breadth - 37' 6" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 12.0408 (39′ 6″ Imperial)
Depth in Hold - 17' 0" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 5.5216 (18′ 1″ Imperial)
Burthen - 1,300Ton

Armament

1671 Broadside Weight = 524 French Livre (565.5008 lbs 256.498 kg)
Lower Gun Deck - 26 French 24-Pounder
Upper Gun Deck - 26 French 12-Pounder
Quarterdeck/Forecastle - 16 French 6-Pounder
Quarterdeck/Forecastle - 4 French 4-Pounder

Service History

Date - Event
28.5.1672 - Battle of Solebay
28.5.1673 - First Battle of Schooneveld
4.6.1673 - Second Battle of Schooneveld
11.8.1673 - Battle of Texel
11.12.1677 - 2nd Battle of Tobago
11.5.1678 - Wrecked in central America

London Gazette 1 Aug. 1678 - Paris Aug 6 - From Rochelle as well from Brest, we have an account of the misfortune happened to the squadron of the Count d'Estree in the West Indies, of ?? men of war, and 5 other vessels were lost near certain Isles, called the Isles of Birds about 10 leagues from Curassow, having by the violence of the current being driven upon the rocks that are there, which is attributed to the ignorance of the Pilots.

The Names of the French vessels that were lost in the West Indies;
The Terrible 64 Guns The Count d'Estree;
The Thunderer 64 Guns Monsieur de Grancy;
The Warrior Monsieur de Nemon;
The Prince 54 Guns Monsieur de St. Aubin;
The Berbon 54 Guns Monsieur de Rosmadecq;
The DEfender 54 Guns Monsieur d'Amblimont;
The Hurcules 54 Guns Monsieur de Flacourt.
Aug 9 - The advice of the lost of our ships is most certain.


and also

Le Tonnant 64/66-guns designed and built by Laurent Hubac, launched 19 September 1670 at Brest – wrecked 1678

Dimensions

Dimension - Measurement - Type - Metric Equivalent
Length of Gundeck - 137' 6" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 44.502 (146′ 0″ Imperial)
Length of Keel - 118' 6" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 38.3354 (125′ 9″ Imperial)
Breadth - 37' 0" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 12.0176 (39′ 5″ Imperial)
Depth in Hold - 17' 0" French Feet (Pied du Roi) - 5.5216 (18′ 1″ Imperial)
Burthen - 1,200Ton

Armament

6.1671 Broadside Weight = 486 French Livre (524.4912 lbs 237.897 kg)
Lower Gun Deck - 24 French 24-Pounder
Upper Gun Deck - 26 French 12-Pounder
Quarterdeck/Forecastle - 14 French 6-Pounder

Service History

Date - Event
28.5.1672 - Battle of Solebay
28.5.1673 - First Battle of Schooneveld
4.6.1673 - Second Battle of Schooneveld
11.8.1673 - Battle of Texel
11.12.1677 - 2nd Battle of Tobago
11.5.1678 - Wrecked in central America

from Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650-1830 by Dr Richard Harding, Richard Harding


So both ships were launched together and wrecked together


https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=13489
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=13488

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 September 1758 – Launch of HMS Alarm, a 32 gun Niger-class frigate,
she was later the first ship in the Royal Navy to have a fully copper-sheathed hull


HMS Alarm was a 32-gun fifth rate Niger-class frigate of the Royal Navy, and was the first Royal Navy ship to bear this name. Copper-sheathed in 1761, she was the first ship in the Royal Navy to have a fully copper-sheathed hull


This print, published by Carington Bowles in 1781, is inscribed: 'His Mjesty's ship the Alarm, a fifth rate carrying 36 Guns, and 300 Men; Conducting a Spanish Prize into Gibralter [sic]'. 'Alarm' was part of the fleet under Vice Admiral George Darby, which managed to break through the Spanish blockade during the Siege of Gibraltar on 12 April, 1781, providing vital supplies to the 6,000 or so troops garrisoned on the island. This was the Second Relief of Gibraltar. The first, under Admiral George Rodney, reached Gibraltar in the spring of 1780, bringing reinforcements of 1,052 men to the existing 5,282 troops stationed on the island, as well as an abundance of supplies. 'Alarm' is shown port-side and fully rigged, but having sustained considerable damage to her sails from enemy fire. Two manned vessels, probably Xebecks, are pictured to her port-side and at her stern. Gibraltar appears on the horizon.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/138805.html#4eSfQXYesxwExREo.99

History
Experiments with copper sheathing
Alarm initially saw deployment in the West Indies, where she experimentally had her hull sheathed in a thin layer of copper. Firstly it was intended to reduce the considerable damage caused by the teredo woodworm , and secondly the well-established toxic property of copper was expected to lessen the speed-killing barnacle growth which always occurred on ships' hulls. Alarm’s hull was first covered with soft stuff, which was hair, yarn and brown paper, and then covered with a layer of copper plates.

After a two-year deployment to the West Indies, Alarm was beached in order to examine the effects of the experiment. The copper had performed very well in protecting the hull from invasion by worm, and in preventing the growth of weed, for when in contact with water, the copper produced a poisonous film, composed mainly of oxychloride, that deterred these marine creatures. Furthermore, as this film was slightly soluble it gradually washed away, leaving no way in which marine life could attach itself to the ship. Satisfied that the copper had had the desired effect, the Admiralty introduced copper sheathing on a number of frigates.

In 1776 Alarm was resurveyed. It was soon discovered that the sheathing had become detached from the hull in many places because the iron nails which had been used to fasten the copper to the timbers had been ‘much rotted’. Closer inspection revealed that some nails, which were less corroded, were insulated from the copper by brown paper which was trapped under the nail head. The copper had been delivered to the dockyard wrapped in the paper which was not removed before the sheets were nailed to the hull. The obvious conclusion therefore, and the one which had been highlighted in a separate report to the Admiralty in as early as 1763, was that iron should not be allowed direct contact with copper in a sea water environment if severe corrosion of the iron was to be avoided. Later ships were designed with this in mind. The Admiralty had largely suspended the programme of fitting ships with copper sheathing after the 1763 report, and had not shown any further interest in developing effective copper sheathing until 1775. In the meantime the copper sheathing was removed from Alarm, and several other test vessels until an effective solution to the corrosion problem could be developed.

Later in her career she was commanded by a young John Jervis, from 1769 onwards. He sailed for the Mediterranean in May and arrived in Genoa on 7 September. Aboard Alarm at this time was Samuel Hood, son of Alexander Hood, and one of the many members of the Hood family to serve at sea. Samuel Hood served aboard Alarm from November 1765 to July 1772, in the post of purser.





Near loss
On the return voyage to England, on 6 April 1770, she was saved by Georges René Le Peley de Pléville from being wrecked off Marseilles. The Alarm had been battered by a storm in the evening and ran aground on the coast of Provence amongst boulders, and was in imminent danger of breaking up. Pléville quickly mustered the harbour pilots and rushed to the relief of the English. By the time he was able to board her, the Alarm had already almost heeled over many times, and began to run aground. Pléville ordered a manœuvre that got her afloat again and brought her into harbour at Marseilles. In gratitude for Pléville's actions, the Admiralty sent Jervis and Alarm back to Marseilles in December to deliver a letter which read

Sir, the quality of the service which you have rendered to the frigate Alarm gives rise to the noble envy and admiration of the English. Your courage, your prudence, your intelligence, your talents have merited a crown on your efforts from Providence. Success has been your reward, but we pray you to accept as a homage rendered to your merit and as a pledge of our esteem and recognition, that which captain Jervis is charged with rendering back to you. In the name and order of my lords, Stephans​

The present was a piece of silverware in the form of an urn, on which were engraved dolphins and other maritime attributes, with a model of the Alarm, and a richly engraved lid surmounted by a triton. Remarkable in its elegance of form and high level of finish and workmanship, this vase bore the English Coat of Arms, and had the following inscription, intended to preserve the memory of the event which had merited the present:

Georgio-Renato Pleville Le Pelley, nobili normano Grandivillensi, navis bellicœ portusque Massiliensis pro prœfecto, ob navim regiam in litiore gallico pericli – tantem virtute diligentiâque suâ servatam septem vin rei navalis Britannicœ. M.DCCLXX. ([Presented] to Georges-René Pléville Le Pelley, noble Norman of Granville, commander of a warship and of the port of Marseilles, because he saved from destruction a Royal Navy vessel which was about to be lost on the French coast – the seven lords of the British Admiralty [presented] this [for] the great courage and diligence he showed. 1770)​

Thinking that he could not receive a gift from a foreign sovereign, de Pléville only accepted the urn after having been duly authorised to do so by the king of France. Jervis was also extremely grateful to de Pléville, and eager for the chance to reward him. He wrote to his sister from Alarm, anchored at Mahon on 27 December 1770:

I was twenty-four hours in the Bay of Marseilles, about a fortnight ago; just time enough to receive the warm embraces of the man to whose bravery and friendship I had, some months before, been indebted for my reputation, the preservation of the lives of the people under my command, and of the Alarm. You would have felt infinite pleasure at the scene of our interview.​

Ten years later, de Pléville's devotion to the safety of the Alarm gained another reward, when his son — a young naval officer — was captured on board a frigate at the end of a battle in 1780 and taken to England. There, the British Admiralty sent him back to France without requiring a prisoner-exchange, after having authorised him to choose three other French naval officers to go with him.

The Admiralty were also greatly pleased by Jervis’ actions in this matter, allowing his further promotion. From 1771 to May 1772, the ship became the “home” of the Duke of Gloucester, who was spending time in the Mediterranean because of ill health. Alarm then returned to England for paying off.

Off America
On 9 March 1783, Alarm was involved in one of the last naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, when Alarm, Sibyl and the sloop of war Tobago intercepted two American vessels, the frigate USS Alliance and the transport Duc de Lauzun. The American ships were transporting bullion to the Continental forces and both sides were unaware that peace had been ratified over a month before. After a short battle between Sibyl and Alliance, the Americans escaped. Alarm did not actively participate in the battle herself.

In 1796, Alarm violated Trinidad’s neutrality, so contributing to Spain’s declaration of war on the side of Revolutionary France. In February 1797, Alarm was among the vessels of the British flotilla that captured Trinidad.

Fate
Alarm shared with Amphion in the head-money that was finally paid in March 1829, for the capture of a Spanish gunboat, Nuestra Senora del Corvodorvya (alias Asturiana), on 25 November 1799.

Alarm continued in service for a number of years, finally being broken up in September 1812 at Portsmouth having spent 34 years in service.


The Niger-class frigates were 32-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1757 by Sir Thomas Slade, and were an improvement on his 1756 design for the 32-gun Southampton-class frigates.

Slade's design was approved in September 1757, on which date four ships were approved to be built to these plans - three by contract and a fourth in a royal dockyard. Seven more ships were ordered to the same design between 1759 and 1762 - three more to be built by contract and four in royal dockyards. Stag and Quebec were both reduced to 28-gun sixth rates in 1778, but were then restored to 32-gun fifth rates in 1779.

Ships in class

• HMS Stag
  • Ordered: 19 September 1757
  • Built by: Thomas Stanton & Company, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 26 September 1757
  • Launched: 4 September 1758
  • Completed: 4 December 1758 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in July 1783.
• HMS Alarm
  • Ordered: 19 September 1757
  • Built by: John Barnard & John Turner, Harwich.
  • Keel laid: 26 September 1757
  • Launched: 19 September 1758
  • Completed: 24 June 1759 at the builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Portsmouth Dockyard in September 1812.
• HMS Aeolus
  • Ordered: 19 September 1757
  • Built by: Thomas West, Deptford.
  • Keel laid: September 1757
  • Launched: 29 November 1758
  • Completed: 18 January 1759 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Renamed Guernsey on 7 May 1800. Taken to pieces at Sheerness Dockyard in April 1801.
• HMS Niger
  • Ordered: 19 September 1757
  • Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 7 February 1758
  • Launched: 25 September 1759
  • Completed: 24 November 1759.
  • Fate: Renamed Negro 1813. Sold at Portsmouth Dockyard on 29 September 1814.
• HMS Montreal
  • Ordered: 6 June 1759
  • Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 26 April 1760
  • Launched: 15 September 1761
  • Completed: 10 October 1761.
  • Fate: Captured by French squadron off Gibraltar on 1 May 1779.
• HMS Quebec
  • Ordered: 16 July 1759
  • Built by: John Barnard & John Turner, Harwich.
  • Keel laid: July 1759
  • Launched: 14 July 1760
  • Completed: 9 August 1760 at the builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Blew up and sunk in action against French frigate La Surveillante off Ushant on 6 October 1779.
• HMS Pearl
  • Ordered: 24 March 1761
  • Built by: Chatham Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 6 May 1761
  • Launched: 27 March 1762
  • Completed: 14 May 1762.
  • Fate: Renamed Prothee 19 March 1825. Sold at Portsmouth Dockyard on 14 January 1832.

HMS Pearl and Santa Monica, Azores, September 1779. La Santa Monica had been built at Cartagena during 1777.

• HMS Emerald
  • Ordered: 24 March 1761
  • Built by: Hugh Blaydes, Hull.
  • Keel laid: 13 May 1761
  • Launched: 8 June 1762
  • Completed: October 1762 at the builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in October 1793.
• HMS Winchelsea
  • Ordered: 11 August 1761
  • Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 29 March 1762
  • Launched: 31 May 1764
  • Completed: 26 June 1766.
  • Fate: Sold at Sheerness Dockyard on 3 November 1813.
• HMS Glory
  • Ordered: 30 January 1762
  • Built by: Hugh Blaydes & Thomas Hodgson, Hull.
  • Keel laid: March 1762
  • Launched: 24 October 1763
  • Completed: December 1763 at the builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Woolwich Dockyard in January 1786.
• HMS Aurora
  • Ordered: 8 December 1762
  • Built by: Chatham Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 10 October 1763
  • Launched: 13 January 1766
  • Completed: 24 July 1769.
  • Fate: Lost with all hands in the Indian Ocean (disappeared, fate unknown) in January 1770.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Alarm_(1758)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 September 1777 - During the American Revolution, the British cutter HMS Alert captures the brig USS Lexington


HMS Alert (1777 - 10), a 10-gun cutter launched at Dover in 1777, converted to a sloop in the same year, and captured in the Channel by the Junon in 1778; foundered December 1779 off the coast of America. French records show her serving as Alerte, a cutter of fourteen 4-pounder guns and valued as a prize at Lt 32,289.


Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half-breadth for Alert (1777) and Rattlesnake (1777), both 10-gun cutters. Plan also includes yard and mast dimensions.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/382652.html#a3m5ELSRjJcyOvxM.99




The first USS Lexington of the Thirteen Colonies was a brigantine purchased in 1776. The Lexington was an 86-foot two-mast wartime sailing ship for the fledgling Continental Navy of the Colonists during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).

History
Originally named the Wild Duck, Abraham van Bibber purchased her for the Maryland Committee of Safety, at St. Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies in February 1776. She soon got underway for the Delaware Capesand reached Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 9 March with a cargo of sorely needed gunpowder for the patriot forces. Four days later the Marine Committee purchased Wild Duck, renamed her Lexington after the Battle of Lexington (the first battle of the war), and turned her over to Wharton and Humphry for fitting out.

Commanded by Capt. John Barry, Lexington dropped down the Delaware River 26 March and slipped through the British blockade 6 April. The following day she fell in with British sloop Edward, a tender to the frigateLiverpool. After a fierce fight which lasted about an hour Edward struck her colors. Lexington took her prize into Philadelphia and as soon as the ship was back in fighting trim, Barry put to sea again. On 26 April Lexington encountered Sir Peter Parker's fleet sailing to attack Charleston, South Carolina. Two of the British ships gave chase on 5 May off the Delaware Capes. HMS Roebuck and Liverpool chased Lexington for eight hours and came close enough to exchange fire with the American ship before Barry managed to elude his pursuers and reach Philadelphia safely.


USS Lexington by F. Muller

Lexington and Reprisal dropped down the Delaware to Cape May on the 20th, there joining Wasp and Hornet. Liverpool stood off the Delaware Capes preventing the American ships from escaping to sea. On 28 June Pennsylvania's brig Nancy arrived in the area with 386 barrels of powder in her hold and ran aground while attempting to elude British blockader Kingfisher. Barry ordered the precious powder rowed ashore during the night leaving only 100 barrels in Nancy at dawn. A delayed action fuse was left inside the brig, which exploded the powder just as a boatload of British seamen boarded Nancy. This engagement became known as the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet.

On 10 July Lexington slipped to sea. On the 27th she captured Lady Susan, a ship of Lord Dunmore's Tory Fleet which operated out of the Chesapeake Bay. This privateer was commanded by William Goodrich, a member of the notorious Tory family which had plagued the shipping of Virginia and Maryland. (Richard Dale, one of seven members of the Lady Susan crew who signed on Lexington, later won fame under John Paul Jones.) Early in September, Lexington took another sloop, Betsy. About a fortnight later lightning struck Lexington forcing the brigantine home for repairs. Lexington anchored off Philadelphia 26 September, and two days later Barry relinquished command.

With repairs completed, Lexington, Capt. William Hallock in command, got underway for Cape Francois to obtain military cargo. On the return voyage, British frigate Pearl overhauled the brigantine just short of the Delaware Capes 20 December and captured her. The commander of the frigate removed Lexington's officers, but left 70 of her men on board under hatches with a prize crew. But by luring their captors with a promise of rum, the Yankee sailors recaptured the ship and brought her to Baltimore.

Lexington, now with Capt. Henry Johnson in command, sailed for France 20 February 1777 and took two prizes before reaching Bordeaux in March. In France, the brigantine joined Reprisal and Dolphin for a cruise seeking the Irish linen fleet scheduled to leave Dublin early in June. The American ships, commanded by Capt. Lambert Wickes, got underway 28 May and were carried far to westward by heavy winds. Approaching Dublin from the north they entered the north channel 18 June and hove to off the Mull of Kintyre. During the next four days they captured nine prizes, sinking three, releasing one, and retaining five. Heading south again on the 22nd, they took and scuttled a brig before arriving off Dublin Bay. The next morning they took another brig and released a ship bringing sugar, rum, and cotton from Jamaica. After placing prize crews on both vessels, they resumed their voyage around Ireland. On the 24th they stopped and released a smuggler and the next day took their last prize, a snow.

When they sighted ship-of-the-line HMS Burford near Ushant on the 26th, the American ships scattered and made their way individually to safety in France. Lexington remained at Morlaix, a Brittany fishing village, throughout the summer, hemmed in by British warships. However, France, under strong British diplomatic pressure, ordered the American ships out of French waters 12 September. Lexington got underway the next morning but made little headway because of light wind. She lay becalmed near Ushant on the morning of 19 September when British 10-gun cutter Alert, commanded by John Bazely, came into view. In the ensuing fight, Lexington's rigging was seriously damaged precluding flight. When the American brigantine ran out of powder Captain Johnson reluctantly struck his colors.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(1776)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=alert_1777

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 September 1779 – Launch of French Scipion, a 74 gun Scipion-class Ship of the line


The Scipion was a French warship of the 18th century, lead ship of her class.

Scipion took part in the American War of Independence, notably sailing at the rear of the French squadron at the Battle of the Chesapeake.


Scipion raking HMS London during the Action of 18 October 1782.

In the Action of 18 October 1782, under Captain Nicolas Henri de Grimouard, Scipion fought gallantly against two British ships of the line of 90 and 74 guns. Through good sailmanship, she managed to damage HMS London and escape, but was destroyed the next day after she was chased and ran aground.


Combat du Scipion contre le London, credited to Rossel de Crecy, on display at Toulon naval museum.

The Scipion class was a class of three 74-gun ships built to a design by François-Guillaume Clairin-Deslauriers, the ingénieur-constructeur en chef at Rochefort Dockyard. These were the shortest 74-gun ships built by France since the 1750s, and they were found to lack stability as a consequence. The third ship - originally the Pluton - was 'girdled' (sheathed) with 32 cm of pine at Rochefort in 1799 to overcome her instability, and the design of two further ships ordered at the same dockyard in 1779 were lengthened.


Modèle réduit d'un vaisseau de 74 canons du même type que le Scipion

• Scipion

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: early 1778
Begun: 10 April 1778
Launched: 19 September 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Wrecked in Samana Bay, off San Domingo on 19 October 1782.

• Hercule

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: early 1778
Begun: 1 April 1778
Launched: 5 October 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Razéed to 50-gun frigate in February to June 1794, and renamed Hydre in May 1795; discarded 1797.

• Pluton

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
Ordered: early 1778
Begun: 10 April 1778
Launched: 5 November 1778
Completed: February 1779
Fate: Renamed Dugommier on 17 December 1797. Taken to pieces at Brest in 1805.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Scipion_(1779)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipion_(1779)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipion-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 September 1782 - French Ville de Paris 90-gun Ship of the Line sank in a storm


Ville de Paris was a large three-decker French ship of the line that became famous as the flagship of the Comte de Grasse during the American Revolutionary War.



Originally laid down in 1757 as the 90-gun Impétueux, she was funded by the City of Paris and renamed Ville de Paris in 1762 as a result of the don des vaisseaux, Duc de Choiseul’s campaign to raise funds for the navy from the cities and provinces of France. She was completed in 1764 as a 90-gun first rate, just too late to serve in the Seven Years' War. She was one of the first three-deckers to be completed for the French navy since the 1720s.

In 1778, on the French entry into the American Revolutionary War she was commissioned at Brest, joining the fleet as the flagship of the Comte de Guichen. In July she fought in the indecisive Battle of Ushant (1778).

At some point during the next two years, she had an additional 14 small guns mounted on her previously unarmed quarterdeck, making her a 104-gun ship.

In March 1781 she sailed for the West Indies as flagship of a fleet of 20 ships of the line under the Comte de Grasse. She then fought at the Battle of Fort Royal, and the Battle of the Chesapeake. In 1782, she fought in the Battle of St. Kitts as De Grasse's flagship.


The Battle of the Saintes, 12 April 1782: surrender of the Ville de Paris by Thomas Whitcombe, painted 1783, shows Hood's Barfleur, centre, attacking the French flagship Ville de Paris, right.

At the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782, the British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated the French fleet under the Comte de Grasse, and captured Ville de Paris.


Oil painting on a thin two-piece oak panel, the join about one third from the top. The Saints was the last major action of the American Revolutionary War, fought near the islets called the Iles des Saintes, just north of Dominica in the West Indies. Admiral Sir George Rodney's victory over the French fleet of the Comte de Grasse foiled the latter's attempt to invade Jamaica and enabled Britain to secure her position in the West Indies by the treaty that ended the war in 1783, even though she lost her American colonies. The battle is also famous as the point of origin of the tactic of 'breaking the line', which was achieved with great, albeit accidental, effect by Rodney in seizing an advantage created by a shift of wind as the fleets began the action. The principal subject here is the clash of flagships of the two commanders-in-chief, both seen from astern in port- quarter view. The larger 'Ville de Paris' (110 guns) flagship of de Grasse, is fully seen in the centre on the left. Admiral Sir George Rodney, in the 'Formidable' (90 guns) is engaging her to starboard on the right, partly concealed, although de Grasse eventually struck to his second-in-command, Samuel Hood, in the 'Barfleur'. Rodney correctly flies the St George's cross at the main, as an Admiral of the White, but a red ensign rather than a white one. This was his normal colour but he had specifically ordered the British fleet to fly red on this occasion, to minimize confusion in action with enemy ships flying the white (Bourbon) colours of pre-Revolutionary France, as shown on the 'Ville de Paris'. There is an inscription identifying the action, written by Luny in pen and ink on the back of the panel: 'Adml Lord Rodney Engaging the French Fleet / Commanded by the Count de Grasse April [12th?] 1782.
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The ship did not live up to the motto of her namesake city, Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink), for she sank in September 1782 with other ships when the 1782 Central Atlantic hurricane hit the fleet off Newfoundland Admiral Graves was leading back to England. Ville de Paris sank with the loss of all hands but one.


Plate IV. A View of the Sea on the Morning after the Storm, with the distressed situation of the Centaur, Ville de Paris and the Glorieux as seen from the Lady Juliana, the Ville de Paris passing to Windward under close reef'd Topsails (PAH8434)
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A ship of the line of the Royal Navy was named after her: HMS Ville de Paris, launched in 1795.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Ville_de_Paris_(1764)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1782_Central_Atlantic_hurricane
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-357950;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=V