Naval/Maritime History 25th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1736 - Launch of HMS Weymouth, a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and in service during the War of the Austrian Succession.


HMS Weymouth was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1736 and in service during the War of the Austrian Succession. Initially stationed in the Mediterranean, she was assigned to the Navy's Caribbean fleet in 1740 and participated in Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741. Decommissioned later that year, she was restored to active service in the Caribbean in 1744. A navigational error on 16 February 1745 brought her too close to the shore of Antigua, where she was wrecked upon a submerged reef. Three of Weymouth's officers were subsequently found guilty of negligence, with two required to pay substantial fines and the third sentenced to a two-year jail term.




Description
Weymouth was designed according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment of dimensions. As built, she was 144 ft 5 in (44.0 m) long with a 116 ft 10 in (35.6 m) keel, a beam of 41 ft 5 in (12.62 m), and a hold depth of 16 ft 11 in (5.2 m). She was armed with twenty-four 24-pounder cannons located along her gundeck, supported by 26 nine-pounders on the upper deck and ten 6-pounders ranged along the quarterdeck and the forecastle. The designated complement was 400, comprising four commissioned officers – a captain and three lieutenants – overseeing 63 warrant and petty officers, 219 naval ratings, 67 Marines and 47 servants and other ranks. The 47 servants and other ranks provided for in the ship's complement consisted of 30 personal servants and clerical staff, six assistant carpenters, two assistant sailmakers, a steward's mate and eight widow's men. Weymouth's marines were headed by a captain and second lieutenant, with four non-commissioned officers, a drummer boy and 60 private soldiers.

Scale: 1:48. A modern plan showing the inboard profile with figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Weymouth (1736), a 1733 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker, possibly as built in 1736.

Construction and career
Weymouth, named after the eponymous port, was ordered on 6 January 1733. She was laid down in September at Plymouth Dockyard and was launched on 31 March 1736. Completed on 27 July 1739 at the cost of £14,963, she commissioned under the command of Captain Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, but he was replaced by Captain Thomas Trefusis in July and the ship was sent to the Mediterranean. The following year the ship was commanded by Captain Charles Knowles and participated in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in March 1741.

Loss
Weymouth was recommissioned for active service on 10 June 1744, under the command of Captain Warwick Calmady. Calmady had recently transferred aboard from the sixth-rateHMS Lively which had been paid off at Spithead the previous day. He brought most of Lively's crew with him, as Weymouth was short-handed while in ordinary. the next four months were spent in fitting out Weymouth for action at sea. She put to sea on 18 November 1744 to join a squadron under vice-admiral Thomas Davers, which was escorting a merchant convoy destined for the Caribbean.

On 17 February 1745, shortly before 01:00, Weymouth grounded after having sailed from English Harbour, Antigua on 13 February. All her guns and stores were removed, before Weymouth finally broke up on 22 February. Her commanding officer, Captain Warwick Calmady, was court-martialed over the loss on 18—19 February, and acquitted. The pilot who was embarked on Weymouth was sentenced to two years at the Marshalsea prison.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Dragon (1736), Weymouth (1736), and with alterations for Nottingham (1745), Medway (1742), and Dreadnought (1742), all 1733 Establishment 60-gun Third (later Fourth) Rate, two-decker.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Weymouth (1736) and Dragon (1736). The plan includes the ticked outlines aft for Medway (1742) and Dreadnought (1742) prior to alterations to the floor. The plan also illustrates the alterations forward and to the gunports for Nottingham (1745). All the ships were 1733 Establishment 60-gun Third (later Fourth) Rate, two-deckers.









Medway' (1742), a 60-gun two-decker ship of the line, built in 'bread and butter' construction and finished in the Georgian style. Model is partially decked, rigged (circa 1763) and fully equipped including anchors and all associated gear, the whole model mounted on its original veneered baseboard. Built by Elias Bird of Rotherhithe, the 'Medway’ had a gun deck length of 144 feet by 42 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1080 burden. It spent the early part of its career as part of a small fleet patrolling the Indian Ocean and took part in an indecisive action against the French Squadron off the Coromandel Coast in 1746. The 'Medway’ was eventually sunk as part of a breakwater in Trincomalee in 1749.

HMS Weymouth (1736) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1763 - Launch of HMS Defence, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Plymouth Dockyard.


HMS Defence was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 31 March 1763 at Plymouth Dockyard. She was one of the most famous ships of the period, taking part in several of the most important naval battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. In 1811 she was wrecked off the coast of Jutland with the loss of almost her entire crew.




Service
During the American War of Independence, Defence served with the Channel Fleet, seeing action at the Battle of Cape St. Vincentin 1780. She was sent out to India in early 1782 as part of a squadron of five ships under Commodore Sir Richard Bickerton, arriving too late for the battles of that year. But in 1783 she took part in the last battle of the war, at Cuddalore. She returned to England at the end of 1785. She was then laid up during the years of peace until the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.

Recommissioned into the Channel Fleet under Captain James Gambier, she fought at the Glorious First of June in 1794, distinguishing herself in action against Mucius and Tourville, and becoming one of only two British ships to be completely dismasted in the battle. After repairs, she was sent to the Mediterranean, joining Admiral William Hotham in time to take part in the Battle of Hyeres in July.

In 1798 she returned to the Mediterranean under Captain John Peyton, taking part in the Battle of the Nile in August.

On 1 July 1800, Defence, Fisgard, Renown and the hired armed cutter Lord Nelson were in Bourneuf Bay when they sent in their boats to attack a French convoy at Île de Noirmoutier. The British destroyed the French ship Therese (of 20 guns), a lugger (12 guns), two schooners (6 guns each) and a cutter (6 guns), of unknown names. The cutting out party also burned some 15 merchant vessels loaded with corn and supplies for the French fleet at Brest. However, in this enterprise, 92 officers and men out of the entire party of 192 men, fell prisoners to the French when their boats became stranded. Lord Nelson had contributed no men to the attacking force and so had no casualties.

In 1801, Defence sailed to the Baltic under Captain Lord Henry Paulet with Admiral Hyde Parker's fleet. She was present at the Battle of Copenhagen, but did not see action as she was part of the reserve under Parker.

In 1805 she saw action again at the Battle of Trafalgar, where under Captain George Johnstone Hope, she captured the San Ildefonso and fought the Berwick, suffering 36 casualties.

Loss

The beach near Thorsminde

She ran aground on 24 December 1811 off the west coast of Jutland, Denmark. She was under the command of Captain D. Atkins and in the company of St George, under Rear-admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds, and Cressy, when a hurricane and heavy seas came up. St George was jury-rigged and so Atkins refused to leave her without the Admiral's permission. As a result, both were wrecked near Ringkøbing. Cressy did not ask for permission and so avoided wrecking.

Defence lost all but 14 of her crew of 597 men and boys, including her captain. St George too lost almost her entire crew, including the admiral. Most of the bodies that came ashore were buried in the sand dunes of Thorsminde, which have been known ever since as "Dead Mens Dunes".


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for building Cornwall (1761), Arrogant (1761), and Kent (1762), and later for Defence (1763), Edgar (1779), Goliath (1781), Vanguard (1787), Excellent (1787), Saturn (1786), Elephant (1786), Illustrious (1789), Bellerophon (1786), Zealous (1785), and Audacious (1785), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, and stern board outline with some decoration detail, for 'Defence', a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan may represent 'Defence' as she was built at Deptford, which would date the plan to 1763.


The bombardment of Morro Castle on Havana -
Left to right: HMS Marlborough, HMS Dragon, HMS Cambridge.

The Bellona-class ships of the line were a class of five 74-gun third rates, whose design for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Sladewas approved on 31 January 1758. Three ships were ordered on 28 December 1757, with names being assigned on 1 February 1758. Two further ships to this design were ordered on 13 December 1758, at the same time as two ships of a revised design – the Arrogant class.

Design
Slade's Bellona class was the first class of British 74s to have a gun deck length of 168 ft (51 m), and marked the beginning of a stabilisation of the design of this size of ship. Several subsequent classes designed by Slade were almost identical to the Bellonadraught, with the main differences restricted to the underwater hull – the most numerous of these being the Arrogant and Elizabethclasses.

Ships

• HMS Bellona

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 28 December 1757.
Laid down: 10 May 1758.
Launched: 19 February 1760.
Completed: 6 April 1760.
Fate: Broken up at Chatham, September 1814.

• HMS Dragon

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 28 December 1757.
Laid down: 28 March 1758.
Launched: 4 March 1760.
Completed: 19 April 1760.
Fate: Sold to be broken up, June 1784.

• HMS Superb

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 28 December 1757.
Laid down: 12 April 1758.
Launched: 27 October 1760.
Completed: 19 December 1760.
Fate: Wrecked at Bombay, 7 November 1783.

• HMS Kent

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 13 December 1758.
Laid down: 24 April 1759.
Launched: 26 March 1762.
Completed: 8 July 1762.
Fate: Sold to be broken up, August 1784.

• HMS Defence

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 13 December 1758.
Laid down: 14 May 1759.
Launched: 31 March 1763.
Completed: 19 October 1770.
Fate: Wrecked off Jutland, 24 December 1811.


HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious First of June1794, dismasted and with severe injury to the hull, by Nicholas Pocock



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Defence_(1763)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellona-class_ship_of_the_line

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1779 – Launch of French Triomphant , an 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy


The Triomphant was an 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.



Laid down in Toulon in March 1778 by the designer-builder Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb, she was launched on 31 March 1779 and completed in June 1779. She took part in the Battle of Martinique with the Comte de Guichen's fleet in 1780 and served in the American War of Independence where she took part in the Battle of the Saintes. She was captured at Toulon by the Anglo-Spanish forces in August 1793, and was burnt there on 18 December 1793 during the evacuation of the port. Her remains were refloated in 1805 and broken up.




80-gun ships ("vaisseaux de 80") of the Louis XVI era

Auguste 80 (designed by Léon-Michel Guignace, launched 18 September 1778 at Brest) – Renamed Jacobin in March 1793, then renamed Neuf Thermidor in December 1794, sank in storm off Brest on 9 January 1795

Triomphant 80 (designed by Joseph-Marie Blaise Coulomb, launched 31 March 1779 at Toulon) – Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793 and burnt by them there on 18 December 1793

Couronne 80 (a rebuilding of the ship of 1766, re-launched 18 September 1781 at Brest) – renamed Ca Ira in September 1792, captured by the British on 14 March 1795 and burnt by them by accident in April 1796

Deux Frères 80 (designed by Antoine Groignard, launched mid September 1784 at Brest) – Renamed Juste on 29 September 1792, captured by the British in the Glorious First of June 1794 and added to the RN under the same name, broken up 1811

French ship Triomphant (1779) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1798 - Launch of HMS Foudroyant, an 80-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, one of only two British-built 80-gun ships of the period (the other was HMS Caesar)


HMS Foudroyant was an 80-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, one of only two British-built 80-gun ships of the period (the other was HMS Caesar.) Foudroyant was built in the dockyard at Plymouth Dock (a.k.a. Devonport) and launched on 31 March 1798. Foudroyant served Nelson as his flagship from 6 June 1799 until the end of June 1801.


Capture of the William Tell, by Robert Dodd. Foudroyant is seen in the background.

Foudroyant had a long and successful career, and although she was not involved in any major fleet action, she did provide invaluable service to numerous admirals throughout her 17 years on active service. In her last years she became a training vessel for boys.



Design
Her designer was Sir John Henslow. She was named after the 80-gun Foudroyant, which Swiftsure and Monmouth, both 70-gun ships, and Hampton Court (64 guns), had captured from the French on 28 February 1758.

Foudroyant was a one-off design. She followed French practice of favouring large two-decked, third rates mounting 80 guns rather than the typical British preference for building three-decked second-rate ships mounting 98 guns. The two ship types, despite the difference in absolute gun numbers, had similar gun power but the British thought the second rate had a more imposing appearance and some advantages in battle, while they considered the 80 gun ship as usually faster and less 'leewardly'.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for building Foudroyant (1798), an 80-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806].


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for Foudroyant (1798), an 80-gun Third Rate, two-decker, building at Plymouth Dockyard. A copy of this with the deck plans was sent to Plymouth Dockyard on 14 January 1790. The pencil alterations to the upper works and lower deck are undated.








Scale: 1:48. A modern amateur made full hull model of the 80-gun two-decker HMS ‘Foudroyant’ (1798). The model was acquired partially completed due to the unfortunate death of its maker. It is constructed in the plank on frame method and is complete with laid decks, canon, rails, capstans and various other fittings, most of which are stored loose with the model. It is currently away from the museum undergoing completion. The ‘Foudroyant’ was built at Plymouth Dockyard and launched in 1798. Measuring 184 feet in length by fifty feet in the beam, she carried a crew of up to 650 men. The ‘Foudroyant’ had a very active career and saw action in the Mediterranean, South America, and was under the command or the flag ship of some very distinguished officers including Lord Keith, Rear Admiral Lord Nelson and Captain Thomas Hardy. From 1840 she was laid up in ordinary, became a gunnery training ship during the 1860’s before being sold to German shipbreakers in the early 1890’s. She was then rescued from breaking and purchased by J. R. Wheatley Cobb as a training ship for boys. Unfortunately, she was stranded on Blackpool Sands during a fundraising and propaganda cruise and later broken up in situ in 1897.


Scale: 1:48. A half block model of the Foudroyant (1798), a 80 gun two-decker ship of the line made entirely in wood and constructed in bread and butter fashion. The hull has been hollowed out internally and is painted a copper colour below the waterline with the upperworks and bulwarks painted black. The gun decks are highlighted by a pair of thick, horizontal bands painted creamy-white, with the gunports finished in grey and edged in red. The model is complete with a square stern gallery, a curved quarter gallery, a rudder with its gudgeons and pintles and, at the bow, a set of drift trails, cathead and heads. The decks have been finished flush to the bulwarks and painted a light creamy-white colour. There are three stump masts painted in the same colour and a bowsprit (modern replacement) left in natural wood. The model is mounted on a wooden backboard painted creamy-white with a mahogany stained edging. Inscribed on the backboard is "20".


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Foudroyant_(1798)

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1800 – Capture of the French privateer Mars, launched in 1798 that HMS Amethyst captured in 1800, commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Garland.


HMS Garland was the French privateer Mars, launched in 1798 that Amethyst captured in 1800. The Royal Navy took her into service and sent her out to the Jamaica Station. There she had a brief, uneventful career before she was wrecked in 1803.



Origins and capture
Mars was one of the many corvettes built in Bordeaux for privateer warfare. She was commissioned circa 1798 under Captain Estrenne. Though pierced for 24 cannon, she carried 22.

On 11 March 1800 Mars captured the merchant ship Perseverance as Perseverance was sailing from Baltimore to London. However, HMS Nereide recaptured Perseverance and sent her into Plymouth.[4] Nereide had recaptured the American ship Perseverance, of Baltimore, on 3 March. She was carrying a cargo valued at £30,000.

Late on 31 March Amethyst, with Nymphe, captured Mars. Mars was armed with twenty 12-pounder guns and two 36-pounder carronades, and carried a crew of 180 men. She had taken several prizes and was returning to port when Nymphe captured her. Captain John Cooke described Mars as being "one of the finest Privateers fitted out of Bourdeaux." The British took Mars into service as Garland, there being a Mars in service, and a Garland having been wrecked in 1798, freeing the name.

Career
Garland was commissioned in September 1800 under the command of Commander John Acworth Ommanney. This was a temporary appointment that Earl Spencer arranged for him while he was convalescing from an illness. On 16 October Spencer sent Ommanney a commission as post captain. Captain Robert Honyman replaced Ommanney that month, for the Channel.

Garland shared in the recapture, on 3 April 1801, with Renard and Suffisante, of the brig Swan .[9][10] Also, on 6 April, Garland brought into Portsmouth a French brig with a cargo of wheat.

Then on 21 June Honyman and Garland conveyed Admiral Robert Montague to Jamaica.[8] Garland was also acting as escort to a group of merchantmen bound for the West indies, Queen among them.

At Jamaica Honyman transferred to Topaze, which he sailed back to England, returning on 12 October 1801. Captain James Carhew replaced Honyman on Garland.

On 27 January 1803 Captain John Serrel, late of Ecjp, was made post captain into Garland. His replacement, in May 1803 or so, was Captain Frederick Cotterell.

Loss
In November Garland was cruising with a squadron off the northern coast of Santo Domingo. Sent to investigate a strange sail, she made little headway in the light winds. Unfortunately, towards evening, a current caught her close to shore and she grounded on the Caracole reef off Cap François. Despite efforts to lighten her, she took on water and fell on her side. The other vessels of the squadron came to her aid and took off her crew and such stores and provisions as could be saved. On 11 November, the day after she grounded, her crew set her on fire, which destroyed her.

HMS Garland (1800) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1800 - The Action of 31 March 1800 was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought between a Royal Navy squadron and a French Navy ship of the line off Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.
HMS Penelope (36), Cptn. Blackwood, HMS Lion (64), Cptn. Manley Dixon, and HMS Foudroyant (80), Cptn. Sir Edward Berry, captured french Guillaume Tell (86) off Malta.


The Action of 31 March 1800 was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought between a Royal Navy squadron and a French Navy ship of the line off Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. By March 1800 Valletta, the Maltese capital, had been under siege for eighteen months and food supplies were severely depleted, a problem exacerbated by the interception and defeat of a French replenishment convoy in mid-February. In an effort to simultaneously obtain help from France and reduce the number of personnel maintained in the city, the naval commander on the island, Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, ordered his subordinate Contre-amiral Denis Decrès to put to sea with the large ship of the line Guillaume Tell, which had arrived in the port shortly before the siege began in September 1798. Over 900 men were carried aboard the ship, which was to sail for Toulon under cover of darkness on 30 March.

The British had maintained a blockade off Malta since the beginning of the siege, ostensibly led by Rear-Admiral Lord Nelson, who by March 1800 was defying a direct order from his superior officer Lord Keith by remaining in Palermo with his lover Emma, Lady Hamilton. In his absence the blockade was under the command of Captain Manley Dixon of HMS Lion and Nelson's flag captain Sir Edward Berry, who were notified of Decrés' departure by the patrolling frigate HMS Penelope and gave chase. The large ship of the line was initially only attacked by Penelope, which manoeuvered around Guillaume Tell's stern, causing severe damage and delaying the French ship sufficiently for Berry to bring his squadron into action. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Decrés continued to fight for more than three hours, fighting off two British ships but ultimately unable to resist the combined weight of Berry's attacks. Casualties and damage were severe on both sides, and the defiance of the French ship was celebrated in both countries as a brave defence against overwhelming odds.



Background
In May 1798, a French fleet under General Napoleon Bonaparte crossed the Mediterranean Sea, sailing for Egypt. Pausing at Malta on 9 June, Bonaparte landed soldiers and seized the island leaving a sizeable French garrison at Valletta under General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois while the rest of the fleet continued on to Alexandria. After the successful landing in Egypt, Bonaparte marched inland at the head of his army. The fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay to support the troops ashore and was surprised and almost completely destroyed on 1 August by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. Only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped the Battle of the Nile from the 17 French ships that participated in the action. Of the survivors, the ship of the line Généreux sailed for Corfu while Guillaume Tell, under Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, reached Malta with the two frigates.

When Villeneuve arrived at Malta in September 1798, the island was already in turmoil: the dissolution of the Roman Catholic Church on the island under French rule had been highly unpopular with the Maltese population, who forced the French garrison to retreat into the fortress of Valletta on 2 September. By the start of October, British and Portuguese troops had supplemented the Maltese irregulars, while a naval squadron watched Valletta harbour, to prevent any French effort to resupply and reinforce the garrison. Although small quantities of material reached Valletta from France in early 1799, by the start of 1800 no ship had arrived for more than seven months, and the garrison was near starvation. In an effort to resupply the garrison, the French sent a convoy from Toulon in February 1800, but the ships were intercepted off Malta by a squadron under Nelson on 17 February and in the ensuing battle the flagship Généreux was captured and Contre-amiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée was killed.

Without Perrée's supplies, the garrison faced continued food shortages, and by March Vaubois and Villeneuve decided to send an urgent request for support to France. For this operation they chose the 80-gun Guillaume Tell under Captain Saulnier, partly because the condition and size of the ship enabled Vaubois to embark over 900 men aboard, many of whom were sick or wounded. Contre-amiral Denis Decrès had command of the ship and Vaubois and Villeneuve confirmed the date of departure for 30 March. While the French prepared this expedition, the British maintained their blockade, although without their commander. Nelson, in defiance of specific orders from his commanding officer Lord Keith, had retired to Palermo on Sicily to be with Emma, Lady Hamilton, the wife of the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton with whom Nelson was conducting an adulterous affair. In his absence, command had passed to Captain Sir Thomas Troubridge on HMS Culloden and then to Captain Manley Dixon on HMS Lion.


Capture of the William Tell, by Robert Dodd, October 1800

Battle
At 23:00 on 30 March, with a strong wind from the south, Guillaume Tell sailed from Valletta, Decrés hoping to use the cover of darkness to escape the British blockade. Dixon had deployed his ships around the island, with Valletta watched by the frigate HMS Penelope under Captain Henry Blackwood. At 23:55, Blackwood's lookouts spotted Guillaume Tell and the captain gave chase, ordering the brig HMS Minorca under Commander George Miller to convey the message to Dixon, whose ships were just visible in the distance. Blackwood also attempted to signal his discovery to his commanding officer as Penelope gave chase.

Blackwood rapidly gained on the ship of the line and by 00:30 the frigate was within range, pulling up under the stern of Guillaume Tell and beginning a steady fire to which Decrés could only respond with his stern-chasers, light cannon situated in the stern of the ship. Decrés recognised that if he stopped to engage Penelope then the rest of Berry's squadron, visible on the horizon to the south, would soon overwhelm him. He therefore continued sailing to the northeast, hoping his heavy ship of the line could outrun the light and speedy frigate. However, Penelope was too fast, and Blackwood handled his ship with considerable skill, managing to pass Decrés' stern repeatedly and pour several raking broadsides into the French ship.

Blackwood's attack was so successful that by dawn on 31 March Guillaume Tell had lost its main and mizen topmasts and its main yard, considerably reducing the speed at which Decrés could travel. The French ship had also suffered heavy casualties in the exchange, but Penelope had lost only one man killed and three wounded, and was almost undamaged. British reinforcements were now arriving from the south: the 64-gun HMS Lion under Captain Dixon had received Minorca's warning at 01:00 and immediately sailed in pursuit, sending the brig on to Captain Sir Edward Berry in HMS Foudroyant, who lay some distance to leeward. By 05:00, Dixon was close enough to engage, passing between Penelope and Guillaume Tell and firing a triple-shotted broadside into the port side of the French ship. Shooting ahead of the now sluggish Guillaume Tell, Lion crossed its opponent's bows and shot away the jib boom, allowing Dixon to maintain a position across the bow, raking the French ship from one end while Penelope did the same to the other. During these manoeuvres, Dixon's ship had briefly become entangled with Guillaume Tell's rigging, and two determined efforts to board the British ship had been driven off as the ships were disentangled.

For half an hour, Lion continued to fire into the larger Guillaume Tell, but Dixon was unable to keep his ship completely out of range of the French broadsides and by 05:30 the subsequent damage showed an effect, Lion dropping back and falling behind the French vessel, although remaining within range alongside Penelope. At 06:00, Guillaume Tell came under attack for the third time, when Berry himself caught up with the battling ships in Foudroyant and pulled along the starboard broadside of the French ship of the line. Berry hailed Decrés to demand his surrender, and accompanied the demand with a triple-shotted broadside, to which Decrés responded with fire from his own guns. Foudroyant was flying a full set of sails and therefore suffered severe damage to its rigging in the opening exchange, the additional speed provided by this rig forcing Foudroyant to move ahead of the French vessel. After working back alongside Guillaume Tell, Berry recommenced fire that rapidly tore away much of the remaining French rigging, allowing Lion and Penelope to return to the battle while Foudroyant dropped back to make urgent repairs.

By 06:30 the badly outnumbered French ship had lost both its main and mizen masts, Foudroyant returning to the battle in time to collapse the foremast by 08:00. At 08:20, with no means of making sail and with wreckage obscuring most of his gun decks, Decrés surrendered to spare any further, fruitless, loss of life. His ship was in danger: the lack of masts and strong winds caused it to roll so severely that the lower deck gun ports had to be closed to prevent the ship from foundering. Casualties on the French ship numbered more than 200, from a crew of over 900, with both Decrés and Saulnier badly wounded. British losses were lighter, with eight killed and 64 wounded, including Berry, in Foudroyant, eight killed and 38 wounded in Lion and one killed and three wounded (one fatally) in Penelope. Damage was unevenly spread, Foudroyant suffering most severely, with the hull and all masts damaged, the mizzenmast so badly that it collapsed at approximately 12:00, wounding five more men. Lion was badly hit, although not so severely as Foudroyant while Penelope was only lightly damaged in the masts and rigging. The battle, which had begun within sight of Malta, had concluded roughly 21 nautical miles (39 km) south-west of Cape Passaro on Sicily.


A painting detailing the capture of the ‘Guillaume Tell’. She is shown on the left of the painting, with her last mast, the mizzen, falling forward over the starboard side, her ensign from the peak trailing in the water. This differs from the written accounts which describe the main and mizzen going first at 6.30 a.m. and the foremast was the last to go. Masking the ‘Guillaume Tell’s’ bow with her stern and gunsmoke is the ‘Foudroyant’. She has also lost her mizzen mast and there are shot holes in her sails. On the left and slightly further off is the ‘Penelope’ facing into the stern of the ‘Guillaume Tell’ while on the right of the picture is the Lion with her mizzen topmast gone and some of her guns not run out as they had been dismounted.

Aftermath
Both Foudroyant and Lion were too battered to provide an effective tow to the dismasted French ship, and as a result Penelope was left to bring the shattered Guillaume Tell into Syracuse on Sicily. Eventually the ship was repaired sufficiently for the journey to Britain, and there was added to the Royal Navy under the name HMS Malta. Malta was, with HMS Tonnant captured two years earlier at the Nile, the most powerful third rate in the British fleet, and served for many years, participating at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805.

The British officers were praised for the capture of Guillaume Tell, the last surviving French ship of the line to escape the Battle of the Nile: Nelson, who by his absence had "missed what would indeed have been the crowning glory to his Mediterranean career", wrote to Berry that "Your conduct and character in the late glorious occasion stamps your fame beyond the reach of envy." Despite Nelson's praise however, Berry in particular came in for subsequent criticism, especially from the historian William James, who wrote in his 1827 history of the conflict that:

"Had the Foudroyant, single-handed, met the Guillaume-Tell, the combat would have been between two of the most powerful ships that had ever so met; and, although the Foudroyant's slight inferiority of force, being chiefly in number of men, was not that of which a British captain would complain, still the chances were equal, that the Guillaume-Tell, so gallantly manned, and so ably commanded, came off the conqueror."
— William James, 1827,

James instead attributed most of the praise for the victory to Blackwood and Dixon, whose ships were heavily outmatched by Guillaume Tell, but who successfully pressed their attacks with the intention of delaying the French retreat. He also highly praised Decrés for his conduct in the engagement, stating that "A more heroic defence than that of the Guillaume-Tell is not to be found among the records of naval actions". First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte reached a similar conclusion, and when Decrés was exchanged soon after the battle he was presented with armes d'honneur, later converted to membership of the Légion d'honneur. He was also given the position of maritime prefect of the Biscay port of Lorient.

Aboard Guillaume Tell, the British found evidence of the severity of the food shortages in Valletta: "the only thing found in La Guillaume Tell was the leg of a mule, hung for safety and his especial use of the admiral's stern-galley". of the capture of Guillaume Tell was immediately passed to Vaubois by the British besiegers, along with a demand that he surrender the island. The French general, despite dwindling food supplies, refused, stating "Cette place est en trop bon état, et je suis moi-même trop jaloux de bien servir mon pays et de conserver mon honneur, pour écouter vos propositions." ("This place is in too good a situation, and I am too conscious of the service of my country and my honour, to listen to your proposals"). Despite Vaubois' defiance, the garrison was rapidly starving, and although the French commander resisted until 4 September, he was eventually forced to surrender Valletta and all of its military equipment to the British.

Action of 31 March 1800 - Wikipedia

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HMS Malta (1800) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1809 – Launch of French Triomphant, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy (of the Duquesne sub-class).


Triomphant was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy (of the Duquesne sub-class). Built in Rochefort in 1804, she was launched in 1809. She was converted to a hulk in 1828.

She served as the canonical 74-gun ship of the line in the Trianon model collection.






The model of the Triomphant is part of The Trianon model collection is a set of high-quality ship models ordered by Napoléon for documentary purposes.

In July 1810 Denis Decrès ordered 13 models to be constructed specially for the collection, while others, already built, were gathered. The models were built to a luxurious standard, with precious woods such as ebony and ivory used for the sculptures.

French ship Triomphant (1809) - Wikipedia

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Trianon model collection - Wikipedia

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Expositions - La "Collection Trianon" - Les collections du musée | Musée national de la Marine

Il s’agit d’une collection d’une quinzaine de modèles de navires de guerres rassemblée à la demande de Napoléon dans la galerie du Grand Trianon. Elle fut conçue pour représenter les différents types de navires en usage sous l’Empire, vaisseaux de ligne, frégate, corvettes et bricks, en passant...

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Oeuvre : Précisions - Maquette de bateau, Le Triomphant, vaisseau de 74 canons, 1809 | Les collections du musée | Musée national de la Marine

Notice d'oeuvre ''Maquette de bateau, Le Triomphant, vaisseau de 74 canons, 1809'' du musée ''Les collections du musée | Musée national de la Marine''

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Category:Scale model of Triomphant-MnM 17 MG 2 - Wikimedia Commons

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1898 – Launch of SMS Gazelle, the lead ship of the ten-vessel light cruiser Gazelle class, built by the Imperial German Navy.


SMS Gazelle was the lead ship of the ten-vessel light cruiser Gazelle class, built by the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the Germania werft shipyard in Kiel, laid down in 1897, launched in March 1898, and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in June 1901. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, Gazelle was capable of a top speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph).



Initially assigned to overseas service, Gazelle participated in the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03. She returned to German waters in 1904, and served with the fleet until 1914. She was employed as a coastal defense ship after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. She served in this role until the night of 25–26 January 1916, when she struck a mine off Cape Arkona. The Navy deemed Gazelle not worth repairing and reduced her to a mine storage hulk, a role she retained through the end of the war. In August 1920, she was stricken from the naval register and sold for scrap.


Design
Main article: Gazelle-class cruiser


Illustration of Gazelle

Gazelle was 105 meters (344 ft) long overall and had a beam of 12.2 m (40 ft) and a draftof 4.84 m (15.9 ft) forward. She displaced 2,963 t (2,916 long tons; 3,266 short tons) at full combat load.[1] Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion engines manufactured by AG-Germania. They were designed to give 6,000 shaft horsepower(4,500 kW), for a top speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph). The engines were powered by eight coal-fired Niclausse boilers. Gazelle carried 500 tonnes (490 long tons) of coal, which gave her a range of 3,570 nautical miles (6,610 km; 4,110 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She had a crew of 14 officers and 243 enlisted men.

Gazelle's armament consisted of ten 10.5 cm SK L/40 guns in single mounts. Two were placed side-by-side forward on the forecastle, six were located amidships, three on either side, and two were placed side-by-side aft. The guns could engage targets out to 12,200 m (40,000 ft). They were supplied with 1,000 rounds of ammunition, for 100 shells per gun. She was also equipped with three 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with eight torpedoes. One was submerged in the hull in the bow and two were mounted in deck launchers on the broadside.[3]

The ship was protected by an armored deck that was 20 to 25 mm (0.79 to 0.98 in) thick. The conning tower had 80 mm (3.1 in) thick sides, and the guns were protected by 50 mm (2.0 in) thick shields.

Service history


Illustration of Gazelle in heavy seas

Gazelle was ordered under the contract name "G" and was laid down at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel in 1897. She was launched on 31 March 1898, after which fitting-out work commenced. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 15 June 1901.

After her commissioning, Gazelle was sent overseas from 1902 to 1904, assigned to the American Squadron. Together with the unprotected cruiser Falke she proceeded to La Guaira and Carúpano in Venezuela to protect German nationals from expected fighting in June 1902, and the following weeks evacuated German and French nationals from the two cities to Saint Thomas.[5] Starting in December 1902, Gazelle participated in the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03. An Anglo-German naval force instituted a blockade of the Venezuelan coast to secure payment of foreign debts. Gazelle and the Falke were the German contribution to the blockading squadron; they joined four British cruisers and three smaller vessels in enforcing the blockade. The Venezuelan gunboat Restaurador was seized during the blockade. The Germans took her into service as SMS Restaurador and put a crew from Gazelle on board under the command of Kapitänleutnant (Captain Lieutenant) Titus Türk. In February 1903 the Venezuelan government reached an agreement to pay its debts, concluding the confrontation. In January 1904, Gazelle conducted a goodwill visit to the port of New Orleans, along with Vineta and two other warships. During this period she was commanded by then Korvettenkapitän Reinhard Scheer, the later commander of the High Seas Fleet.

After returning to Germany, she served with the High Seas Fleet until 1914, when she was reduced to a coastal defense vessel. She served in the Baltic Sea in the first two years after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. On 17 November, while patrolling in the Baltic, Gazelle was attacked by the British submarine HMS E9. The submarine fired a pair of torpedoes at the cruiser, but both missed. On the night of 25–26 January 1916, she struck Russian mines to the north of Cape Arkona. The mine explosion tore off both of her screws and she had to be towed back to port. On 22 February, the German Navy decided the old cruiser was not worth repairing, and so she was placed out of service She was converted into a hulk for minelayers, first at Danzig and then at Cuxhaven. In 1918, she was moved to Wilhelmshaven. After the end of the war, Gazelle was formally stricken from the naval register on 28 August 1920 and broken up for scrap in Wilhelmshaven.


The Gazelle class was a group of ten light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy at the turn of the 20th century. They were the first modern light cruiser design of the Imperial Navy, and set the basic pattern for all future light cruisers in Imperial service. The design of the Gazelle class attempted to merge the fleet scout with the colonial cruiser. They were armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a pair of torpedo tubes, and were capable of a speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph).

All ten ships served with the fleet when they were first commissioned, and several served on foreign stations in the decade before the outbreak of World War I. Most were used as coastal defense ships early in the war. Ariadne was sunk at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914, Undine was torpedoed in the Baltic by a British submarine in November 1915, and Frauenlob was sunk at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. The rest survived the war to see service with the Reichsmarine, with the exception of Gazelle, which was broken up in 1920.

Niobe was sold to Yugoslavia in 1925 and renamed Dalmacija, and the rest of the cruisers were withdrawn from service by the end of the 1920s and used for secondary duties or broken up for scrap. Medusa and Arcona were converted into anti-aircraft ships in 1940 and were scuttled at the end of World War II. Dalmacija was captured twice during the war, first by the Italians, who renamed her Cattaro, and then by the Germans, who restored the original name of Niobe. She ran aground in December 1943 and was subsequently destroyed by British Motor Torpedo Boats. Amazone was the only member to survive the war intact, as a barracks ship, and she remained in service until 1954, when she was broken up for scrap.




Undine at her launching




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

Gazelle-class cruiser - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1904 - in the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk was sunk after striking two mines near the Port Arthur naval base. A total of 18 officers, including an Imperial vice admiral and 620 men were lost.


Petropavlovsk (Russian: Петропавловск) was the lead ship of her class of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the last decade of the 19th century. The ship was sent to the Far East almost immediately after entering service in 1899, where she participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion the next year and was the flagship of the First Pacific Squadron.



At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Petropavlovsk took part in the Battle of Port Arthur, where she was lightly damaged by Japanese shells and failed to score any hits in return. On 13 April 1904, the ship sank after striking one or more mines near Port Arthur, in northeast China. Casualties numbered 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, the commander of the squadron, and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. The arrival of the competent and aggressive Makarov after the Battle of Port Arthur had boosted Russian morale, which plummeted after his death.

Design and description
The design of the Petropavlovsk-class ships was derived from the battleship Imperator Nikolai I, but was greatly enlarged to accommodate an armament of four 12-inch (305 mm) and eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns. While under construction, their armament was revised to consist of more powerful, higher-velocity, 12-inch guns; the 8-inch guns were replaced by a dozen 6-inch (152 mm) guns. The ships were 376 feet (114.6 m) long overall, with a beam of 70 feet (21.3 m) and a draft of 28 feet 3 inches (8.6 m). Designed to displace 10,960 long tons (11,140 t), Petropavlovsk was almost 400 long tons (410 t) overweight, displacing 11,354 long tons (11,536 t) when completed. The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, built by the British firm Hawthorn Leslie, each driving one shaft, using steam generated by 14 cylindrical boilers. The engines were rated at 10,600 indicated horsepower (7,900 kW) and designed to reach a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph), but Petropavlovsk reached a speed of 16.38 knots (30.34 km/h; 18.85 mph) from 11,255 ihp (8,393 kW) during her sea trials. She carried enough coal to give her a range of 3,750 nautical miles (6,940 km; 4,320 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Her crew numbered 725 men when serving as a flagship.

The four 12-inch guns of the main battery were mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. Designed to fire one round every 90 seconds, the actual rate of fire was half as fast. Their secondary armament consisted of twelve Canet six-inch quick-firing (QF) guns. Eight of these were mounted in four twin-gun wing turrets and the remaining guns were positioned in unprotected embrasures on the sides of the hull amidships. Smaller guns were carried for defense against torpedo boats, including a dozen QF 47-millimeter (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns and twenty-eight Maxim QF 37-millimeter (1.5 in) guns. They were also armed with six torpedo tubes, four 15-inch (381 mm) tubes above water and two 18-inch (457 mm) submerged tubes, all mounted on the broadside. The ships carried 50 mines to be used to protect their anchorage.

Russian manufacturers of the nickel-steel armor used by Petropavlovsk were unable to fulfill the existing demand, so the ship's armor was ordered from Bethlehem Steel in America. Her waterline armor belt was 12–16 inches (305–406 mm) thick. The main gun turrets had a maximum thickness of 10 inches (254 mm) and her deck armor ranged from 2–3 inches (51–76 mm) in thickness.

Construction and career


Petropavlovsk in Algiers, French North Africa, 1899

Petropavlovsk was named for the successful Russian defense during the 1854 Siege of Petropavlovsk.[5] Delayed by shortages of skilled workmen, design changes, and late delivery of the main armament, the ship was constructed over a period of six years. She was laid down on 19 May 1892, together with her two sister ships, at the Galernii Island Shipyard and launched on 9 November 1894. Her trials lasted from 1898 to 1899, after which she was ordered to proceed to the Far East. Petropavlovsk departed Kronstadt on 17 October and arrived at Port Arthur on 10 May 1900, becoming the flagship of Vice Admiral Nikolai Skrydlov and the First Pacific Squadron. In mid-1900, the ship helped suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China.[6] In February 1902, Vice Admiral Oskar Stark assumed command of the squadron from Skrydlov and raised his flag on Petropavlovsk. That same year, a radio was installed aboard the ship.

Battle of Port Arthur
Main article: Battle of Port Arthur
After the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, both Russia and Japan had ambitions to control Manchuria and Korea, resulting in tensions between the two nations. Japan had begun negotiations to reduce the tensions in 1901, but the Russian government was slow and uncertain in its replies because it had not yet decided exactly how to resolve the problems. Japan interpreted this as deliberate prevarication designed to buy time to complete the Russian armament programs. The situation was worsened by Russia's failure to withdraw its troops from Manchuria in October 1903 as promised. The final straws were the news of Russian timber concessions in northern Korea and the Russian refusal to acknowledge Japanese interests in Manchuria while continuing to place conditions on Japanese activities in Korea. These actions caused the Japanese government to decide in December 1903 that war was inevitable. As tensions with Japan increased, the Pacific Squadron began mooring in the outer harbor at night in order to react more quickly to any Japanese attempt to land troops in Korea.

On the night of 8/9 February 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. Petropavlovsk was not hit and sortied the following morning when the Japanese Combined Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, attacked. Tōgō had expected the night attack by his ships to be much more successful than it was, and anticipated that the Russians would be badly disorganized and weakened, but they had recovered from their surprise and were ready for his attack. The Japanese ships were spotted by the protected cruiser Boyarin, which was patrolling offshore and alerted the Russian defenses. Tōgō chose to attack the Russian coastal defenses with his main armament and engage the ships with his secondary guns. Splitting his fire proved to be a poor decision as the Japanese 8- and 6-inch guns inflicted little damage on the Russian ships, which concentrated all their fire on the Japanese ships with some effect. Petropavlovsk was lightly damaged in the engagement by one 6-inch and two 12-inch shells, killing two and wounding five. In return she fired twenty 12-inch and sixty-eight 6-inch shells at the Japanese battleships, but none hit. Displeased by the poor performance of the First Pacific Squadron, the Naval Ministry replaced Stark with the dynamic and aggressive Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, regarded as the navy's most competent admiral, on 7 March. As a result of the damage incurred in the attack by the more heavily armored Tsesarevich and the subsequent lengthy repair time, Makarov was compelled to retain Petropavlovsk as his flagship against his better judgement.

Sinking


A Japanese depiction of the sinking of Petropavlovsk. The original caption reads: "Picture of the Eighth Attack on Port Arthur. The Flagship of Russia Was Destroyed by the Torpedo of Our Navy and Admiral Makaroff Drowned."

Having failed to blockade or bottle up the Russian squadron at Port Arthur by sinking blockships in the harbor's channel, Tōgō formulated a new plan. Ships were to mine the entrance to the harbor and then lure the Russians into the minefield in the hopes of sinking a number of Russian warships. Covered by four detachments of torpedo boat destroyers, the minelayer Koru-Maru began to lay a minefield near the entrance to Port Arthur on the night of 31 March. The Japanese were observed by Makarov, who believed that they were Russian destroyers which he had ordered to patrol that area.

Early on the morning of 13 April, the Russian destroyer Strashnii fell in with four Japanese destroyers in the darkness while on patrol. Once her captain realized his mistake, the Russian ship attempted to escape but failed after a Japanese shell struck one of her torpedoes and caused it to detonate. By this time the armored cruiser Bayan had sortied to provide support, but it was only able to rescue five survivors before a Japanese squadron of protected cruisers attacked. Escorted by three protected cruisers, Makarov led Petropavlovsk and her sister Poltava out to support Bayan, while ordering the rest of the First Pacific Squadron to follow as soon as they could. In the meantime, the Japanese had reported the Russian sortie to Tōgō, who arrived with all six Japanese battleships. Heavily outnumbered, Makarov ordered his ships to retreat and to join the rest of the squadron that was just exiting the harbor. After the squadron had united and turned back towards the enemy, about two miles (3.2 km) from the shore, Petropavlosk struck one or more mines at 09:42 and sank almost instantly, taking with her 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Makarov and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. Seven officers and 73 men were rescued.

Makarov's arrival had boosted the morale of the squadron and his death dispirited the sailors and their officers. His replacement, Rear AdmiralWilgelm Vitgeft, was a career staff officer unsuited to lead a navy at war. He did not consider himself a great leader and his lack of charisma and passivity did nothing to restore the squadron's morale. A monument was constructed in Saint Petersburg in 1913 to honor Makarov after Japanese divers identified his remains inside the wreck of Petropavlovsk and gave him a burial at sea.

Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1894) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1914 - Newfoundland Sealing Disaster - two ships lost
SS Southern Cross – Lost with all 173 hands in a storm between 31 March and 3 April 1914. Believed to be near Cape Pine, Newfoundland.
SS Newfoundland - Of the 132 men aboard Newfoundland, 78 died, and many more were seriously injured.


SS Southern Cross was a steam-powered sealing vessel that operated primarily in Norway and Newfoundland and Labrador.

She was lost at sea returning from the seal hunt on March 31, 1914, killing all 174 men aboard in the same storm that killed 78 crewmen from the SS Newfoundland, a collective tragedy that became known as the "1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster".



Background
The vessel was commissioned as the whaler Pollux at Arendal, Norway in 1886, was barque-rigged, registered 520 tons gross, and was 146 feet (45 m) long overall.

Pollux was designed by Colin Archer, the renowned Norwegian shipbuilder. Archer had designed and built Nansen's ship Fram,which in 1896 had returned unscathed from its long drift in the northern polar ocean during Nansen's "Farthest North" expedition, 1893–96.

Pollux was sold to the Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink in 1897 and renamed Southern Cross,[4][5] for the Southern Cross Expedition.

Like several of the historic polar ships her post-expedition life was short; Southern Cross was sold in 1901 to Murray & Crawford, Glasgow, and took up seal hunting from Newfoundland. Southern Cross participated in every seal hunt from 1901–1914. In April 1914 was lost with all hands in a storm off the Newfoundland coast.

Southern Cross Expedition
See also: Southern Cross Expedition


SS Southern Cross ship on the Southern Cross Expedition ca 1899


Theodolite work in the ice pack, during Southern Cross Expedition, with the SS Southern Cross in the background


During the Southern Cross Expedition

For the Southern Cross Expeditions, Carsten Borchgrevink purchased the steam whaler Pollux and renamed her Southern Cross. She was taken to Colin Archer's yard in Larvik and fitted out for the expedition. Engines were designed to Borchgrevink's specification, and fitted before the ship left Norway.

On December 19, 1898 Southern Cross made its first Antarctic expedition where it made marine history by breaking through the Great Ice barrier to the unexplored Ross Sea.

Although Markham cast doubts on her seaworthiness (perhaps to thwart Borchgrevink's departure), the ship fulfilled all that was required of her in Antarctic waters.

1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster
The 1914 sealing fleet included both Southern Cross and SS Newfoundland (under Captain Westbury Kean). In addition to minor crew changes from 1913, the fateful decision to remove the wireless set and operator from Newfoundland was taken in order to cut costs.

The fleet left St. John's on March 13, 1914. Newfoundland lost 78 sealers from her crew when they were stranded on the ice for two nights. Just as the terrible news of the Newfoundland tragedy was reaching St. John's, Southern Cross fell out of normal communication. The people of Newfoundland remained hopeful that tragedy would not strike twice, as evidenced by the April 3 newspaper article below:

Nothing has been heard of the Southern Cross since she was reported off Cape Pine on Tuesday last, and the general opinion is that she was driven far off to sea. Various reports were afloat in the city last night, one in particular that she had passed Cape Race yesterday afternoon, but upon making enquiries this and the other reports were unfortunately found to be untrue. At 5:30 yesterday the Anglo [Anglo-American Telegraph Co.] got in touch with Cape Race and learned that she had not passed the Cape neither was she at Trepassey. A message from Captain Connors of the Portia said she was not St. Mary's Bay. A wireless message was sent by the government to the U.S. Patrol steamer Senaca, which is in the vicinity of Cape Race, asking her to search for the Cross. The S.S. Kyle will also leave tonight to make a diligent search for her and it is hoped that something will soon be heard from the overdue ship, as anxiety for her safety is increasing hourly. If she had been driven off to sea, which is the general opinion expressed by experienced seamen, it would take her some days to make land again. The ship is heavily laden and cannot steam at great speed.
— The Evening Telegram April 3, 1914

Unlike the tragedy of Newfoundland's crew, the disappearance of Southern Cross remained largely unexplained as no crewmen or record of the voyage survived. While a marine court of inquiry determined that the ship sank in a blizzard on March 31, little evidence exists to verify this. Oral tradition suggests that rotten boards gave out in the heavy sea and allowed the cargo to shift and capsize the steamer. Though the wreck of Southern Cross accounted for the greater human loss of the two shipwrecks, some historians argue that the emotional impact of the Newfoundland disaster was more intensely felt because of the horrific stories survivors were able to recount.

These two disasters together constitute what is referred to as the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster. A total loss of 251 lives from a country with a population of approximately 250,000 devastated families and communities. In his autobiographical book, Rockwell Kent describes the impact of the loss on Brigus, where many of the sealers from Southern Cross had lived. "It will pretty well clear out this place," said one resident of the ship's loss. According to Kent "The dread of the loss of this steamer had passed almost to certainty and the mention of the house, the wife, the children, the hopes and ambitions of any of those on her became a tragedy."

Legislative Response
In 1914–15, the government held a commission of inquiry to examine Newfoundland and Southern Cross sealing disasters. The commission's findings made it clear that sealers faced extraordinarily dangerous working conditions on the ice.

While legislation concerning the sealing industry had existed as early as 1873, most regulations concerned maintaining seal stock. In 1898 legislation put a limit on the number of men on each steamer, and one year later in 1899, some wage protection was instated for sealers. Arguably as a result of the 1914 Sealing Disaster and subsequent inquiries, further legislation was put in place in 1916, aimed directly at improving the safety standards and well-being of sealers. The new measures prohibited men from working in the dark; prohibited captains from ordering their crewmen to travel so far as to not be able to return to the ship within the day, and provided for rocket signals, search parties, masters' and mates' certificates, medical officers, thermometers, barometers, and better food and compensation.

In response to speculation that Southern Cross sank because of overloading, the government prohibited any ship from returning from a hunt with more than 35,000 pelts, and the Minister of Fisheries began to mark "load lines" on sealing vessels. Any ship that returned to port with its "load line" below the water would be heavily fined.

Public response
Public sympathy was very evident after the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster. By April 27, 1914, a disaster fund set up to aid survivors and their families amounted to $88,550. It's notable that this was not limited to the sealing disasters; it was common practice in society at the time to respond to industrial accidents in this way.

In popular culture
The vessel was the subject of the book Death on the Ice by Cassie Brown, and a 1991 National Film Board of Canada documentary I Just Didn't Want to Die: The 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Newfoundland sealing disaster, an animated short entitled "54 Hours" was produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
A novel about the sinking by Tim B. Rogers titled The Mystery of the SS Southern Cross was published in 2014.
The loss of so many lives on Southern Cross has caused the incident to be written in a song entitled Southern Cross.


The SS Newfoundland was a sealing ship involved in an event known as the "1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster". 78 sealers from the ship died due to the extreme weather conditions on March 30, 1914.


SS Newfoundland with Capt. W. Kean, captain at time of 1914 sealing disaster

1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster
On March 30, 1914, Newfoundland was jammed in ice off the northern coast of Newfoundland. Her captain, Wes Kean, could see signals from the SS Stephano, commanded by his father Abram Kean, indicating that there were seals several miles away. He sent his crew in that direction across the ice to begin killing seals, under command of his first mate, expecting that if the weather worsened they would stay overnight aboard Stephano. When the men reached Stephano, Abram Kean gave the men lunch and then ordered them back onto the ice to kill seals and find the Newfoundland, despite signs of worsening weather.


SS Stephano

As a storm began that afternoon, both the captain of Newfoundland and the captain of the nearby Stephano thought the men were safely aboard the other man's vessel. The company which owned Newfoundland had removed the ship's radio transceiver because it was an added expense which did not contribute to profits. Newfoundland's captain, believing that the men were aboard Stephano, did not blow the ship's whistle to signal his location, which would have allowed his men to find the ship in the darkness and rain. The sealers endured two nights without shelter, first in a freezing rain storm and then in a snow storm.

The dead and survivors alike were picked up around 54 hours later by another ship in the fleet, SS Bellaventure, under Captain Isaac Randell. Of the 132 men aboard Newfoundland, 78 died, and many more were seriously injured. This disaster occurred during the same storm in which SS Southern Cross sank with all hands. The total loss from all three sealing ships totaled over 250 lives and the collective tragedy became known as the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster.


Carrying survivors and bodies to SS Bellaventure after the SS Newfoundland sealing disaster

This event was the subject of the book Death on the Ice by Cassie Brown, and two National Film Board of Canada documentaries: "I Just Didn't Want to Die": The 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster (1991) and the multimedia short 54 Hours (2014).

After the 1914 sealing disaster
The Newfoundland was sold to Job Brothers & Co. in 1915 and her name was changed to Samuel Blandford in 1916. A poem about this was written by James Murphy on January 27, 1916.

The vessel was wrecked when she struck the Keys, near St. Mary's Bay on August 3, 1916.

Heritage
Another Newfoundland vessel carried the name Newfoundland for many years afterwards. This steel steam-liner was mobilized as part of the merchant navy and during peacetime acted as a passenger liner, usually pointing her bow towards Boston or Liverpool





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Southern_Cross_(1886)

SS Newfoundland - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1941 - HMS Bonaventure – while escorting a convoy from Greece to Alexandria, the British cruiser was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Ambra. 139 of her complement were killed and 310 rescued.


HMS Bonaventure was a Dido-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. Bonaventure participated as an escort vessel in Operation Fish, the World War II evacuation of British wealth from the UK to Canada. It was the largest movement of wealth in history.

On 10 January 1941 she, along with HMS Southampton and/or HMS Hereward, shelled and sank the Italian torpedo boat Vega off Cape Bon, Tunisia, Operation "Excess". Two members of her crew were killed by return fire.

On 31 March 1941 she was torpedoed and sunk south of Crete (33°20′N 26°35′E) by the Italian submarine Ambra with the loss of 139 of her 480 crew. 310 survivors rescued by HMS Hereward and HMAS Stuart.


Photograph of British cruiser HMS Bonaventure.




The Dido class was a class of sixteen (including five within the Bellona sub-class) light cruisers built for the British Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the inter-war Arethusa-class light cruisers. The first group of three ships were commissioned in 1940, the second group (six ships) and third group (two ships) were commissioned between 1941–1942. The Bellona subclass ships were commissioned between 1943 and 1944. Most members of the class were given names drawn from classical history and legend. Post war in the expanded 1951 programme of the Korean War Emergency a broad beam Bellona class armed with 4 twin Mk 6 4.5 guns was considered as a cruiser option along with the 1951 Minotaur class and the Tiger class completed with two Mk 24 6 inch turrets and 4 twin Mk 6 4.5. From the initial trials of the lead ship of the class, Bonaventure the new light cruisers were considered a significant advance, [3] with the 5.25 turrets, far more modern in design than previous light cruiser turrets, and offering efficient loading up to 90 degrees to give some DP capability. While some damage was experienced initially in extreme North Atlantic conditions, modified handling avoided the problem. The fitting of the three turrets forward in A,B and Q position depended on some use of Aluminium in structure and the non availability of aluminium after Dunkirk was one of the reasons for only 4 turrets being fitted to the later ships.

The Dido class were designed as small trade protection cruisers and for action in the Mediterranean Sea, where they were surprisingly effective in protecting crucial convoys to Malta and managed to see off far larger ships of the Italian Royal Navy. The 5.25-inch (133 mm) gun was primarily a surface weapon, but it was intended to fire the heaviest shell suitable for anti-aircraft defence and accounted for around 23 aircraft and saw off far more. Four original Dido-class ships were lost during the war: HMS Bonaventure, HMS Charybdis, HMS Hermione, and HMS Naiad. The original ship of the class, HMS Dido, was mothballed in 1947 and decommissioned ten years later. HMS Euryalus was the last remaining in-service ship of the original class, being decommissioned in 1954 and scrapped in 1959.



HMS Argonaut in her War (Dazzle) Colours, Date Unknown probably 1943 just after repairs at Philadelphia.

The Bellona class (as well as four rebuilt Dido ships) were mainly intended as picket ships for amphibious warfare operations, in support of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy and United States Navy in the Pacific. HMS Spartan was the only ship of the sub-class to be sunk, struck by a German Fritz X while supporting the Anzio landings. Post war modernisation proposals were limited by the tight war emergency design which offered inadequate space and weight for the fire control and magazines for four or five 3-inch twin 70 turrets combined with the fact the heavy-to-handle 5.25-inch shells[6] fitted when the cruisers were built had a large burst shock which made them a more effective high level AA weapon than post war RN 4.5-inch guns. HMS Royalist was somewhat different from the rest of the class, as it was modified to be a command ship of aircraft carrier and cruiser groups intended for action against German battlecruisers. It was later ordered to be rebuilt, by Winston Churchill, for potential action alongside HMS Vanguardagainst the post-war Soviet Sverdlov-class cruisers and Stalingrad-class battlecruisers. In 1956, Royalist was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), with whom it served until 1966. Despite being part of the RNZN, Royal Navy officers made up the majority of the senior command. During the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, it was regarded not only as the last Dido-class ship but also the last cruiser of the Royal Navy. The ship was decommissioned in 1967.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bonaventure_(31)

Dido-class cruiser - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
31 March 1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.


USS Missouri (BB-63) ("Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo") is an Iowa-class battleship and was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II.


USS Missouri at sea in her 1980s configuration

Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theater of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands, and she fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. She was decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets (the "Mothball Fleet"), but reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991.


Missouri (left) transfers personnel to Iowa in advance of the surrender ceremony planned for 2 September.

Missouri received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, and was finally decommissioned on 31 March 1992 after serving a total of 17 years of active service, but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in January 1995. In 1998, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.


Museum ship (1998 to present)
See also: Iowa-class battleship § Cultural significance


Missouri in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; aft deck and 16-inch (406 mm) gun turret

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the absence of a perceived threat to the United States came drastic cuts in the defense budget, and the high cost of maintaining and operating battleships as part of the United States Navy's active fleet became uneconomical; as a result, Missouri was decommissioned on 31 March 1992 at Long Beach, California after 16 total years of active service. Her last commanding officer, Captain Albert L. Kaiss, wrote in the ship's final Plan of the Day:

Our final day has arrived. Today the final chapter in battleship Missouri’s history will be written. It's often said that the crew makes the command. There is no truer statement ... for it's the crew of this great ship that made this a great command. You are a special breed of sailors and Marines and I am proud to have served with each and every one of you. To you who have made the painful journey of putting this great lady to sleep, I thank you. For you have had the toughest job. To put away a ship that has become as much a part of you as you are to her is a sad ending to a great tour. But take solace in this—you have lived up to the history of the ship and those who sailed her before us. We took her to war, performed magnificently and added another chapter in her history, standing side by side our forerunners in true naval tradition. God bless you all.
— Captain Albert L. Kaiss

Missouri facing the sunken Arizona, symbols of the beginning and the end of WWII for the USA.

Missouri returned to be part of the United States Navy reserve fleet at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, until 12 January 1995, when she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. She remained in Bremerton, but was not open to tourists as she had been from 1957 to 1984. In spite of attempts by citizens' groups to keep her in Bremerton and be re-opened as a tourist site, the U.S. Navy wanted to pair a symbol of the end of World War II with one representing its beginning. On 4 May 1998, Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton signed the donation contract that transferred her to the nonprofit USS Missouri Memorial Association (MMA) of Honolulu, Hawaii. She was towed from Bremerton on 23 May to Astoria, Oregon, where she sat in fresh water at the mouth of the Columbia River to kill and drop the saltwater barnacles and sea grasses that had grown on her hull in Bremerton, then towed across the eastern Pacific, and docked at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor on 22 June, just 500 yd (460 m) from the Arizona Memorial. Less than a year later, on 29 January 1999, Missouri was opened as a museum operated by the MMA.


Plaque commemorating the surrender of Japan to end World War II

Originally, the decision to move Missouri to Pearl Harbor was met with some resistance. The National Park Service expressed concern that the battleship, whose name has become synonymous with the end of World War II, would overshadow the battleship Arizona, whose dramatic explosion and subsequent sinking on 7 December 1941 has since become synonymous with the attack on Pearl Harbor. To help guard against this impression Missouri was placed well back from and facing the Arizona Memorial, so that those participating in military ceremonies on Missouri's aft decks would not have sight of the Arizona Memorial. The decision to have Missouri's bow face the Arizona Memorial was intended to convey that Missouri watches over the remains of Arizona so that those interred within Arizona's hull may rest in peace.

A gun from Missouri is paired with a gun formerly on Arizona at the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza just east of the Arizona state capitol complex in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is part of a memorial representing the start and end of the Pacific War for the United States.

Missouri was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 14 May 1971 for hosting the signing of the instrument of Japanese surrender that ended World War II. She is not eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark because she was extensively modernized in the years following the surrender.

On 14 October 2009, Missouri was moved from her berthing station on Battleship Row to a drydock at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to undergo a three-month overhaul. The work, priced at $18 million, included installing a new anti-corrosion system, repainting the hull, and upgrading the internal mechanisms. Drydock workers reported that the ship was leaking at some points on the starboard side. The repairs were completed the first week of January 2010 and the ship was returned to her berthing station on Battleship Row on 7 January 2010. The ship's grand reopening occurred on 30 January.

Appearances in popular culture
Missouri was central to the plot of the film Under Siege, and the ship was prominently featured in another movie, Battleship. As Missouri has not moved under her own power since 1992, shots of the ship at sea were obtained with the help of three tugboats.[46] The music video for Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" was also filmed aboard the Missouri. The U.S. Navy, which had granted permission to shoot the video there, was unhappy with the sexual nature of the performance.

USS Missouri (BB-63) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 31 March


1671 – Launch of Phoenix – launched 31 March 1671

Vessels of 1668–1669 Programmes:
Nonsuch – launched 22 December 1668
Phoenix – launched 31 March 1671


1678 – Launch of French Arc en Ciel, 40–46 guns, launched 31 March 1678 at Toulon – deleted 1698.

Ferme class, designed by François Chapelle, with 20 x 12-pounder, 20 x 6-pounder and 4 x 4-pounder guns:
Ferme, 40–46 guns, launched 29 January 1678 at Toulon – renamed Laurier in June 1678; sold April 1692.
Arc en Ciel, 40–46 guns, launched 31 March 1678 at Toulon – deleted 1698.


1804 HMS Scorpion (18), George Hardinge, and HMS Beaver (14), Charles Pelly, cut out Dutch brig Atalante (16), Cptn. Carp (Killed in Action) from the Vlie passage at the entrance to the Texel.

On 31 March the 14-gun ship-sloop Beaver, under Commander Charles Pelly (or Pelley), arrived. That night Hardinge led five boats, three from Scorpion and two from Beaver, with about 60 officers and men, including Pelly, to attack Atalanta, which was under the command of Captain Carp. Hardinge was first on deck. The decks were slippery after rain and he fell as he tackled a mate of the watch but he recovered and killed the mate. Hardinge then engaged Carp, who disarmed Hardinge; Woodward Williams, Scorpion's master, saved Hardinge, who then called on Carp to surrender. Carp kept on fighting until the British killed him. This necessity greatly distressed Hardinge, who admired Carp’s courage.

The Dutch finally surrendered after having lost their captain and three other men killed, and twelve officers and men wounded. All the British casualties were Scorpion's; she had five wounded, including Williams and Lieutenant Buckland Bluett. The British put forty of the Dutch into irons below deck and prepared to capture the other brig. However, a gale came up and at daybreak they saw that the gale had moved the vessels too far apart.

The gale lasted three days and until it passed it prevented the British from bringing Atalanta out. Eventually, the British sailed Atalanta back to Britain but did not take her into service.



HMS Scorpion was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1803. She was the first of the class to be built since the launching of Cruizer in 1797. Scorpion had a long and active career during the Napoleonic Wars, earning her crews three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal when the Admiralty authorized it in 1847, two for single-ship actions. She also took a number of prizes. Scorpion was sold in 1819.

HMS Scorpion (1803) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Collections - National Maritime Museum

1813 Batteries at Morjean, a small harbour between Marseilles and Toulon, and 3 vessels destroyed and 11 vessels captured by HMS Undaunted (38), Cptn. Thomas Ussher, HMS Redwing (18), Sir John Gordon Sinclair, and HMS Volontaire.

HMS Undaunted was a Lively-class fifth-rate 38-gun sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy, built during the Napoleonic Wars, which conveyed Napoleon to his first exile on the island of Elba in early 1814.


HMS Undaunted at Frejus in France waiting to convey Napoleon to Elba, by Anton Schranz

HMS Undaunted (1807) - Wikipedia

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1823 Boats of HMS Tyne (24), Cptn. Walcott, and HMS Thracian (18), John Walter Roberts, captured pirate schooner Zarajonaza in the Old Bahama Channel

HMS Tyne (1814) was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1814 and sold in 1825.


1851 – Launch of HMS Barracouta was the last paddle sloop built for the Royal Navy

HMS Barracouta was the last paddle sloop built for the Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched in 1851. She served in the Pacific theatre of the Crimean War, in the Second Opium War and in the Anglo-Ashanti wars. She paid off for the last time in 1877 and was broken up in 1881.


Barracouta and the boats of HMS Calcutta engaging mandarin junks in the capture of the French Folly Fortin China on 6 November 1856

HMS Barracouta (1851) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1854 - Commodore Matthew C. Perry and Japanese officials sign the Treaty of Kanagawa, opening trade between U.S. and Japan. The treaty also provided protection for American merchant seamen wrecked in Japanese waters.

Matthew C. Perry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1866 The Bombardment of Valparaíso on 31 March 1866 happened after the Chincha Islands War, when a Spanish fleet shelled, burned and destroyed the undefended port of Valparaíso.

Bombardment of Valparaíso - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1885 – Launch of HMS Mersey was a Mersey-class second class protected cruiser.

HMS Mersey was a Mersey-class second class protected cruiser. They were relatively modern, in that they were the first cruisersthat had discarded their sailing rigs in the design, that was synonymous with the old wooden warships, and were now solely steam powered warships. She was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 31 March 1885, but had a relatively mundane career and was sold for breaking in 1905



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Mersey_(1885)

Mersey-class cruiser - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1885 – Launch of Katsuragi (葛城) was the lead ship in the Katsuragi class of three composite hulled, sail-and-steam corvettes of the early Imperial Japanese Navy.

Katsuragi (葛城) was the lead ship in the Katsuragi class of three composite hulled, sail-and-steam corvettes of the early Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named for a mountain located between Osaka and Nara prefectures.



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

Katsuragi-class corvette - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1892 – Launch of USS Raleigh (C-8) was a United States Navy protected cruiser of the Cincinnati class, commissioned in 1894 and in periodic service until 1919.

The second ship named Raleigh, was laid down on 19 December 1889 at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia; launched 31 March 1892; sponsored by Mrs. Alfred W. Haywood; and commissioned on 17 April 1894, Captain Merrill Miller in command.[3] The ship was named after the City of Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Raleigh_(C-8)


1893 – Launch of SMS Gefion ("His Majesty's Ship Gefion")was an unprotected cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the last ship of the type built in Germany.

SMS Gefion ("His Majesty's Ship Gefion")[a] was an unprotected cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the last ship of the type built in Germany. She was laid down in March 1892, launched in March 1893, and completed in June 1895 after lengthy trials and repairs. The cruiser was named after the earlier sail frigate Gefion, which had been named for the goddess Gefjonof Norse mythology. Intended for service in the German colonial empire and as a fleet scout, Gefion was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns, had a top speed in excess of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph), and could steam for 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi), the longest range of any German warship at the time. Nevertheless, the conflicting requirements necessary for a fleet scout and an overseas cruiser produced an unsuccessful design, and Gefion was rapidly replaced in both roles by the newer Gazelle class of light cruisers.

Gefion initially served with the main German fleet and frequently escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern on trips to other European countries, including a state visit to Russia in 1897. In late 1897, Gefion was reassigned to the East Asia Squadron; she arrived there in May 1898. The ship took part in the Battle of Taku Forts in June 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion in China. She returned to Germany in 1901 and was modernized, but she did not return to service after the work was finished in 1904. She was to be mobilized after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but a crew could not be assembled due to shortages of personnel. Instead, she was used as a barracks ship in Danzig from 1916 to the end of the war. In 1920, she was sold, converted into a freighter, and renamed Adolf Sommerfeld. She served in this capacity for only three years, and was broken up for scrap in Danzig in 1923.



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


1896 – Launch of Fuji (富士) was the lead ship of the Fuji class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy by the British firm of Thames Iron Works in the late 1890s.

Fuji (富士) was the lead ship of the Fuji class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy by the British firm of Thames Iron Works in the late 1890s. The ship participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, including the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war with her sister Yashima. Fuji fought in the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima and was lightly damaged in the latter action. The ship was reclassified as a coastal defence ship in 1910 and served as a training ship for the rest of her career. She was hulked in 1922 and finally broken up for scrap in 1948.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Fuji
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuji-class_battleship


1914, March 31 – Huertistas gunboat Guerrero sinks Constitutionalist gunboat Tampico at the Third Battle of Topolobampo

The Third Battle of Topolobampo was a single ship action during the Mexican Revolution. At the end of March 1914, a Constitutionalist gunboat attempted to break the blockade of Topolobampo, Sinaloa after failing in the First and Second Battles of Topolobampo. Constitutionalist warship, Tampico, was sunk in a battle lasting a few hours by a Huertista gunboat.

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


1917 - Rear Adm. James H. Oliver takes possession of the Danish West Indies for the United States, and they are renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands. He also becomes the first governor of the islands under American control.

James Harrison Oliver - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1945 - USS Morrison (DD 560) and USS Stockton (DD 646) sink the Japanese submarine I 8, 65 miles southeast of Okinawa.

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 April 1572 – In the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.


The Capture of Brielle by the Watergeuzen, on 1 April 1572 marked a turning point in the uprising of the Low Countries against Spain in the Eighty Years' War. Militarily the success was minor as the port of Brielle was undefended, but it provided the first foothold on land for the rebels at a time when the rebellion was all but crushed, and it offered the sign for a new revolt throughout the Netherlands which led to the formation of the Dutch Republic.


Depiction of the capture of Den Briel. Jan Luyken, 1679



Overview
The Watergeuzen were led by William van der Marck, Lord of Lumey, and by two of his captains, Willem Bloys van Treslong and Lenaert Jansz de Graeff. After they were expelled from England by Elizabeth I, they needed a place to shelter their 25 ships. As they sailed towards Brielle, they were surprised to find out that the Spanish garrison had left in order to deal with trouble in Utrecht. On the evening of April 1, the 600 men sacked the undefended port.[1] As they were preparing to leave, one of the men said there was no reason they should leave where they were.

Legacy
Dutch students are taught a short rhyme to remember this event:

Op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril,
meaning "On April 1st, Alva lost his glasses," making a pun between bril, Dutch for 'glasses', and the name of the town, Brielle or Den Briel.

"1 april" is the Dutch name for April Fools' Day.

The Capture of Brielle is still celebrated by its inhabitants each year on the first of April. Festivities include a reenactment of the battle and with a tradition called kalknacht (chalk night) where during the night before the festivities begin in earnest the mostly adolescent participants use lime chalk to write slogans and draw pictures on windows. The kalknacht tradition is frowned upon by many and the police often fine anyone caught with chalk after latex paint was used by a small number of participants which caused damage to cars, streets and houses in 2002. The kalknacht origins lie in the actions of locals who painted chalk on the doors of those citizens and officials who were loyal to Spanish rule. By doing this they targeted those houses for the Geuzen to find all people who could resist the capture.

In literature
The Capture of Brielle and its aftermath forms a major part of the plot in Cecelia Holland's novel The Sea Beggars - though the depiction in the book in many ways departs from the historical facts



Battle between Dutch and Spanish ships on the Haarlemmermeer, 26 May 1573. Sailing before the wind from the right are the Spanish ships, identified by the flags with a red cross. Approaching from the left are the ships of the Sea Beggars. Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom.

Additional Info:
Geuzen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣøːzə(n)]; French: Les Gueux, English: the Beggars) was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands.
The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋaːtərɣøːzə(n)]; French: Gueux de mer, English: Sea Beggars). In the Eighty Years' War, the Capture of Brielle by the Watergeuzen in 1572 provided the first foothold on land for the rebels, who would conquer the northern Netherlands and establish an independent Dutch Republic. They can be considered either as privateers or pirates, depending on the circumstances or motivations.


Dutch Ships Ramming Spanish Galleys off the Flemish Coast in October 1602, 1617, oil on canvas by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom and Cornelis Vroom


Origin of the name
The leaders of the nobles who signed a solemn league known as the Compromise of Nobles, by which they bound themselves to assist in defending the rights and liberties of the Netherlands against the civil and religious despotism of Philip II of Spain were Louis of Nassau, and Hendrick van Brederode. On 5 April 1566, permission was obtained for the confederates to present a petition of grievances, called the Request, to the regent, Margaret, Duchess of Parma. About 250 nobles marched to the palace accompanied by Louis of Nassau and Brederode. The regent was at first alarmed at the appearance of so large a body, but one of her councillors, Berlaymont, allegedly remarked "N'ayez pas peur Madame, ce ne sont que des gueux" (Fear not madam, they are only beggars).


Traditional emblem of the Geuzen.

The appellation was not forgotten. In a speech at a great feast held by some 300 confederates at the Hotel Culemburg three days later, Brederode declared that if need be they were all ready to become beggars in their country's cause. Henceforward the name became a party title. The patriot party adopted the emblems of beggary, the wallet and the bowl, as trinkets to be worn on their hats or their girdles, and a medal was struck having on one side the head of Philip II, on the other two clasped hands with the motto Fidèle au roy, jusqu'à porter la besace ("Loyal to the King, up to carrying the beggar's pouch"). The original league of Beggars was short-lived, crushed by Alva, but its principles survived and were to be ultimately triumphant.

In the Dutch language the word geuzennaam is used for linguistic reappropriation: a pejorative term used with pride by the people called that way.

Sea Beggars

William II de la Marck (1542-1578), a leader of the Sea Beggars.


Capture of Brielle, 1 April 1572 (Frans Hogenberg).

In 1569 William of Orange, who had now openly placed himself at the head of the party of revolt, granted letters of marque to a number of vessels manned by crews of desperadoes drawn from all nationalities. Eighteen ships received letters of marque, which were equipped by Louis of Nassau in the French Huguenot port of La Rochelle, which they continued to use as a base.[3][4] By the end of 1569, already 84 Sea Beggars ships were in action.

The sea beggars were powerful military units that made capturing coastal cities easy. These fierce privateers under the command of a succession of daring and reckless leaders, the best-known of whom is William de la Marck, Lord of Lumey, were called "Sea Beggars", "Gueux de mer" in French, or "Watergeuzen" in Dutch. At first they were content merely to plunder both by sea and land, carrying their booty to the English ports where they were able to refit and replenish their stores.

However, in 1572, Queen Elizabeth I of England abruptly refused to admit the Sea Beggars to her harbours. No longer having refuge, the Sea Beggars, under the command of Willem Bloys van Treslong, made a desperate attack upon Brielle, which they seized by surprise in the absence of the Spanish garrison on 1 April 1572. Encouraged by this success, they now sailed to Vlissingen, which was also taken by a coup de main. The capture of these two towns prompted several nearby towns to declare for revolt, starting a chain reaction that resulted in the majority of Holland joining in a general revolt of the Netherlands, and is regarded as the real beginning of Dutch independence.

In 1573 the Sea Beggars defeated a Spanish squadron under the command of Admiral Bossu off the port of Hoorn in the Battle on the Zuiderzee. Mixing with the native population, they quickly sparked rebellions against Duke of Alba in town after town and spread the resistance southward.

Some of the forefathers of the Dutch naval heroes began their naval careers as Sea Beggars, such as Evert Heindricxzen, the grandfather of Cornelis Evertsen the Elder.

Capture of Brielle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Geuzen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 April 1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War.


The recapture of Bahia (Spanish: Jornada del Brasil; Portuguese: Jornada dos Vassalos) was a Spanish-Portuguese military expedition in 1625 to retake the city of Salvador da Bahia in Brazil from the forces of the Dutch West India Company (WIC).


The Recovery of Bahía de Todos los Santos, by Fray Juan Bautista Maíno, Museo del Prado.

In May 1624, Dutch WIC forces under Jacob Willekens captured Salvador Bahia from the Portuguese. Philip IV, king of Spain and Portugal, ordered the assembly of a Spanish-Portuguese fleet with the objective of recovering the city. Sailing from the port of Lisbon, under the command of Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza, who was appointed Captain General of the Army of Brazil, the fleet crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived at Salvador on April 1 of 1625. The town was besieged for several weeks, after which it was recaptured. This resulted in the expulsion of the Dutch from the city and the nearby areas. The city was a strategically important Portuguese base in the struggle against the Dutch for the control of Brazil.




Background
On December 22 of 1623 a Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Jacob Willekens and Vice Admiral Pieter Heyn consisting of 35 ships, of which 13 were owned by the United Provinces, while the rest belonged to the WIC, sailed from Texel carrying 6,500 men en route to Cape Verde, where they arrived after being scattered by a storm. There Willekens was revealed that his objective was the capture of the city of Salvador da Bahia, on the coast of Brazil, in order to use its port as a commercial base to ensure the Dutch trade with the East Indies. In addition they would control much of the sugar production in the region, as Salvador was a major center of its production in the area. These intentions to invade Brazil were soon reported to the court of Madrid by the Spanish spies in the Netherlands, but Count-Duke of Olivares did not give them credit.

Campaign
Dutch capture
Main article: Capture of Bahia


A Dutch Squadron attacking a Portuguese Fortress in the Far East or Brazil. Oil on panel by Adam Willaerts.

On May 8 the Dutch fleet appeared off Salvador. The Portuguese governor of Salvador, Diogo de Mendonça Furtado, tried to organized the defense of the town with 3,000 men hastily recruited, mostly Portuguese militia of peasant levees and black slaves, all of them resentful to Spanish rule. The port was protected by sea by two forts: Fort Santo António from the east and Fort São Filipe from the west. Additionally a six-gun battery was erected on the beach and the streets were barricaded.

The Dutch fleet entered the bay divided into two squadrons. One sailed towards the beach of Santo António and disembarked the soldiers commanded by Colonel Johan van Dorth. The other anchored off the town and opened fire over the coastal defenses, which were quickly neutralized. At dawn the city was surrounded by more than 1,000 Dutch soldiers with 2 pieces of artillery. Intimidated, the Portuguese militia threw their weapons and fled, leaving Mendonça with 60 loyal soldiers. Salvador had been captured at a cost of 50 casualties among the attackers.

Willekens and Heyn installed a garrison under the command of Dorth before departing on new missions, according to the orders they had received. Four ships were sent to Holland carrying booty and news back, and also instructions to call for reinforcements to secure Salvador. The defenses of the city were reinforced and expanded with moats and ramparts and the garrison was soon increased to up 2,500 men with numerous Portuguese slaves seduced by promises of freedom and land.

However, the Dutch garrison soon began to be harassed by the local guerrilla organized by Bishop Dom Marcos Teixeira, who had escaped inland. He managed to assemble a force of 1,400 Portuguese and 250 Indians auxiliaries, who built fortifications and organized ambushes against the Dutch acting under woodland. In an attempt to drive off the attackers from the outskirts, Dorth himself was killed, and morale sagged. He was replaced by Albert Schoutens, who also perished in another ambush, being replaced by his brother Willem.

Iberian Expedition


Engraving by Benedictus Mealius Lusitanus, in Jornada dos Vassalos da Coroa de Portugal, Lisbon, 1625.

When news of the loss of Salvador arrived to Spain in August 1624, Philip IV ordered to assemble a joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet under Admiral Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza with the mission to retake the city. On November 22, the Portuguese fleet under Manuel de Menezes, with Francisco de Almeida as second in command, left Lisbon. It was composed by 22 ships and about 4,000 men. The Spanish fleet left the port of Cadiz on January 14 after the delay caused by bad weather. It was composed by 38 ships belonging to the armadas of Castile, Biscay, Gibraltar and Cuatro Villas, among them 21 galleons. It had 8,000 sailors and soldiers on board, being those latter divided in three Tercios, of whom one was Italian and the other two Spanish. Its commanding officers were the maestros de campo Pedro Osorio, Juan de Orellana and Carlos Carraciolo, Marquis of Torrecuso. The commander-in-chief of the joint army was Pedro Rodríguez de Sebastián, seconded by Sargento Mayor Diego Ruiz.

After passing through the Canary Islands on January 28, the Spanish fleet arrived at Cape Verde on February 6, where it joined the Portuguese fleet. This one had lost a ship and 140 men drowned in the shoals of the Isle of Maio. Five days later, after holding a council of war, the joint fleet sailed to Brazil. After waiting for some Portuguese ships delayed by rough seas and 7 caravels under the command of Francisco de Moura sent from Pernambuco, the fleet entered the Bay of Todos os Santos on March 29.

Siege

Detail of a map showing the joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet recapturing Salvador, Bahia in 1625, Atlas of Brazilby João Teixeira Albernaz I (1631)

Toledo anchored his fleet forming a huge crescent to prevent the escape of the Dutch ships in the bay. At dawn of the following day 4,000 soldiers landed at Santo António beach with food and supplies for four days. They joined up with the Portuguese guerrilla and occupied the field above Salvador. The Dutch were forced back within their walls, warping their 18 ships beneath the protection of their batteries. Their strength at that time amounted to 2,000 Dutch, English, French and German soldiers and about 800 black auxiliaries.

The quarters of Carmen and San Benito, located both outside the walls, were occupied by the Tercios, and a new one, named Las Palmas, was built. Siege warfare ensued, with the artillery firing over the Dutch fortifications from these positions and the pioneers driving saplines toward the Dutch ramparts. The defenders launched several sporadic attacks to obstruct the siege works. During one of these sallies, maestro de campo Pedro Osorio and 71 Spanish officers and soldiers were killed and another 64 wounded. Nevertheless, the siege continued.

Two days later, the Dutch attempted to break the blockade sending two fire ships against the anchored Spanish-Portuguese fleet, but they didn’t cause any damage. Some mutinies emerged among the defenders following this failure, and Willem Schoutens was deposed and replaced by Hans Kyff. He was forced to capitulate few weeks later, when the siege lines finally reached Salvador’s moats. 1,912 Dutch, English, French and German soldiers surrendered, and 18 flags, 260 guns, 6 ships, 500 black slaves and considerable amount of gunpowder, money and merchandise were captured.

Aftermath
Several days after the Dutch surrender, a relief fleet of 33 ships under Admiral Boudewijn Hendricksz, seconded by Vice Admiral Andries Veron, bearded down upon the bay divided in two columns. Toledo, who was warned about its arrival, disposed 6 galleons to lure them to a murderous crossfire. However, seeing the large Spanish-Portuguese fleet anchored inside, Hendricksz decided to withdraw to open sea. Spanish warships attempted to pursue him but a galleon ran aground and the chase was abandoned. Hendricksz divided his fleet in three groups. One of them returned to Holland with the supplies and ammunition for the garrison of Salvador; the other two attacked respectively the Spanish Caribbean colonial town of San Juan de Puerto Rico and the Portuguese African trading post of the Castle of Elmina but were both decisively defeated.

Francisco de Moura Rollim, appointed governor of Salvador by Fadrique de Toledo, remained in the town with a garrison of 1,000 Portuguese soldiers. During the journey back to Spain, 3 Spanish ships and 9 Portuguese ships sank in storms. Maestro de Campo Juan de Orellana was among the drowned men. The Dutch prisoners were returned to the Low Countries aboard five German store ships, being the officers judged on their arrival by the loss of the city. The Dutch did not return to Brazil until 1630, when they conquered Pernambuco from the Portuguese.


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

Capture of Bahia - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 April 1724 - Launch of french 50 gun ship of the line Jason at Le Havre, designed and built by Jacques Poirier



Jason 50, later 52 guns (launched 1 April 1724 at Le Havre, designed and built by Jacques Poirier) – Captured by the British in the First Battle of Cape Finisterre in May 1747 and added to the RN under the same name, sold 1763.

HMS Jason (1747) was a 44-gun fifth rate captured from the French in 1747 and sold in 1763.


The vessels portrayed in this print are 'Diamond' (1747), 'Jason' (1747) and 'Ruby' (1745). The British fleet was under the command of Lord Anson and Sir Peter Warren.

Le Jason as 50-gun ship in the french Navy from 01.04.1724 until 06/1746

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2296


French Merchantman east indiaman 'Le Jason' (1746) from 06 / 1746 until 03.05.1747 when she was captured during the
1st Battle of Cape Finisterre

1st Battle of Cape Finisterre, 3rd May 1747

Description and participants : 1st Battle of Cape Finisterre, 3rd May 1747 (1747/05/14 NS)

threedecks.org

No scale. Plan showing the stern board outline with decoration detail, the starboard stern quarter gallery with decoration detail, and the starboard profile of the figurehead for Jason (1747), a captured French two-decker, possibly prior to fitting as a 44 gun Fifth Rate, two-decker.

and finally the HMS Jason as 44-gunner between 03.05.1757 until she was sold at 15.03.1763

British Fifth Rate ship of the line 'Jason' (1747)

British Fifth Rate ship of the line 'Jason' (1747). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Jason_1747

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2296

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=17454

British Fifth Rate ship of the line 'Jason' (1747)

British Fifth Rate ship of the line 'Jason' (1747). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 April 1761 - HMS Isis (50) took French Oriflamme (56).
Oriflamme was not brought into the Royal Navy, but was instead sold into spanish mercantile service.


Oriflamme was a 56-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was ordered on 16 February 1743 and built at Toulon Dockyard by engineer-constructor Pierre-Blaise Coulomb, and launched on 30 October 1744. She carried 24 x 18-pounder guns on her lower deck, 26 x 8-pounder guns on her upper deck, and 6 x 4-pounder guns on her quarterdeck (although the latter smaller guns were removed when she was rebuilt at Toulon from August 1756 to July 1757). The ship was named for the long, multi-tailed red banner that was historically the battle standard of the medieval French monarchy.

She narrowly survived one encounter with the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War, but was captured during a later engagement by HMS Isis off Cape Trafalgar]], on 1 April 1761. She was not taken into British service but was used as a merchant ship, ending her days in Spanish service. She sailed on her last voyage in 1770, but her crew apparently succumbed to a plague and the ship was lost at sea.



French career

The oriflamme of the Capetian dynasty.

Following her reconstruction in 1756-57, the Oriflamme served during the Seven Years' War, and had an encounter with a superior British squadron in late February 1758, when she was chased off the Spanish coast by the 60-gun HMS Montagu, under Captain Joshua Rowley and the 74-gun HMS Monarch under Captain John Montagu. They chased Oriflamme onshore, but owing to Spain's neutrality at the time, did not attempt to destroy her, and Oriflamme was later salvaged.

Oriflamme again encountered the British, this time when she was chased by the 50-gun HMS Isis, under Captain Edward Wheeler, off the Mediterranean coast of Morocco on 1 April 1761. The two engaged at 6pm, with Wheeler being killed early in the exchange of fire. Command then devolved to Lieutenant Cunningham, who on seeing that the French ship was trying to escape towards Spain, ran aboard her, and soon forced her to strike her colours. Oriflamme, which had been armed en flûte and was carrying between 40 and 50 guns during the action, had 50 killed and wounded from her complement of around 370. Isis had four killed, including Wheeler, and nine wounded. The captured Oriflamme was brought into Gibraltar.


Representacion Artistica, de la Calma que precedío el Naufragio

Spanish career
Oriflamme was not brought into the Royal Navy, but was instead sold into mercantile service. She appears to have then entered Spanish service, and was sold at auction to the company of Juan Baptista de Uztaris, Bros & Co.

She set sail on her final voyager on 18 February 1770, departing Cadiz under the command of Captain Joseph Antonio de Alzaga, with Joseph de Zavalsa as Master and Manuel de Buenechea as pilot. On 25 July she was sighted by the Gallardo, whose captain, Juan Esteban de Ezpeleta, knew de Alzaga. The Gallardo signalled to her with a cannon shot, but it went unanswered. The first officer of the Gallardo, Joseph de Alvarez, was sent to investigate and found that the Oriflama had been swept by a mysterious plague. Half the crew had already died, and the rest were dying, with only thirty men barely able to haul a sail.

De Alvarez returned to his ship and a boatload of supplies was prepared, but bad weather drove the ships apart and it was impossible to catch up with the Oriflama. It was reported that as the crew of the Gallardo prayed for the safety of the men of the Oriflama, a ghostly light illuminated the latter's sails and she was seen to sail away into the night. On 28 July wreckage of the Oriflama and some bodies were washed up on the coast of Chile near the mouth of the Huenchullami River.

The following spring Manuel de Amat y Juniet, the Viceroy of Peru, sent Juan Antonio de Bonachea, apparently a relative of the pilot of the Oriflama (Buenechea and Bonachea were interchangeable spellings), with trained divers to search for the wreck, but the search was abandoned in January 1772.



The Isis late the Diamant of 56 Guns, captured from the French 1747. Vol II page 116 (PAF7935)

The second HMS Isis (1747) was the French ship Diamant captured in 1747 and converted to a 50-gun fourth-rate, continuing in use until 1766.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, inboard profile (no waterlines), and longitudinal half-breadth for Isis (captured 1747), a captured French Fourth Rate, prior to being fitted as a 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Note that she is listed under her french name 'Diamond', which was ordered to be changed to 'Isis' on 17 October 1747 by Admiralty Order. NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 226 states that an Admiralty Order dated 16 June 1747 had 'Isis' surveyed at Portsmouth Dockyard. she was renamed by Admiralty Order dated 17 October 1747. 'Isis' arrived at Portsmouth Dockyard on 19 May 1747 and was docked on 4 March 1748. She was undocked and sailed on 15 March 1748 having been surveyed. Isis underwent a small repair at Portsmouth between 19 April 1748 and 7 March 1749.

French ship Oriflamme (1744) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 April 1797 - HMS Tartar, a 28-gun Lowestoffe-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, wrecked off Saint-Domingue


HMS Tartar was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.



Naval career
Tartar was designed by Sir Thomas Slade and based on the Lyme of 1748, "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns."

The ship was first commissioned in March 1756 under Captain John Lockhart, and earned a reputation as a fast sailer during service in the English Channel. She made many captures of French ships during the Seven Years' War, including 4 in 1756 and 7 the following year.

Vessels captured or sunk by Tartar during the Seven Years' War

Date	Ship	Home port	Type	Fate	Ref.
August 1756	Le Cerf	Saint-Malo, France	Privateer, 24 guns & 200 crew	Captured, 23 killed	[2][3]
By October 1656	Hero	Saint-Malo, France	Privateer, 14 guns & 162 crew	Captured, 1 killed	[2]
October 1656	Le Grand Gideon	Granville, France	Privateer, 22 guns & 215 crew	Captured, 7 killed	[2][3]
October 1756	Le Montrozier	La Rochelle, France	Privateer, 3 guns & 190 crew	Captured, 58 killed	[2][3]
March 1757	La Victoire	Le Havre, France	Privateer, 24 guns & 275 crew	Captured, 30 killed	[2][3]
April 1757	Le Duc d'Aguillon	Saint-Malo, France	Privateer, 26 guns & 303 crew	Captured, 47 killed	[2][3]
May 1757	La Penelope	Morlaix, France	Privateer, 18 guns & 190 crew	Captured, 14 killed	[2][3][a]
October 1757	La Comtesse de Gramont	Not recorded	Privateer, 18 guns	Captured	[3]
November 1757	La Melpomene	Bayonne, France	Privateer, 26 guns	Captured	[3]

During the peace that followed, the ship sailed to Barbados carrying a timekeeper built by John Harrison, as a part of a series of experiments used to determine longitude at sea. She also served in the American Revolutionary War, capturing the Spanish Santa Margarita of 28 guns off Cape Finisterre on 11 November 1779.

She went on to see further service during the French Revolutionary War. On 14 December the French frigate Minerve captured off the island of Ivica the collier Hannibal, which was sailing from Liverpool to Naples. However, eleven days later, Tartar recaptured the Hannibal off Toulon and sent her into Corsica.

Tartar was part of the fleet under Lord Hood that occupied Toulon in August 1793. With HMS Courageux, Meleager, Egmont and Robust, she covered the landing, on 27 August, of 1500 troops sent to remove the republicans occupying the forts guarding the port. Once the forts were secure, the remainder of Hood's fleet, accompanied by 17 Spanish ships-of-the-line which had just arrived, sailed into the harbour. Tartar was wrecked off Saint-Domingue on 1 April 1797.



Scale 1:48. Plan showing sheer lines and only one water line for Tartar (1757), a 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigate, as being altered during repairs at Chatham by Mr Nicholson's Yard. The decks were raised, as shown by the ticked red lines. Annotation: top right: "A Copy was sent to Mr Belshar the Overseer 2nd December 1790."


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and longitudinal half breadth for building Lowestoff (1756) and Tartar (1756), both 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates. Note the French influence on the designs bow shape, single bitts, and wheel abaft mizzen. Top right: "A Copy of this Draught was given to Mr Graves of Lime house for Building a 28-guns, p. 13th June 1755. Do to Mr Randell....of Rotherhithe."

HMS Tartar (1756) - Wikipedia

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 April 1801 – Launch of HMS Jackal (or Jackall) and HMS Escort, both Bloodhound-class brigs of the Royal Navy


HMS Jackal (or Jackall) was a Bloodhound-class brig of the Royal Navy, launched in 1801. She captured a number of small prizes in the Channel, including one armed sloop, before she was lost in 1807.




Service
Jackal was built to a design by Sir John Henslow. The Royal Navy commissioned her in April 1801 under the command of Lieutenant George Pattison, for the Nore. In 1802 Lieutenant William Hicks replaced Pattinson. An investigation by the Victualling Commissioners resulted in a court martial dismissing Hicks from the Navy for what was a kick-back scheme. Further investigation implicated the commanders of six more vessels in accepting over-charging by suppliers at Margate.

Lieutenant Charles Tovey Leaver recommissioned Jackal in April 1803.

On the afternoon of 29 September 1803, Jackall sighted and chased a sloop running along the shore between Nieuport and Dunkirk. The wind fell so Leaver sent 11 men in a boat to board the quarry. As the British approached, the sloop ran ashore near three field pieces and a small battery of two guns, and her crew of 10 or 12 men escaped on shore. Jackall, which had been using her sweeps, and with the assistance of a light breeze that had arisen, came up and provided support for the boat and the sloop, which the boarding party had gotten off. The sloop turned out to be from Dunkirk, armed with four 2-pounder guns, and possibly serving to transport troops. Despite the fire from the sloop before she grounded, and the guns on shore, which were within 25 yards of the sloop, the British sustained no casualties. The sloop turned out to be San Façon.

In June 1804 Jackall detained and sent into Dover Vrow Elina, of Embden, which was sailing from Dort to France.

In 1804 Lieutenant Charles Stewart replaced Leaver. Stewart was captain on 14 June when Jackall intercepted three luggers off Kent. She was able to capture two, Io, of Deal, and Nancy, both of which turned out to be smuggling brandy and gin from Guernsey. Stewart sent them into Dover.

Jackall came into Deal with the loss of her fore top-mast on 23 September.

Still, in October, Jackal detained and sent into Dover Juno, Schels, master, which had been carrying wheat from Amsterdam to Cadiz.

On 10 January 1805 Jackal sailed from Deal with a pilot, Mr Kercaldie, on board to replace the floating light on the Galloper Sand. This had broken loose from its moorings in the December gales that swept it through the Downs on 18 December when a Deal boat put two men on board and took it in to Dover.

Jackall was in company with Blazer and Furious on 20 April and so shared in the capture on that day of Dorothea.

In mid-August Vrow von Scholten, Fitzpatrick, master, came into the Downs after Jackall detained her. Vrow von Scholten had been sailing from St Thomas's to Amsterdam.

On 10 February 1806 Jackall recaptured Pomona, John Lemon, master. Pomona had been sailing from St Kitt's to London when a Dutch privateer had captured her. Jackall sent Pomona into the Downs.

Then on 12 April Jackall arrived in the Downs with two vessels she had detained.

The next day Jackall captured Printz Henrick, Krohn, master. At the end of the month, on 30 April, Jackall captured Mentor, Lutjberg, master. Mentor, of and for Uddevalla, had been sailing from Rochelle.

On 25 June, Amelia, Escort, Jackall, and Minx captured sundry Dutch fishing boats.

In February 1807, Jackall towed Thames, Maule, master, on a voyage from London to Jamaica, into Ramsgate after Thames ran into difficulties off Fecamp. Maule reported that he had seen the French carry into Dieppe a large ship that had been dismasted. Stewart reported that there were a number of dismasted ships near the coast and that many may have been driven on shore. Furthermore, he had seen a number of men of war dismasted and anchored near the French coast.

Jackall, Furious, Mariner, and Minx shared in the proceeds of the capture on 13 April of Twee Gebroeders, Moller, master. Lloyd's List reported the vessel as Twee Gesusters, and that she had been sailing from Normande to Norway when Lynx and Jackall had detained her and sent her into the Downs.

Fate
On 29 May 1807 Jackal was in the North Sea when she sighted and gave pursuit to a French privateer lugger, which eventually escaped into Dunkirk. As the weather worsened in the evening Jackal attempted to head back to the Downs, but grounded in the night. The crew manned the pumps until dawn, when they discovered that they were on the French shore, about three miles from Calais. As the tide rose, Jackal sank around 5 a.m., at which point the crew took to the rigging. By 8 a.m. the tide had gone out sufficiently that all were able safely to go ashore, whereupon the French took them prisoner.

The court martial for the loss of Jackal did not take place until 16 June 1814, presumably after her officers and crew returned from captivity.


Bloodhound Class

HMS Jackal (1801) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

British gun-brig 'Jackall' (1801)

British gun-brig 'Jackall' (1801). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org

British Bloodhound Class

Details and list of Ships built to the Bloodhound Class design

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 April 1809 – Launch of HMS Milford, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Milford Haven.


HMS Milford was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 1 April 1809 at Milford Haven. She was designed by Jean-Louis Barrallier as a large class 74, and was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24 pdrs on her upper gun deck, instead of the 18 pdrs found on the middling and common class 74s.

Milford was placed on harbour service in 1825, and was broken up in 1846







Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Milford' (1809), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan may represent her as fitted at Plymouth Dockyard after launch in 1809


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, and miship section for 'Milford' (1809), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, building at Milford Haven by Mr Jacobs


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the orlop deck with internal elevations of the store rooms and cabins, for 'Milford' (1809), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker

HMS Milford (1809) - Wikipedia

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Collections - National Maritime Museum

British Third Rate ship of the line 'Milford' (1809)

British Third Rate ship of the line 'Milford' (1809). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources

threedecks.org