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

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 February 1918 - The Cattaro mutiny or Kotor mutiny


The Cattaro mutiny or Kotor mutiny was an unsuccessful revolt by sailors of part of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in early 1918, inspired by the October Revolution. The mutiny took place in the Cattaro naval base.

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A mutineers' meeting aboard an Austro-Hungarian warship at the Bay of Cattaro in February 1918

As World War I progressed, the cumulative effects of wartime economic and social disorganization became pervasive and the discipline of Austro-Hungarian soldiers and sailors became undermined. Hunger, cold and naval inaction resulted in complaints, desertions and strikes. Revolutionary propaganda fuelled by the example of the Russian Revolution now spread among soldiers and workers.

On February 1, 1918 a mutiny started in the Fifth fleet division at the Cattaro Bay naval base on the Adriatic Sea. Sailors on about 40 ships had joined the mutiny. Initial demands for better treatment were soon replaced by political demands and a call for peace.

The mutiny failed to spread to other units. On February 3, the loyal Third fleet arrived and together with coastal artillery engaged in a short and successful skirmish against the mutineers. About 800 sailors were imprisoned, dozens were court-martialedand four seamen were executed (the leader of the uprising, Bohemian social democrat Franz Rasch and three Croats – Mate Brničević from Omiš, Antun Grabar from Poreč and Jerko Šižgorić from Šibenik).

The Commander-in-Chief of the fleet, Admiral Maximilian Njegovan, was retired and replaced by Miklós Horthy, who was promoted to Counter-admiral.

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The austro-hungarian fleet


https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/cattaro_mutiny_of
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
1 February 1972 - SS V.A. Fogg, a modified T2 tanker built in 1943, as SS Four Lakes, exploded and sank


SS V.A. Fogg was a modified T2 tanker built in 1943, as SS Four Lakes. After service in World War II, she was eventually sold into private ownership. She was renamed V.A. Fogg in 1971, shortly before she exploded and sank off Freeport, Texas.


Service history
Construction

The ship was built by the Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company in Mobile, Alabama, as a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker for the U.S. Maritime Commission.[1] She was launched on 21 December 1943 and completed by 26 January 1944.

World War II
Like most other merchant ships during the war, Four Lakes was fitted with a defensive armament. This consisted of a 5"/38 caliber dual purpose gun at the stern, a 3"/50 caliber dual purpose gun in the bows, and eight 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. These were operated by a crew of 29 men of the Naval Armed Guard; a lieutenant, 25 gunners and three signalmen.

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The Four Lakes was operated under charter on behalf of the War Shipping Administration by War Emergency Tankers, Inc., and sailed from Mobile on her maiden voyage on 29 January 1944, commanded by Captain Elmer O. Wolfe. She arrived at Galveston, Texas, the following day to take aboard a cargo of kerosene, which she delivered to New York on 9 February. She then sailed to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on a cargo of gasoline, before returning to New York, where she joined a convoy bound for Liverpool, England, arriving there on 12 March. Four Lakes returned to New York, for another cargo of gasoline in April and made two further trans-Atlantic round trips in May and June, often with an additional cargo of aircraft on her deck. On 1 July she sailed in convoy to Casablanca, French Morocco, carrying fuel and aircraft. After offloading she sailed to Gibraltar, and was promptly placed in quarantine for 10 days, because of a suspected outbreak of bubonic plague in Casablanca. After three weeks she joined a convoy bound for New York, arriving there on 3 August. Four Lakes sailed on two further convoys between the U.S. and the U.K. in August and September, before taking a cargo of gasoline from New York to Naples, Italy, in October. On 23 November, under the command of C. E. Cather, she sailed in convoy from New York to Swansea, Wales, with a cargo of aviation fuel, returning to Baltimore, Maryland, on 23 December.

On 19 January 1945, following a refit, and once again under the command of Elmer O. Wolfe, Four Lakes sailed independently from New York to Madras, India, via the Suez Canal, with a cargo of 100-octane fuel and 12 military aircraft on deck. She arrived at Madras on 20 February, unloaded and then sailed via Calcutta for Abadan, Iran, at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, to take on a cargo of 80-octane gasoline. She transited the Suez Canal, and arrived at Naples on 7 April to unload. She then sailed for New York, arriving on 23 April. The next day she joined another convoy, which arrived in the Thames Estuary on 5 May, two days before the German surrender. Four Lakes sailed from Southend, Essex, on 8 May, and although the war in Europe was officially over, the normal wartime routine was maintained, with the ship sailing in convoy with a naval escort, and arriving at New York on 19 May. On 4 June, following a refit, and under the command of James R. McWilliams, with a cargo of 100-octane gasoline and P-51 Mustang fighters as deck cargo, she sailed for Madras, India, arriving there on 4 July. She then sailed to Abadan to take on a load of diesel oil, before proceeding independently to Darwin, Australia. From Darwin she sailed with two other merchant vessels, escorted by three warships, to the Philippines, arriving at Manila on 22 August. Following the surrender of Japan on 2 September, Four Lakes sailed across the Pacific, and in late October, carried diesel fuel from the Panama Canal Zone to San Pedro, California. She then sailed through the Panama Canal, and arrived at Houston, Texas, on 19 November. In December, she sailed to Hamburg, Germany.

SS V.A. Fogg.jpg

Post-war
In February 1946, the Four Lakes was rechartered to the American Petroleum Transport Corporation, and in July, carried a cargo from Texas City, Texas, to Baltimore, Maryland. She was again chartered to the American Petroleum Transport Corp. in 1947, but otherwise remained as part of the Reserve Fleet at Mobile, Alabama.

She was finally sold in 1956 to Tanker Four Lakes, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware, and was operated under a bareboat charter by Texas City Refinery, Inc. (later renamed Texas City Tankers, Inc.) on routes between the Gulf Coast and the East Coast, transporting a variety of petrochemical products.

In 1959 the ship was extended by the Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Company by cutting the hull in half and inserting a new midsection, built by the American Bridge Division of Orange, Texas, part of the U.S. Steel Corporation. This increased the length of the ship from 523 feet (159 m) to 572 feet (174 m), and increased her size from 10,448 to 12,569 gross register tons (GRT).

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Wreck of the "V.A. Vogg", ex. "Four Lakes". Explosion damage to the V.A. Fogg from the USCG accident report


Sinking
In 1971 Four Lakes was sold to Ithaca Corporation of Wilmington, Delaware, and was renamed V.A. Fogg on 11 August.

On 1 February 1972, the ship, commanded by Captain John Edward Christy, Sr., sailed from Freeport, Texas to a point 50 miles (80 km) offshore to clean its cargo tanks of remaining benzene residue, before sailing to Galveston to load a cargo of xylene. The ship exploded during the cleaning operation, sending up a column of smoke over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in height.

On 1 February, a large smoke cloud was reported by a NASA pilot and a commercial airliner. A coastguard aircraft flew to the cloud and investigated it. Due to lack of light it stopped searching after two hours but returned the next morning. Nothing was spotted after nearly three hours. Later that day the company notified the coastguard that the tanker was overdue leading to the smoke being associated with the tanker. Two aircraft together with surface vessels were dispatched to search.

The Coast Guard carried out aerial and surface searches over ten days finding some debris. These searches were chiefly to the southwest of the ship's actual position. The ship was found by MV Miss Freeport using sidescan sonar. Divers positively identified the wreck on 13 February.

A private charter hired by family members, found the vessel, from the coordinates of a NASA pilot that saw a mushroom cloud in the Gulf, and a person off the Galveston jetties that saw a ball of fire. The private charter took those two coordinates and went directly to V. A. Fogg. A search found the ship lying in 100 feet (30 m) of water in two sections, in position 28°35′36.6″N 94°48′44.937″WCoordinates:
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28°35′36.6″N 94°48′44.937″W.

An examination revealed that the cargo section was almost totally destroyed by the explosion, and the engine order telegraph still registering "full ahead". All of V.A. Fogg's crew members lost their lives. However, the chief radio officer, William A. Shaw, had left the ship for an emergency medical procedure only a few hours before the ship exploded.

The Coast Guard investigation revealed a lack of proper training by the crew or contractors in venting and cleaning benzene, which can explode if residual fumes come in contact with an electrical charge; such a charge may have come from a "red devil" blower, a device used to ventilate spaces. Witnesses had seen red devil blowers lowered into the holds by the crew in the past, and one was recovered from the wreckage, in the hold and rigged to be used.

Within a year of her sinking, V. A. Fogg was subject to the writings of various Bermuda Triangle authors, some contending that no bodies were recovered except that of the captain, who was found sitting in his cabin still holding a coffee cup. The explanations were easily refuted by official United States Coast Guard records and photographs, as well as the recovery of several bodies. John Wallace Spencer (author of Limbo of the Lost) claimed the incident had "paranormal" connections, for which he was widely ridiculed by fellow researchers and skeptical writers alike. In fact, three bodies were recovered (only two, including the captain, were identified), and it was not even close to the Bermuda Triangle.

Currently, the wreckage of V.A. Fogg shares space with a number of sunken Liberty ships and barges in what has since been called the Freeport Liberty Ship Reef Site, an underwater park catering to scuba enthusiasts and fishermen.

Memorial
An anchor from V. A. Fogg is on display outside the Texas City Museum, Texas City, with a plaque commemorating the 39 men lost aboard her.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_V._A._Fogg
http://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id219.htm
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 1 February


1625 - The Action of one February 1625 was a naval engagement between a Portuguese fleet and an allied Anglo-Dutch fleet, that took place on 1 to 24 February 1625 in the Persian gulf.

The Action of one February 1625 was a naval engagement between a Portuguese fleet and an allied Anglo-Dutch fleet, that took place on 1 to 24 February 1625 in the Persian gulf. Although an allied tactical victory, with the Anglo-Dutch force inflicting several times their losses on the Portuguese, it resulted in a strategic Portuguese victory as they were able to regain the control of the Persian gulf.

Ships involved
Allies

  • England:
  • Eagle - 1 killed
  • Royal James - 13 killed
  • Jonas - 11 killed
  • Star - 4 killed
  • Netherlands:
  • South Holland
  • Bantam
  • Maud of Dort
  • Weasope
Portugal
  • São Francisco 48 (Don Aliud Batellia) - 38 killed
  • São Francisco 32 (Francisco Burge) - 31 killed
  • São Sebastião 40 (António Teles de Meneses) - 20 killed
  • São Salvador 22 - 41 killed
  • Santiago 22 - 83 killed,
  • Trindade 24 (Alva Botelia) - 24 killed
  • Santo António 22 - 22 killed, sank later
  • Misericórdia 22 (Samuel Rodriguez Chava) - 3 killed
  • galleys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_1_February_1625


1659 – Birth of Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (d. 1729)

Jacob Roggeveen (1 February 1659 – 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but instead came across Easter Island (called Easter Island because he landed there on Easter Day). Jacob Roggeveen also encountered Bora Bora and Maupiti of the Society Islands and Samoa. He planned the expedition along with his brother Jan Roggeveen, who stayed in the Netherlands.

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


1706 – Launch of French Saint Michel 70, later 74 guns (Designed and built by Alexandre Gobert) at Lorient – broken up 1719


1779 – Launch of Spanish Miño 54 at Ferrol - BU 1814


1779 – Launch of Spanish Castilla (or San Félix) 64 at Ferrol - Aground in storm & burnt by the French 1810


1793 - France declared war on Britain and Holland starting Revolutionary War.

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


1793 - Adam Duncan promoted to Vice Admiral.


Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan (1 July 1731 – 4 August 1804) was a British admiral who defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown (north of Haarlem) on 11 October 1797. This victory is considered one of the most significant actions in naval history

800px-Adam_Duncan,_1st_Viscount_Duncan_by_John_Hoppner.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Duncan,_1st_Viscount_Duncan


1798 – Launch of Quatorze Juillet, a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line

Quatorze Juillet was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
During her completion, she was accidentally set afire and was destroyed before being commissioned.

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


1942 - USS Enterprise (CV 6) and USS Yorktown (CV 5) make the first World War II air strike against the Japanese at their outposts in the Marshall Islands to protect the Trans-Pacific supply route to Australia.


1944 - Three US Navy submarines, Guardfish (SS 217), Hake (SS 256) and Seahorse (SS 304), attack Japanese convoys, sinking a destroyer, cargo ship and another vessel.


1944 - USS Guest (DD 472) and USS Hudson (DD 475) sink the Japanese submarine I-171 off the Bismarck Archipelago.


1945 - USS Jenkins (DD 447), USS OBannon (DD 450), USS Bell (DD 587) and destroyer escort Ulvert M. Moore (DE 442) sink the Japanese submarine RO 115, 125 miles southwest of Manila.
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1688 – Death of Abraham Duquesne, French admiral (b. 1610)


Abraham Duquesne, marquis du Bouchet (c. 1610 – 2 February 1688) was a French naval officer, who also saw service as an admiral in the Swedish navy. He was born in Dieppe, a seaport, in 1610, and was a Huguenot. He was the son of a naval officer and therefore became a sailor himself, spending his early years in merchant service.

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Service in the French navy
In 1635, he was capitaine de vaisseau (captain) in the French navy. In 1636, he was appointed to the "Neptune" squadron. In May 1637 he gained some fame for capturing the island of Lerins from the Spanish. Around this time, his father died in a conflict with the Spanish, which permanently increased his animosity towards them and he sought revenge. He fought them viciously at the Battle of Guetaria in 1638, during the expedition to Corunna in 1639, and in the battles at Tarragona in 1641, Barcelona and the Cabo de Gata.

Service in the Swedish navy
Duquesne then left to join the Royal Swedish navy in 1643. On the side of the Swedes, he fought the Danish fleet at the Battle of Colberger Heide where King Christian IV himself was in command of the Danish fleet, in the frigate Regina 34. Later in the Battle of Fehmarn Belt, the Danes were decisively defeated, their admiral Pros Mund killed and his ship taken. After a peace had been reached between the Danes and the Swedes in 1645, he returned to France.

Return to French service

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Bombardment of Algiers in 1682, by Abraham Duquesne.

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Bombardment of Genoa by Duquesne in 1684, by Beaulieu le Donjon.

He suppressed a revolt at Bordeaux (which was materially supported by his most hated foe, the Spanish) in 1650, during the Fronde outbreaks. During that same year, he created at his own expense a squadron with which he blockaded the Gironde, forcing that city to surrender. This earned him a promotion in rank to chef d'escadre (Rear-Admiral), a castle, and a gift of the entire isle of Indre, Loire-Atlantique. The French and the Spanish made peace in 1659, which left him to fight pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1667 he was promoted 'Lieutenant-Général (Vice-Admiral). He distinguished himself in the Third Dutch War, fighting as second in command of the French squadron at the Battle of Solebay and later supporting the insurgents in the revolt of Messina from Spain, fighting Admiral Michel Adriaanzoon de Ruyter, who had the united fleets of Spain and the United Provinces under his command. He fought the combined Dutch-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Stromboli and the Battle of Augusta where De Ruyter was mortally wounded. On 2 June he was present as second in command when the French fleet under Comte and Vivonne attacked and partly destroyed the combined Spanish-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Palermo, which secured French control of the Mediterranean. For this accomplishment he received a personal letter from Louis XIVand was given, in 1681, the title of marquis along with the estate of Bouchet, even though he was a Protestant.

Duquesne also fought the Barbary pirates in 1681 and bombarded Algiers between 1682 and 1683. In response the Algerians tied the French consul Jean Le Vacher to their huge Baba Merzoug cannon and blasted him towards the French fleet in July 1683. Another French consul received the same treatment in 1688, and the cannon became known as La Consulaire. Duquesne bombarded Genoa in 1684.

Last years

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Plaque and heart of Admiral Duquesne

In that same year, 1684, he retired from poor health. He may have foreseen the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, though he was exempted from the proscription. He died in Paris on 2 February 1688.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Duquesne
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1712 - George Anson entered the navy as a volunteer on board HMS Ruby (1708 - 54)


Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, PC, FRS (23 April 1697 – 6 June 1762) was a Royal Navy officer. Anson served as a junior officer during the War of the Spanish Succession and then saw active service against Spain at the Battle of Cape Passaro during the War of the Quadruple Alliance. He then undertook a circumnavigation of the globe during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Anson commanded the fleet that defeated the French Admiral de la Jonquière at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre during the War of the Austrian Succession.

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Anson went on to be First Lord of the Admiralty during the Seven Years' War. Among his reforms were the removal of corrupt defence contractors, improved medical care, submitting a revision of the Articles of War to Parliament to tighten discipline throughout the Navy, uniforms for commissioned officers, the transfer of the Marines from Army to Navy authority, and a system for rating ships according to their number of guns.

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Family and early career
Anson was the son of William Anson of Shugborough in Staffordshire and Isabella Carrier, whose brother-in-law was the Earl of Macclesfield and Lord Chancellor, a relationship that proved very useful to the future admiral. He was born on 23 April 1697, at Shugborough Manor. In February 1712, amid the War of the Spanish Succession, Anson entered the navy at the age of 15. He served as a volunteer aboard the fourth-rate HMS Ruby, before transferring to the third-rate HMS Monmouth.

Promoted to lieutenant on 17 March 1716, he was assigned to the fourth-rate HMS Hampshire in service as part of a Baltic Sea fleet commanded by Admiral John Norris.[6] Anson transferred to the aging fourth-rate HMS Montagu in March 1718, and saw active service against Spain at the Battle of Cape Passaro in August 1718 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance. He then transferred to the second-rate HMS Barfleur, flagship of Admiral George Byng, in October 1719.

Anson was promoted to commander in June 1722 and given command of the small 8-gun HMS Weazel. Anson's orders were to suppress smuggling between Britain and Holland, a task he swiftly and effectively performed. In recognition of his efforts he was promoted to the rank of post-captain in February 1723 and given command of the 32-gun sixth-rate HMS Scarborough with orders to escort British merchant convoys from the Carolinas. (The Ansonborough district of Charleston, South Carolina, still commemorates his time there.)

He transferred to the command of the sixth-rate HMS Garland, still on the Carolinas station, in July 1728, then to the command of the fifth-rate HMS Diamond in the Channel Fleet in 1730, and to the command of the sixth-rate HMS Squirrel back on the Carolinas station in 1731. He was given command of the 60-gun third-rate HMS Centurion in the West Africa Squadron in 1737 and, having been promoted to commodore with his broad pennant in HMS Centurion, he took command of a squadron sent to attack Spanish possessions in South America at the outset of the War of Jenkins' Ear.


HMS Ruby was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Sir Joseph Allin at Deptford Dockyard to the 1706 Establishment, and launched on 25 March 1708.

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She achieved an unwelcome notoriety in March 1741 when her captain, Samuel Goodere, was convicted of murder at Bristol and subsequently hanged; he had enticed his elder brother, Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet, on board, and had caused him to be strangled in the purser's cabin.

Ruby was renamed HMS Mermaid in 1744, and was sold out of the service in 1748.

large (1).jpg large (2).jpg large.jpg
Scale: 1:48. A block design model of the ‘Ruby’ (1725), a 50-gun, small two-decker. The model was believed to be of the ‘Ruby’, which was launched as a 50-gunner in 1708, but reclassified as a fifth-rate 44-gunner, the ‘Mermaid’ in 1744. There are, however, serious difficulties in attributing the name ‘Ruby’ to this model. That ship was smaller than that represented by the model. The dimensions are roughly those of 50-gun ships on the Establishment of 1719 (see SLR0415) and the wales suggest much the same date. It is possible there was a proposal to rebuild the ‘Ruby’ about 1725 that was not carried out. The ‘Ruby’ served mainly in home waters, in the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea, with one tour off the African coast in winter 1742–43.

Fourth rates of 50 guns
The first nineteen of the following vessels were ordered between 1706 and 1714 as 54-gun vessels, armed under the 1703 Guns Establishment with a main battery of 12-pounder guns. Under the 1716 Guns Establishment, the 54-gun ship was superseded by a 50-gun ship with a main battery of 18-pounder guns. The last ten ships listed below were ordered from 1715 onwards which were established and armed to the 1716 Guns Establishment, and the existing 54-gun ships were re-armed to this standard as each came into a dockyard for refitting and opportunity allowed.
  • Salisbury 50 (1707) – rebuilt 1717
  • Dragon 50 (1707) – wrecked 1712
  • Falmouth 50 (1708) – rebuilt 1729
  • Pembroke 50 (1710) – broken up 1726
  • Ruby 50 (1708) – renamed Mermaid and reduced to 44-gun fifth rate May 1744, sold 1748
  • Chester 50 (1708) – harbour service 1743, broken up 1749
  • Romney 50 (1708) – rebuilt 1726
  • Bonaventure 50 (1711) – renamed Argyll 1715, rebuilt 1722
  • Bristol 50 (1711) – broken up 1742, rebuilt 1746
  • Warwick 50 (1711) – broken up 1726
  • Ormonde 50 (1711) – renamed Dragon 1715, broken up 1733 for rebuild
  • Assistance 50 (1713) – rebuilt 1725
  • Gloucester 50 (1711) – rebuilt 1737
  • Advice 50 (1712) – renamed Milford and reduced to 44-gun fifth rate 1744, sold 1749
  • Strafford 50 (1714) – broken up 1733
  • Worcester 50 (1714) – broken up 1733
  • Panther 50 (1716) – hulked 1743, sold 1768
  • Dartmouth 50 (1716) – rebuilt 1741
  • Rochester 50 (1716) – renamed Maidstone hospital ship 1744, broken up 1748
  • Nonsuch 50 (1717) – hulked 1740, broken up 1745
  • Salisbury 50 (1717) – rebuilt 1726
  • Winchester 50 (1717) – hulked 1744, broken up 1781
  • St Albans 50 (1718) – broken up 1734
  • Guernsey 50 (1717) – rebuilt 1740
  • Norwich 50 (1718) – renamed Enterprise and reduced to 44-gun fifth rate 1744, broken up 1771
  • Deptford 50 (1719) – sold 1725
  • Tiger 50 (1722) – wrecked 1742
  • Weymouth 50 (1719) – broken up 1732
  • Swallow 50 (1719) – broken up 1728



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson,_1st_Baron_Anson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ruby_(1708)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-344993;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1727 - Birth of Antoine Groignard


Antoine Groignard (born 1727, died 1799), was a French naval constructor who developed standard designs for French war ships, and built and improved the dry docks at the French naval bases in Toulon and Brest.

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Bust of Antoine Groignard at Toulon naval museum

Family
Groignard was son of a master mariner, admiralty pilot, hydrographer and shipowner. In 1767 he married Marie Élisabeth Catherine Boucher de la Boucherie, a daughter of a captain of troops in the service of the French East India Company. The couple had a son and a daughter; the son becoming a frigate captain in the French navy.

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Career

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Model of the dry dock at Toulon.

Groignard became a student at the shipbuilding school in Paris (one of the predecessors of today's ENSTA ParisTech). Appointed assistant naval constructor at Brest in 1747 and at Rochefort 1749, he was promoted to naval constructor in 1754. Attached to the French East India Company at Lorient, he designed ships suitable for combat and commerce; among them the Duc de Duras that later became the famous American frigate Bon Homme Richard. During the Seven Years' War, he distinguished himself in defending Le Havre against the British floating batteries. As an adviser to the minister of marine, he standardized the design of ships at the several naval dockyards of France. Promoted to chief constructor in 1769, he was put in charge of building the docks of Toulon, solving the difficult technical problems involved. In 1782 Groignard was promoted to constructor general with the rank of post-captain, working on the docks at Brest putting them in condition to receive the largest ships of the navy. Due to sickness he retired in 1790. Recalled to duty Groignard was in charge of the construction of Port-de-Bouc 1792-1795, and a project for draining the salt marshes of the Marignane in Saint-Miter 1793-94. Groignard was in charge of the naval administration of Toulon in preparation for the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.

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La Bretagne, l'un des vaisseaux construit par Antoine Groignard lors de sa carrière.

Awards
Groignard studied the stowage of ships and modified the positioning of the frames to increase its strength. In 1759 he was awarded the prize of the Academy of Sciences for a memoir on the solidity of vessels. In 1765, he won a prize from the Marine Academy with a memoir on the stowage of ships: "Mémoire sur l'arrimage des vaisseaux". Deputy member of this academy in 1752; full member 1769. Knight of the Order of Saint Louis 1775. Raised to nobility in 1780.

Legacy
Rue Antoine Groignard is a street in Toulon named after him.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Groignard
 
I am wondering what type varnish\finish this sculpture made of. I love this color a lot!! Always want to learn this type of finish...
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1798 – Launch of HMS Northumberland, a 74-gun America class third rate ship of the line


HMS Northumberland was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at the yards of Barnard, Deptford and launched on 2 February 1798

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Destruction of the French Frigates Arianne & Andromache 22nd May 1812. Page 161 (PAD8661)
The image shows the last stages of the Action of 22 May 1812. From left to right: Mameluck, Ariane, Andromaque and Northumberland.

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Service history
Northumberland, Alexander, Penelope, Bonne Citoyenne, and the brig Vincejo shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valletta, Malta on 6 April 1800.

On 8 January 1801 Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delfth cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schooner Malta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.[4]

Because Northumberland served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Northumberland' (1798) and 'Renown' (1798), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers based on the draught of the captured French Third Rate 'America' (captured 1794), later 'Impetueux'. Alterations to the quarterdeck and forcastle deck gun ports and channels were ordered in July 1797.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile proposed (and approved) for 'Northumberland' (1798) and 'Renown' (1798), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan also includes alterations to the riders and stern quarter ports of an unknown date.


In August Northumberland detained and sent into Plymouth Comet, a vessel that the French had captured on 1 July 1803 as Comet was sailing from England to Bengal under charter to the British East India Company. An American house with an office in London had purchased Comet at A Coruña as a prize and was sending her to London when Northumberland intercepted her.

Northumberland participated in the Battle of San Domingo (1806), where she was damaged, and suffered 21 killed and 74 wounded, the highest casualties of any British ship in the battle.

In 1807 Northumberland was part of a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, who sailed in HMS Belleisle. The squadron, which included Prince George, Canada, Ramillies and Cerberus, captured Telemaco, Carvalho and Master on 17 April 1807.

Following the concern in Britain that neutral Denmark was entering an alliance with Napoleon, Northumberland participated in the expedition to occupy the Danish West Indies. The British captured St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December 1807. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.

On 22 November 1810, Northumberland, while in the company of HMS Armada, a 74-gun third rate, captured the 14-gun French privateer ketch La Glaneuse.

Napoleon_on_HMS_Northumberland-Denzil_Ibbetson-IMG_0530.JPG
Napoléon on the ship to Saint Helena, by Denzil O. Ibbetson. Drawn aboard HMS Northumberland, 1815. Watercolour, ink and pencil.

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Transferement de Bonaparte du Bellerophon on board du Northumberland le 8 Aout 1815 (PAF7994)

She received a measure of fame when she transported Napoleon I into captivity on the Island of Saint Helena. Napoleon had surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon, on 15 July 1815 and was then transported to Plymouth. Napoleon was transferred in Tor Bay, Devon from Bellerophon to Northumberland for his final voyage to St. Helena because concerns were expressed about the suitability of the ageing ship. HMS Northumberland was therefore selected instead.

Northumberland shared with the tender Seagull in the proceeds of the seizure of some glass on Mary, of London, on 17 March 1817.

Fate
Northumberland was converted to a hulk in February 1827. She returned to Deptford to be broken up in 1850.


The America-class ships of the line were a class of two 74-gun third rates. They were built for the Royal Navy to the lines of the French Téméraire-class ship America, which had been captured in 1794 and renamed HMS Impetueux.

Ships
Builder: Barnard, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 10 June 1795
Launched: 2 February 1798
Fate: Broken up, 1850
Builder: Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 10 June 1795
Launched: 2 May 1798
Fate: Broken up, 1835




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Northumberland_(1798)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Northumberland_1798
 
I am wondering what type varnish\finish this sculpture made of. I love this color a lot!! Always want to learn this type of finish...
Hallo Jim,
I do not know how big the bust is - but you are right
If it is a smaller one, I guess it is boxwood - when boxwood is getting old - it is getting this kind of color

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You can see this kind also on contemporary ship models

IMG_38531.jpg IMG_40411.jpg

https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/book-review-historic-ship-models-the-musée-de-la-marine-collection-by-jean-boudriot.2192/
https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/book-review-modeles-historiques-au-musée-de-la-marine-volume-2.2211/
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1799 - HMS Nautilus (16) wrecked off Filey Bay


HMS Nautilus (1784) was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1784 and wrecked in 1799. All 125 men of her crew were saved

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and stern quarter gallery decoration, and longitudinal half-breadth for Nautilus (1784), a 16 gun Ship Sloop, as built at Itchenor by Messrs Crookenden Taylor & Co.

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Echo class — 6 ships, 1782–1785, designed by Edward Hunt and armed with 16 6-pounders on the upper deck and 6 12-pounder carronades on the quarterdeck, with a further 2 on the forecastle
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) with alterations to the quarterdeck and cathead for Echo (1782), Rattler (1783), Calypso (1783), Brisk (1784), Nautilus (1784), and Scorpion (1785), all 16-gun Ship Sloops with quarterdecks and forecastles.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck for Echo (1782), and later for Rattler (1783), Calypso (1783), Brisk (1784), Nautilus (1784), and Scorpion (1785), all 16-gun Ship Sloops with quarterdecks and forecastles.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the stern board with some structural decoration detail, including the name in a cartouche on the counter, for Echo (1782), and later for Rattler (1783), Calypso (1783), Brisk (1784), Nautilus (1784), and Scorpion (1785), all 16-gun Ship Sloops with quarterdecks and forecastles.

HMS_Calypso_(1783),_PW7972.jpg
HMS Calypso (sistership)


http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Nautilus_1784
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1801 - Sloop HMS Legere (24), Cdr. Cornelius Quinton, sprang a leak and had to be run ashore to save the lives of the crew in Jamba Bay, east of Carthagena, S. America.


HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer as Inabordable in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.

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Charming Sally
British records state that HMS Barbuda was the Massachusetts vessel Charming Sally. HMS Boreas sent Charming Sally into English Harbour, Antigua in November 1780. Charming Sally does not appear to have belonged to the Massachusetts Naval Militia. Nor was she the Massachusetts privateer Charming Sally that participated in the disastrous, for the Americans, Penobscot Expedition and whose crew had to scuttle her on 14 August 1779 to prevent the British capturing her. The name Barbuda suggests that the vessel was captured in the West Indies. It is also suggestive of a name other than Charming Sally, one that was either that of an existing British warship, or one honouring an American leader or battle victory.

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HMS Barbuda
The Royal Navy commissioned Barbuda on 11 December 1780 under Commander Francis Pender.

On 27 February 1781 Barbuda and HMS Surprize, which Admiral Lord Rodney had sent from St Eustatius, appeared at Demerara. In March, the sloops accepted the surrender of "Colony of Demarary and the River Essequebo". Shortly before they arrived, six British privateers had raided Essequibo and Demerara, captured sixteen Dutch ships, and forced the de facto surrender of the colonies. When Barbuda and Surprize arrived there were still four vessels (two Dutch and two American) at Demerara, and 11 vessels (Dutch and Spanish) at Essequibo.

On 3 February 1782 a squadron of five French ships led by the frigate Iphigénie captured Demerara and Essequibo. The French were sighted on 30 January and Commander William Tarhoudin, the senior naval officer, moved his squadron downriver. However, the French landed troops and as these moved towards Demerara, the British forces facing them retreated, forcing Tarhoudin to pull back his vessels also. On 1 February the British asked for terms of capitulation, with the actual capitulation taking place on 3 February. The French seized six vessels of the Royal Navy: the 20-gun Orinoque(Commander William Tahourdin), 16-gun Barbuda, 18-gun Sylph (Commander Lawrence Graeme), 16-gun Stormont (Commander Christmas Paul), and 16-gun brig Rodney (Lieutenant John Douglas Brisbane).

Rodney was furious that six British "frigates" and a fort had surrendered to five French ships. The subsequent court martial of the captains exonerated all, and Tahourdin, Pender, and Paul went on to achieve post rank.

French peacetime service
The French Navy took Barbuda into service as Barboude. The Navy then sold her in 1786 at Brest, where she became the merchantman Inabordable; at the start of the French Revolutionary Wars she served for a few months as a privateer. In May 1793 the Navy re-acquired her at Havre and in June named her Légère

French corvette
Between 22 September and 8 January 1794 she was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Carpentier jr. She sailed between Hougue roads and Cherbourg, Brest and Cherbourg, and escorted a convoy from Cherbourg to Saint Malo. apparently, in December 1793 she was caught in a storm off Cherbourg and grounded on the Contentin peninsula in Normandy. Still, clearly the French Navy refloated her.

Between 13 January 1794 and 18 November, Carpentier remained in command and between 14 January and 20 August Légère escorted convoys between Barfleur and Brest.

Between 29 December and 29 May 1795 Légère was initially at Brest. She then participated in the Croisière du Grand Hiver. She returned to Brest, and then cruised off Cap Ortegal. Carpentier then sailed her to Groix, and back to Brest.

Légère left Brest on 4 June 1796 in company with three frigates. During her cruise she had captured six prizes. She was still under Carpentier's command.

On 23 June, HMS Apollo and HMS Doris captured Légère, of twenty-two 9-pounder guns and 168 men. The two British frigates encountered her at 48°30′N 8°28′W. After a 10-hour chase the British frigates finally caught up with her; a few shots were exchanged and then Légère, outnumbered and outgunned, struck. The Navy took into her service as HMS Legere.

HMS Legere
The Royal Navy commissioned Legere in November 1797 under Commander Joshua Watson. Commander Cornelius Quinton replaced Watson in March 1798 and next month sailed for Jamaica.

On 13 December 1799 Legere recaptured the brig Mercury.

In January or February 1800, Legere captured the 2-gun privateer Petite Victoire. She had a crew of 52 men and was sailing in ballast. Legere shared the proceeds of the capture with Pelican. She also shared in the proceeds of Pelican's capture of the privateer Actif.

Between 1 March 1800 and 19 May, Legere captured three vessels:
  • a Spanish schooner, which was sailing from Maracaibo to Curacoa with a cargo of fustic;
  • a Dutch schooner sailing from "Acquin" to Curacoa with coffee; and,
  • a Spanish felucca carrying cocoa.
Legere captured two more schooners after that. On 20 May she captured the Aurora. Then on 19 August Leger captured a schooner of unknown name.

Fate
Legere was wrecked near Cartagena, Colombia, on 2 February 1801. She had been cruising off the coast when the weather worsened and the waves broke over her. Her pumps kept up until about 2a.m. when a wave loosened a plank and she started to fill with water. Quinton sailed towards land as the crew threw guns, stores, and an anchor overboard to lighten her. At 3p.m. she anchored in "Samba Bay" (or "Jamba Bay"), east of Cartagena. She was clearly sinking so her crew set fire to her and took to her boats. After six days the boats reached Cartagena. There the British became prisoners of war.

On 8 July 1801 at Jamaica the customary court martial acquitted Captain Quinton, his officers, and crew of the loss of Legere.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Barbuda_(1780)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1813 - Boats of HMS Kingfisher (1804 - 18), Merlin-class, took or destroyed 6 vessels at Corfu.

after a five-hour chase, her boats captured one trabaccolo and ran nine ashore at St. Catherine's, Corfu, of which five were destroyed. Kingfisher lost two men killed and seven severely wounded


HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher) was a Royal Navy 18-gun ship sloop, built by John King and launched in 1804 at Dover. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, first in the Caribbean and then in the Mediterranean before being broken up in 1816.

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Caribbean
Kingfisher was commissioned under Commander Richard William Cribb in April 1804. He sailed her to the Leeward Islands and initially she operated from Barbados.

In January King's Fisher captured the French privateer schooner Deux Amis. She was pierced for eight guns but only had two on board at the time of her capture, having thrown the others overboard as she tried to escape her pursuers. She had a crew of 39 men, under the command of Francis Dutrique. She was ten days out of Guadeloupe and had captured nothing. Cribb credited His Majesty's schooner Grenada with having chased Deux Amis into his hands. Furthermore, when Grenada's commander saw that Kingfisher would capture Deux Amis, he chased and recaptured the sloop Hero.

On 11 April 1805, her boats cut out the Spanish privateer Damas from an anchorage under Cape St. Juan. She was pierced for four guns but only mounted one 8-pounder. She also carried 40 muskets for her crew of 57 men. Damas had left Cumaná, Venezuela, ten days earlier for a cruise off Demerara on what was her first cruise, but had captured nothing. She put up a little resistance and there was fire from the shore, but Kingsfisher suffered no casualties. In April 1826 head money for the capture of the Deux Amis and the Damas was finally paid.

On 27 June, when about 180 miles to north-east of Barbuda, Kingfisher, Captain Richard William Cribb, and Osprey, Captain Timothy Clinch, found themselves being chased by French frigates. While making sail to escape, the two sloops hoisted signals and fired guns, as if signaling to a fleet ahead. Their pursuers immediately gave up the chase, which gave Kingfisher and Osprey the opportunity to catch up with a group of 15 French merchant vessels with cargoes of rum, sugar and coffee. The two British sloops left all 15 merchantmen in flames.

Cribb died in June 1805. From July Kingfisher was under the command of Commander Nathaniel Day Cochrane.

On 16 December Kingfisher captured the French privateer Elisabeth, out of Guadaloupe after a 12-hour chase. Elizabeth was armed with ten 6-pounder guns and four 9-pounder carronades. She had a crew of 102, but 11 men were away in the Cambrian, which Elizabeth had captured after Cambrian had left a convoy on 28 October. Cambrian had been carrying a cargo of coal from Cork to Jamaica; HMS Melville recaptured Cambrian. Cochrane noted that Elizabeth was a fine vessel, well worth taking into the Royal Navy, which advice the Navy took, commissioning her as HMS Elizabeth.

Also that day Kingfisher and Hyaena captured a Spanish polacca sailing to Vera Cruz with merchandise. On 28 December Kingsfisher and Heureux captured the Spanish merchant brig Solidad, which was carrying brandy and wine from Cadiz to Vera Cruz.

In 1806, Kingfisher was attached to the British squadron under Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth. On 1 February she brought intelligence that a French squadron of three sail of the line had been seen steering towards the city of Santo Domingo. Duckworth gathered his squadron and on 6 February met the French in the Battle of San Domingo. Kingfisher was highly commended for her services in the aftermath of the action, with Cochrane being promoted to Post-captain. In 1807 Kingfisher shared with the rest of Duckworth's squadron in the prize money for the capture of the Alexander, Jupiter and Brave. In 1847 the Admiralty would issue to any surviving crew members that claimed it the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo".

George Francis Seymour, who had been severely wounded while serving in Northumberland in the battle of San Domingo, succeeded Cochrane. Kingfisher then sailed for the Channel.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Merlin (1798) and Pheasant (1798), both 16-gun Ship Sloops to be built by contract in private yards. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813]

European theatre
On 14 May Kingfisher towed Pallas after Pallas had rammed Minerve in the Basque Roads.

In July, Seymour was posted into Aurora and Commander William Hepenstall took command of Kingfisher. On 27 September she was with Admiral Sir Thomas Louis's squadron when the 40-gun French frigate President surrendered to the 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop Dispatch, assisted by the 74-gun third rate Canopus and the frigate Blanche.

In October, Hepenstall sailed Kingsfisher to the Mediterranean. Here, she was operating off the Turkish coast near Karaman, when on 27 June 1808 she captured the French letter of marque Hercule after a six-hour chase and an hour-long fight. Hercule, under Gerome Cavassa (a member of the Legion of Honour), was carrying a cargo of cotton from Aleppo and Cyprus to Marseilles or Genoa. She was armed with 12 guns, ranging in size from 8-pounders to 18-pounders. Her crew numbered 57 men, of whom one was killed and two were wounded. Kingfisher suffered extensive damage to her rigging but had only one man slightly wounded.

In 1809, under Commander Ewell Tritton, on 12 March she was in company with the 38-gun fifth-rate frigate Topaze when Topaze engaged in an inconclusive action in the Adriatic with the 40-gun Flore and the 44-gun Danaé. Topaze sustained no casualties or meaningful damage.

On 1 October Kingfisher joined a squadron off Zante. On 3 October the British captured the port.

In 1810, a midshipman from Kingfisher, together with a corporal of marines and four boys, captured a trabaccolo that turned out to have some 100 French soldiers aboard. Kingfisher conveyed them to Malta.

In 1811, Kingfisher was in the Adriatic, participating indirectly in the Action of 29 November 1811 when Active captured Pomone. Kingsfisher came up after the fighting was over and took Pomone in tow. Later, Kingfisher shared in the prize money.

On 29 January 1813 Kingfisher was in company with Cerberus when they captured the Madona della Grazia. Prize money was paid in April 1838.

2 February 1813, after a five-hour chase, her boats captured one trabaccolo and ran nine ashore at St. Catherine's, Corfu, of which five were destroyed. Kingfisher lost two men killed and seven severely wounded.

On 27 May 1813, Kingsfisher was at Port Slano (Croatia). There she destroyed three vessels and took six, laden with grain and wine for Ragussa.

Fate
Between 1814 and 1816, Kingfisher was placed in ordinary at Portsmouth. She was broken up in October 1816.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the quarterdeck, forecastle, inboard profile and upper deck for Merlin (1798) and Pheasant (1798), both 16-gun Ship Sloops building by contract in private yards. The plan includes an annotation referring to the fitting of an iron tiller instead of wood to the Pheasant per Warrant dated 17 October 1818. The Pheasant was at Plymouth Dockyard for a Very Small Repair and fitted between September to December 1818.

Merlin class — 2 ship sloops, 1796–1798; a second batch of 14 ship sloops followed 1804–1806.
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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Merlin (1798) and Pheasant (1798), both 16-gun Ship Sloops building by contract in private yards.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Kingfisher_(1804)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_corvette_and_sloop_classes_of_the_Royal_Navy
evtl? http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-330772;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=M
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1839 - Capture of Kurrachee (modern: Karachi) by HMS Wellesley (1815 - 74), HMS Algerine (1829 - 10), Lt. William Sidney Thomas, and troops.


HMS Wellesley was a 74-gun third rate, named after the Duke of Wellington, and launched in 1815. She captured Karachi for the British, and participated in the First Opium War, which resulted in Britain gaining control of Hong Kong. Thereafter she served primarily as a training ship before gaining the distinction of being the last British ship of the line to be sunk by enemy action and the only one to have been sunk by an air-raid.

HMS_Wellesly_(1815).jpg
Wellesley sailing along a rocky coastline

Construction and class
Although Wellesley was ordered as a Black Prince-class ship of the line, plans meant for her construction were lost in December 1812 when USS Constitution captured HMS Java. She was therefore built to the lines of HMS Cornwallis, a Vengeur-class ship of the line which had just been launched at Bombay. The East India Company built her of teak, at a cost of £55,147, for the Royal Navy and launched her on 24 February 1815 at Bombay Dockyard.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Black Prince' (1816), 'Melville' (1817), 'Hawke' (1820) and 'Wellesley' (1815), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers, based on the design of the captured Danish 74-gun 'Christian VII'. Note that the 'Wellesley' was originally of this design, but was changed to follow the lines of the 'Cornwallis' (1813) of the Armada/Conquestadore/Vengeur class. Signed by William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813] and Henry Peake [Surveyor of the Navy, 1806-1822].

Active duty
In 1823 Wellesley carried Sir Charles Stuart de Rothesay on a mission to Portugal and Brazil to negotiate a commercial treaty with Pedro I of Brazil. The artist Charles Landseer, brother of the famed artist Edwin Henry Landseer, accompanied the mission.

Between 25 November 1824 and 30 January 1825, her tender, Wolf, took several prizes, for which prize money was payable.

Wellesley was the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland in the Mediterranean between 1827 and 1830.

Karachi
On 19 June 1837 Captain Thomas Maitland took command of Wellesley, which became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Frederick Lewis Maitland.

On 2 and 3 February 1839 Wellesley, HMS Algerine and troops captured Kurrachee (modern Karachi). Wellesley sailed into the harbour and proceeded to fire at the mud fort on Manora Island, quickly pulverising it. The purpose of the unprovoked attack was to induce the local rulers to sign a new treaty with the East India Company.

In March 1839 relations between Persia and Britain came to a confrontation over a number of British demands, including that the Shah permit the British a permanent base on Kharg Island, which they had occupied. Attacks on the British Residency in Bushire led to the dispatch of Wellesley and Algerine to Bushire. The outcome was the Anglo-Persian Treaty, signed 28 October 1841, which recognised a mutual freedom to trade in the territory of the other and for the British to establish consulates in Tehran and Tabriz.

Admiral Maitland died on 30 November whilst at sea on board Wellesley, off Bombay; Commodore Sir James Bremer replaced him.

First Opium War
Wellesley saw active service in the Far East during the First Opium War. Led by Commodore James Bremer in Wellesley, a British expedition captured Chusan in July 1840 after an exchange of gunfire with shore batteries that caused only minor casualties to the British. When she returned from this service, some 27 cannonballs were found embedded in her sides.

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Wellesley (second from left) in the second capture of Chusan on 1 October 1841

On 7 January 1841 she participated in the Second Battle of Chuenpi and the bombardment of fortifications at Tycocktow; both Chuenpi and Tycocktow guarded the seaward approaches to Canton on the Bocca Tigris (Bogue). This campaign resulted in the British taking possession of Hong Kong Island on 26 February 1841.

That same day Wellesley participated in the Battle of the Bogue, which involved bombardments, landings, capture and destruction of nearly all the Chinese forts and fortifications on both sides of the Bocca Tigris up to Canton. Next day, seamen and Royal Marines of the naval squadron attacked and captured the fort, camp and guns at a Chinese position during the Battle of First Bar. The squadron also destroyed the Chinese Admiral's vessel Cambridge, formerly a 34-gun East Indiaman.

Between 23 and 30 May, she participated in joint operations that led to the capture of Canton, and subsequent payment by the Chinese of a six million dollar reparations payment imposed on them. Rear-Admiral Sir William Parker replaced Commodore Sir James Bremer as commander-in-chief of the squadron in China on 10 August.

hms-wellesley.jpg

On 26 August Wellesley participated in the destruction of batteries and defences surrounding Amoy. At one point Captain Maitland placed the Wellesley within 400 yards of the principal battery. This action included the temporary occupation of that town and island, along with its key defensive positions on the Island of Koo-Lang-Soo, which were garrisoned. Lastly, on 1 October the British, who had withdrawn in February, reoccupied Chusan and the city of Tinghae. The British proceeded to capture Amoy, Ningpo, Woosung and Shanghai, ending with the seizure of Chinkiang and closing the entrance to the Grand Canal on 21 July 1842.

For his services during the war, Captain Maitland was nominated a Companion of the Bath. He was knighted in 1843. Some 609 officers, men and marines of Wellesley qualified for the China Medal. In all, 18 crew and 17 marines died, though not all did so in combat.

Harbour service and training

Monument to the 11 crew of HMS Wellesley that died at Halifax, Royal Navy Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

In 1854 Wellesley was a guard ship in ordinary at Chatham. That same year she became a harbour flagship and receiving ship at Chatham.

In 1868 the Admiralty loaned her to the London School Ship Society, which refitted her as a Reformatory School. She was renamed Cornwall and was moored off Purfleet in April. Later, Cornwall, renamed Wellesey, was moved to the Tyne and served as The Tyne Industrial Training Ship of Wellesley Nautical School. In 1928, due to industrial development at that location, she was moved to Denton, below Gravesend.

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The training ship Wellesley on fire in the Tyne in 1914

Loss

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Figurehead of HMS Wellesley

On 24 September 1940 a German air-raid severely damaged Wellesley and she subsequently sank. She was raised in 1948 and beached at Tilbury, where she was broken up. Some of her timbers found a home in the rebuilding of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, while her figurehead now resides just inside the main gates of Chatham Dockyard.

hms-cornwall.jpg

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Scale: 1:24. Plan showing the midship section with profiles of the chocks and knees illustrating the method of attaching the beams to the sides for Wellesley (1815), with copies sent for Melville (1817), Black Prince (1816), and Redoubtable (1815), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. On 20 October 1812 a copy of this plan was forwarded to Portsmouth Dockyard for dispatch to Bombay onboard the ex-French frigate Java (captured 1811). However, as the Java was captured by the USS Constitution in December 1812, a second copy was dispatched on 26 March 1813 onboard the 74-gun Third Rate Stirling Castle (1811). A duplicate plan was also sent to Portsmouth on 25 May 1814 to be forwarded in the custody of Mr Joseph Seaton, passenger, onboard the East India Company Extra Ship Tigris.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the orlop deck with for & aft platforms, and elevations of the storeroom and cabins for Wellesley (1815) and Melville (1817), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. On 25 May 1814 duplicate copies were sent to Bombay. One set went in the East India Company Extra Ship Tigris, and the other in the Indus. Initialled by Henry Peake [Surveyor of the Navy, 1806-1822], Joseph Tucker [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1831], and Robert Seppings [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1832].


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Wellesley_(1815)
http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/TSWellesley/
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Wellesley_(1815
 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 1894 - USS Kearsarge, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, wrecked


USS Kearsarge, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, is best known for her defeat of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama during the American Civil War. Kearsarge was the only ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire. Subsequent ships were later named Kearsarge in honor of the ship.

USS_Kearsarge_(1861).jpg

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Hunting Confederate raiders
Kearsarge was built at Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, under the 1861 American Civil War emergency shipbuilding program. The new 1,550 long tons (1,570 t) steam sloop-of-war was launched on 11 September 1861; she was sponsored by Mrs. McFarland, the wife of the editor of the Concord Statement, and was commissioned on 24 January 1862, with Captain Charles W. Pickering in command. Soon after, she was hunting for Confederateraiders in European waters.

Kearsarge departed Portsmouth on 5 February 1862 for the coast of Spain. She then sailed to Gibraltar to join the blockade of Confederate raider CSS Sumter, forcing the ship's abandonment there in December of 1862. However, Sumter's commanding Captain, Raphael Semmes, having returned to England for reassignment, was soon recommissioning off the Azores, in international waters, the newly built British sloop Enrica as CSS Alabama. From there, Alabama went on to become the most successful commerce raider in naval history.

From Cádiz in November of 1862 until March 1863 Kearsarge prepared for her engagement with Alabama; she searched for the raider ranging along the coast of Northern Europe all the way to the Canaries, Madeira, and the Outer Hebrides. The following year, on 14 June 1864, Kearsarge arrived at Cherbourg and found Alabama in port; the raider had returned there for much needed repairs after a very long, multiple ocean cruise at the expense of 65 Union merchant ships. Kearsarge took up station at the harbor's entrance to await Semmes' next move.

Battle of Cherbourg
Main article: Battle of Cherbourg (1864)
On 19 June, Alabama stood out of Cherbourg Harbor for her last action. Mindful of French neutrality, Kearsarge's new commanding officer, Capt. John A. Winslow, took the sloop-of-war clear of territorial waters, then turned to meet the Confederate cruiser.

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Firing the forward 11 inch gun on the Kearsarge

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Crew of the USS Kearsarge in 1864 after the battle; showing both 11 Inch guns pointed to starboard as they were during the battle.

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A photo of naval officers on board Kearsarge, including Captain John A. Winslow (foreground, third from the left), shortly after the sinking of CSS Alabama.

Alabama was the first to open fire, while Kearsarge held her reply until she had closed to less than 1,000 yd (0.91 km). Steaming on opposite courses, the ships moved in seven spiraling circles on a southwesterly course, as each commander tried to cross his opponent's bow to deliver deadly raking fire. The battle quickly turned against Alabama due to her poor gunnery and the quality of her long-stored and deteriorated powder, fuses, and shells. Unknown at the time to Captain Semmes aboard the Confederate raider, Kearsarge had been given added protection for her vital machinery by chain cable mounted in three separate, vertical tiers along her port and starboard midsection.

This hull armor had been installed in just three days, more than a year before, while Kearsarge was in port at the Azores. It was made using 720 ft (220 m) of 1.7 in (43 mm) single-link iron chain and covered hull spaces 49 ft 6 in (15.09 m) long by 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) deep. It was stopped up and down in three layers to eye-bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs. This was then concealed behind 1 in (25 mm) deal-boards painted black to match the upper hull's color. This chain cladding was placed along Kearsarge's port and starboard midsection down to her waterline, for the purpose of protecting her engines and boilers when the upper portion of the cruiser's coal bunkers were empty. This armor belt was hit twice during the fight: First in the starboard gangway by one of Alabama's 32-pounder shells which cut the chain armor, denting the hull planking underneath, then again by a second 32-pounder shell that exploded and broke a link of the chain, tearing away a portion of the deal-board covering. Even if the shells had been delivered by Alabama's more powerful 100-pounder Blakely pivot rifle, the impacts were more than 5 ft (1.5 m) above the waterline and would therefore have missed her vital machinery.

One hour after she fired her first salvo, Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck by Kearsarge's more accurate gunnery and its powerful 11 in (280 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore pivot cannons. Alabama went down by the stern shortly after Semmes struck his colors, threw his sword into the sea to avoid capture, and sent one of his two remaining longboats to Kearsarge with a message of surrender and a rescue appeal for his surviving crew. Kearsarge finally sent ship's boats for the majority of Alabama's survivors, but Semmes and 41 others were rescued instead by the nearby British yacht Deerhound and escaped to the United Kingdom.

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"The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama" by Édouard Manet

Home for repairs
Kearsarge then sailed along the French coast in an unsuccessful search for the commerce raider CSS Florida, then proceeded to the Caribbean before turning northward for Boston, Massachusetts, where she was decommissioned for repairs on 26 November. She was recommissioned four months later on 1 April 1865 and sailed for the coast of Spain on 14 April in an attempt to intercept CSS Stonewall; the Confederate ram eluded Federal warships and surrendered to Spanish authorities at Havana, Cuba on 19 May. After cruising the Mediterranean Sea and the English Channel south to Monrovia, Liberia, Kearsarge was decommissioned on 14 August 1866 in the Boston Navy Yard.

Post War service
Kearsarge was recommissioned on 16 January 1868 and sailed on 12 February to serve in the South Pacific operating out of Valparaíso, Chile. On 22 August, she landed provisions for destitute earthquake victims in Peru. She continued to watch over American commercial interests along the coast of South America until 17 April 1869. Then she sailed to watch over American interests among the Marquesas, Society Islands, Navigators Islands, and Fiji Islands. She also called at ports in New South Wales and New Zealand before returning to Callao, Peru on 31 October. She resumed duties on the South Pacific Station until 21 July 1870, then cruised to the Hawaiian Islands before being decommissioned in the Mare Island Navy Yard on 11 October 1870.

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A post Civil War photograph of the USS Kearsarge; the uniforms of the Marine Ships guard at right point to the period 1892-1904

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A replica of Kearsarge was on display at the 1893 GAR National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana

Kearsarge was recommissioned on 8 December 1873 and departed on 4 March 1874 for Yokohama, Japan, arriving there on 11 May. She cruised on Asiatic Station for three years, protecting American citizens and commerce in China, Japan, and the Philippines. From 4 September to 13 December, she carried Professor Asaph Hall's scientific party from Nagasaki, Japan, to Vladivostok, Russia, to observe the transit of Venus. She departed Nagasaki on 3 September 1877, and via the Suez Canal, she visited Mediterranean ports before returning to Boston on 30 December. She was decommissioned at Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 15 January 1878.

Kearsarge was recommissioned on 15 May 1879 for four years of duty in the North Atlantic ranging from Newfoundland to the Caribbean Sea and the coast of Panama. The warship took part in dedication ceremonies for the Brooklyn Bridge on May 24, 1883. She departed New York on 21 August 1883 to cruise for three years in the Mediterranean, then Northern European waters, and finally along the west coast of Africa. She returned to Portsmouth on 12 November and was decommissioned in the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 1 December 1886.

Wrecked

The sternpost of USS Kearsarge, with a 100-pound round embedded within it.


A cannon from Kearsarge stood in West Park in Stamford, Connecticutfrom Memorial Day, 1901 until 1942, when it was hauled away as scrap metal during World War II. Cast at West Point in 1827, it had also been used on the USS Lancaster.

Kearsarge was recommissioned on 2 November 1888 and largely spent her remaining years protecting American interests in the West Indies, off Venezuela, and along the Central Americas. In October 1889 she carried famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass to Haiti, where Douglass was to be minister and consul general. [4] On President Harrison's orders, she sailed to Navassa Island in 1891 to investigate labor conditions there. She departed Haiti on 20 January 1894 for Bluefields, Nicaragua, but she wrecked on a reef off Roncador Cay on 2 February; her officers and crew made it safely ashore.

Congress appropriated $45,000 to tow Kearsarge home, but a salvage team of the Boston Towboat Company found that she could not be refloated. Some artifacts were saved from the ship, including the ship's Bible. The salvaged items, along with a damaged section of her stern post with an unexploded shell from CSS Alabamastill embedded in it, are now stored or on display at the Washington Navy Yard. According to the US Naval Academy Museum, after the battle with the Alabama the shell was removed and the stern post was replaced. Kearsarge was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1894.







https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(1861)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
2 February 2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.


MV Rabaul Queen was a passenger ferry owned by the Papua New Guinea company Rabaul Shipping. The ship, built in Japan in 1983, operated on short runs in that country, before being brought to Papua New Guinea in 1998 and plying a regular weekly route between Kimbe, the capital of West New Britain, and Lae, the capital of the mainland province of Morobe.

In the early hours of 2 February 2012, the ferry capsized and later sank in rough conditions. The final death toll is unknown because the exact number of passengers is unknown; estimates range from 88 to 223, with the official Commission of Inquiry estimating the dead at 146 to 165

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MV Rabaul Queen arriving at Kimbe Port in 2009

Capsize and sinking
Incident
Early in the morning of 2 February 2012, the ship capsized due to rough conditions in the Solomon Sea. The ship was hit by three large waves. About four hours later, at approximately 6:00 am local time (8:00 pm on 1 February UTC), she sank 9 nautical miles (16 km) from Finschhafen. She was near the end of her 20-hour journey from Kimbe to Lae. 12 crew and an estimated 350 passengers were aboard at the time, though it is possible there may have been more than 500 passengers on the ferry.

Rescue and recovery
A joint rescue effort by Papua New Guinea and Australia was formed shortly after the sinking. Many survivors were rescued by six merchant vessels alerted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which was alerted by Rabaul Shipping that the ferry had disappeared from a satellite tracking system. Seven fixed wing aircraft, including a P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force, three helicopters and seven boats were involved in locating survivors. Heavy seas and high winds complicated the search and rescue operations.

246 survivors were rescued by nightfall on 2 February. As of 5 February 2012, the bodies of six victims had been recovered, and no further survivors were rescued. Over 100 remained missing. It was reported that 27 survivors were on an uninhabited island; one survivor contacted a family member with a cell phone, although Papua New Guinea's Maritime Safety Authority claimed on 5 February that any survivors would already have been located. On 10 February 2012, Radio New Zealand reported that the number of people rescued had been re-calculated as 237, and that the number of people missing (based on new information from relatives of those onboard) was 321. This would indicate that some 558 people were aboard the vessel, although it was only permitted to carry 310.

Seven of the survivors were admitted to Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, three of whom had serious injuries. Some of the survivors experienced stomach pains because they swallowed seawater containing oil leaking from the boat.

Attempts were made to determine the names of all victims, including "a public appeal for family and friends to come forward." However, an exact list was deemed impossible because of incomplete manifests, poor record-keeping, lack of identification upon boarding, and the local tradition of using multiple names.

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Investigation
A Commission of Inquiry was set up on 10 February 2012. Under the leadership of Judge Warwick Andrew, the Commission was charged with determining the cause of the disaster, reasons for the high loss of life, any crimes or civil wrongs, and recommendations for preventing another occurrence. The Commission spent several months hearing evidence from survivors, rescuers, weather experts, and other witnesses.

The Commission submitted its final report to caretaker Prime Minister Peter O'Neill on 28 June 2012. O'Neill said that the 200-page report would first need to be tabled in parliament before its release and would thus have to wait for the new parliament to sit following the 2012 general election.

Final report
Rabaul Queen had passed her annual survey and "been deemed to be seaworthy for normal operations". However, the crew were found to be uncertified and unqualified, including the ship's navigational and engineering officers, and inadequate background checks had been performed before hiring. The captain's understanding of ship stability was "incorrect" and not sufficient for command of a ship.[5] In addition, the crew did not wear uniforms, which impeded the passengers' ability to appeal for help in an emergency.

Rabaul Queen was also found to be overloaded. According to its certification, the ship was fit to carry 310 persons with a maximum of 295 passengers. However, the managing director of Rabaul Shipping, Peter Sharp, had directed his captains to carry 350 passengers and the ship "routinely" took aboard passengers in excess of 295. The Commission set the number of people on board at the time of the accident at between 392 and 411, of whom 369 to 384 were ticketed passengers, about 11 were unticketed infants, and 16 were crew. With 246 people surviving, the Commission determined that 4 dead were recovered plus between 142 and 161 people were "considered to be missing and presumed dead", for a total death of 146 to 165. The actual number is unknown, because a shipping manifest was not completed.

The Report criticized Rabaul Shipping's policies and Papua New Guinea's oversight of maritime operation. Despite recommendations from the International Maritime Organization regarding safety of life at sea, PNG regulations did not require a safety management plan. Rabaul Shipping had no emergency response plan, and their thin Floating Staff Handbook contained "nothing that provides guidance to the crews of Rabaul Shipping ships in relation to passenger welfare on board the ships" and was "deficient in almost every aspect". Information that was in the Handbook, such as life jacket drills demonstrations after leaving every port, were ignored by crew according to testifying survivors. Survivors also testified that "life jackets were padlocked in a wire cage" or were stored in locked cabinets. The "appalling and inhumane conditions" of the passengers aboard was blamed on Captain Sharp. The Papua New Guinea National Maritime Safety Authority showed "very poor corporate governance", "a high level of incompetence", and a history of "ineffectiveness". In all, the Commission's report provided 34 proposals that would "promote maritime safety", including new safety regulations, better staffing and equipment for a coordinated rescue center, and improved weather reliability and reporting for shipping.

Legal action
Four people were charged in connection with the sinking: the managing director of Rabaul Shipping, Peter Sharp; the captain of the vessel, Anthony Tsiau; chief mate Michael Zirau; and the former manager of the port, Grace Amen. They faced 172 counts of manslaughter and 1 criminal charge of "sending an unseaworthy vessel out to sea". Charges against a fifth person, National Maritime Safety Authority manager Joseph Titus Kabiu, were dropped because of insufficient evidence.

The trial began in April 2016. The case against Zirau was dropped. Sharp's solicitors presented a manifest to show that only 88 people could have died, and the number of manslaughter charges were reduced to 88. Sharp and Tsiau were acquitted of the manslaughter charges, after the court ruled that the State had failed to prove there was any risk associated with the normal use of the ship.[26]Amen will be tried separately for manslaughter.

As of July 2017, the criminal charges for "sending an unseaworthy vessel out to sea" are pending.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Rabaul_Queen
https://garamut.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/new-photos-of-the-mv-rabaul-queen-disaster/
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 2 February


1782 – Birth of Henri de Rigny, French admiral and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1835)

Marie Henri Daniel Gauthier, comte de Rigny (2 February 1782 – 6 November 1835) was the commander of the French squadron at the Battle of Navarino in the Greek War of Independence.

Rigny,_Henri_de.jpg

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


1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War and establishes the boundaries between the two republics.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo in Spanish), officially titled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, is the peace treaty signed on February 2, 1848, in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo (now a neighborhood of Mexico City) between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). The treaty came into force on July 4, 1848.

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Cover of the exchange copy of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

With the defeat of its army and the fall of its capital, Mexico entered into negotiations to end the war. The treaty called for the U.S. to pay US$15 million to Mexico and to pay off the claims of American citizens against Mexico up to US$5 million. It gave the United States the Rio Grande as a boundary for Texas, and gave the U.S. ownership of California and a large area comprising roughly half of New Mexico, most of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. Mexicans in those annexed areas had the choice of relocating to within Mexico's new boundaries or receiving American citizenship with full civil rights.

The U.S. Senate advised and consented to ratification of the treaty by a vote of 38–14. The opponents of this treaty were led by the Whigs, who had opposed the war and rejected Manifest destiny in general, and rejected this expansion in particular. The amount of land gained by the United States from Mexico was increased as a result of the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, which ceded parts of present-day southern Arizona and New Mexico to the United States of America.

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


1862 USS Hartford, Cptn. David G. Farragut, departs Hampton Roads for Mississippi River campaign

The USS Hartford, a sloop-of-war, steamer, was the first ship of the United States Navy named for Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. Hartford served in several prominent campaigns in the American Civil War as the flagship of David G. Farragut, most notably the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. She survived until 1956, when she sank awaiting restoration at Norfolk, Virginia.

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USS Hartford at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hartford_(1858)


1942 - USS Seadragon (SS 194) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Tamagawa Maru.

USS Seadragon (SS-194), a Sargo-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seadragon.
Her keel was laid on 18 April 1938 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was christened and launched on 21 April 1939, sponsored by Mrs. May F. Richardson, wife of Admiral James O. Richardson, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, and commissioned on 23 October 1939 with Lieutenant John G. Johns in command.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Seadragon_(SS-194)


1944 - Destroyer USS Walker (DD 517) sinks Japanese submarine RO 39, 10 miles east of Wotje, Marshall Islands.

USS Walker (DD-517), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral John Grimes Walker (1835–1907).

Walker was laid down on 31 August 1942 by the Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; launched on 31 January 1943, sponsored by Miss Sarah C. Walker; and commissioned on 3 April 1943, Commander O. F. Gregor in command.

The first seven months of Walker's service took place in the Atlantic where she was engaged in Caribbean escort duty and training exercises in preparation for Pacific combat duty. The highlights of this period included the capture on 7 August of 43 survivors of the U-615 which had been damaged by Navy air units off Cuba, and the responsibility of escorting the Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Casablanca to participate in the Moscow Conference of October 1943.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Walker_(DD-517)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 February 1488 - Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.


Bartolomeu Dias (Anglicized: Bartholomew Diaz; c. 1450 – 29 May 1500), a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household, was a Portuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first to do so, setting up the route from Europe to Asia later on. Dias is the first European during the Age of Discovery to anchor at what is present-day South Africa.

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Historical setting and purposes of the Dias expedition
Bartolomeu Dias was a squire of the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses, and sailing-master of the man-of-war São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher). Very little is known of his early life. King John II of Portugal appointed him, on 10 October 1486, to head an expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to India. Dias was also charged with searching for the lands ruled by Prester John, a fabled Christian priest and ruler of a territory somewhere beyond Europe. He left 10 months later in August 1487. In the previous decades Portuguese mariners, most famously Prince Henry the Navigator (whose contribution was more as a patron and sponsor of voyages of discovery than as a sailor), had explored the areas of the Atlantic Ocean off Southern Europe and Western Africa as far as the Cape Verde Islands and modern day Sierra Leone, and had gained sufficient knowledge of oceanic shipping and wind patterns to enable subsequent voyages of greater distance. In the early 1480s Diogo Cão in two voyages (he died towards the end of the second) had explored the mouth of the Congo River and sailed south of the Equator to present-day Angola and Namibia.

The journey
São Cristóvão was piloted by Pêro de Alenquer. A second caravel, the São Pantaleão, was commanded by João Infante and piloted by Álvaro Martins. Dias' brother Pêro Dias was the captain of the square-rigged support ship with João de Santiago as pilot.

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An illustration of the São Cristóvãoand São Pantaleão

The expedition sailed south along the west coast of Africa. And more provisions were picked up on the way at the Portuguese fortress of São Jorge de Mina on the Gold Coast. After having sailed south of modern day Angola, Dias reached the Golfo da Conceicão (Walvis Bay, in modern Namibia) by December. Continuing south, he discovered first Angra dos Ilheus, being hit, then, by a violent storm. Thirteen days later, from the open ocean, he searched the coast again to the east, discovering and using the westerlies winds - the ocean gyre, but finding just ocean. Having rounded the Cape of Good Hope at a considerable distance to the west and southwest, he turned towards the east, and taking advantage of the winds of Antarctica that blow strongly in the South Atlantic, he sailed northeast. After 30 days without seeing land, he entered what he named Aguada de São Brás (Bay of Saint Blaise)—later renamed Mossel Bay—on 4 February 1488. Dias's expedition reached its furthest point on 12 March 1488 when they anchored at Kwaaihoek, near the mouth of the Boesmans River, where a padrão—the Padrão de São Gregório—was erected before turning back.[6] Dias wanted to continue sailing to India, but he was forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further and the rest of the officers unanimously favoured returning to Portugal. It was only on the return voyage that he actually discovered the Cape of Good Hope, in May 1488. Dias returned to Lisbon in December of that year, after an absence of sixteen months and seventeen days.

The discovery of the passage around southern Africa was significant because, for the first time, Europeans could trade directly with India and the Far East, bypassing the overland Euro-Asian route with its expensive European, Middle Eastern and Central Asian middlemen.The official report of the expedition has been lost.

Bartolomeu Dias originally named the Cape of Good Hope the Cape of Storms (Cabo das Tormentas). It was later renamed (by King John II of Portugal) the Cape of Good Hope (Cabo da Boa Esperança) because it represented the opening of a route to the east.

Follow-up voyages
After these early attempts, the Portuguese took a decade-long break from Indian Ocean exploration. During that hiatus, it is likely that they received valuable information from a secret agent, Pêro da Covilhã, who had been sent overland to India and returned with reports useful to their navigators.

Using his experience with explorative travel, Dias helped in the construction of the São Gabriel and its sister ship the São Rafael that were used in 1498 by Vasco da Gama to sail past the Cape of Good Hope and continue to India. Dias only participated in the first leg of Da Gama's voyage, until the Cape Verde Islands. Two years later he was one of the captains of the second Indian expedition, headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral. This flotilla first reached the coast of Brazil, landing there in 1500, and then continued eastwards to India. Dias perished near the Cape of Good Hope that he presciently had named Cape of Storms. Four ships encountered a huge storm off the cape and were lost, including Dias', on 29 May 1500. A shipwreck found in 2008 by the Namdeb Diamond Corporation off Namibia was at first thought to be Dias' ship; however, recovered coins come from a later time.

Personal life
Bartolomeu Dias was married and had two children:
  • Simão Dias de Novais, who died unmarried and without issue.
  • António Dias de Novais, a Knight of the Order of Christ, married to (apparently his relative, since the surname Novais was transmitted through her brother's offspring) Joana Fernandes, daughter of Fernão Pires and wife Guiomar Montês (and sister of Brites Fernandes and Fernão Pires, married to Inês Nogueira, daughter of Jorge Nogueira and wife, and had issue). Dias' grandson Paulo Dias de Novais was a Portuguese coloniser of Africa in the 16th century. Dias' granddaughter, Guiomar de Novais married twice, as his second wife to Dom Rodrigo de Castro, son of Dom Nuno de Castro and wife Joana da Silveira, by whom she had Dona Paula de Novais and Dona Violante de Castro, both died unmarried and without issue, and to Pedro Correia da Silva, natural son of Cristóvão Correia da Silva, without issue


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 February 1509 – The Battle of Diu - Part I
The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.



The Battle of Diu was a naval battle fought on 3 February 1509 in the Arabian Sea, in the port of Diu, India, between the Portuguese Empire and a joint fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut with support of the Republic of Venice.

The Portuguese victory was critical: the great Muslim alliance were soundly defeated, easing the Portuguese strategy of controlling the Indian Ocean to route trade down the Cape of Good Hope, circumventing the traditional spice route controlled by the Arabs and the Venetians through the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. After the battle, Portugal rapidly captured key ports in the Indian Ocean like Goa, Ceylon, Malacca and Ormuz, crippling the Mamluk Sultanate and the Gujarat Sultanate, greatly assisting the growth of the Portuguese Empire and establishing its trade dominance for almost a century, until it was lost at the Battle of Swally during the Dutch-Portuguese War, over a hundred years after.

The Battle of Diu was a battle of annihilation alike Lepanto and Trafalgar, and one of the most important of world naval history, for it marks the beginning of European dominance over Asian seas that would last until World War Two.

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Fort Diu, built in 1535

Background
Just two years after Vasco da Gama reached India by sea, the Portuguese realized that the prospect of developing trade such as that which they had practiced in West Africa had become an impossibility, due to the opposition of Muslim merchant elites in the western coast of India, who incited attacks against Portuguese feitorias, ships and agents, sabotaged Portuguese diplomatical efforts, and led the massacre of the Portuguese in Calicut in 1500.

Thus, the Portuguese signed an alliance with a rebellious vassal of Calicut instead, the raja of Cochin, who invited them to establish a headquarters. The Zamorin of Calicut invaded Cochin in response, but the Portuguese were able to devastate the lands and cripple the trade of Calicut, which at the time served as the main exporter of spices back to Europe, through the Red Sea. In December 1504, the Portuguese destroyed the Zamorin's yearly merchant fleet bound to Egypt, laden with spices.

When King Manuel I of Portugal received news of these developments, he decided to nominate Dom Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of India with expressed orders not just limited to safeguarding Portuguese feitorias, but also to curb hostile Muslim shipping.[8] Dom Francisco departed from Lisbon in March 1505 with twenty ships and his 20-year-old son, Dom Lourenço, who was himself nominated capitão-mor do mar da Índia or captain-major of the sea of India.

Portuguese intervention was seriously disrupting Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean, threatening Venetian interests as well, as the Portuguese became able to undersell the Venetians in the spice trade in Europe.

Unable to oppose the Portuguese, the Muslim communities of traders in India as well as the sovereign of Calicut, the Zamorin, sent envoys to Egypt pleading for aid against the Portuguese.

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Portuguese presence in the Indian Ocean around early 16th century

The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt

16th-century Mamluks

The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt was, in the beginning of the 16th century, the main middleman between the spice producing regions of India, and the Venetian buyers in the Mediterranean, mainly in Alexandria, who then sold the spices in Europe at a great profit. Egypt was otherwise mostly an agrarian society with little ties to the sea. Venice broke diplomatic relations with Portugal and started looking for ways to counter its intervention in the Indian Ocean, sending an ambassador to the Mamluk court and suggested that "rapid and secret remedies" be taken against the Portuguese.

Mamluk soldiers had little expertise in naval warfare, so the Mamluk Sultan, Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri requested Venetian support, in exchange for lowering tariffs to facilitate competition with the Portuguese. Venice supplied the Mamluks with Mediterranean-type carracks and war galleys manned by Greek sailors, which Venetian shipwrights helped disassemble in Alexandria and reassemble on the Suez. The galleys could mount cannon fore and aft, but not along the gunwales because the guns would interfere with the rowers. The native ships (dhows), with their sewn wood planks, could carry only very light guns.

Command of the expedition was entrusted to a Kurdish Mamluk, former governor of Jeddah Amir Hussain Al-Kurdi, Mirocem in Portuguese. The expedition (referred to by the Portuguese the generic term "the rumes") included not only Egyptian Mamluks, but also a large number of Turkish, Nubian and Ethiopian mercenaries as well as Venetian gunners Hence, most of the coalition's artillery were archers, whom the Portuguese could easily outshoot.

The fleet left Suez in November 1505, 1,100 men strong. They were ordered to fortify Jeddah against a possible Portuguese attack and quell rebellions around Suakin and Mecca. They had to spend the monsoon season on the island of Kamaran and called at Aden at the tip of the Red Sea, where they got involved in costly local politics with the Tahirid Emir, before finally crossing the Indian Ocean. Hence only in September 1507 did they reach Diu, a city at the mouth of the Gulf of Khambhat, in a journey that could have taken as little as a month to complete at full sail.

Diu and Malik Ayyaz

19th-century map of Chaul

At the time of the arrival of the Portuguese in India, the Gujarati were the main long distance dealers in the Indian Ocean, and an essential intermediary in east–west trade, between Egypt and Malacca, mostly trading cloths and spices. In the 15th century, the Sultan of Gujarat nominated Malik Ayyaz, a former bowman and slave of possible Georgian or Dalmatian origin, as the governor of Diu. A cunning and pragmatical ruler, Malik Ayyaz turned the city into the main port of Gujarat (known to the Portuguese as Cambaia) and one of the main entrepôts between India and the Persian Gulf, avoiding Portuguese hostility by pursuing a policy of appeasement and even alignment – up until Hussain unexpectedly sailed into Diu.

Malik Ayyaz received Hussain well, but besides the Zamorin of Calicut, no other rulers of the Indian subcontinent were forthcoming against the Portuguese, unlike what the Muslim envoys to Egypt had promised. Ayyaz himself realized the Portuguese were a formidable naval force whom he did not wish to antagonize. He could not, however, reject Hussain for fear of retaliation from the powerful Sultan of Gujarat – besides obviously Hussain's own forces now within the city. Caught in a double bind, Ayyaz decided to only cautiously support Hussain.

The Battle of Chaul
Main article: Battle of Chaul
In March 1508, Hussain's and Ayyaz's fleets sailed south and clashed with Portuguese ships in a three-day naval engagement within the harbour of Chaul. The Portuguese commander was the captain-major of the seas of India, Lourenço de Almeida, tasked with overseeing the loading of allied merchant ships in that city and escort them back to Cochin.

Although the Portuguese were caught off-guard (the distinctively European-like ships of Hussein were at first thought to belong to the expedition of Afonso de Albuquerque, assigned to the Arabian Coast), the battle ended as a Pyrrhic victory for the Muslims, who suffered too many losses to be able to proceed towards the Portuguese headquarters in Cochin. Despite fortuitously sinking the Portuguese flagship, the rest of the Portuguese fleet escaped, while Hussain himself barely survived the encounter because of the unwilling committal of Malik Ayyaz to the battle. Hussain was left with no other choice but to return to Diu with Malik Ayyaz and prepare for a Portuguese retaliation. Hussain reported this battle back to Cairo as a great victory; however, the Mirat Sikandari, a contemporary Persian account of the Kingdom of Gujarat, details this battle as a minor skirmish.

Nevertheless, among the dead was the viceroy's own son, Lourenço, whose body was never recovered, despite the best efforts of Malik Ayyaz to retrieve it for the Portuguese viceroy.

Portuguese preparations

Dom Francisco de Almeida, first viceroy of India

Upon hearing in Cochin of the death of his only son, Dom Francisco de Almeida was heart-stricken, and retired to his quarters for three days, unwilling to see anyone. The presence of a Mamluk fleet in India posed a grave threat to the Portuguese, but the viceroy now sought to personally exact revenge for the death of his son at the hands of Mirocem, supposedly having said that "he who ate the chick must also eat the rooster or pay for it".

Nevertheless, the monsoon was approaching, and with it the storms that inhibited all navigation in the Indian Ocean until September. Only then could the viceroy call back all available Portuguese ships for repairs in dry dock and assemble his forces in Cochin.

Before they could depart though, on 6 December 1508 Afonso de Albuquerque arrived in Cannanore from the Persian Gulf with orders from the King of Portugal to replace Almeida as governor. Dom Francisco had a personal vendetta against Albuquerque, as the latter had been assigned to the Arabian Coast specifically to prevent Muslim navigation from entering or leaving the Red Sea. Yet his intentions of personally destroying the Muslim fleet in retaliation of his son's death became such a personal issue that he refused to allow his appointed successor take office. In doing so, the viceroy was in official rebellion against royal authority, and would rule Portuguese India for another year as such.

On 9 December, the Portuguese fleet departed for Diu.

The Armada da Índia on the move
From Cochin, the Portuguese first passed by Calicut, hoping to intercept the Zamorin's fleet, but it had already left for Diu. The armada then anchored in Baticala, to quell a dispute between its king and a local Hindu privateer allied to the Portuguese, Timoja. In Honavar, the Portuguese met with Timoja himself, who informed the viceroy of enemy movements. While there, the Portuguese galleys destroyed a fleet of raiders belonging to the Zamorin of Calicut.

At Angediva, the fleet fetched freshwater and Dom Francisco met with an envoy of Malik Ayyaz, though the details of such rendezvous are unknown. While there, the Portuguese were attacked by oar ships of the city of Dabul, unprovoked.

Dabul
From Angediva, the Portuguese set sail to Dabul, an important fortified port city belonging to the Sultanate of Bijapur. The captain of the galley São Miguel, Paio de Sousa, decided to investigate the harbour and put to shore, but he was ambushed by a force of about 6,000 men and was killed, along with other Portuguese. Two days later, the viceroy led his heavily armoured forces ashore and crushed the garrison stationed by the riverbank in an amphibious pincer attack. Dabul paid dearly the act of provocation, as per the viceroy's orders the city was then razed, the surrounding riverside settlements devastated and almost all their inhabitants killed, along with the cattle and even stray dogs in retaliation.

According to Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, the sack of Dabul gave rise to a 'curse' on the western coast of India, where one might say: "may the wrath of the franks befall you".

Chaul and Bombay

Nau_de_Gaspar_de_Lemos.jpg
Portuguese nau. With fore and aft castles integrated in the hull and a deeper draught meant to withstand long trans-oceanic voyages, Portuguese carracks were some of the most seaworthy ships of their time.

From Dabul, the Portuguese called at Chaul, where Dom Francisco ordered the governor of the town to prepare a tribute to be collected on the return from Diu. Moving towards Mahim, close to Bombay, the Portuguese found the town deserted.

At Bombay, Dom Francisco received a letter from Malikk Ayyaz. Doubtlessly aware of the danger facing his city, he wrote to appease the viceroy, stating that he had the prisoners and how bravely his son had fought, adding a letter from the Portuguese prisoners stating that they were well treated. The viceroy answered Malik Ayyaz (referred to as Meliqueaz in Portuguese) with a respectful but menacing letter, stating his intention of revenge, that they had better join all forces and prepare to fight or he would destroy Diu:

I the Viceroy say to you, honored Meliqueaz captain of Diu, that I go with my knights to this city of yours, to take the people who were welcomed there, who in Chaul fought my people and killed a man who was called my son, and I come with hope in God of Heaven to take revenge on them and on those who assist them, and if I don't find them I will take your city, to pay for everything, and you, for the help you have done at Chaul. This I tell you, so that you are well aware that I go, as I am now on this island of Bombay, as he will tell you the one who carries this letter.​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diu_(1509)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 February 1509 – The Battle of Diu - Part II
The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.



Difficulties on the Muslim side
In the ten months between the Battle of Chaul and Diu, important developments took place on the Muslim field: Hussain took the chance to careen his ships and recovered a straggled carrack with a reinforcement of 300 men. Notwithstanding, the relationship between Hussain and Ayyaz worsened, with Hussain now plainly aware of the duplicity of Ayyaz, who had taken custody of the Portuguese prisoners at Chaul – which Hussain apparently intended "to send back to Cairo stuffed". Unable to pay the remaining of his troops, Hussain was forced to pawn his own artillery pieces to Ayyaz himself. Presumably, only either the hope of fresh reinforcements or fear of the reaction of the Sultan now prevented him from returning to Egypt.

At this point, should Malik Ayyaz assist Amir Hussain, he risked his city and his life; should he choose to turn on Hussain, the Sultan might take Ayyaz' head. If Hussain stood his ground, he risked annihilation and should he retreat, risked being executed by the Sultan of Egypt.

Now in a quadruple bind, they faced the Portuguese forces.

Order of battle
Mamluk-Gujarat-Calicut fleet
  • 6 Mediterranean carracks; 6 galleys (overall command of Amir Hussain)
  • 4 carracks of Diu (Malik Ayyaz)
  • 30 light galleys of Diu (Sidi Ali)
  • 70–150 war-boats of Calicut (Kunjali Marakkar)
Portuguese fleet
  • 5 large naus: Flor de la mar (Viceroy's flagship; captain João da Nova), Espírito Santo (captain Nuno Vaz Pereira), Belém (Jorge de Melo Pereira), Rei Grande(Francisco de Távora), and Taforea Grande (Pêro Barreto de Magalhães)
  • 4 smaller naus: Taforea Pequena (Garcia de Sousa), Santo António (Martim Coelho), Rei Pequeno (Manuel Teles Barreto) and Andorinha (Dom António de Noronha)
  • 4 square rigged caravels: Flor da Rosa (António do Campo), Espera (Filipe Rodrigues), Conceição (Pero Cão), Santa Maria da Ajuda (Rui Soares)
  • 2 caravels: Santiago (Luís Preto), – (Álvaro Pessanha)
  • 2 galleys: São Miguel (Diogo Pires), São Cristóvão (Paio Rodrigues de Sousa)
  • 1 brigantine: Santo António (Simão Martins)
Caravela_de_armada_of_Joao_Serrao.jpg
Before the heavy galleon, the Portuguese square-rigged caravel was the first fully rigged dedicated warship. It performed mainly as a heavy escort.

The Battle of Diu

Battle_of_Diu_1509_Diagram.png
Battle of Diu. Part of the Portuguese forces boarded the Muslim ships while the Flor do Mar prevented the Muslim oarships from sallying out.

On 2 February, the Portuguese sighted Diu from atop the crow nests. As they approached, Malik Ayyaz withdrew from the city, leaving overall command to Hussain. He ordered the oar ships to sally out and harass the Portuguese fleet before they had time to recover from the journey, but they did not pass beyond the range of the fortress' cannon. As night fell the Muslim fleet retreated into the channel, while the viceroy summoned all his captains to decide on the course of action.

As day broke, the Portuguese could see that the Muslims had decided to take advantage of the harbour of Diu protected by its fort, latching their carracks and galleys together close to shore and await the Portuguese attack, thus relinquishing the initiative. Portuguese forces were to be divided in four: one group to board the Mamluk carracks after a preliminary bombardment, another to attack the stationary Mamluk galleys from the flank, a 'bombardment group' that would support the rest of the fleet, and the flagship itself, which would not participate in the boarding, but would position itself in a convenient position to direct the battle and support it with its firepower. The brigantine Santo António would ensure communications.

The brigantine Santo António then ran through the fleet delivering the viceroy's speech, in which he detailed the reasons for which they sought the enemy, and the rewards to be granted in case of victory: the right to the sack, knighthood to all soldiers, nobility to the knights, criminals banished from the realm would be pardoned and slaves would receive the condition of squires if they were freed within a year.

Battle starts
As the wind turned by about 11:00 am, the royal banner was hoisted atop the Flor do Mar and a single shot fired, signaling the start of the battle. At the general cry of Santiago! the Portuguese began their approach, with the galley São Miguel at the head of the formation, probing the channel. A general bombardment between the two forces preceded the grapple, and within the calm waters of the harbour of Diu, the Portuguese employed an innovative gunnery tactic: by firing directly at the water, the cannonballs bounced like skipping stones. A broadsidefrom the Santo Espírito hit one of the enemy ships by the waterline, sinking it instantly.


The black Portuguese broadsword remained popular aboard Portuguese armadas until the early 16th century.

As the carracks made contact, Hussain's flagship was grappled by the Santo Espírito. When their bowcastles crossed, a group of men led by Rui Pereira jumped onto the enemy bowcastle, and before the ships were secured, already the Portuguese had stormed all the way to midship. Before the flagship was dominated though, another Mamluk carrack came to its aid, boarding the Santo Espírito from the opposite side. Hussain had strengthened his forces with a great number of Gujarati soldiers, distributed across the ships, and the heavily armoured Portuguese infantry suddenly risked being overwhelmed. Rui Pereira was killed, but at this crucial moment, the Rei Grande slammed against the free side of Hussain's flagship, delivering direly needed reinforcements, which tipped the scales in favour of the Portuguese.

Up on the crow's nests, Ethiopian and Turkish bowmen proved their worth against Portuguese matchlock crews. Many of the Muslim mercenaries otherwise "fled at the first sight of the Portuguese".

Hussain had expected the Portuguese to commit their entire forces to the grapple, so he kept the light oarships back within the channel, to attack the Portuguese from behind when they engaged the carracks. Comprehending the stratagem, João da Nova maneuvered the Flor do Mar to block the channel entrance and prevent the oarships from sallying out. The compact mass of oarships provided an ideal target for Portuguese gunners, who disabled many ships that then blocked the path of the ones following. Unable to break through, the Zamorin's boats turned around after a short exchange, and retreated to Calicut. Throughout the course of the battle, the Flor do Mar fired over 600 shots.

Meanwhile, the faster group of galleys and caravels grappled the flank of the stationary enemy galleys, whose guns were unable to respond. An initial Portuguese assault was repelled, but a Portuguese salvo threw three of the galleys adrift.

Slowly but surely, the Portuguese secured most of the carracks, half-blinded by the smoke. Hussain's flagship was overpowered and many began jumping ship. The galleys were dominated, and the shallow caravels positioned themselves between the ships and the coast, cutting down any who attempted to swim ashore.

Eventually, only a single ship remained – a great carrack, larger than any other vessel in the battle, anchored too close to shore for most of the deep-draught Portuguese vessels to reach. Its reinforced hull was impervious to Portuguese cannonfire and it took a continuous bombardment from the whole fleet to finally sink it by dusk, thus marking the end of the Battle of Diu.

Aftermath

Cafres – 16th-century Portuguese illustration of the nomadic inhabitants of southern Africa


Diu Fort eventually built in 1535 after a defence alliance was sealed between the Portuguese and Sultan Bahadur Shah by the Treaty of Bassein (1534), when Mughal EmperorHumayun waged war to annex the territory. 1521 and 1531 Portuguese attempts to seize the island by force had failed.

The battle ended in victory for the Portuguese, with the Gujarat-Mamluk-Calicut coalition all but defeated. The Mamluks fought bravely to the very end, but were at a loss as to how to counter a naval force, the like of which they had never seen before. The Portuguese had modern ships crewed by seasoned sailors, better equipped infantry – with heavy plate armour, arquebuses and a type of clay grenade filled with gunpowder – more cannon and gunners more proficient in an art the Mamluks could not hope to match.

After the battle, Malik Ayyaz returned the prisoners of Chaul, well dressed and fed. Dom Francisco refused to take over Diu, claiming that it would be expensive to maintain, but signed a trade agreement with Ayyaz and opened a feitoria in the city. The Portuguese would later seek ardently the construction of a fortress at Diu, but the Malik managed to postpone this for as long as he was governor.

The spoils of the battle included three galleys, three carracks. 600 bronze artillery pieces and three royal flags of the Mamlûk Sultan of Cairo that were sent to Portugal to be displayed in the Convento de Cristo, in Tomar, headquarters of the Order of Christ, former Knights Templar, which Almeida was part of.[38] The Viceroy extracted from the merchants of Diu (who funded the refittal of the Muslim fleet) a payment of 300,000 gold xerafins, 100,000 of which were distributed among the troops and 10,000 donated to the hospital of Cochin.

The treatment of the Mamluk captives by the Portuguese however, was brutal. The Viceroy ordered most of them to be hanged, burned alive or torn to pieces, tied to the mouths of cannon, in retaliation for his son's death. Commenting in the aftermath of the battle. Almeida reported to King Manuel: "As long as you may be powerful at sea, you will hold India as yours; and if you do not possess this power, little will avail you a fortress on the shore."[40] After handing over the Viceroy's post to Afonso de Albuquerque and leaving for Portugal in November 1509, Almeida was himself killed in December in a skirmish against the Khoikhoi tribe near the Cape of Good Hope, along with 70 other Portuguese – more than in the Battle of Diu. His body was buried on the beach, but subsequently never found.

Hussain survived the battle, and managed to flee Diu along with 22 other Mamluks on horseback. He returned to Cairo, and several years later was put in charge of another fleet with 3,000 men to be sent against the Portuguese, but he was murdered on the Red Sea, by his Turkish second-in-command – future Selman Reis of the Ottoman navy. The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt would collapse to an Ottoman invasion shortly after.

Of all the leading participants of the Battle of Diu, Malik Ayyaz would be the only one not to die a violent death; he died a wealthy man in his estate in 1522.

Legacy
The Battle of Diu is considered as one of the most important battles in history. The author William Weir in his book 50 Battles That Changed the World, ranks this battle as the 6th most important in history, losing only to the Battle of Marathon, the Nika Rebellion, the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Battle of Arbela (Gaugamela) and the Battle of Hattin. He says: "When the 15th century began, Islam seemed about ready to dominate the world. That prospect sank in the Indian Ocean off Diu." The historian Rainer Daehnhardt says that this battle is compared only to the Battles of Lepanto and Trafalgar in terms of importance and legacy. According to the scholar Michael Adas, this battle "stablished European Naval superiority in the Indian Ocean for centuries to come."


Flor do Mar or Flor de la Mar (Flower of the Sea), spelled Frol de la Mar in all Portuguese chronicles of the 16th century, was a Portuguese nau(carrack) of 400 tons, which over nine years participated in decisive events in the Indian Ocean until her sinking in November 1511. Nobleman Afonso de Albuquerque was returning from the conquest of Malacca, bringing with him a large treasure trove for the Portuguese king, when the ship was lost off the coast of Sumatra. A replica of Flor do Mar is housed in the Maritime Museum in Malacca, Malaysia.

800px-Frol_de_la_mar_in_roteiro_de_malaca.jpeg
Flor do Mar in the 16th century "Roteiro de Malaca"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diu_(1509)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flor_de_la_Mar
 
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