HMY Royal Caroline - Royal Charlotte (1750 - 1820) / Royal Yacht with 8 guns

Uwek

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HMY Royal Caroline - Royal Charlotte (1750 - 1820) / Royal Yacht with 8 guns

HMY Royal Caroline was a ship-rigged royal yacht. She was ordered in 1749 as a purpose built to replace HMY Carolina as Britain's principal royal yacht.
She was designed by Surveyor Joseph Allin and built at Deptford Dockyard under the supervision of Master Shipwright John Holland.
She was launched on 29 January 1750, renamed in 1761 to HMY Royal Charlotte and was broken up 70 years later, in 1820.


Technical data of the vessel:

Tons burthen: 232 11⁄94 (bm)
Length: 90 ft 1 in (27.46 m) at gundeck and 72 ft 2 1⁄2 in (22.009 m) at keel
Beam: 24 ft 7 in (7.49 m)
Depth of hold:11 ft (3.4 m)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 8 x 4-pounder (or 10 x 3-pounder) guns + 8 x ½-pdr swivel guns

Usually we can find this painting by John Clevely the Elder showing the HMY Royal Caroline
John_Cleveley_the_Elder_-_The_'Royal_Caroline'.jpg
By Royal Museums Greenwich, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19729549
The 'Royal Caroline' was built in 1749 by Joshua Allin at Deptford and was an adapted sixth-rate. She replaced the 'Carolina' as the principal royal yacht. In 1761 she was sumptuously fitted out to collect the Queen Consort to be, Princess Charlotte, from Kiel, and her name was changed to the 'Royal Charlotte'. This broadside-view ship portrait from off the starboard bow, shows the ship in full sail flying the red and blue ensign and the common pendant. John Cleveley came from an English family of painters. He was born in Southwark, London and did not become a professional painter until the late 1740s. He lived and eventually died in Deptford, London, where he worked as a shipwright in the Royal Dockyard, becoming a part-time painter in adult life, and frequently made ships in Deptford yard the subject in his paintings. It is likely that as he grew older his position as a a shipwright/carpenter became more a sinecure. His work combined depictions of people with topographical accuracy and architectural detail. He was an early exhibiter at the Free Society of Artists in London, and two of his three sons, John Cleveley the Younger and his twin brother, Robert Cleveley also became painters after working in Deptford's Royal Dockyard. The painting has been signed and dated by the artist in the lower-left sea 'Royal Caroline Yacht'. J Cleveley 1750'.
Read more at
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/15071.html#uGz8wmIMrQMoLy4m.99


Service:

HMY Royal Caroline was first commissioned under Captain Sir Charles Molloy, who commanded her until 1753.
Captain Sir Piercy Brett took over in 1754, and in August 1761 she became the flagship of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Anson, with Captain Peter Denis as his flag-captain. Anson had orders to convey Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from Cuxhaven, Kiel to marry George III.
Accompanying the yacht, renamed HMY Royal Charlotte in honour of the occasion, was a squadron of warships and four other royal yachts, HMY Mary, Katherine, Augusta and Fubbs.
During the return voyage the squadron was three times blown over to the Norwegian coast by westerly gales and took ten days to reach Harwich, which it did on 6 September 1761.
(see herefore the following post with paintings)
HMY Royal Charlotte was commissioned under Peter Denis in December 1763, and remained under his command until 1770.
Denis was succeeded by Captain John Campbell that year, and Campbell remained in command until his promotion to rear-admiral in 1777.
HMY Royal Charlotte was recommissioned under Captain William Cornwallis in March 1783,
and he was succeeded in turn by Captain Sir Hyde Parker in 1788.
The yacht was briefly recommissioned in December 1792, but was paid off the following year.

She continued to be used for official occasions during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with King George III making frequent trips in his yachts to welcome returning fleets and to conduct fleet reviews.
The King embarked on HMY Royal Charlotte in 1797 to visit the fleet at the Nore after the Battle of Camperdown, in order to honour Admiral Adam Duncan. Contrary winds however prevented the ship from reaching the mouth of the Thames, and instead the King was blown back up river to Greenwich.
HMY Royal Charlotte recommissioned again in May 1801 under Captain Sir Harry Neale, though by February 1804 Captain George Greywas in command. Grey was succeeded later in 1804 by Captain George Henry Towry, and he in turn in 1805 by Captain Edward Foote. By this time HMY Royal Charlotte had been succeeded as the principal royal yacht by the introduction of the slightly larger HMY Royal Sovereign in 1804. Captain Foote commanded the yacht until 1812, when Captain Thomas Eyles took over command, and in June 1814 Captain George Scott became her commander. Royal Charlotte continued in service until July 1820, when she was finally broken up.
So 70 years of service and we can assume, that she was already an oldtimer in the last years.

References:
• Madge, Tim (1997). Royal Yachts of the World. Thomas Reed Publications.
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth.
• Bellabarba, Sergio (1989). The Royal Yacht CAROLINE, Anatomy of the Ship Conway (book review in SOS please click on title of book)

Wonderfull model:
http://www.shipmodell.com/index_files/SHIPMODELL_ROYAL_CAROLINE.htm

The ship on "Threedecks":
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=6276
 
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In this post I want to show you some original paintings which are not so known

John_Cleveley_the_Younger,_Launch_of_HMS_Alexander_at_Deptford_in_1778.jpg
John Cleveley the Younger, Launch of HMS Alexander at Deptford in 1778. The launch of the 74-gun warship HMS 'Alexander' at Deptford Dockyard. The 'Alexander' can be seen on the stocks in the background. There are a number of barges and smaller vessels, full of spectators, watching her launch. In the foreground, several Royal Navy vessels are moored off the dockyard, including the 'Royal Caroline' on the far left. The 'Alexander' later served at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. In the painting the festive celebrations are emphasized through the inclusion of flags and pennants and the representation of crowds of spectators on the quayside and in boats the water. With its low horizon the work recalls Dutch 17th-century marine painting. Like his father, John Cleveley the Younger depicted the Royal Dockyards at Deptford, Woolwich and Chatham and in many works the son followed his father’s example in producing paintings commemorating launches. However, the artist abandoned his father’s stiff, documentary style in favour of a more open, atmospheric view. John Cleveley the Younger and his brother Robert, who also worked as an artist, treated a much wider range of subjects and addressed a wider audience through making pictures for reproduction in prints.

255394-1330620966.jpg
This is almost certainly the first painting exhibited by the Liverpool-born marine artist Richard Wright at the Society of Artists in 1762, as A View of the Storm when the Queen was on her passage to England, painted from a sketch drawn on board the Fubbes yacht. The vessel carrying Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz can be seen in the middle of the fleet with the Royal Standard flying at the main. Originally named the Royal Caroline, after George II’s wife, the yacht was renamed the Royal Charlotte before it set forth to collect the Princess from the north German town of Stade on 28 August 1761. It was accompanied by a flotilla under the command of Admiral Lord Anson, consisting of four other royal yachts escorted by six ships-of-war. The fleet weathered three severe storms before arriving in England on 6 September, and it was reported that the Princess, whose first sea journey it was, described the ocean as an ‘Element terrible’. The journey had been so rough that it was decided that the yacht should land at Harwich rather than travelling up the Thames to Greenwich as planned. The Princess, who was ‘much fatigued’, spent the night near Colchester and embarked upon the final stage of her journey to London by coach the following morning. Increasing numbers of eager crowds had gathered to witness the royal procession which reached St James’s Palace at a quarter past three. It was reported that the Princess threw herself at the King’s feet upon meeting him, but that he raised her up, embraced her and led her into the palace, where the royal couple were to be married by the Archbishop of Canterbury that evening. The painting was described by Pyne in the Green Pavilion at Frogmore in 1819. Signed and dated R: Wright Pinx
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks...otte-of-mecklenburg-strelitz-at-harwich-39903

large.jpg
Following the accession of King George III in 1760 the choice of a bride for him fell upon Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In 1761 a squadron of yachts and men-of-war under the Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Anson, was sent to Cuxhaven on the German coast to collect her. The principal yacht, the 'Royal Caroline', was renamed 'Royal Charlotte' and sumptuously fitted out for the Princess. Westerly gales blew the returning squadron over to the Norwegian coast and three successive gales of contrary winds prevented them reaching Harwich for ten days. Just to the right of centre is the 'Royal Charlotte' in port-quarter view, lying-to under her mainsail. She is flying the Royal Standard, Admiralty flag and the Union flag. She is caught in a shaft of sunlight through a stormy sky and the sea is breaking on her bow. On the left in shadow is the 'Nottingham', wearing the Union and also lying-to under mainsail, in port-quarter view. The 'Winchester' in port-quarter view is to the right and beyond the 'Royal Charlotte', also in shadow, as are the rest of the squadron strung out across the background of the painting. One of the ketch-rigged yachts on the right is wearing a reversed ensign from her main halyards as a sign of distress. The other ships present in the fleet were 'Minerva', 32 guns, 'Tartar', 28 guns, 'Hazard', 14 guns, 'Lynx', 14 guns, and the yachts 'Mary', 'Katherine', 'Augusta' and 'Fubbs'. The painting is probably a copy of the one now in the Royal Collection and originally owned by Queen Charlotte. The original was exhibited at the Society of Artists in London in 1762. It was painted from a sketch made on board the escorting yacht, 'Fubbs', although it is not clear if Wright himself made the sketch. He later incorporated the central section of the picture into the background of Joshua Reynolds's portrait of Mary Manton, Duchess of Ancaster, who had accompanied the princess in the 'Fubbs'. The shaft of sunlight may be seen as a symbol of hope for the future of the British monarchy. Similarly the small yacht battling through the elements is also symbolic of the monarchy. Richard Wright was a self-taught artist who came from Liverpool. The maritime comings and goings of royalty provided marine painters with a rich vein of fashionable subjects, particularly after 1714 when the Hanoverians regularly visited their German possessions.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11896.html#xhxMKTH4tu2x3gHH.99


SOM_VAG_BATVG_P_1949_7.jpg
The Landing of Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz at Harwich by John Cleveley the elder (c.1712–1777)
https://www.artuk.org/artdetective/...epict-and-which-yacht-is-it-by-dominic-serres

HMP_HMCMS_FA1991_47.jpg
photo credit: Hampshire County Council’s Fine Art Collection
This image is of a ship-rigged royal yacht, apparently the 'Royal Caroline', leaving Portsmouth Harbour (before the western side was fortified). A fleet is at anchor in Spithead in the distance firing salutes, so the occasion shown is likely to be the start of the fleet review that formed part of the King's visit to Portsmouth 22th-27th June 1773, with HM on board the yacht as indicated by the Admiralty flag at the fore, Royal Standard at the main, and Union at the mizzen.
 
The available four original drawings at NMM:

Royal_Caroline_(1750)_RMG_J9504.jpg
Scale 1:48. A drawing of the Royal yacht Royal Caroline (1750), dated August 1749. Showing sheer lines with inboard detail, stern board, and a plan of the upper deck. With the following inscriptions: -'New ship in the room of the Royal Carolina Building at Deptford' -'A copy of this draught was sent to the Master Shipwright at Deptford' -'N.B. The knee of head was carried 6'' further forward in build and the holes lifted 5 inches' -'R Caroline 1749 renamed R Charlotte 1761 broken up 1820'
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/459288.html#VkuQxXzWKR1OXuj1.99

Royal_Caroline_(1750)_RMG_J9505.jpg
A drawing of the Royal yacht Royal Caroline (1750). Showing sheer lines with inboard detail, body plan with stern board, and longitudinal half-breadth. With the tltle: 'A Draught Propos'd for Building a New Ship in the Room of the ROYAL CAROLINA.' and the inscriptions: -'The ship was built 1'-1'' longer than this draught' -'R Caroline 1749 renamed R Charlotte 1761 broken up 1820'
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/459289.html#eV433ZIseJJkY8LK.99

Royal_Caroline_(1750)_RMG_J9506.jpg
Scale 1:48. A drawing of the Royal yacht Royal Caroline (1750). Showing sheer lines with inboard detail, body plan with stern board, and longitudinal half-breadth. With the following inscriptions in pencil: -'This drawing represents the yacht built in 1749 afterwards (1761) renamed Royal Charlotte C.K.' -'Royal Caroline...in 1700 repaired in 1733 not from this draught One built in room of this in 1749 and her name altered to Royal Charlotte in 1761 Taken to pieces in 1830' -'R Caroline 1749 renamed R Charlotte 1761 broken up 1820'
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/459290.html#sBTg8BZzwO5BLfMg.99

Royal_Caroline_(1750)_RMG_J9507.jpg
Scale 1:48. A drawing showing inboard profile and midship section of the Royal yacht Royal Caroline (1750). With a table of references and a note in pencil: 'Royal Caroline 1749 renamed Royal Charlotte 1761 broken up 1820'.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/459291.html#P54PO82PiBzIgGwQ.99


In the publication "Architectura Navalis Mercatoria"( published first in 1768 by Fredrik Henrik af Chapman) a plate is showing a very good reconstruction of the ship - see "Plate XLIX, No. 1."
post-15936-0-64043700-1443793052.jpg
based on this plate the decorations of models are made.....

You can find them here in best quality:
https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024827516/ritning/media?slide=1
 
Do not mix the HMY Royal Caroline later HMY Royal Charlotte (1750 - 1820) !!!
with
HMS Peregrine (1700 - 1762) was a 190- ton frigate of 20 guns, designed for the Royal Navy, but used by Queen Anne, William’s daughter and Queen between 1702-1714.

20120807103940-170212-full.jpg
The Peregrine (later renamed The Royal Caroline) in Two Positions off the Coast, John Cleveley...jpg
The Peregrine (later renamed The Royal Caroline) in Two Positions off the Coast, John Cleveley...jpg
The Peregrine (later renamed The Royal Caroline) in Two Positions off the Coast, John Cleveley...jpg
The Peregrine (later renamed The Royal Caroline) in Two Positions off the Coast, John Cleveley...jpg
The Peregrine (later renamed the Royal Caroline) in Two Positions off the Coast, 1766 by John Cleveley the Elder

In 1714, George I chose Peregrine to sail from Holland to England when he ascended the throne. In 1716, she was converted to a yacht and named HMY Caroline after the Princess of Wales, the future wife of George. The only plans that exist are those for the conversion to a yacht. She was 86 feet, 7 inches in length, 22 feet, 6 inches in the beam, and 10 feet, 7 inches in the hold. She was later rebuilt in 1733 by George II, who re-christened her HMY Royal Caroline. In 1749, a new Royal Caroline was built to replace her. The old Royal Caroline was converted into an armed sloop in 1749, renamed HMS Peregrine (Galley) and was eventually lost with all hands in 1762.

HMS-Royal-Caroline.jpg
http://www.maritime-museum.org/gun-deck/hms-royal-caroline-peregrine-galley/

this vessel at "Threedecks"
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=6277

This vessel was the basis for a Corel kit
786.jpg

Here the description by Corel:
Here we have a wonderfully detailed wooden model ship kit by Corel: the "H.M.S Peregrine" Corel's model of H.M.S. (His Majesty's Ship) Peregrine is based on one of the original plans of Keltridge's times, for the Admiral, and is the reproduction of a small vessel classified as "sixth rate", armed with 18-20 small caliber cannons, built in 1686 for the fleet of King George III. These types of vessels were too small and too lightly armed to participate in the great naval battles alongside the much mightier, so called "line" ships, and were used to escort cargo ships, to explore, transport messages, or to provide transport of important persons. King George III chose a unit of this type for himself in 1749, and had its internal furnishing radically transformed, becoming the famous Royal Yacht "Caroline". The HMS Peregrine is a double plank-on-bulkhead kit. Detailed ornamentation, anchors, mast caps, gunport frames and other items are made of cast metal. It comes with burnished metal cannons, hardwood blocks and deadeyes, brass nails, three diameters of rigging, silk-screened flags, and cotton sails for a museum quality finish. Contains great plans for easy building, even for the beginner in model ship kits. This brand new kit comes with detailed English instructions, though the "HMS Peregrine" is best for beginning to intermediate builders! Scale: 1:96 Length: 17.0 inches Height: 12.5 inches
 
there are according my knowledge two kits of the
HMY Royal Caroline - Royal Charlotte (1750 - 1820)
available on the market

in scale 1:47 from Panart:
IMG_29011.jpg

see herefore a kit review in SOS:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...-scale-1-47-panart-victory-models-krick.2051/


HTB10DYPHpXXXXbsXXXXq6xXFXXX3.jpg
and in scale 1:30 a kit from chinese manufacturer ZHL:
we have some building logs of this kit here on SOS:

By @Peglegreg
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...-royal-caroline-my-version-by-peglegreg.1608/

By @Maarten
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosforums/index.php?threads/hms-royal-caroline-kit-zhl-1-30.1548/

Hope, that I did not forget a log here.....

another topic:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosforums/index.php?threads/choice-of-royal-caroline-kits.1562/
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...yal-yacht-caroline-figure-head-by-janos.1116/
 
Hope, that I did not forget a log here.....
G'day Uwe.
You did forget some major people, the first, he is not only that he is doing an incredible model of the Chinese's kit, but a V.I.M. (VERY IMPORTANT MODELER), namely John- Neptune. John is my mentor and a brilliant modelshipright.
There is also Janos, who's also someone that you shouldn't , because his RC which is a major redo of another kit, is absolutely magnificent. If im not mistaken, Janis's RC was voted the best in the Canberra model show a few years back.
The other TWO, 1:30, RC logs in this forum, John and Maarten has been an indispensable aide to me with my build.
On a personal note Uwe, I deeply appreciated the message, and emails that you sent me while I was unexpectedly away for a few weeks. It's very nice to know that our family cares for one another. I'm feeling a lot better now and I should be back again next week.
Havagooday my friend
Greg
 
Some time ago I found a facebook video of a beautiful cardboard model of the HMY Royal Caroline built by the well known cardmodel-specialist Doris Obručová which I want to share with you


and one video of her Sovereign of the Seas as an add on


She is making the "carvings" out of putty, see herefore the topic in the carving area with several detailed videos
 
Doris is amassing artist. I still can't believe that her creations are from paper and card.
Increadible!​
Happymodeling
Greg
 
@Uwek Does the panart kit have an items list? Actually I like to know if the rope and block quantities are given, in order to know how much I have to purchase for upgrading the kit.
 
@Uwek Does the panart kit have an items list? Actually I like to know if the rope and block quantities are given, in order to know how much I have to purchase for upgrading the kit.
Take a look here in the Kit Review
 
Did again, but sorry could not find a parts list anywhere, I dont know why am not getting it.
 
Did again, but sorry could not find a parts list anywhere, I dont know why am not getting it.
I can try to check, but it will take several days, because I am not at home for some days.
But maybe somebody else, who built the model, can give us the information earlier.
 
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