Author | Rif Winfield |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Sailing warships of the Royal Navy |
Genre | Maritime History |
Publisher | Chatham Publishing (orig.) Seaforth Publishing |
Publication date | 2005-2014 |
British Warships in the Age of Sail is a series of four books by maritime historian Rif Winfield comprising a historical reference work providing details of all recorded ships that served or were intended to serve in the (British) Royal Navy from 1603 to 1863. Similar volumes dealing with other navies during the Age of Sail have followed from the same publisher.
The books draw data from Admiralty official records to give details on the location of construction, dates of construction (ordering, keel laying, launch, commissioning and completion of fitting-out), principal dimensions and tonnage, complement of men and armament, machinery (for steam vessels) and fate of every ship of the Royal Navy over the period. Designed dimensions and tonnage are given for every class of vessel planned and built for the Navy, but in addition the actual dimensions measured for each individual vessel completed to those designs are separately given; this treatment has also been applied to the many vessels purchased or captured by British naval forces, and added to the service. The costs of building and fitting out each vessel are given (where known), as well as the costs and dates of major refits during each ship's life. Also included are details of their commanders with dates when each served, areas and periods of service, and significant actions in which the ships took part.
Each volume contains details of over two thousand separate vessels, and is illustrated by approximately two hundred black-and-white renditions of the design draughts, contemporary portrayals and other depictions of most classes of vessel covered.
The series comprises four volumes; the fourth volume in this series, covering the period 1817–1863, includes coverage of all steam-powered warships of this era (paddle-driven as well as screw-driven) as well as purely sailing vessels. The first of the series to be produced, the 1793–1817 volume, was first published in 2005 by Chatham Publishing. The remaining titles, and an updated edition of the 1793–1817 volume, have been published by Seaforth Publishing:
Pending availability of the fourth volume in the series, sailing warships after 1817 were covered (in somewhat less detail) by The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815–1889, by David Lyon and Rif Winfield.
The series on British Warships have been followed by companion volumes covering other Naval forces on the sailing era.
The above-mentioned volumes dealing with Russian, French and Spanish warships - like the equivalent (fourth) volume in the British Warships series - also cover steam-powered (both paddle-driven and screw-driven) warships constructed for those navies in the same period. The Spanish Warships volume retrospectively also looked at the development of Spanish naval forces under the Habsburgs in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Reviewing the 1793–1817 work, the Journal for Maritime Research wrote that 'It is well-researched, well-presented, easy to navigate and exhaustive in its coverage. It is a reference work that will be used by students and scholars of the sailing Navy for years to come.' [1]
When reviewing the 1714–1792 volume, the second work to be published, the South West Maritime History Society described it as 'frankly quite superb', and 'the most complete analysis of the ships of the Royal Navy ever prepared.' [2]
The third volume to be produced, covering 1603–1714, was likewise described by the South West Maritime History Society as 'In a single word "SUPERLATIVE"' and 'This book is frankly quite superb and deserves to be included in the library of anyone interested in this period of maritime history.'
Noted maritime historian Andrew Lambert commented...."there is no equivalent work dealing with the Royal or any other major Navy ...of the sailing age... the wealth of detail can be deployed in many ways. The development of ship types, officer careers, ship longevity, the role of foreign prizes in developing British design, the strategy and tactics of cruiser warfare and much more besides."
HMS Cornwall was a 74-gun third-rate Vengeur-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1810s. She spent most of her service in reserve and was converted into a reformatory and a school ship in her later years. The ship was broken up in 1875.
Three Royal Navy ships have borne the name HMS Lutin or Lutine, Lutine being French for "the tease" or "tormentress" or more literally "imp", and Lutine the feminine:
HMS Montague was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 August 1779 at Chatham Dockyard.
HMY Royal Escape was a royal yacht owned by King Charles II. She was the former collier Surprise that had carried the king across the Channel to safety.
Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Espiegle
Var was a corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1806 as the name-ship of her class of flutes. She served as a storeship until the British captured her in 1809. She became the transport HMS Chichester, and was wrecked in 1811.
Henry Adams (1713–1805) was a British Master Shipbuilder. He lived and worked at Bucklers Hard between 1744 and 1805. His home is now known as The Master Builder's House Hotel, a 3-star hotel overlooking the Beaulieu River and the old slipways of Buckler's Hard. He was responsible for building many famous warships during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a sixth-rate ship that was smaller than a frigate, but by virtue of being a rated ship, had to have as its captain a post captain rather than a lieutenant or commander. Thus ships with 20 to 26 guns were post ships, though this situation changed after 1817.
Censeur was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars. She was briefly captured by the British, but was retaken after a few months and taken back into French service as Révolution. She served until 1799, when she was transferred to the Spanish Navy, but was found to be rotten and was broken up.
Jean Bart was a merchant vessel built at Bayonne in 1786. Her owners commissioned her at Nantes in 1793 as a privateer. The French Navy requisitioned her in January 1794 and classed her as a corvette and listed her as Jean Bart No. 2 to distinguish her from the French corvette Jean Bart (1793). The Navy intended to rename her Imposant in May 1795, but the Royal Navy captured her first.
A number of ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dee, after one or other of the British rivers called the Dee.
Three, and possibly five, vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Sultana, for a female sultan or wife of a sultan:
Musette was a merchant ship built at Nantes in 1781. In June 1793 her owners commissioned her there as a 20-gun privateer, but the French Navy requisitioned her in November and classed her as a corvette. In May 1795 the Navy returned her to privateer service. HMS Hazard captured her in December 1796 and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Musette. She never went to sea again and the Navy sold her in 1806.
The French schooner Découverte was a French Navy vessel launched in 1800. The British captured her at Santo Domingo in 1803 and took her into service as HMS Decouverte. She was decommissioned in January 1806 and sold in 1808.
Six ships of the Royal Navy were named Lucifer:-
The Affronteur class consisted of two 16-gun luggers that Michel Colin-Olivier laid down at Dieppe in August 1794 and that he launched in 1795 for the French Navy. The two vessels took part in the Expédition d'Irlande in 1796–1797. The Royal Navy captured both vessels in 1803 in separate actions. The Royal Navy took Affronteur into service as HMS Caroline in 1804. She patrolled the Irish Sea until she was broken up in 1807. Vautour was not taken into British service.
The Royal Navy purchased HMS Barracouta on the stocks in 1782. After she had served for almost ten years patrolling against smugglers, the Navy sold her in 1792. She became the privateer Thought, which had a successful cruize, capturing several prizes including a French privateer, but then was herself captured in September 1793. She served the French Navy under the names Pensée, Montagne, Pensée, and Vedette, until the British recaptured her in 1800 and renamed her HMS Vidette. The Royal Navy sold her in 1802.
HMS Berbice was a schooner, initially built for use as a merchant ship, that the Royal Navy purchased in the West Indies in 1780. Her most prominent service was as a naval tender to HMS Adamant, the flagship of Sir Richard Hughes in the Leeward Islands Station. She was formerly commissioned in July 1781, and from 1782 to 1783 she was commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Boulden Thompson. On 23 February 1782, naval records indicate that she was at English Harbour, in need of crewmen but otherwise ready for active duty.