HMS Bideford was a 20-gun Royal Navy ship launched in 1756.
HMS Bideford was designed by Sir Thomas Slade and built by Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard with Captain Robert Digby as Commander, with a crew of 160 men. The ship was based on the south English coast. In November 1756 command passed to Francis Samuel Drake. [1]
In June 1757 command passed to Captain Samuel Hood (father of the infamous Captain Samuel Hood) and she joined the fleet of Admiral Hawke and began a period of intense action.
In February 1758 command passed from Hood to Captain Lancelot Skynner.
After repairs Bideford was put under command of Captain William Howe in July 1760.
In September 1761 command passed from Howe to Captain Thomas Gordon]
The ship was wrecked on the notorious Haisborough Sands off the Norfolk coast on December 31, 1761. [3] [4] The captain and much of the crew were drowned. [5]
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood was an English admiral in the Royal Navy. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of Antelope, he drove a French ship ashore in Audierne Bay, and captured two privateers in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. He held senior command as Commander-in-Chief, North American Station and then as Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station, leading the British fleet to victory at Battle of the Mona Passage in April 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, then First Naval Lord and, after briefly returning to the Portsmouth command, became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet during the French Revolutionary Wars. His younger brother was Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport (1726–1814), and his first cousin once-removed was Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1762–1814).
Vice-Admiral Sir John Lockhart-Ross, 6th Baronet, known as John Lockhart from 1721 to 1760, was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, Seven Years' War, and the American War of Independence, and served for a time as a Member of Parliament.
HMS Norfolk was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and the second ship to bear the name. She was built by Adrian Hayes at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 8 December 1757. She was active during the Seven Years' War.
Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, KB, of Cricket St Thomas, Somerset, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Dublin was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 6 May 1757.
Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, 1st Baronet was a senior and highly experienced British Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth century, who served with distinction at numerous actions of the Seven Years' War, American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary Wars. In his youth he was renowned as an efficient and able frigate officer and in later life became a highly respected squadron commander in the Channel Fleet. It was during the latter service when he was awarded his baronetcy after losing a leg at the Glorious First of June, aged 60.
HMS Seahorse was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1748. She is perhaps most famous as the ship on which a young Horatio Nelson served as a midshipman. She also participated in four battles off the coast of India between 1781 and 1783. The Royal Navy sold her in 1784 and she then became the mercantile Ravensworth. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1786 and 1788. In 1789, she was sold to the French East India Company which had her refitted and renamed her Citoyen. In 1793 the French Navy purchased her and used her as a frigate. She was last listed in 1801.
HMS Boreas was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Built by Israel Pownoll at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1757, she was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak. Boreas saw service during the Seven Years' War and took part in two actions at sea. She assisted in the capture of the 36-gun French frigate Diane in April 1758, and her most famous engagement was the capture of the French frigate Sirène in October 1760. She was sold out of the service in 1770.
HMS Vengeance was a 28-gun sixth rate of the Royal Navy. She had previously been a French privateer under the same name until her capture in 1758 during the Seven Years' War.
Sir Francis Samuel Drake, 1st Baronet was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of Rear-admiral of the Red.
HMS Minerva was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1759 and served through the Seven Years' War, but was captured in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War and served as the French Minerve until being recaptured in 1781 and renamed HMS Recovery. She was broken up in 1784.
HMS Pallas was one of the three 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and initially served in Sir Edward Hawke's fleet blockading the coast of France where she fought at the Raid on Cherbourg and in the Battle of Bishops Court. She later served for a number of years in the Mediterranean Sea before moving to serve off the coast of Africa between 1774 and 1776 where she protected the isolated British colonies. In 1778 she joined the Newfoundland Station and participated in the attack on Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Pallas returned to the English Channel after this and assisted in destroying a French invasion force intended for the Channel Islands in 1779 before briefly serving on the Jamaica Station. In 1783 she was beached on São Jorge Island after she was found to be heavily leaking; she was burned there on 24 February.
HMS Brilliant was a 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that saw active service during the Seven Years' War with France. She performed well against the French Navy in the 1760 Battle of Bishops Court and the 1761 Battle of Cape Finisterre, but was less capable when deployed for bombardment duty off enemy ports. She also captured eight French privateers and sank two more during her six years at sea. The Royal Navy decommissioned Brilliant in 1763. The Navy sold her in 1776 and she became an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). Brilliant was wrecked in August 1782 on the Comoro Islands while transporting troops to India.
HMS Aquilon was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1758, she saw active service against the French during the Seven Years' War, capturing seven enemy vessels in the first eight months of 1761. She was declared surplus to Navy requirements and sold into private hands in 1776.
HMS Siren was a sixth-rate post ship of the British Royal Navy, in commission between 1745 and 1763, seeing action during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.
Abénaquise was a 36-gun ship of the French Navy of the Ancien Régime, designed by René-Nicholas Lavasseur and launched on 8 July 1757. She was commanded by captain Gabriel Pellegrin. In 1757 she crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 38 days. This was one of the fastest crossings from Brest to Petite ferme on the Côte de Beaupré with pilot Pellegrin, port captain of Quebec, who was on his forty-second crossing.
John Carter Allen (1724–1800) was an 18th century Royal Navy commander who rose to the rank of Admiral.
HMS Winchelsea was a 20-gun sixth-rate launched in 1740 and in service during the War of the Austrian Succession in Mediterranean, Atlantic and home waters. She was captured by the French in 1758, but was retaken two weeks later. She was broken up in 1761.
HMS Scarborough was a 20-gun ship built in 1756 which served the Royal Navy until 1780. She had a crew of 160 men.
HMS Tavistock was a 10-gun Royal Navy ship launched in 1745 which, despite her small size, made a disproportionate impact on navy activity of the time, certainly outstripping the reputation of her namesake HMS Tavistock (1747) in all but size. She had several very famous commanders through her service.