HMS Flamborough was a Royal Navypost ship, launched in 1707 with 24 guns. She was the first Royal Navy vessel to be stationed in South Carolina, holding that position from 1719 to 1721. She was rebuilt as a considerably larger 20-gun vessel in 1727, and was employed during the following decade off Ireland and later on the Jamaica station. After a period in New York she returned to the Carolinas in 1739, patrolling the coast and playing a minor role in the War of Jenkins' Ear. She returned to England in 1745. After undergoing a major repair she was recommissioned under Captain Jervis Porter in April 1746, and served in the North Sea for the following two years. She was sold out of naval service in 1749.
Flamborough was laid down in Woolwich Dockyard as a 24-gun post ship in 1706 and launched on 29 January 1707.[1] Her earliest recorded duty was protecting the Yarmouth fisheries in 1707 under Commander William Clarke, then with Byng's Channel fleet in 1708. Commanded by Captain Charles Vanburgh, she captured two French privateers in the North Sea during 1710, the Trompeuse on 22 May and the St François on 5 June. In 1711, now under Commander Thomas Howard, she was assigned to escort merchant convoys and intercept French privateers in English waters between Newcastle and Leith.[2] In late 1711 she captured a French privateer in a brief action off Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth; the privateer's Scottish captain was subsequently convicted of high treason and executed in London.[2]
Flamborough served in the North Sea from 1718 to 1719, including participation in the May 1719 capture of Eilean Donan Castle during the Jacobite rising of 1719. From October 1719 to July 1721, the vessel was stationed in South Carolina under Captain John Hildesley, the first Royal Navy ship assigned to these waters.[3][a] In 1720, Flamborough defended against a Spanish fleet in the Raid on Nassau.[4] In 1727 she was rebuilt at Portsmouth as a 20-gun vessel. Ten years later she was again posted to the Americas, sailing for New York in March 1738 under Captain Vincent Pearce.[b]
War with Spain
By the late 1730s hostilities appeared imminent between Britain and Spain and the British Admiralty had concerns regarding the security of settlements along the Carolina and Georgia coasts. On 11 June 1739 Admiralty orders were issued for a six-vessel squadron, including Flamborough, to "protect the said settlements ... by taking, burning or otherwise destroying the ships, vessels or boats which the Spaniards may employ thereon."[5][c]Flamborough thereupon left her New York station for the Carolinas, arriving ahead of the declaration of war with Spain in October.
A View of the Town and Castle of St. Augustine, and the English Camp before it June 20, 1740, Flamborough shown. The Gentleman's Magazine, 1740
Her first wartime service was in May 1740 when she anchored in the mouth of the St Johns River to protect the disembarkation of British troops assigned to the Siege of St. Augustine.[6] In 1742 she came under the command of Captain Joseph Hamar, with orders to patrol between Georgia and the Bahamas.[7] In June she briefly engaged Spanish vessels near St. Augustine, Florida, driving several enemy vessels aground before being forced to retreat towards St. Simons Island. The engagement cost Flamborough seventeen of her crew.[8]
Returning in August she was part of a five-vessel squadron under the overall command of Sir Thomas Frankland, assigned to lure the Spanish into battle off St. Augustine, but was never directly engaged.[9] In October she returned to British waters off the Carolinas, anchoring off Hobcaw alongside HMSRose. While in Hobcaw she lost three men to desertion, replacing them with seamen impressed from local merchant craft.[9]
The ship was struck by lightning in early January 1743, suffering heavy damage to her fore and main masts. She was put in dock in Charleston, during which fourteen of her crew were transferred to HMSRye under the command of Captain Charles Hardy.[9] By mid-year she was fit to return to sea, proving her capacity with the capture of French privateer La Vendre off South Carolina on 14 October.[9]
In late October 1743 she was joined in Charleston by the larger and more heavily armed HMSLooe, whose captain Ashby Utting assumed overall command of the Carolinas naval squadron.[9] Hamar remained aboard Flamborough as commander and the ship stayed in service off South Carolina until 1 June 1745, when she returned to England.[10] Hamar was transferred to the command of her eventual replacement, the 40-gun HMSAdventure which arrived in Charleston harbour on 10 July 1747.[11]
On arrival in England Flamborough was relocated to Woolwich Dockyard for major repairs. Works began in January 1746 and lasted for five months at a cost of £4,624. She was recommissioned in April 1746 under Captain Jervis Porter and put back to sea in May for cruising and patrol along the English coast. Throughout 1747 she engaged and captured five French privateers – Le Chasseur in June, Le Roi David and Le Louis Quinzième in July, L'Alexandre in October and Le Ricaud in December.[1] Both Le Roi David and Le Loius Quinzième were subsequently purchased by Admiralty, with prize money paid to Flamborough's crew.[12]
Decommission
The ageing Flamborough was sold out of naval service on 10 January 1749.
Notes
Footnotes
^ [a] Royal Navy vessels had previously been stationed at New York and along the coasts of New England, Maryland and Virginia.[13] ^[b] The 1742 trial of a man named Robert Rhodes on charges of forgery refers to a sailor, John Thompson, who had previously lived in London but "in March 1737, he enter'd on board His Majesty's Ship the Flamborough" and died aboard the vessel in Turtle Bay, New York in August 1739. A witness statement reads in part: "I remember when he first went to Sea; it was about four Years ago last January, in the Year thirty-seven. He never was a Seaman before that, by what I have heard him say, and he work'd with me within a Day or two before he went to Sea. He has apply'd to several People who had been at Sea to inform him about the Business, for he was going ... to Captain Pierce of the Flamborough."[14] ^[c] The other Royal Navy vessels ordered to patrol Carolina waters from this date were Phoenix, Hector, Squirrel, Tartar and Spence.[15]
1 2 Graham, Eric J. (April 1992). "In Defence of the Scottish Maritime Interest, 1681-1713". The Scottish Historical Review. 71 (191/192). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press: 106–107. JSTOR25530535.
↑ May, W.E. (July 1970). "His Majesty's Ships on the Carolina Station". The South Carolina Historical Magazine. 71 (3). South Carolina Historical Society: 163. JSTOR27566994.
↑ Admiralty Correspondence 1739, cited in Reese, Trevor R. (1 March 1959). "Britain's Military Support of Georgia in the War of 1739-1748". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 43 (1). Georgia Historical Society: 5. JSTOR40577918.
↑ Baine, Rodney E. (2000). "General James Oglethorpe and the Expedition Against St. Augustine". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 84 (2). Georgia Historical Society: 215. JSTOR40584271.
↑ Robson, John (2009). Captain Cook's War and Peace. University of New South Wales Press. p.20. ISBN9781742231099.
↑ Cate, Margaret Davis (June 1943). "Fort Frederica and the Battle of Bloody Marsh". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 27 (2). Georgia Historical Society: 134. JSTOR40576871.
1 2 3 4 5 May, W.E. (January 1969). "Capt. Charles Hardy on the Carolina Station, 1742-1744". The South Carolina Historical Magazine. 70 (1). South Carolina Historical Society: 1–19. JSTOR27566917.
↑ May, W.E. (July 1970). "His Majesty's Ships on the Carolina Station". The South Carolina Historical Magazine. 71 (3). South Carolina Historical Society: 164. JSTOR27566994.
↑ Pringle, Robert (April 1925). "Journal of Robert Pringle, 1746-1747". The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. 26 (2). South Carolina Historical Society: 105. JSTOR27569655.
↑ May, W.E. (July 1970). "His Majesty's Ships on the Carolina Station". The South Carolina Historical Magazine. 71 (3). South Carolina Historical Society: 162–169. JSTOR27566994.
↑ Reese, Trevor R. (1 March 1959). "Britain's Military Support of Georgia in the War of 1739-1748". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 43 (1). Georgia Historical Society: 5. JSTOR40577918.
Related Research Articles
Robert Jenkins was a Welsh master mariner from Llanelli, famous as the protagonist of the "Jenkins's ear" incident, which became a contributory cause of the War of Jenkins' Ear between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain in 1739.
Admiral Edward Vernon was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in 1739 he was responsible for the capture of Portobelo, Panama, seen as expunging the failure of Admiral Hosier there in a previous conflict. However, his amphibious operation against the Spanish port of Cartagena de Indias was a disastrous defeat. Vernon also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) on three occasions and was outspoken on naval matters in Parliament, making him a controversial figure.
HMS Orestes was an 18-gun Dutch-built brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was originally built as the privateer Mars, which the British captured in 1781. She went on to serve during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the French Revolutionary Wars.
Admiral Nicholas Haddock was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Commander-in-Chief of Britain's naval forces in the Mediterranean between 1738 and 1742. Despite an active and successful early and middle career, his reputation was tarnished in 1740 when he failed to prevent the Spanish and French fleets from combining to support an invasion of Italy. Amid public outcry he was forced to resign his naval responsibilities and return to England, where he fell into a melancholic state.
HMS Newcastle was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Joseph Allin the elder at Sheerness Dockyard and launched on 10 March 1704.
HMS Burford was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard to the 1719 Establishment, and launched on 19 July 1722. Burford was notably the early posting of both John Forbes and John Byng, both of whom rose to become admirals.
HMS Levant was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Coventry class, which saw Royal Navy service against France in the Seven Years' War, and against France, Spain and the American colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Principally a hunter of privateers, she was also designed to be a match for small French frigates, but with a broader hull and sturdier build at the expense of some speed and manoeuvrability. Launched in 1758, Levant was assigned to the Royal Navy's Jamaica station from 1759 and proved her worth by defeating nine French vessels during her first three years at sea. She was also part of the British expedition against Martinique in 1762 but played no role in the landings or subsequent defeat of French forces at Fort Royal.
Prince William was built in Newcastle in 1788. She then traded between England and the Baltic. The Royal Navy first hired her in 1797. His Majesty's hired armed ship Prince William served on two contracts, one during the French Revolutionary Wars and one during the Napoleonic Wars. The Admiralty returned her to her owners at the end of each contract.
HMS Aldborough was a 24-gun sixth-rate ship of the Royal Navy, purchased in 1706 and in service in Mediterranean and English waters until 1727 when she was rebuilt as a 374 ton sixth rate in accordance with the 1719 Establishment for Sixth Rates. After the rebuild she spent her career in the West Indies, Home Waters and the Mediterranean. She was finally broken at Deptford on 31 March 1742.
HMS Aldborough was a 20-gun sixth-rate ship of the Royal Navy, built in 1727 according to the 1719 Establishment and in service in the West Indies, the North Sea and the Mediterranean until 1742. The future Admiral, Hugh Palliser, served aboard Aldborough as midshipman at the commencement of his naval career.
HMS Swift was an 8-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, the last of three Drake class sloops constructed during the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear. Launched in 1741, her principal service was as convoy escort and patrol off North Carolina and in the North Sea. She was lost at sea on 31 October 1756.
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 Seaford was a member of the standardized 20-gun sixth rates built at the end of the 17th century. After she was commissioned she had a very varied career, starting in the Mediterranean then the Irish Sea, then to Newfoundland, the North Sea followed by a great repair then to the Leeward Islands. She was dismantled in 1722 and rebuilt as a bomb vessel in 1727 than a 20-gun sixth rate in 1728. She served in the West Indies, America and the Mediterranean. She was finally broken in 1740.
HMS Deal Castle was a 24-gun sixth-rate ship of the Royal Navy, purchased in 1706 and in service in West Indies, North America and English waters until 1727 when she was rebuilt at Sheerness. She commissioned after her rebuild in May 1727 and served in Home waters, North America and the West Indies. She was finally broken at Deptford in August 1746.
HMS Squirrel was designed by Richard Stacey, Master Shipwright of Woolwich. Her design was based on the standardize 20-gun sixth rates. After commissioning she was assigned to Home Waters then the Mediterranean. She took a privateer in 1710. She was dismantled at Deptford with her timbers sent to Woolwich Dockyard for rebuilding as a 374-ton (bm). She was finally broken in 1749.
HMS Blandford was a member of the 1719 Establishment Group of 20-gun sixth rates. After commissioning she spent her career in Home Waters, the Baltic, North America and the Mediterranean on trade protection duties. She was sold at Deptford in October 1742.
HMS Seahorse was a member of the Gibraltar Group of 24-gun sixth rates. After commissioning she spent her career in Home waters and North America on trade protection duties. She was rebuilt at Deptford between 1725 and 1727. After her rebuild she served in Home Waters, North America, West Indies and the Mediterranean on trade protection. She was sold in 1749.
HMS Shoreham was a 32-gun fifth rate vessel built under contract at Shoreham in 1693/94. During the War of the English Succession she was involved in the unsuccessful operation at Camaret Bay. At the end of the war she helped take half a French convoy off Ireland. She then deployed to North America and the West Indies. She was rebuilt as a 20-gun sixth rate to the 1719 Establishment in 1719/21. She served in the Baltic as a bomb vessel then reverted to a sixth rate. She participated in operations in the West Indies during the initial years of the War of Austrian Succession before being sold in 1744.
HMS Lyme was a 32-gun fifth rate built by Mr. Flint of Plymouth in 1694/95. She spent her career on counter piracy patrols and trade protection duties in Home Waters, the Mediterranean and in North America and the West Indies. She was rebuilt to the 1719 Establishment as a sixth rate in 1720/21. Her breaking was completed in January 1739.
HMS Tartar was a 32-gun fifth rate built by the Woolwich Dockyard in 1702. Her initial commissioning was in time for the War of the Spanish Succession. She partook in the Battle of Velez Malaga in 1704. She spent the rest of her career on counter piracy and trade protection patrols. She was rebuilt as a 20-gun sixth rate in 1733. She was finally broken in 1755.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Great Britain
