HMS Hampshire (1698)

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History
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg Great Britain
NameHMS Hampshire
Ordered24 December 1695
BuilderJohn Taylor, Nelson Dock, Rotherhithe
Launched3 March 1698
Commissioned1699
In service1699–1734
Out of service1734
FateBroken up, 1739
General characteristics [1] [2]
Class and type50-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen690 194 bm
Length132 ft (40.2 m) (on gundeck) 110 ft 7 in (33.7 m) (keel)
Beam34 ft 3 in (10.4 m)
Depth of hold13 ft 8 in (4.2 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Armament
  • 54 guns in wartime (46 in peace):
  • Lower gundeck 22 x 12 pdr guns
  • Upper gundeck 22 x 6 pdr guns
  • Quarterdeck 8 x 6 pdr guns
  • Forecastle 2 x 6pdr guns

HMS Hampshire was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.

Contents

Construction

Hampshire was one of eight ships authorised by the Navy Board on 24 December 1695 to be newly built for service in the Nine Years' War against France. [a] A contract for construction was signed with shipbuilder John Taylor on 14 February 1696, for the ship to be built in his yard at Nelson Dock in Cuckold's Point, South London. She was launched from there on 3 March 1698. [1]

Hampshire's entry into active service was delayed by the Peace of Ryswick in October 1697, which ended the war with France. The vessel's first eighteen months were therefore spent in port at Rotherhithe. She was eventually commissioned under Captain Andrew Leake for service protecting Britain's fisheries fleet in Newfoundland in 1699, and then in the Baltic Sea in 1700. [1] [3]

At the conclusion of this uneventful service Hampshire was returned to England, making port at the Downs in February 1701. [3] There, Leake discovered that the crew had written a round-robin letter to Admiralty in which they accused him of ill-using them. Leake denounced the allegation, saying that he "always took care to do the sailors justice". He argued that the true motivation of Hampshire's crew was to avoid having to pay large bills they had accrued to their landladies ashore; if they proved Leake had been abusing them they could be turned over into another ship that would take them away before they were forced to pay what they owed. The Admiralty ultimately ruled in Leake's favour, with Hampshire's crew compelled to remain at their posts. [3]

Hampshire was broken up at Portsmouth Dockyard in June 1739, [1] [2] with a replacement 50-gun ship of the same name being built at Ipswich in 1740-41. [4]

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References

Notes

  1. The others in the group were Dartmouth, Winchester, Salisbury, Worcester, Jersey, Carlisle and Tilbury. [1]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Winfield 2009, p.136
  2. 1 2 Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p164.
  3. 1 2 3 Laughton and Le Fevre, 2008.
  4. Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792, p.146.

Bibliography