HMS Majestic (1785)

Last updated

Tonnant LeBreton PX8975.jpg
Tonnant at the Battle of the Nile, by Louis Lebreton. HMS Majestic is seen in the background.
History
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg Great Britain
NameHMS Majestic
Ordered23 August 1781
BuilderAdams & Barnard, Deptford
Laid downJune 1782
Launched11 December 1785
Honours and
awards
FateBroken up, April 1816
General characteristics [1]
Class and type Canada-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1623 (bm)
Length170 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
Beam46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Depth of hold20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Armament
  • As third rate:
  • Gundeck (GD): 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck (UG): 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns
  • As fourth rate:
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 42-pounder carronades
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Quarterdeck: 2 × 12-pounder guns

HMS Majestic was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line launched on 11 December 1785 at Deptford. [1]

Contents

Background

Majestic fought at the 1798 Battle of the Nile, where she engaged the French ships Tonnant and Heureux, helping to force their surrenders. She was captained by George Blagdon Westcott, who was killed in the battle. [2]

HMS Majestic at the Battle of the Nile, painted by Charles Dixon Charles Edward Dixon HMS Majestic Battle of the Nile.jpg
HMS Majestic at the Battle of the Nile, painted by Charles Dixon

On 22 February 1799, Majestic was in sight when Espoir, under the command of Captain James Sanders, captured the Spanish 14-gun xebec Africa some three leagues (14 km) from Marbello on the Spanish coast. Captain Cuthbert, of Majestic, transmitted Sanders's letter, adding his own endorsement extolling "the meritorious Conduct of Captain Sanders and his Ship's Company on the Occasion." [3] Espoir and Majestic shared the prize money for the xebec, whose full name was Nostra Senora de Africa. [4]

On 4 April, Majestic and Transfer destroyed a French privateer of unknown name. Head money was paid in 1828, almost 30 years later. [Note 1]

On 11 November 1804, Glatton, together with Eagle, Majestic, Princess of Orange, Raisonable, Africiane, Inspector, Beaver, and the hired armed vessels Swift and Agnes, shared in the capture of Upstalsboom, H.L. De Haase, Master. [Note 2]

On 4 September 1807, Majestic, flagship of Admiral Thomas Macnamara Russell anchored off Heligoland, effecting the capitulation of the island to the British. [7]

Majestic was razeed into a 58-gun fourth-rate frigate in 1813.

On 34 February 1814 Majestic encountered the French frigates Terpsichore and Atalante, a 20-gun ship, and an apparently unarmed brig. Majestic was able to catch up with and engage the stern-most of the French vessels. After an engagement lasting two and a half hours, the frigate struck. She turned out to be the Terpsichore, of 44 guns and 320 men, under the command of "capitaine de frigate Breton Francois de Sire". In the action, Terpsichore lost three men killed, six wounded, and two drowned as the prisoners were being transported to Majestic; British casualties were nil. Because of the weather and the approach of night, Majestic was unable to pursue the other three French vessels, which therefore escaped. [8] The Royal Navy named Terpsichore HMS Modeste, but never commissioned her.

On 22 May 1814 Majestic recaptured the former British naval schooner Dominica, which the American privateer Decatur had captured the year before. [9] At the time of her recapture, Dominica was sailing under a letter of marque, had a crew of 38 men, and was armed with four 6-pounder guns.

Majestic was broken up in 1816 after a stranding. [1]

Notes

  1. A first-class share of the head money was worth £94 2sd; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 4s 11¾d. [5]
  2. The prize money for an ordinary seaman was 10d. [6]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p181.
  2. Correspondence, Horatio Nelson to Admiralty 3 August 1798, cited in Dublin Penny Journal 1836, p. 389
  3. "No. 15119". The London Gazette . 26 March 1799. p. 288.
  4. "No. 15300". The London Gazette . 7 October 1800. p. 1161.
  5. "No. 18518". The London Gazette . 28 October 1828. p. 1957.
  6. "No. 16322". The London Gazette . 5 December 1809. p. 1960.
  7. Rüger, p10
  8. "No. 16875". The London Gazette . 2 April 1814. p. 398.
  9. "No. 16924". The London Gazette . 9 August 1814. p. 1610.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Ajax</i> (1809) Vengeur-class ship of the line

HMS Ajax was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 May 1809 at Blackwall Yard.

HMS <i>Pactolus</i> (1813) Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate

HMS Pactolus was one of eight 38-gun Cydnus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy, that served in the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812. She was one of the warships that bombarded Stonington, Connecticut from 9 to 12 August 1814. Pactolus was paid off in August 1817 and sold in 1818.

HMS <i>Thetis</i> (1782) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Thetis was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1782.

HMS <i>Apollo</i> (1805) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Apollo, the fifth ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a fifth-rate frigate of the Lively class, carrying 38 guns, launched in 1805 and broken up in 1856.

HMS <i>Saturn</i> (1786) 74-gun Royal Navy ship of the line

HMS Saturn was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 November 1786 at Northam. The vessel served during the Napoleonic Wars with the Channel Fleet, taking part in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen. With the beginning of the War of 1812, Saturn was modified to become a frigate designed to take on large American vessels of that type. Saturn was deployed as part of the blockading squadron of New York City from 1814 to 1815. From 1825, the vessel was in harbour service and was broken up in 1868.

HMS <i>Dragon</i> (1798) 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Dragon was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 April 1798 at Rotherhithe. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught.

HMS <i>Armada</i> (1810) Vengeur-class ship of the line

HMS Armada was a Royal Navy 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, launched in 1810. She was the first ship to carry the name. After a relatively undistinguished career, Armada was sold out of the Navy in 1863 and broken up at Marshall's ship breaking yard in Plymouth.

HMS <i>Cerberus</i> (1794) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.

HMS <i>Bonne Citoyenne</i> (1796) Sloop of the Royal Navy

Bonne Citoyenne was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy launched in 1794, the name ship of a four-vessel class. She was part of the French fleet active in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796, commissioning her as the sloop-of-war HMS Bonne Citoyenne.

HMS <i>Furieuse</i> (1809) Frigate of the Royal Navy

Furieuse was a 38-gun frigate of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1809 and took her into service as the fifth rate HMS Furieuse. She spent most of her British career in the Mediterranean Sea, though towards the end of the War of 1812 she served briefly on the North American station. She was laid up in 1815 and sold for breaking up in 1816.

HMS <i>Hind</i> (1785) Coventry-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Hind was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

HMS <i>Dido</i> (1784) Enterprise-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Dido was one of the twenty-seven Enterprise class of 28-gun sixth-rate frigates in service with the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Dido was commissioned in September 1787 under the command of Captain Charles Sandys. She participated in a notable action for which her crew would later be awarded the Naval General Service Medal; her participation in a campaign resulted in the award of another. Dido was sold for breaking up in 1817.

HMS <i>Musquito</i> (1804) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Musquito. was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804. She was commissioned in October 1804 under Commander Samuel Jackson. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.

HMS <i>Espoir</i> (1797) Brig of the Royal Navy

L'Espoir was a French brig-sloop that served for 9½ years in the French Navy before HMS Thalia captured her in September 1797. In her subsequent short career in British service as HMS Espoir she captured three prizes, with the capture in 1798 of the more heavily armed Genoese pirate Liguria earning her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. Espoir was laid up in 1799 and sold in 1804.

HMS Nemesis was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The French captured her in 1795 at Smyrna, but in 1796 a squadron led by Barfleur brought her out of the neutral port of Tunis. Throughout her career she served under a number of commanders who would go on to have distinguished careers. She was converted to a troopship in 1812 and was sold in 1814.

HMS <i>Dominica</i> (1810) French schooner

HMS Dominica was the French letter of marque schooner Duc de Wagram, which the British captured in 1809 in the Leeward Islands and took into the Royal Navy in 1810. The American privateer Decatur captured her in 1813 in a notable single-ship action. However, Majestic recaptured her in 1814. She was wrecked in 1815

HMS Patriot was a Dutch schuyt that the Royal Navy captured in 1808 and took into service. She captured several enemy vessels before she was converted to a water vessel in 1813. The Admiralty sold her in 1815.

HMS <i>Swallow</i> (1805) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Swallow was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in December 1805, nine months late. She served the Royal Navy through the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous privateers. After the end of the wars she was broken up in 1815.

HMS <i>Espoir</i> (1804) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Espoir was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean, and then briefly on the North American station. She was broken up in April 1821.

El Corso was launched in Spain in 1791 as a naval brig. the British Royal Navy captured her in 1796 and took her into service as HMS Corso. She then served in the Mediterranean where she captured numerous small vessels, the great majority of which were merchant vessels. In 1802 she sailed to England. From July 1802 to her sale in September 1814 she served as a receiving ship.

References