HMS Ramillies (1763)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Ramillies.

Ramillies during the 1782 Central Atlantic hurricane
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Ramillies
Ordered	1 December 1759
Builder	Chatham Dockyard
Launched	15 April 1763
Fate	Burned, 1782
General characteristics [1]
Class & type	Ramillies-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1619 (bm)
Length	168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
Beam	46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Ramillies was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1763 at Chatham Dockyard. ^[1]

Career

Ramillies fought in the Battle of Ushant on Monday 27 July 1778. Ramillies took part in the action of 9 August 1780, when a convoy she was escorting fell prey to a Spanish squadron. 55 merchantmen were captured, but she managed to escape. ^[2]

In 1782 she was the flagship of a fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves off Newfoundland. Ramillies was badly damaged in a violent storm of 1782, and was finally abandoned and burned on 21 September 1782. ^[3]

Between 16 and 19 September 1782, while escorting a convoy from Jamaica, Ramillies was struck by a storm. Despite frantic efforts to save the ship, including jettisoning anchors, cannon, and masts, and using ropes to bind the hull, the water continued to rise. After three days of pumping by the crew, they were rescued by nearby merchantmen. Captain Silvester Moriarty ^[4] set the ship on fire as he left.

Robert Dodd painted a series of four documenting the tragedy. "The demise of the Ramillies" comprises: "A Storm coming on", "The Storm increas'd", "The Ramillies Water Logg'd with her Admiral & Crew quitting the Wreck", and "The Ramillies Destroyed". In 1795 a set of four coloured mezzotints were engraved and published by Jukes from his shop at No.10 Howland Street. ^{[5] [6]}

• 
  "A Storm Coming On"
• 
  "The Storm increas'd. Distressed situation of the Ramillies when Day broke with the Dutton Store Ship foundering"
• 
  "The Ramillies Water Logg'd with her Admiral & Crew quitting the Wreck",
• 
  "Ship abandoned in abating storm"
• 
  "Blowing up of the wreck"

Notes

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 177.
2. Lacour-Gayet (1905), p. 318.
3. The sinking ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
4. Sylverius Moriarty
5. Paintings "The demise of the Ramillies" Archived 18 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine
6. The Ramillies Destroyed

References

• Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1905). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. OCLC   763372623.
• Lavery, Brian (1983). The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN   0-85177-252-8.