HMS Royal Sovereign (1786)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Royal Sovereign.

Royal Sovereign (centre-left) at the Battle of Trafalgar
History
Great Britain
Name	Royal Sovereign
Ordered	3 February 1772
Builder	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down	7 January 1774
Launched	11 September 1786
Renamed	Captain, 17 August 1825
Honours and awards	Participated in: Glorious First of June Cornwallis's Retreat Battle of Trafalgar
Fate	Broken up, 1841
Notes	Harbour service from 1826
General characteristics [1]
Class & type	100-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	2175 (bm)
Length	183 ft 10+1⁄2 in (56.0 m) (gundeck)
Beam	52 ft 1 in (15.88 m)
Depth of hold	22 ft 2+1⁄2 in (6.8 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 28 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns QD: 10 × 12-pounder guns Fc: 4 × 12-pounder guns

HMS Royal Sovereign was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ^[1] which served as the flagship of Vice-Admiral of the Blue Cuthbert Collingwood at the Battle of Trafalgar. She was the third of seven Royal Navy ships to bear the name. She was launched at Plymouth Dockyard on 11 September 1786, ^[1] at a cost of £67,458, and was the only ship built to her design. Because of the high number of Northumbrians on board the crew were known as the Tars of the Tyne. ^[2]

Construction

Royal Sovereign was a 100-gun first rate ship of the line, designed by the John Williams (Surveyor of the Navy) in 1772. ^[3]

Royal Sovereign was ordered on 3 February 1772 to be built at Plymouth Dockyard by the Master Shipwright Thomas Pollard. ^[4] The long nature of her construction meant that the master shipwright changed twice, with Pownoll being replaced by John Henslow in February 1775, and Henslow in turn handing over to Thomas Pollard in November 1784. ^[3] She was laid down on 7 January 1774 and launched on 11 September 1786 with the following dimensions: 183 feet 10+1⁄2 inches (56 m) along the gun deck, 150 feet 9+1⁄8 inches (46 m) at the keel, with a beam of 52 feet 1 inch (15.9 m) and a depth in the hold of 22 feet 2+1⁄2 inches (6.8 m). She measured 2,175 29⁄94 tons burthen. ^[3] The fitting out process for Royal Sovereign was completed in September 1787, but she was still only partly fitted for sea. ^[3]

In service

Royal Sovereign immediately after her collision with Bellisarius on 17 March 1796

Royal Sovereign was part of Admiral Richard Howe, Earl Howe fleet at the Glorious First of June, where she suffered 14 killed and 41 wounded. ^[5] On 16 June 1795, as the flagship of Vice-Admiral William Cornwallis, she participated in Cornwallis's Retreat. ^[5] On 17 March 1796 the transport ship Bellisarius collided with her and sank. With a Mr Barge as her master, Belisarius was carrying troops and their dependents to the West Indies. Barge and about 110 persons were saved. ^[6] Royal Sovereign arrived at Gibraltar, under command of Capt. Malcome, on 20 February 1804 after an 8-day voyage from off Ushant. ^[7]

Trafalgar

At the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805 Royal Sovereign, under Vice-Admiral of the Blue Cuthbert Collingwood, led the lee column of the British fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral of the White Lord Nelson which engaged a Franco-Spanish fleet. Royal Sovereign was the first ship in the British fleet to go into action due to her hull being recently re-coppered just prior to the battle; in the light winds present that day she pulled well ahead of the rest of Nelson's fleet. Fougueux fired the first shots of the battle when she began firing at the approaching Royal Sovereign at 11:50 am. At exactly midday Royal Sovereign broke through the Franco-Spanish line of battle between Santa Ana and Fougueux, during which Nelson, leading the weather column on HMS Victory, pointed to Collingwood's ship and said "See how that noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into action!" At roughly the same moment Collingwood remarked to his flag captain, Captain Edward Rotheram: "What would Nelson give to be here?" ^[8]

As she passed by Santa Ana, Royal Sovereign under Collingwood's orders raked the Spanish ship of the line with a devastating double-shotted broadside. The two ships proceeded to engage in an intense hours-long duel for most of the battle, with Santa Ana taking fire from other British ships passing through the Franco-Spanish line, including HMS Mars and HMS Tonnant, while nearby French and Spanish warships fired on Royal Sovereign. Santa Ana ultimately suffered 97 killed and 141 wounded after battling Royal Sovereign and HMS Belleisle, while Collingwood's ship lost her mizzenmast and mainmast while the vessel's foremast was badly damaged and much of Royal Sovereign's rigging was shot away. ^[9] At about 2:20 pm Santa Ana struck her colours to Royal Sovereign. ^[10]

Shortly after Santa Ana's surrender a boat came from Victory carrying Lieutenant Alexander Hills, who reported that Nelson had been badly wounded. Collingwood realised that he might have to take command of the rest of the British fleet, and with his ship being "perfectly unmanageable" ^[11] by 3:00 pm he signalled for Euryalus to take Royal Sovereign in tow. ^[10] Euryalus towed her round to support the rest of the British fleet with her port side guns, and Royal Sovereign engaged the Franco-Spanish vanguard under Counter-admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley as it came about to support the allied centre. ^[12] Fire from the lead Franco-Spanish ships shot away the cable between Royal Sovereign and Euryalus, and the latter proceeded to sail towards Victory. ^[13] Royal Sovereign exchanged fire with the arriving vanguard until Collingwood rallied several relatively undamaged British ships around Royal Sovereign, and Dumanoir gave up any attempt to recover some of the British prizes and sailed away with his ships at 4.30pm. ^[14]

Royal Sovereign disabled and under tow by Euryalus on 22 October 1805

At 4.40 pm one of Victory's boats, carrying Captain Henry Blackwood and Hills, came alongside Royal Sovereign. Blackwood reported Nelson's death to Collingwood. ^[15] This left Collingwood in command of the British fleet. With a storm approaching, Collingwood disregarded Nelson's final order to bring the fleet to anchor and ordered Blackwood to hoist the signal to all ships to come to the wind on the starboard tack and to take all prizes and disabled British vessels in tow. ^[16] Royal Sovereign was by now virtually uncontrollable and as she had most of her masts shot away was unable to make signals. ^{[17] [16]} As a result just before 6:00 pm Collingwood transferred himself and his flag to Euryalus which sent a cable across and took Royal Sovereign in tow for second time. ^[18] At Trafalgar Royal Sovereign lost one lieutenant, her master, one marine lieutenant, two midshipmen, 29 seamen and 13 marines killed, along with two lieutenants, one marine lieutenant, one master's mate, four midshipmen, her boatswain, 69 seamen and 16 marines wounded. ^[19]

After Trafalgar

Royal Sovereign returned to duty in the Mediterranean the next year and remained on the blockade of Toulon until November 1811, when she was ordered to return home to the Channel Fleet. In 1812 and 1813 she was under the command of Rear Admiral James Bissett serving under Admiral Keith.

She was credited with the capture on 5 August 1812 of the American ship Asia, of 251 tons, which had been sailing from St. Mary's to Plymouth with a cargo of timber. ^[20] Royal Sovereign shared the proceeds of the capture with all the vessels in Keith's squadron, suggesting that what happened was that Asia sailed into Plymouth unaware that the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States had broken out and was seized as she arrived, the formal credit going to the flagship. ^[a]

Fate

Guns from Royal Sovereign installed in the Collingwood Monument on Tyneside

After her useful active life she was converted to harbour service as a receiving ship at Plymouth before being renamed HMS Captain ^[22] on 17 August 1825. Hulked in June 1826, Captain was finally broken up at Plymouth, ^[1] with work being completed on 28 August 1841. Four of her guns were saved and are incorporated in the Collingwood Monument in Tynemouth. ^[23]

Notes

1. A first-class share was worth £9 10s 10d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 2s 6d. ^[21]

Citations

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 178.
2. Famous Fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.202
3. Winfield, British Warships, p. 97
4. "British First Rate ship of the line 'Royal Sovereign' (1786)".
5. Ships of the Old Navy, Royal Sovereign (1).
6. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2802. 5 March 1796. hdl:2027/mdp.39015050998221 . Retrieved 20 January 2022.
7. Naval Documents related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers Volume III Part 3 of 3 September 1803 through March 1804 (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 452. Retrieved 26 December 2024– via Ibiblio.
8. Heathcote. Nelson's Trafalgar Captains. p. 41.
9. Adkin. The Trafalgar Companion. p. 323.
10. Clayton. Trafalgar. p. 214.
11. Newbolt. p.124
12. Clayton. Trafalgar. p. 243.
13. Clayton. Trafalgar. p. 249.
14. Clayton. Trafalgar. pp. 242–5.
15. Goodwin. The Ships of Trafalgar. p. 19.
16. Clayton. Trafalgar. p. 257.
17. Pocock p.141
18. At the end of the battle Collingwood signalled from Euryalus for the rest of the fleet to prepare to anchor. HMS Neptune took over the tow on 22 October and was replaced by HMS Mars on 23 October.<ref name="Clayton301">Clayton. Trafalgar. p. 301.
19. James, Naval History of Great Britain, p.45.
20. "No. 16715". The London Gazette . 27 March 1813. p. 627.
21. Keith's share was worth £85 17s 6½d. "No. 17229". The London Gazette . 11 March 1817. p. 614.
22. Ships of the Old Navy, Royal Sovereign (2).
23. "Collingwood Monument and Guns". Historic England. Retrieved 19 January 2021.

References

• Media related to HMS Royal Sovereign (ship, 1786) at Wikimedia Commons
• Adkin, Mark (2007). The Trafalgar Companion: A Guide to History's Most Famous Sea Battle and the Life of Admiral Lord Nelson . London: Aurum Press. ISBN   978-1-84513-018-3.
• Adkins, Roy (2004). Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle. Little, Brown. ISBN   0-316-72511-0.
• Clayton, Tim & Craig, Phil (2004). Trafalgar: The Men, the Battle, the Storm. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN   0-340-83026-3.
• Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (2005). Trafalgar 1805: Nelson's Crowning Victory. Campaign. Vol. 157. Osprey Publishing. ISBN   1-84176-892-8.
• Goodwin, Peter (2005). The Ships of Trafalgar: The British, French and Spanish Fleets October 1805. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   1-59114-824-3.
• Heathcote, T. A. (2005). Nelson's Trafalgar Captains and their Battles: A Biographical and Historical Dictionary. Pen& Sword Maritime. ISBN   1-84415-182-4.
• James, William. (2003) The naval history of Great Britain from the declaration of war by France in 1793 to the accession of George IV, Conway Maritime Press Ltd. ISBN   0-85177-905-0
• Lavery, Brian (1984). The Ship of the Line. Vol. 1: The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   0-85177-252-8.
• Duke Yonge, Charles. The history of the British navy V2, from the earliest period to the present time R.Bentley Publishing. ISBN   1-104-39362-X
• San Juan, Victor. (2009) Trafalgar. Tres armadas en combate (Spanish Edition) (Kindle Edition) ASIN B00332FJT4
• Pocock, Tom. (2005) Trafalgar: An Eyewitness History. Penguin Best sellers. ISBN   0-14-144150-X
• Henry Newbolt. (2008) The Year Of Trafalgar Being An Account Of The Battle And Of The Events Which Led Up To It, With A Collection Of The Poems And Ballads Written Thereupon Between 1805 And 1905, Loney Press. ISBN   1-4437-1872-6
• Michael Phillips. Royal Sovereign (100) (1786) (1). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
• Michael Phillips. Royal Sovereign (100) (1786) (2). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
• Lincoln P. Paine. Warships of the world to 1900 Mariner Books.
• Wilhelm, Thomas (1881). A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer. Philadelphia: L. R. Hamersly & Co. OCLC   1872456.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates (revised ed.). Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84415-717-4.