HMS Scarborough was a 32 gun fifth-rate ship built at the Sheerness Dockyard and launched by the Royal Navy in 1711. [1] Her captain was Tobias Hume.
In 1717, the Scarborough caused the destruction of a pirate galley and a sloop near Saint Croix, but failed to capture the crew, [2] who would go on to join Samuel Bellamy. [3] Records of the time also indicate the Scarborough was in the vicinity of Blackbeard the pirate and his crew in February 1717 near Nevis. The deposition of Henry Bostock recounts that the pirates "had met the Man of War on this station, but said they had no business with her, but if she had chased them they would have kept their Way." [4]
In 1720, she was rebuilt at the Deptford Dockyard as a sixth-rate 20 gun ship. She was finally sold to Deptford Dockyard in 1739. [1]
Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before he settled on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet; but Hornigold retired from piracy toward the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him.
Captain Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) was an English pirate who operated during the tail end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Queen Anne's Revenge was an early-18th-century ship, most famously used as a flagship by Edward Teach, better known by his nickname Blackbeard. Although the date and place of the ship's construction are uncertain, it was originally believed she was built for merchant service in Bristol, England in 1710 and named Concord, later captured by French privateers and renamed La Concorde. After several years' service by French sailors, she was captured by Blackbeard in 1717. Blackbeard used the ship for less than a year, but captured numerous prizes using her as his flagship.
Robert Maynard was a British lieutenant, and later captain, in the Royal Navy. Little is known about Maynard's early life, other than he was born in England in 1684 and then later joined the English Navy. He was made a lieutenant in January 1707, and by 1709 was the third lieutenant on HMS Bedford.
The following ships of the Royal Navy were assigned the name Calypso, after Calypso, a sea nymph in Greek mythology:
HMS Impregnable was a Royal Navy 98-gun second rate ship of the line launched on 15 April 1786 at Deptford Dockyard. She was wrecked in 1799 off Spithead.
HMS Duke was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 June 1682 at Woolwich Dockyard.
Victory was a great ship of the English Navy, launched in 1620 and in active service during the seventeenth century's Anglo-Dutch Wars. After an seventy-year naval career, she was broken up at Woolwich Dockyard in 1691 and her timbers reused in other vessels.
HMS Burford was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line built at Woolwich Dockyard in 1677/79 as part of the Thirty Ships Programme of 1677. She fought in the War of the English Succession, including the Battle of Barfleur, before being rebuilt at Deptford in 1699, remaining as a 70-gun third rate. During the War of Spanish Succession she was mostly in the Mediterranean fleet and fought at the capture of Gibraltar and the Battle of Málaga in 1704 before being extensively repaired between 1710 and 1712 at Portsmouth Dockyard. Burford served in the Baltic in 1715 and 1717 before returning to the Mediterranean to fight the Spanish at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. She was wrecked on the Italian coast in a storm on 14 February 1719.
HMS Buckingham was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard by John Holland to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, and in active service during the Seven Years' War with France. With a crew of 520 she was one of the largest ships in the Navy at that time.
John Martel was a French pirate active in the Caribbean.
HMS Brilliant was a 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy that saw active service during the Seven Years' War with France. She performed well against the French Navy in the 1760 Battle of Bishops Court and the 1761 Battle of Cape Finisterre, but was less capable when deployed for bombardment duty off enemy ports. She also captured eight French privateers and sank two more during her six years at sea. The Royal Navy decommissioned Brilliant in 1763. The Navy sold her in 1776 and she became an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). Brilliant was wrecked in August 1782 on the Comoro Islands while transporting troops to India.
HMS Active was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1758. She was one of the captors of the Spanish ship Hermione. After Hermione surrendered, her captors found that she carried a large cargo of gold and silver that would lead to the greatest single amount of prize money awarded to the crew of a British warship.
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.
HMS Reynard was part of the 1847 Program, she was ordered on 25 April as a steam schooner from Deptford Dockyard with the name ‘Plumper’. However, the reference Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. College, © 2020, there is no entry that associates the name Plumper to this build. The vessel was reordered on August 12th as an 8-gun sloop as designed by John Edye. She was launched in 1848, conducted anti-piracy work in Chinese waters and was wrecked near Pratas Island in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851.
HMS Pearl was a 42-gun fifth-rate of the Royal Navy. Her crew was involved in the hunt and death of Blackbeard in 1718.
The Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates was issued by George I of Great Britain on 5 September 1717. It promised a royal pardon for acts of piracy committed before the following 5 January to those pirates who surrendered themselves to the correct authority before a deadline. Originally, the surrender had to occur on or before 5 September 1718; this was later extended by a second proclamation to 1 July 1719.
HMS Scarborough was a 32-gun fifth rate vessel built at Woolwich Dockyard in 1693/94. Shortly after commissioning she was taken by two French privateers and went under French service. She was recaptured in 1697 and renamed Milford. She spent some time off Africa then the West Indies. She was rebuilt in 1705. She was in the North Sea, the Mediterranean and finally the West Indies where she was wrecked in 1720.
Richard Stacey (1663–1743) was an English shipbuilder and ship designer employed by the Royal Navy at several dockyards but predominantly Deptford.