HMS Sedgemoor

History
England
Name	HMS Sedgemoor
Namesake	Battle of Sedgemoor 1685
Ordered	6 January 1683
Builder	Robert Lee, Chatham Dockyard
Launched	May 1687
Fate	Wrecked, 2 January 1689
General characteristics [1]
Class & type	50-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	692 tons
Length	123 ft (37.5 m) (on the gundeck) 109 ft 4 in (33.3 m) (keel)
Beam	34 ft 6 in (10.5 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 7 in (4.1 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	50 guns of various weights of shot

HMS Sedgemoor was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Chatham Dockyard in May 1687. ^[2] She was named to commemorate the King's victory over the Monmouth Rebellion at the Battle of Sedgemoor in July 1685. One of only three 50-gun ships to be built during James II's brief reign (all three completed with an unusual "square tuck" stern), she was first commissioned on 5 May 1687 under Captain David Lloyd, who was still in command (although actually ashore in Dover) when she was wrecked twenty months later.

Armament

All three ships ordered in 1682/3 (all were launched in 1687) were intended to carry 54 guns each - twenty-two 24-pounders on the lower deck, the same number of demi-culverins (9-pounders) on the upper deck, and ten demi-culverin drakes on the quarterdeck. However, each was completed with just 50 guns in wartime service; Sedgmoor actually carried twenty culverins (18-pounders) on the lower deck and thirty sakers (6-pounders) on the upper deck and quarterdeck.

Loss

The Sedgemoor was driven ashore and wrecked at South Foreland, in St Margaret's Bay, Dover, Kent on 2 January 1689. Some of her timbers were later salvaged and used in the building of a new Fourth Rate at Chatham. ^{[1] [3] [4]}

References

1. Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603–1714 p120.
2. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 162.
3. David Hepper, British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail 1650-1859 (Jean Boudriot Publications, 1997), p.13.
4. Larn, Richard (1977). Goodwin Sands Shipwrecks. Newton Abbot, London, North Pomfret: David & Charles. p. 46. ISBN   0-7153-7202-5.

• 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.
• Winfield, Rif (1997), The 50-Gun Ship: A Complete History. Chatham Publishing (1st edition); Mercury Books (2nd edition 2005). ISBN   1-845600-09-6.
• Winfield, Rif (2009), British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603–1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84832-040-6.