HMS Tavistock (1745)

Last updated

HMS Tavistock (renamed HMS Albany soon after creation) was a 10-gun Royal Navy ship launched in 1745 which, despite her small size, made a disproportionate impact on navy activity of the time, certainly outstripping the reputation of her namesake HMS Tavistock (1747) in all but size. She had several very famous commanders through her service.

History

She was ordered in May 1744 and built at Gosport Docks to a design by Jacob Ackworth and cost of only £2000. She was launched March 1745 under command of Justinian Nutt and sailed to Portsmouth for fitting out and armament at cost of a further £2000. [1]

Under Commander George MacKenzie she was used in the Lorient Operation - part of the War of Austrian Succession. On 1 October 1746 she was part of the sinking of the 64-gun French ship L'Ardent (a major coup). [2]

At the time of her renaming to HMS Albany, she was under command of Gilbert Young. Renaming was brought about by the loss of HMS Albany (1745), which had been captured by the French. The name "Tavistock" continued with HMS Tavistock (1747). Young took her back to England for upgrading of her armament: becoming a 14-gun ship (plus 14 smaller swivel guns).[ citation needed ]

She was recommissioned March 1748 under command of Captain John Rous who took her over the Atlantic to Nova Scotia. [3] On 16 October 1750, as part of Father Le Loutre's War, he attacked two French vessels off Cape Sable: the "Sainte Francois" under Captain Vergor, and the supply ship "Aimable Jeanne". Vergor's ship was severely damaged but Aimable Jeanne escaped and reached Fort Boishebert. Rous lost three crew. [4]

Then Rous sailed her back to England for further refitting at Woolwich. [5] She then spent an extended period between Woolwich and Deptford, undergoing works before finally going back into active service in 1755 when she was stationed at Dublin under Commander William Langdon, but had to undergo yet more repairs at Deptford, costing £3000. She then was in service around the coast of Britain for several years. In June 1756 command transferred to Edmund Affleck before changing to John Elliot in March 1757 and to Charles Medows in April 1757. [6]

After several commanders, not until March 1761 did she start to see military action again, by then under command of William Brograve. This included capture of the privateer Le Hazard near Cherbourg in March, the 14-gun La Tourterelle from Caen in April, and the capture of the 14-gun French corvette Le Faisan a few days later. The latter was taken to Spithead and later recommissioned under the name HMS Pheasant. [7]

In February 1762 command moved to Thomas Symonds and finally to Thomas Pasley before the ship was paid off the Navy lists in January 1763. [8] She was sold privately at Woolwich for £635 (stripped of her guns) and presumably was used for trading. Her final fate is not known. [9]

Related Research Articles

The following ships of the Royal Navy were assigned the name Calypso, after Calypso, a sea nymph in Greek mythology:

HMS <i>Centurion</i> (1732) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Centurion was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard by Joseph Allin the younger and launched on 6 January 1732. At the time of Centurion's construction, the 1719 Establishment dictated the dimensions of almost every ship being built. Owing to concerns over the relative sizes of British ships compared to their continental rivals, Centurion was ordered to be built 1 ft (0.3 m) wider across the beam than the Establishment prescribed. HMS Rippon was similarly built to non-Establishment dimensions at the same time.

HMS <i>Zebra</i> (1780) British sloop-of-war (1780–1812

HMS Zebra was a 16-gun Zebra-class sloop of the Royal Navy, launched on 31 August 1780 at Gravesend. She was the second ship to bear the name. After twenty years of service, including involvement in the West Indies campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars, she was converted into a bomb vessel in 1798. In this capacity she took part in attacks on French ports, and was present at both battles of Copenhagen. The Navy sold her in 1812.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Thomas Pasley, 1st Baronet</span>

Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, 1st Baronet was a senior and highly experienced British Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth century, who served with distinction at numerous actions of the Seven Years' War, American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary Wars. In his youth he was renowned as an efficient and able frigate officer and in later life became a highly respected squadron commander in the Channel Fleet. It was during the latter service when he was awarded his baronetcy after losing a leg at the Glorious First of June, aged 60.

HMS <i>Carcass</i> (1759)

HMS Carcass was an Infernal-class bomb vessel of the Royal Navy, later refitted as a survey vessel. A young Horatio Nelson served aboard her as a midshipman on an expedition to the Arctic in 1773.

HMS <i>Orford</i> (1749) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Orford was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched in 1749.

Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Albany:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rous</span> Royal Navy officer and privateer (1702–1760)

John Rous was a Royal Navy officer and privateer. He served during King George's War and the French and Indian War. Rous was also the senior naval officer on the Nova Scotia station during Father Le Loutre's War. Rous' daughter Mary married Richard Bulkeley and is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

HMS Eurydice was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1781 and broken up in 1834. During her long career she saw service in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She captured a number of enemy privateers and served in the East and West Indies, the Mediterranean and British and American waters.

HMS <i>Phoenix</i> (1832) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Phoenix was a 6-gun steam paddle vessel of the Royal Navy, built in a dry dock at Chatham in 1832. She was reclassified as a second-class paddle sloop before being rebuilt as a 10-gun screw sloop in 1844–45. She was fitted as an Arctic storeship in 1851 and sold for breaking in 1864.

HMS Siren was a sixth-rate post ship of the British Royal Navy, in commission between 1745 and 1763, seeing action during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.

HMS <i>Racehorse</i> (1757) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Racehorse was an 18-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy. Originally the French ship Marquis de Vaudreuil, she was captured by the Royal Navy in 1757 and refitted as a survey vessel for the 1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole. Renamed HMS Thunder in 1775, she was captured back by the French in 1778.

HMS <i>Trial</i> (1744) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Trial or Tryall was a 10-gun two-masted Hind-class sloop of the Royal Navy, designed by Joseph Allin and built by him at Deptford Dockyard on the Thames River, England. She was launched on 17 July 1744. She and her sister ship, Jamaica, were the only sloops to be built in the Royal Dockyards between 1733 and 1748.

HMS <i>Success</i> (1740) 20-gun Royal Navy ship

HMS Success was a 20-gun Royal Navy ship launched in 1740 as the first government contract for the Blaydes Yard in Hull. She had a crew of 140 men. She had several famous commanders over her lifetime.

HMS Archer was initially ordered as one of two Rifleman type gunvessels on 25 April 1846. With her construction suspended in September 1846, she was reordered on as a sloop on 25 April 1847 to be constructed to a design of John Edye as approved on 25 August. With the exception of two years on Baltic service during the Russian War of 1854 to 1855 she spent the majority on the West Coast of Africa on the anti-slavery patrol. This service involved anti-slavery work on the coasts of the Bight of Benin, and was notoriously unhealthy, with tropical diseases taking a heavy toll of British seamen. One of her commanders died and three others were invalided. Archer was reclassified as a corvette in 1862. She finally returned to Home waters, being sold for breaking in January 1866

HMS <i>Swallow</i> (1745) Royal Navy sloop

HMS Swallow was a 14-gun Merlin-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1745, she initially served in home waters as a convoy escort and cruiser before sailing to join the East Indies Station in 1747. There she served in the squadron of Rear-Admiral Edward Boscawen, taking part in an aborted invasion of Mauritius and the Siege of Pondicherry. In 1755 Swallow returned home to join the Downs Station, as part of which she fought at the Raid on St Malo, Raid on Cherbourg, and Battle of Saint Cast in 1758. She was also present when the French fleet broke out of Brest prior to the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759.

HMS <i>Granado</i> (1742)

HMS Granado was launched at Harwich in 1742, during the War of the Austrian Succession as a sloop-of-war. During this war she captured a French privateer. During the Seven Years' War she served both as a sloop and as a bomb vessel, and participated in naval operations off the coast of France and in the West Indies. When the Navy sold her in 1763 she became the mercantile Prince Frederick. Around 1775 she became the whaler Prudence, sailing in the British northern whale fishery. Around 1781 she became a government transport and was wrecked on 20 May 1782 on the coast of India.

HMS Deal Castle was a 24-gun sixth-rate ship of the Royal Navy, purchased in 1706 and in service in West Indies, North America and English waters until 1727 when she was rebuilt at Sheerness. She commissioned after her rebuild in May 1727 and served in Home waters, North America and the West Indies. She was finally broken at Deptford in August 1746.

HMS Squirrel was designed by Richard Stacey, Master Shipwright of Woolwich. Her design was based on the standardize 20-gun sixth rates. After commissioning she was assigned to Home Waters then the Mediterranean. She took a privateer in 1710. She was dismantled at Deptford with her timbers sent to Woolwich Dockyard for rebuilding as a 374-ton (bm). She was finally broken in 1749.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Hayes</span>

Adam Hayes (1710–1785) was an 18th-century shipbuilder to the Royal Navy. A great number of his models survive.

References

  1. ↑ "British sloop 'Tavistock' (1745)".
  2. ↑ "Action of 1746/10/12, 12th October 1746".
  3. ↑ "John Rous (D.1760)".
  4. ↑ "What was Father le Loutre's War (1749-1755)?". 17 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "John Rous (D.1760)".
  6. ↑ "Lord Charles Medows (1737-1816)".
  7. ↑ "French corvette 'Le Faisan' (1760)".
  8. ↑ "Sir Thomas Pasley (1734-1808)".
  9. ↑ "British sloop 'Tavistock' (1745)".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.