HMS Brunswick (1790)
 HMS Brunswick fighting the Achille and Vengeur du Peuple simultaneously | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK | |
| Name: | HMS Brunswick |
| Ordered: | 7 January 1785 |
| Builder: | Deptford Dockyard |
| Laid down: | May 1786 |
| Launched: | 30 April 1790 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1826 |
| Notes: |
|
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | 74-gun third rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1836 13⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 176 ft 2.5 in (53.708 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 48 ft 9 in (14.86 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Brunswick was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 30 April 1790 at Deptford.[1]
Brunswick's first captain, Sir Hyde Parker, was appointed in May 1790 during the Spanish Armament. At the end of that year he was superseded by Sir Roger Curtis, under whom Brunswick spent most of 1791 at Spithead until the settlement of the Russian Armament without hostility in late August. She then paid off, but was immediately recommissioned to serve as a guardship in Portsmouth Harbour, and continued in that role through 1792, except for a brief period spent in the "Evolution Squadron".[2] On 29 October 1792, three condemned mutineers of the Mutiny on the Bounty were hanged from her yardarms.
Following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War Captain John Harvey took command of Brunswick, and saw service in the Channel Fleet under the overall command of Admiral Earl Howe. She fought at the Glorious First of June in 1794, suffering the highest casualty toll of any Royal Navy ship present in the battle, with 45 killed and 114 wounded, including Captain Harvey who died of the wounds he received while sinking the French ship Vengeur du Peuple. William Browell was made acting captain. Having lost her mizenmast in the action, Brunswick drifted away to leeward of the retreating enemy fleet, but made all available sail to head northward for the safety of a home port.[3]
Under Captain Lord Charles Fitzgerald she was part of Admiral William Cornwallis's squadron which fell in with and escaped from a much superior French fleet in June 1795.
She sailed to Jamaica carrying the flag of Rear-Admiral Richard Rodney Bligh in June 1796, and remained on that station until 1800.
In 1812 Brunswick was on harbour service, and she was broken up in 1826.[1]
Notes
- 1 2 3 Lavery (2003), p. 185.
- ↑ "Warship Histories". National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ↑ "London Gazette". Retrieved 8 August 2012.
References
- Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
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