HMS Grafton (1771)
HMS ''Grafton'' was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Adam Hayes launched on 26 September 1771 at Deptford Dockyard. One of the largest ships in the navy she had a crew of 550 men. Service history May, 1778 under command of Capt. Andrew Wilkinson. In 1779 she fought at the head of the British line at the Battle of Grenada, and in 1780 she was part of George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, Rodney's fleet at the Battle of Martinique (1780), Battle of Martinique. From 1792 ''Grafton'' was on harbour service, and she was broken up in 1816. Notable Commanders *Captain Thomas Collingwood briefly in 1779 *Captain William Affleck briefly in 1780 *Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland briefly in 1782 *Captain Stair Douglas briefly in 1782 *Sir John Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Marlborough House, Sir John Hamilton 1782/3 Citations and notes References * Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kingdom Of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England (which included Wales) and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The unitary state was governed by a single Parliament of Great Britain, parliament at the Palace of Westminster, but distinct legal systems – English law and Scots law – remained in use. The formerly separate kingdoms had been in personal union since the 1603 "Union of the Crowns" when James VI of Scotland became King of England and King of Ireland. Since James's reign, who had been the first to refer to himself as "king of Great Britain", a political un ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adam Hayes
Adam Hayes (1710–1785) was an 18th century shipbuilder to the Royal Navy. A great number of his models survive. He was responsible for the selection of the ship the "Earl of Pembroke" and was the wright who converted it into HMS Endeavour in 1768 for use by Captain Cook. Life He was born in the parish of St Botolph's, Aldgate in east London the eldest son of Adam Hayes and his wife, Sarah Urmstone. His father was possibly a carpenter. He joined the Royal Navy as a boy, around 1722, and became ship's carpenter. In 1740 he was part of the crew on HMS Centurion under Captain George Anson as flagship of a part of a special fleet heading first to South America then around Cape Horn in March 1741 and into the Pacific. The overall objective was then to attack the Spanish colony at Manila in the Philippines on the far side of the ocean. The Spanish got wind of this and sent their own fleet to intercept. As part of the actions the Centurion captured and plundered the Spanish g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ships Built In Deptford
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, load capacity, and purpose. Ships have supported exploration, trade, warfare, migration, colonization, and science. After the 15th century, new crops that had come from and to the Americas via the European seafarers significantly contributed to world population growth. Ship transport is responsible for the largest portion of world commerce. The word ''ship'' has meant, depending on the era and the context, either just a large vessel or specifically a ship-rigged sailing ship with three or more masts, each of which is square-rigged. As of 2016, there were more than 49,000 merchant ships, totaling almost 1.8 billion dead weight tons. Of these 28% were oil tankers, 43% were bulk carriers, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sir John Hamilton, 1st Baronet, Of Marlborough House
Captain Sir John Hamilton, 1st Baronet (21 February 1726–24 January 1784) was a Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth century. He joined as a captain's servant in HMS ''Rippon in 1740. Hamilton fought in the War of Jenkins' Ear at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741 and then transferred to HMS ''Alderney'' where he participated in the unsuccessful Invasion of Cuba. He was promoted to midshipman in HMS ''Success'' in 1742, and was promoted to lieutenant while serving on HMS ''Tartar'' in 1747. Having served in a variety of ships as a lieutenant, Hamilton was promoted to commander in 1762. After initially commanding HMS ''Cormorant'' he served in HMS ''Zephyr'' and HMS ''Merlin'' on the Newfoundland Station before being promoted to post captain in 1766. Given command of HMS ''Lizard'' to serve in the American Revolutionary War, Hamilton sailed to North America in 1775 and in December fought on land at the Siege of Quebec. For his service there he was made a barone ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stair Douglas
Admiral John Erskine Douglas (c. 1758 – 25 July 1847) was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who served in a number of vessels and participated at the destruction of the French ship of the line ''Impétueux'' in 1806 and the victory over the French off Brest during the Battle of Basque Roads in 1809. He also served in the Mediterranean and off Norfolk, Virginia, where he gained notoriety by searching American vessels for British deserters without asking permission from the American authorities. He later served as commander in chief at Jamaica and rose through the ranks to full admiral. He amassed a fortune, and when he died Douglas left over 40,000 ''l.'' to his daughters. Life The son of David Douglas, a descendant of James Douglas, 2nd earl of Queensberry, Douglas was born in the later 1750s, and joined the British Royal Navy at a young age, reaching the rank of commander in 1794 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Within a ye ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frederick Lewis Maitland
Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland (7 September 177730 November 1839) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and held a number of commands. The most famous event of his career occurred when Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to him aboard , marking the final end of the Napoleonic Wars. Family and early life Maitland was born at Rankeilour, Fife on 7 September 1777, as the third son of Frederick Lewis Maitland (1730–1786), himself a distinguished naval officer. Several other members of Maitland's family were serving officers in the army, including his uncle, General Sir Alexander Maitland, 1st Baronet and his cousin, General Frederick Maitland (1763–1848). Having received an education at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Maitland followed his father into the Navy, spending his first years aboard the sloop , under Captain George Duff, followed by a period aboard the frigate with Robert ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thomas Collingwood
Thomas Collingwood (c.1730 – 1780) was a British Royal Navy commander, who served on , , and , among others. Collingwood played an important role in the Battle of Grenada and the Battle of Martinique (1780). Life and career Thomas Collingwood was promoted to lieutenant on October 28, 1750. On September 9, 1756, he was assigned command of the ship , a vessel used to transmit Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's messages from Minorca to Barcelona. Collingwood used the Fortune to capture a French xebec in the port of Marseilles, in addition to messenger services. He was promoted to captain two months later and given command of the frigate . The ''Siren'' was stationed in the Mediterranean around Sardinia and chased the French man-of-war "La Nymphe" from Sardinia to the Barbary Coast in February 1757 but was unable to catch her or engage in combat. On March 25, 1757, she travelled to Cagliari to assist in escort duties: despite six French men-of-war patrolling the seas, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney
Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782. It is often claimed that he was the commander to have pioneered the tactic of breaking the line. Rodney came from a distinguished but poor background, and went to sea at the age of fourteen. His first major action was the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747. He made a large amount of prize money during the 1740s, allowing him to purchase a large country estate and a seat in the House of Commons of Great Britain. During the Seven Years' War, Rodney was involved in a number of amphibious operations such as the raids on Rochefort and Le Havre and the Siege of Louisbourg. He became well known for his role in the capture of Martinique in 1762. Following the Peace of Paris, Rodney's financial situation sta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to ref ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Deptford Dockyard
Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events and ships have been associated with it. Founded by Henry VIII in 1513, the dockyard was the most significant royal dockyard of the Tudor period and remained one of the principal naval yards for three hundred years. Important new technological and organisational developments were trialled here, and Deptford came to be associated with the great mariners of the time, including Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. The yard expanded rapidly throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, encompassing a large area and serving for a time as the headquarters of naval administration, and the associated Victualling Yard became the Victualling Board's main depot. Tsar Peter the Great visited the yard officially incognito in 1698 to learn shipbuildi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ship Of The Line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two columns of opposing warships maneuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides, the opponent with more cannons firingand therefore more firepowertypically had an advantage. Since these engagements were almost invariably won by the heaviest ships carrying more of the most powerful guns, the natural progression was to build sailing vessels that were the largest and most powerful of their time. From the end of the 1840s, the introduction of steam power brought less dependence on the wind in battle and led to the construction of screw-driven wooden-hulled ships of the line; a number of purely sail-powered ships were converted to this propulsion mech ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Third-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability (speed, handling), firepower, and cost. So, while first-rates and second-rates were both larger and more powerful, third-rate ships were the optimal configuration. Rating When the rating system was first established in the 1620s, the third rate was defined as those ships having at least 200 but not more than 300 men; previous to this, the type had been classified as "middling ships". By the 1660s, the means of classification had shifted from the number of men to the number of carriage-mounted guns, and third rates at that time mounted between 48 and 60 guns. By the turn of the century, the criterion boundaries had increased and third rate carried more than 60 guns, with seco ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |