HMS Somerset (1698)
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HMS Somerset (1698)
HMS ''Somerset'' was a three-decker 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Chatham Dockyard on 31 May 1698. She was the first ship to bear the name. She served as Admiral Sir George Rooke's flagship at the battle of Vigo Bay on 12 October 1702. A powerful fleet of Anglo-Dutch warships had been assembled under Admiral Rooke, as Commander-in-Chief, to attack and capture Cádiz. Some footholds were gained near the city but after six weeks of vacillation the allied fleet retired ignominiously on 18 September. Rooke was not prepared to return home empty handed. On his homeward journey he learned of a valuable Spanish treasure fleet that had anchored at Vigo Bay in north-west Spain. Rooke arrived to discover that the Marquis de Châteaurenault, the French admiral, had laid a boom defence of masts across the inner harbour, covered by guns from sea and land, and had positioned his largest men-of-war to cover it. Admiral Thomas Hopsonn, aboard his flagship, ...
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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 ...
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James Butler, 2nd Duke Of Ormonde
James FitzJames Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, (1665–1745) was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormond. Like his grandfather, the 1st Duke, he was raised as a Protestant, unlike his extended family who held to Roman Catholicism. He served in the campaign to put down the Monmouth Rebellion, in the Williamite War in Ireland, in the Nine Years' War and in the War of the Spanish Succession but was accused of treason and went into exile after the Jacobite rising of 1715. Birth and origins James was born on 29 April 1665 at Dublin Castle. He was the second but eldest surviving son of Thomas Butler by his wife Emilia van Nassau-Beverweerd. His father was known as Lord Ossory. He was heir apparent of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond but predeceased him and so never became duke. His father's family, the Butler dynasty, was Old English and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butle ...
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Dava Sobel
Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. Her books include ''Longitude'', about English clockmaker John Harrison, and '' Galileo's Daughter'', about Galileo's daughter Maria Celeste, and ''The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars''. Biography Sobel was born in The Bronx, New York City. She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and Binghamton University. She wrote '' Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time'' in 1995. The story was made into a television movie, of the same name by Charles Sturridge and Granada Film in 1999, and was shown in the United States by A&E. Her book '' Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love'' was a finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University of Bath and Middl ...
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HMS Eagle (1679)
HMS ''Eagle'' was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, builtat Portsmouth Dockyard during 1677/79. When completed she was placed in Ordinary for 10 years. She was in active commission during the War of the English Succession partaking in the Battle of Barfleur. She was rebuilt in 1699 at Chatham. She again played an active role in the early part of the War of Spanish Succession participating in the Capture of Gibraltar, and the Battle of Velez Malaga. She was wrecked in the Isles of Scilly in October 1707. She was the seventh vessel to bear the name Eagle since it was used for a careening hulk, an ex-merchantman, purchased in 1592, and sold at Chatham in 1683. HMS Eagle was awarded the Battle Honour Barfleur 1692,Thomas (1998), Section B, Barfleur Gibraltar 1704,Thomas (1998), Section G, Gibraltar and Velez-Malaga 1704.Thomas (1998), Section V, Velez Malaga Construction and Specifications She was ordered in April 1677 to be built at Portsmouth Dockyard und ...
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HMS Romney (1694)
HMS ''Romney'' was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard on 23 October 1694. Commanded by Captain William Coney, ''Romney'' was wrecked on the Scilly Isles on 26 October 1707Ships of the Old Navy, ''Romney''. when a disastrous navigational error sent Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's fleet through dangerous reefs while on their way from Gibraltar to Portsmouth. Four ships (''Romney'', ''Association'', ''Firebrand'' and ''Eagle'') were lost, with nearly 2,000 sailors. ''Romney'' hit Bishop Rock and went down with all but one of her crew. The sole survivor was George Lawrence, who had worked as a butcher before joining the crew of ''Romney'' as quartermaster. The Scilly naval disaster was one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history. It was largely as a result of this disaster that the Board of the Admiralty instituted a competition for a more precise method to determine longitude Longitude (, ) is a geogra ...
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HMS Firebrand (1694)
''Firebrand'' was a Royal Navy fireship built at Limehouse in 1694, the first Royal Naval vessel to bear the name. Service ''Firebrand'' served in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. She is recorded as convoying five merchantmen in company with ''Winchester'' near Barbados in March 1695. Loss ''Firebrand'' was lost during the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 when a navigational error sent Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's fleet through dangerous reefs west of Cornwall while on their way from Gibraltar to Portsmouth. On the night of 22 October 1707, ''Firebrand'', commanded by Captain Francis Percy, smashed into the Outer Gilstone Rock off the Isles of Scilly. She was lifted off by a huge wave first, and Percy managed to steer his badly damaged ship along the southern side of the Western Rocks between St Agnes and Annet, but she foundered in Smith Sound, sinking close to Menglow Rock and losing 28 of her crew of 40. Percy and a group of his men managed to get ashore by boat, ...
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HMS Association (1697)
''Association'' was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1697.Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 164.Ships of the Old Navy, ''Association''. She served with distinction at the capture of Gibraltar, and was lost in 1707 by grounding on the Isles of Scilly in the greatest maritime disaster of the age. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. Service ''Association'' survived the Great Storm of 1703, during which she was at anchor off Harwich. Her rigging was cut away to avoid foundering on the "Galloper" sandbar, and she was blown to Gothenburg in Sweden before she could make her way back to England. ''Association'' served as the flagship of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean during the War of the Spanish Succession. Her engagements included the capture of Gibraltar on 21 July 1704, and the Battle of Toulon (1707), Battle of Toulon in summer 1707. Sinking In Octobe ...
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Scilly Naval Disaster Of 1707
The Scilly naval disaster of 1707 was the loss of four warships of a Royal Navy fleet off the Isles of Scilly in severe weather on 22 October 1707. Between 1,400 and 2,000 sailors lost their lives aboard the wrecked vessels, making the incident one of the worst maritime disasters in British naval history.The earliest reports of the disaster appeared in the ''Daily Courant'', and were rather brief. The account for 1 November 1707 read: "an Account, that Sir Cloudsly Shovel with about 20 Sail of Men of War coming from the Streights, having made an Observation the 21st, lay the 22d from 12 to about 6 in the Afternoon; but the Weather being very hazy and rainy and Night coming on dark, the Wind being S.S.W, they Stearing E by N, supposing they had the Channel open, were some of them upon the Rocks to the Westward of Scilly before they were aware, about 8 a Clock at Night. Of the Association not a Man was sav’d ... The Captain and 24 Men of the Firebrand Fire-Shop were saved, as were ...
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Battle Of Toulon (1707)
The siege of Toulon took place between 29 July to 21 August 1707 during the War of the Spanish Succession, when a combined Savoyard-Imperial army supported by a British naval force, attacked the French base at Toulon. The Allies had insufficient men to institute a formal siege, while they were outnumbered by French land forces; after losing around 13,000 men, mostly from disease, they retreated to Piedmont. The French fleet inside the harbour, including 46 ships of the line, was sunk to prevent its destruction; the fleet would not be re-floated until after the war ended, cementing British control of the western Mediterranean. However, the Allied defeat ended hopes of attacking France through its vulnerable southern border, forcing the Allies into a war of attrition on its much more strongly held northern frontier. The battle's outcome also effectively confirmed the House of Bourbon's victory in Spain, following its success at Almansa in April, brought an end to major operation ...
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Cloudesley Shovell
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell (c. November 1650 – 22 or 23 October 1707) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and then at the Battle of Texel during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. As a captain he fought at the Battle of Bantry Bay during the Williamite War in Ireland. As a flag officer Shovell commanded a division at the Battle of Barfleur during the Nine Years' War, and during the battle distinguished himself by being the first to break through the enemy's line. Along with Admiral Henry Killigrew and Admiral Ralph Delaval, Shovell was put in joint command of the fleet shortly afterwards. During the War of the Spanish Succession, Shovell commanded a squadron which served under Admiral George Rooke at the capture of Gibraltar and the Battle of Málaga. Working in conjunction with a landing force under the Earl of Peterborough, his forces undertook the siege and capture of Barcelona. He was appointed commander-in ...
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French Ship Foudroyant (1693)
The ''Foudroyant'' was a First Rank ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. History The name means ''Thunderbolt'', ''lightning''; having an awesome and overwhelming effect. This ship was originally ordered built at Brest Dockyard on 20 January 1693, and Louis XIV ordered she should bear the name ''Soleil Royal'' to replace the previous ship bearing that name (destroyed at Cherbourg) in June 1692. The designer and builder was Blaise Pangalo. However, Étienne Hubac begged the King that that name should be given to the ship (''Foudroyant'') he had just build and was then completing instead, because the previous ''Soleil Royal'' had been built by his own father, Laurent Hubac, and - as he himself had rebuilt that ship from the keel up at Brest in 1689 - he still possessed the moulds for that ship. Moreover, he pointed out to the King that his own ship would be some 4 feet longer and some 200 tons larger than Pangalo's new ship, so would be more deserving of the name that hon ...
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