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HMS Zephyr (1779)
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Zephyr'' after Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind: * HMS ''Zephyr'', originally the sloop HMS ''Merlin'', was captured by a French privateer in 1757. The British recaptured her in 1757 and the Royal Navy took her into service as ''Zephyr''. The French frigate ''Gracieuse'' recaptured her in August 1778; she was disarmed and sold at Toulon in January 1780 for Lt44,200. The purchasers turned her into a privateer, which the British privateer ''Fame'' captured and burnt on 26 August 1780.Hepper (1994), p.53. * , launched in 1779, was a 14-gun sloop. She was renamed ''Navy Transport'' in 1782, and then ''Dispatch'' in 1783 before being sold in 1798. * , launched in 1795, was a 10-gun fireship. She was sold in 1808. * , launched in 1809, was a 16-gun brig-sloop. She was sold in 1818 for breaking up. * , launched in 1823, was a 6-gun packet-brig. She immediately became a Falmouth packet. She was sold in 1836. * , transferred into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Zephyrus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, the Anemoi (Greek: , 'Winds') were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came (see Classical compass winds), and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions. They were the progeny of the goddess of the dawn Eos and her husband Astraeus. Etymology The earliest attestation of the word in Greek and of the worship of the winds by the Greeks, are perhaps the Mycenaean Greek word-forms , , , , i.e. 'priestess of the winds'. These words, written in Linear B, are found on the KN Fp 1 and KN Fp 13 tablets. Mythology The Anemoi are minor gods and are subject to the god Aeolus. They were sometimes represented as gusts of wind, and at other times were personified as winged men. They were also sometimes depicted as horses kept in the stables of the storm god Aeolus, who provided Odysseus with the Anemoi in the ''Odyssey''. The Spartans were reported to sacrifice a horse to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Merlin (1756)
Fourteen ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Merlin'', after Merlin, the wizard in Arthurian legend (the shore establishment RNAS Donibristle, like the other Naval Air Stations in Scotland, was named after the sea bird): * was a 10-gun pinnance built in 1579 and listed until 1601. * was a 14-gun yacht launched in 1652 and captured by a Dutch squadron off Cadiz in 1665 while she was convoying victualing ships to Tangier; her resistance restricted the Dutch to capturing only four of her charges. * was an 8-gun yacht launched in 1666 and sold in 1698. * was a 2-gun sloop launched in 1699 and sold in 1712. * was a 10-gun sloop launched in 1744 and sold in 1750. * was a 10-gun sloop in service in 1753. * was a 10-gun sloop launched in 1756. She was captured by a French privateer in 1757, but recaptured later that year and renamed HMS ''Zephyr''. The French frigate ''Gracieuse'' recaptured her in August 1778;Hepper (1994), p.53. she was disarme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livre Tournois
The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 grams of fine silver. The was a gold coin of one minted in large numbers from 1360. In 1549, the was decreed a unit of account, and in 1667 it officially replaced the . In 1720, the was redefined as 0.31 grams of pure gold, and in 1726, in a devaluation under Louis XV, as 4.50516 grams of fine silver. It was the basis of the revolutionary French franc of 1795, defined as 4.5 grams of fine silver exactly. Circulating currency In France, the was worth 240 deniers (the "Tours penny"). The latter were initially minted by the abbey of Saint Martin in the Touraine region of France. Soon after Philip II of France seized the counties of Anjou and Touraine in 1203 and standardized the use of the there, the began to supersede the (Paris pou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sails fore and aft, or as a gaff-rig with triangular foresail(s) and a gaff rigged mainsail. Sailboats can be classified according to type of rig, and so a sailboat may be a sloop, catboat, cutter, ketch, yawl, or schooner. A sloop usually has only one headsail, although an exception is the Friendship sloop, which is usually gaff-rigged with a bowsprit and multiple headsails. If the vessel has two or more headsails, the term cutter may be used, especially if the mast is stepped further towards the back of the boat. When going before the wind, a sloop may carry a square-rigged topsail which will be hung from a topsail yard and be supported from below by a crossjack. This sail often has a large hollow foot, and this foot is sometimes fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post Office Packet Service
The Post Office Packet Service dates to Tudor times and ran until 1823, when the Admiralty assumed control of the service. Originally, the Post Office used packet ships to carry mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. The vessels generally also carried bullion, private goods and passengers. The ships were usually lightly armed and relied on speed for their security. However, Britain was at war almost continuously during the 18th and early 19th centuries with the result that packet ships did get involved in naval engagements with enemy warships and privateers, and were occasionally captured. Routes Atlantic and Mediterranean *North, Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands, *Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Italy, Greece (Corfu was a British Protectorate from 1815 to 1864), Egypt. Northern Europe Routes ran at various times from Dover in Kent and Harwich in Essex to Calais, the Hook of Holland and Heligoland. Ireland The usual packet route was f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish NavySmith, Charles Edgar: ''A short history of naval and marine engineering.'' Babcock & Wilcox, ltd. at the University Press, 1937, page 263 as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War. Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
W And Z-class Destroyer
The W and Z class was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1943–1944. They were constructed as two flotillas, with names beginning with "W-" and "Z-", respectively, although, like the preceding , two of the flotilla leaders were named after historical naval figures (as had been Royal Navy practice during the inter-war years). They were known as the 9th and 10th Emergency Flotilla, respectively and served as fleet and convoy escorts in World War II. None were lost during World War II but INS ''Eilat'' (originally HMS ''Zealous'') was sunk during the Israel-Egypt conflict in October 1967 by Egyptian missile boats and the '' El Qaher'' (originally HMS ''Myngs'') of the Egyptian Navy was sunk at Berenice, Egypt on 16 May 1970 by Israeli Air Force aircraft during the War of Attrition. Design Repeats of the preceding U and V-class destroyers, with modified director structures. The Z class were armed with 4.5 inch guns.March, p.419. Ships W class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
