''Constant Reformation''The 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the 18th century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively was a 42-gun

great ship The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing warships, initially classing them according to their assi ...

of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, built by

William Burrell Sir William Burrell (9 July 1861 - 29 March 1958) was one of the world’s great art collectors. He and his wife Constance, Lady Burrell (1875–1961), created a collection of over 8,000 artworks which they gave to their home city of Glasgow, ...

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

and launched in 1619. It first saw action in the English expedition to Algiers (1620–1621), then in the unsuccessful

Cádiz expedition (1625) The Cádiz expedition of 1625 was a naval expedition against Spain by English and Dutch forces. The plan was put forward because after the Dissolution of the Parliament of 1625, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord High Admiral, wanted to undertake ...

, part of the

Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630) The Anglo–Spanish War was a war fought by Spain against the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Scotland and the United Provinces from 1625 to 1630. The conflict formed part of the Eighty Years' War. Background In 1622, Philip IV reigned i ...

. In the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

from 1642 to 1646, ''Constant Reformation'' was the flagship of the Parliamentarian deputy commander, Vice-Admiral

William Batten Sir William Batten (1601 to 5 October 1667) was an English naval officer and administrator from Somerset, who began his career as a merchant seaman, served as second-in-command of the Parliamentarian navy during the First English Civil War, th ...

, before being taken over by

Thomas Rainsborough Thomas Rainsborough, or Rainborowe, 6 July 1610 – 29 October 1648, was an English religious and political radical who served in the Parliamentarian navy and New Model Army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. One of the few contemporaries wh ...

when he was appointed commander in January 1648. His crew mutinied in May 1648 and with Batten acting as captain, the ''Constant Reformation'' was one of the ships that defected to the

Royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

during the

Second English Civil War The Second English Civil War took place between February to August 1648 in Kingdom of England, England and Wales. It forms part of the series of conflicts known collectively as the 1639-1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which include the 1641� ...

in August 1648. While acting as a Royalist

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

, it ran aground near

Terceira Island Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 53,311 inhabitants in an area of approximately . It is the location ...

in the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

and was lost in 1651.

Notes

References

Sources

*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . Ships of the English navy Ships built in Deptford 1610s ships {{UK-line-ship-stub