''Fairfax'' was a

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 ...

frigate of the navy of the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execu ...

from 1653 to 1660. With the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 she was recommissioned as HMS ''Fairfax'' and served with the

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 ...

until 1674.

Construction

''Fairfax'' was constructed between March and September 1653 by shipwright John Taylor of

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

, at a total cost of £7065. She was a replacement for the '' Fairfax'' of 1650, which had burnt to the waterline in 1652. The unburnt portion of this earlier vessel was retained and built upon to construct the new ship.Winfield 2009, p. 52 As built, ''Fairfax'' was along her keel with a beam of and a hold depth of . She was a large vessel, measuring 789 tons burthen with a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . Her crew complement at launch was not recorded. However at the time of her transfer to the Royal Navy in 1660 she carried 220 men, rising to 300 in 1666 and 400 in 1672. From 1660 ''Fairfax'' carried 52 guns. In 1666 this was increased to 66, comprising twenty-two

demi-cannon The demi-cannon was a medium-sized cannon, similar to but slightly larger than a culverin and smaller than a regular cannon, developed in the early 17th century. A full cannon fired a 42-pound shot, but these were discontinued in the 18th centur ...

s, four

culverin A culverin was initially an ancestor of the hand-held arquebus, but later was used to describe a type of medieval and Renaissance cannon. The term is derived from the French "''couleuvrine''" (from ''couleuvre'' "grass snake", following the ...

s, twenty-six 12-pounders and fourteen 5-pounder

saker Saker may refer to: * Saker falcon (''Falco cherrug''), a species of falcon * Saker (cannon), a type of cannon * Saker Baptist College, an all-girls secondary school in Limbe, Cameroon * Grupo Saker-Ti, a Guatemalan writers group formed in 1947 * ...

s. A further substantial increase in armament occurred in 1672, with the replacement of the unwieldy demi-cannons and an increase in total weaponry to 72 guns. Her lower deck was fitted with twenty-six iron-cast 24-pounders, supported by twenty-four 12-pounders on the upper deck. Fourteen brass sakers were placed along the quarterdeck with another four in the

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...

. Two additional sakers and two 12-pounder cannons, were located in the captain's cabin running the length of the stern.

Commonwealth service

''Fairfax'' was launched in September 1653 for service in the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or simply the First Dutch War, ( nl, Eerste Engelse (zee-)oorlog, "First English (Sea) War"; 1652–1654) was a conflict fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Province ...

. Her first commander was Captain Edward Blagg, but he was superseded within three months by Captain John Lawson. Lawson held the captaincy until 1655, when he was replaced in turn by Blagg. Under Blagg's renewed command ''Fairfax'' played an active role in the Battle of Santa Cruz on 20 April 1657. Blagg was replaced in 1658 by Captain Thomas Whetstone, with ''Fairfax'' assigned to the Commonwealth squadron stationed in the Mediterranean.

Royal Navy service

The English monarchy was restored to power in 1660, and ''Fairfax'' was promptly commissioned into the Royal Navy under a new commander, Captain Thomas Tiddeman. From 1661 the frigate was part of Lord Sandwich's Mediterranean fleet, and was off Tangier in May of that year and Algiers in January 1662. In October 1664 she was under the command of Captain Robert Salmon during the Battle of Lowestoft. Salmon died in October 1665 and was replaced by Captain John Watley, who died four weeks later and was replaced in turn by Captain Christopher Myngs. In 1673, after thirteen years of Royal Navy service, ''Fairfax'' struck a sandbank off the English coast. She was refloated a month later, but was found to be unserviceable. Transported to

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 16th century until th ...

, she was broken up in 1674 and her timbers reused in other vessels.

Notes

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairfax (1653) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1650s ships Ships of the English navy Speaker-class ships of the line