HMS ''Bristol'' was a 50-gun fourth-rate

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 colu ...

built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 18th century.

Description

''Bristol'' had a length at the

gundeck The term gun deck used to refer to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. The term is generally applied to decks enclosed under a roof; smaller and unrated vessels carried their guns on ...

of and at the keel. She had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a depth of hold of . The ship's tonnage was 722 tons

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.Winfield, p. 367. ''Bristol'' was armed with twenty-two 18-pounder cannon on her main

, twenty-two 9-pounder cannon on her upper gundeck, and four 6-pounder cannon each on the

quarterdeck The quarterdeck is a raised deck behind the main mast of a sailing ship. Traditionally it was where the captain commanded his vessel and where the ship's colours were kept. This led to its use as the main ceremonial and reception area on bo ...

and forecastle.Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 168. The ship had a crew of 250 officers and ratings.

Construction and career

''Bristol'', named after the eponymous port, was ordered on 24 April 1709. The ship was built by Master Shipwright John Lock at Plymouth Dockyard according to the

1706 Establishment The 1706 Establishment was the first formal set of dimensions for ships of the Royal Navy. Two previous sets of dimensions had existed before, though these were only for specific shipbuilding programs running for only a given amount of time. In c ...

, and launched on 8 May 1711. She commissioned that same year under

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

J. Hemmington and was assigned to The Downs Squadron. The following year, the ship sailed to

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and then to Salé in 1713. ''Bristol'' had a major refit from August 1716 to April 1718 at Portsmouth that cost £6,825 and a lesser one in Aug-October 1738 that cost £1,435. The ship commissioned in August under the command of Captain William Chambers for service in home waters. Three years later, now under the command of Captain Benjamin Young, she accompanied a convoy bound for the West Indies in early 1741. On 22 November 1742 ''Bristol'' was ordered to be dismantled for rebuilding. Unlike the vast majority of ships of the line rebuilt during the Establishment era, ''Bristol'' was not reconstructed according to the establishment in effect at the time (in this case, the 1741 proposals of the

1719 Establishment The 1719 Establishment was a set of mandatory requirements governing the construction of all Royal Navy warships capable of carrying more than 20 naval long guns. It was designed to bring economies of scale through uniform vessel design, and ens ...

). She shared her dimensions with the later, newly built . ''Bristol'' was relaunched on 9 July 1746 and took part in the unsuccessful attack on Martinique in January 1759.Clowes p.201 ''Bristol'' was broken up in 1768.Lavery, p. 173.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bristol (1711) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1710s ships