HMS ''Nassau'' was a 64-gun third 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 ...

of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 September 1785 by Hilhouse in Bristol. One of her first ship's surgeons is thought to be John Sylvester Hay. He died young but he was the father of the actress

Harriett Litchfield Harriett Litchfield or Miss Sylvester Hay (4 March 1777 – 11 January 1854) was a British actress. Life Sylvester Hay's birth is considered to be on 4 March 1777. Her paternal grandfather had been the vicar of Malden, but her father, John Sylv ...

. During the

Nore Mutiny The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. They were the first in an increasing series of outbreaks of maritime radicalism in the Atlantic World. Despite their temporal proximity, the mutinies d ...

she was commanded by Captain

Edward O'Bryen Rear-Admiral Edward O'Bryen (sometimes O'Brien) (1753 – 18 December 1808) was a British Royal Navy officer prominent in the late eighteenth century, who is best known for his participation at the Nore Mutiny and the Battle of Camperdown, both i ...

. She was converted for use as a troopship in 1797. ''Nassau'' was wrecked on the Kicks sandbar off Texel, the Netherlands, on 14 October 1799, there being 205 survivors and about 100 lives lost.''The Reading Mercury and Oxford Gazette'', 11 November 1799

Notes

References

* Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .

External links

* Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Ardent-class ships of the line Ships built in Bristol 1785 ships Maritime incidents in 1799 Shipwrecks of the Netherlands Shipwrecks in the North Sea {{UK-line-ship-stub