HMS ''Nonsuch'' was a 64-gun

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 r ...

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 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 F ...

, built by Israel Pownoll and launched on 17 December 1774 at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. She was broken up in 1802.

Career

''Nonsuch'' was commissioned in August 1775 as a guardship at Plymouth. She was fitted for the role in December 1776, but sailed for North America on 23 March 1777. American War of Independence On 25 May 1778 ''Nonsuch''s boats captured the galley of the Rhode Island Navy at

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

during the

Mount Hope Bay raids The Mount Hope Bay raids were a series of military raids conducted by British troops during the American Revolutionary War against communities on the shores of Mount Hope Bay on May 25 and 31, 1778. The towns of Bristol, Rhode Island, Bristol an ...

. ''Nonsuch'' participated in the

battle of St. Lucia The Battle of St. Lucia or the Battle of the Cul de Sac was a naval battle fought off the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies during the American Revolutionary War on 15 December 1778, between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy. Back ...

on 15 December 1778. On 7 July 1780 ''Nonsuch'', under the command of Sir James Wallace, captured the brig-rigged cutter ''Hussard'' of

Saint Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

. ''Hussard'' was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns. The Royal Navy took her into service as . On 14 July ''Nonsuch'' captured the 26-gun

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

''Belle Poule'' off the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

. The Royal Navy took ''Belle Poule'' into service under her existing name. In April 1781, ''Nonsuch'' was part of Admiral

George Darby Vice Admiral George Darby (c.1720 – 1790) was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded HMS ''Norwich'' at the capture of Martinique in 1762 during the Seven Years' War. He went on to command the Channel Fleet during the American Revolutionary ...

's relief fleet during the

Great Siege of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...

. On 14 May 1781, on the homeward voyage, while scouting ahead, ''Nonsuch'' chased and brought to action the French 74-gun ''Actif'', hoping to detain her until some others of the fleet came up. However, ''Actif'' was able to repulse ''Nonsuch'', causing her to suffer 26 men killed and 64 wounded, and continued on to

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

. ''Nonsuch'' was fourth in line attacking the French fleet at the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

on 12 April 1782) under command of Captain Truscott. Late in 1782 ''Nonsuch'' and escorted a fleet from Georgia "with the principal inhabitants, their Negroes, and their Effects" to Jamaica. Floating battery
Between February and May 1794 ''Nonsuch'' was at Chatham, being cut down and fitted as a

floating battery A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship. History Use of timber rafts loaded with cannon by Danish defenders of Copenhagen a ...

. Captain Bill Douglas commissioned her in March. In June she was at

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

under Captain

Philippe d'Auvergne } Philippe d'Auvergne (13 November 1754 – 18 September 1816) was a British naval officer and the adopted son of Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne the sovereign Duke of Bouillon. He chose a career in the Royal Navy that spanned a period of history w ...

, Prince of Bouillon, and Senior Officer of Gunboats, in charge of a small flotilla of useless gunvessels, including , , , , and . (The Navy disposed of most of them within a year or so.) ''Nonsuch'' was paid off in December. In February 1795 Captain William Mitchell recommissioned her in the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between th ...

at Hull as a floating battery. Mitchell's successor, in August, was Captain

Henry Blackwood Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, 1st Baronet, GCH, KCB (28 December 1770 – 17 December 1832), whose memorial is in Killyleagh Parish Church, was a British sailor. Early life Blackwood was the fourth son of Sir John Blackwood, 2nd Baronet, ...

. ''Nonsuch''s logs state she arrived in the Humber at the end of June 1795, having sailed up from Chatham under Blackwood's command. By 2 July she was in a permanent mooring at Hull

Roads A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

.ADM 52/3258

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: Captain and Sailing Master's logs. In April 1796 Captain

Robert Dudley Oliver Admiral Robert Dudley Oliver (31 October 1766 – 1 September 1850) was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century, who served in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleon ...

replaced Blackwood, only to be replaced in October 1797 by Captain Isaac Woolley, who commanded her until 1799. On 30 July 1797, the

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

, William Mitchenson, master, arrived back at Hull from

Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer Jo ...

. As she arrived ''Nonsuch'' fired a shot to signal ''Blenheim'' to come to. Mitchenson ignored that signal, and several other shots. When ''Blenheim'' arrived at the port's haven,

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

from ''Nonsuch'', , and surrounded her. As the boats approached with the intent to board, ''Blenheim''s crew pelted them with spears, capstan bars, handspikes, other offensive weapons, and also several large iron shot. The boats withdrew, but not before three men from ''Nonsuch'' were wounded, two mortally. ''Blenheim''s crew got to shore and absconded. The government promised to pardon all of the members of the crew other than those that had actually murdered the two men from ''Nonsuch''. The reason the whalers resisted is that they wished to avoid

impressment Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means. The large size of ...

by the Royal Navy. The crew of out-bound merchantmen and whalers were generally exempt from the Press; the crew of returning vessels, however, were subject to impressment.

Fate

''Nonsuch'' was broken up in 1802.

''Nonsuch'' in literature

A fictitious 74 gun HMS ''Nonsuch'' is the flagship in Forester's "Commodore Hornblower". In his novel "Lord Hornblower", set at a later date, she is Captain Bush's ship and supports Hornblower when he takes Le Havre and acts as governor, until Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo.

Citations

References

* *Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nonsuch (1774) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Intrepid-class ships of the line 1774 ships Ships built in Plymouth, Devon Floating batteries of the Royal Navy