Four ships 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 ...

have been named HMS ''Queen Charlotte'' after

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom. *The first was a

first rate In the rating system of the British Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at ...

of 100 guns, built at

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 ...

and launched in 1790. She took part in several actions against the French navy, and flew the flag of Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, during the

Battle of Groix The Battle of Groix was a large naval engagement which took place near the island of Groix off the Biscay coast of Brittany on 23 June 1795 ( 5 messidor an III) during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought between elements of the ...

. She caught fire and sank on 17 March 1800. *The second was a 104-gun first rate, launched in 1810, led the Bombardment of Algiers on 27 August 1816, was renamed ''Excellent'' in 1859 and sold in 1892. *The third was a

ship-sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

constructed for the

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

Provincial Marine Provincial Marine was a coastal protection service in charge of the waters in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and parts of Lake Champlain under British control. While ships of the Provincial Marine were designated HMS, they were ...

on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

. The ship was commissioned in 1813 into the Royal Navy and the United States captured her on 10 September 1813 following the

Battle of Lake Erie The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shore of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the Briti ...

. The United States Navy commissioned her but laid her up and sold her into commercial service in 1825. Her owners finally abandoned her in 1844. *The fourth ''Queen Charlotte'' was originally the 98-gun

second rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

''Boyne'', renamed in 1859 and sold in 1861.

HMCS ''Queen Charlotte''

HMCS ''Queen Charlotte'' is the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve Division in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. First commissioned as a tender to HMCS ''Stadacona'' in 1941 it was later decommissioned and recommissioned as an independent shore establishment in 1942. She was later paid off in 1964 but then recommissioned in 1994.

Sierra Leone colonial vessel of war ''Queen Charlotte''

Following her seizure of the French ship , a ship engaged in the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, the

Vice Admiralty Court Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen. American Colonies American maritime ac ...

declared the French ship and its cargo forfeit. However, when this was taken to appeal at the

High Court of Admiralty Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences. Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earliest ...

, the judge William Scott overturned the judgement, saying that the way ''Le Louis'' had been stopped and boarded was illegal as "No nation can exercise a right of visitation and search on the common and unappropriated parts of the sea, save only on the belligerent claim." He accepted that this would constitute a serious impediment to the suppression of the slave trade, but argued that this should be remedied through international treaties rather than Naval officers exceeding what they were permitted to do.

Citations and references

Citations References * {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Charlotte, HMS Royal Navy ship names

HMCS ''Queen Charlotte''

Sierra Leone colonial vessel of war ''Queen Charlotte''

See also

Citations and references