HMS ''Queen Charlotte'' was a 100-gun

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 ...

ship of the line 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 ...

, launched on 15 April 1790 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 ...

. She was built to the draught of designed by Sir Edward Hunt, though with a modified armament. Ushant, 1794 RCIN 735024

History

In 1794 ''Queen Charlotte'' was the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe at the

Battle of the Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...

, and in 1795 under Captain

Andrew Snape Douglas Sir Andrew Snape Douglas (8 October 1761 – 4 June 1797) was a distinguished Scottish sea captain in the Royal Navy during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. Family and early life Andrew Snape Douglas was born in ...

she took part in 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 ...

. In 1798, some of her crew were court-martialed for mutiny.

Fate

At about 6am on 17 March 1800, whilst operating as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, ''Queen Charlotte'' was reconnoitring the island of

Capraia Capraia is an Italian island, the northwesternmost of the seven islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, and the third largest after Elba and Giglio. It is also a ''comune'' (Capraia Isola) belonging to the Province of Livorno. The island has a p ...

, in the Tuscan Archipelago, when she caught fire. Keith was not aboard at the time and observed the disaster from the shore. The fire was believed to have resulted from someone having accidentally thrown loose hay on a match tub. Two or three American vessels lying at anchor off Leghorn were able to render assistance, losing several men in the effort as the vessel's guns, which were loaded, cooked off in the heat. Captain A. Tod wrote several accounts of the disaster that he gave to sailors to give to the Admiralty should they survive. He himself perished with his ship. The crew was unable to extinguish the flames and at about 11am the ship blew up with the loss of 673 officers and men.

Citations

References

* * Lavery, Brian (2003): ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . * Winfield, Rif (2008): ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1793 - 1817.'' Seaforth Publishing. .

External links

*
Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth
(retrieved 27 September 2007). Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1790 ships Ships built in England Maritime incidents in 1800 Ships sunk by non-combat internal explosions Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea {{UK-line-ship-stub