HMS ''Royal Anne Galley'' was a 42-gun fifth-rate

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 ...

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 ...

. She ran aground and was wrecked during a gale off Lizard Point, Cornwall, while she was travelling to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.

Construction

''Royal Anne Galley'' was constructed and launched in 1709 at

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 1 ...

. She was completed in 1709. She was named ''Royal Anne Galley'' after

Anne, Queen of Great Britain Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702 until 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as ...

, and served from 1709 until her loss in 1721. The ship was long, with a beam of and the ship was assessed at 511bm. She had 42 cannons and was the Royal Navy's last oared fighting ship.

Sinking

Path to Polpeor Cove and Stag Rocks - geograph

On 10 November 1721, HMS ''Royal Anne Galley'' was on a voyage from the UK to the

with John Hamilton, 3rd Lord Belhaven and Stenton, the new Governor of Barbados on board, when bad weather forced the ship to return to port in Falmouth. Before they could return, ''Royal Anne Galley'' was in the eye of the storm and she was wrecked on the Stag Rocks on Lizard Point, Cornwall. Of the 200 passengers and crew, only two survived the sinking. Lord Belhaven was amongst those killed. It is believed their bodies were buried by locals in Pistil Meadow as they were washed up.https://museu.ms/article/details/106387/could-a-cornish-meadow-be-the-site-of-a-mass-grave-from-a-shipwreck-300-years-ago Museums of the World

Wreck

The wreck of the ship lies at () and was found near Lizard Point by local diver called Robert Sherratt in the 1991. Some artefacts that were raised includes cutlery bearing Lord Belhaven's family crest.

References

External links

"''Royal Anne''" National Heritage List for England

BBC News: "''Royal Anne''" shipwreck mystery remains

Royal Anne Galley Marine Environmental Assessment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Anne Galley 1700s ships Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy Ships built in Woolwich Shipwrecks in the English Channel Maritime incidents in 1721