HMS ''Salisbury'' was a 50-gun

fourth rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

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 at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...

to the dimensions of the

1706 Establishment The 1706 Establishment was the first formal set of dimensions for ships of the Royal Navy. Two previous sets of dimensions had existed before, though these were only for specific shipbuilding programs running for only a given amount of time. In c ...

, and launched on 3 July 1707. In autumn of 1707, she brought the body of admiral

Sir Cloudesley Shovell Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell (c. November 1650 – 22 or 23 October 1707) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and then at the Battle of Texel during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. ...

(who had been killed in a disastrous shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly) from St Mary's to

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 ...

prior to his burial in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. ''Salisbury'' was rebuilt for the first time by Stacey of

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 ...

. Unusually, as she was undergoing her rebuild just 10 years after her original launch, she was reconstructed to the same design specifications, and was relaunched on 10 October 1717. ''Salisbury'' was the only ship to have been built twice to the same design.Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p79. She was ordered to be taken to pieces for her second rebuild in orders dated 9 April 1725, and was rebuilt at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

to the

1719 Establishment The 1719 Establishment was a set of mandatory requirements governing the construction of all Royal Navy warships capable of carrying more than 20 naval long guns. It was designed to bring economies of scale through uniform vessel design, and ens ...

. ''Salisbury'' was relaunched on 30 October 1726. ''Salisbury'' was engaged in an action during August 1711, attempting to intercept the homeward-bound Spanish plate fleet, which was expected to arrive at the port of

Cartagena, Colombia Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

from Portobelo. The ''Salisbury'' formed part of a group of five two-deckers and a

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

under Commodore

James Littleton Vice Admiral James Littleton (1668–1723) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station. Naval career Littleton was promoted to post captain on 27 February 1693 on appointment to the command of the sixth-rat ...

. The British fleet arrived on 6 August chasing five large vessels, but these were able to enter the harbour via the Bocachica entrance. The next morning, another four vessels were chased, and Captain Francis Hosier in the ''Salisbury'', assisted by the ''Heureux'', a French

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

previously captured by the ''Salisbury'', engaged the Spanish vice-flagship until Littleton could come up, and the Spaniard later submitted. A further Spanish vessel surrendered to Edward Vernon in the sixty-gun ''

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 ...

''. The British continued to patrol the environs of Cartagena until forced to abandon the

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are le ...

several weeks later, allowing the Spanish vessels to proceed to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

unhindered. ''Salisbury'' was converted to a hulk in 1744, and was sold out of the navy in 1749.

Notes

References

*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850''. Conway Maritime Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Salisbury (1707) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1700s ships