HMS ''Superb'' was a 74-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 ...
, and the fourth vessel to bear the name. She was launched on 19 March 1798 from
Northfleet
Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsfl ...
, and was eventually broken up in 1826.
''Superb'' is mostly associated with
Richard Goodwin Keats
Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats (16 January 1757 – 5 April 1834) was a British naval officer who fought throughout the American Revolution, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic War. He retired in 1812 due to ill health and was made Comm ...
who commanded her as captain from 1801 until his promotion in 1806. Keats famously spent only one night (in Algiers) out of the ship during four and a half years out of a home port. She also served as his
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
from early 1808 until she was
paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...
in 1809.
Keats's captains orders for the ship were comprehensive and used by the fledgling US navy, being found on USS Philadelphia in 1803 and the USS President a decade later.
Battle of Algeciras Bay
In July 1801 the ''Superb'' was stationed off
Cadiz and took part in the second
Battle of Algeciras Bay. During the French and Spanish retreat Admiral
Sir James Saumarez
Admiral of the Red James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez (or Sausmarez), GCB (11 March 1757 – 9 October 1836) was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, known for his victory at the Second Battle of Algeciras.
Early life
Saumarez was born ...
hailed the ''Superb'' and ordered Keats to catch the allied fleet's rear and engage. The ''Superb'' was a relatively new ship and had not been long on blockade duty. As a consequence she was the fastest sailing ship-of-the-line in the fleet. As night fell on 12 July, Keats sailed the ''Superb'' alongside the 112-gun on her starboard side. Another Spanish ship, the 112-gun , was sailing abreast, on the port side, of the ''Real Carlos''. Keats fired into the ''Real Carlos'' and some shot passed her and struck the ''San Hermenegildo''. The ''Real Carlos'' caught fire and Keats disengaged her to continue up the line. In the darkness the two Spanish ships confused one another for British ships and began a furious duel. With the ''Real Carlos'' aflame the captain of the ''Hermenegildo'' determined to take advantage and crossed the ''Real Carlos''’ stern in order to deal a fatal broadside that would run the length of the ship through the unprotected stern. A sudden gust of wind brought the two ships together and entangled their rigging. The ''Hermenegildo'' also caught fire and the two enormous three-deck ships exploded. The ''Superb'' continued on relatively unscathed and engaged the French 74-gun under
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
Julien le Roy. The ''Saint Antoine'' struck after a fierce exchange of broadsides.
[, Hannah 63-84.]
Following the treaty of Amiens she was stationed in the Mediterranean keeping watch over the French in Toulon. On renewal of the wars Nelson took command of the mediterranean fleet, including Keats and the Superb. They accompanied Nelson in the pursuit of Villeneuve to the West Indies and back. The ''Superb'', now three years out of home port, was in a poor state, giving rise to the poem "The Old Superb" by
Henry Newbolt
Sir Henry John Newbolt, CH (6 June 1862 – 19 April 1938) was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in England. He is perhaps best remembered for his poems "Vit ...
(set to music in 1904 by
Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
in his ''
Songs of the Sea'').
As early as May 1804 Nelson wrote "the Superb must be sent to England before that period
inter
Inter may refer to:
Association football clubs
* Inter Milan, an Italian club
* SC Internacional, a Brazilian club
* Inter Miami CF, an American club
* FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club
* FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club
* FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...
arrives, as her stem and the knees of her head are loose and broke - nothing but the great exertions of Captain Keats has kept her at sea this last season".
On their return to Cadiz the ''Superb'' was ordered home for a refit - which resulted in the ship, captain and crew missing Trafalgar.
Battle of San Domingo
She was the flagship of Admiral
John Thomas Duckworth
Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1st Baronet, GCB (9 February 174831 August 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, as the Governor ...
, with
Richard Goodwin Keats
Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats (16 January 1757 – 5 April 1834) was a British naval officer who fought throughout the American Revolution, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic War. He retired in 1812 due to ill health and was made Comm ...
her captain when they reached Cadiz after Trafalgar and were ordered to maintain the blockade of the remaining French fleet.
Duckworth abandoned the blockade in pursuit of a French squadron reported to have been in the Atlantic near Madeira. Duckworth came across another squadron in the West Indies which lead the
Battle of San Domingo
The Battle of San Domingo was a naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars fought on 6 February 1806 between squadrons of French and British ships of the line off the southern coast of the French-occupied Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Santo ...
, (the last fleet battle of the age of sail on the open sea) in which the English destroyed or captured nearly the entirety of the French squadron, the frigates only escaping.
[, Hannah, 127-140]
Copenhagen and the Baltic
On 26 July 1808, ''Superb'', , and captured ''Falck and Kline Wiloelm''.
''Superb'' was commissioned in December 1809 under the command of Captain Samuel Jackson. She went out to the Baltic as Keats's flagship, and was part of the squadron there under Admiral Sir James Saumarez. There she was engaged in convoy duties in the Sound and Great Belt protecting British merchants from the predation of Danish gun-boats.
The squadron under Keats's command, including the Superb successfully undertook the
evacuation of La Romana's division
The evacuation of La Romana's division in August 1808 was a military operation in which a division of troops belonging to the Kingdom of Spain and commanded by Pedro Caro, Marquis of La Romana defected from the armies of the First French ...
of the Spanish northern army from the Danish islands, taking the port of Nyborg, commandeering 57 small boats in the harbour and transferring the men to nearby Langeland before forming a convoy upwards of 70 craft taking the 9,000 men to Gothenburg.
Superb returned to Portsmouth, and underwent repairs between September 1811 and November 1812, before commissioning in September 1812 under Captain
Charles Paget.
War of 1812
Paget was appointed to command ''Superb'' as part of the Channel Fleet, and during a cruise in the
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
he took several prizes.
On 13 February 1813 , which had been sailing from New York to Bordeaux, arrived at
Bideford
Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district.
Toponymy
In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...
. She was a prize to ''Superb''.
Captain Paget described the prize as "the fine
American brig Star, of three hundred and fifty tons, six guns, and thirty-five men."
In 1814 ''Superb'' was employed on the coast of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
under the orders of Sir
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral.
He had previously captain ...
and took part in an attack upon
Wareham, Massachusetts
Wareham ( ) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 23,303.
History
Wareham was first settled in 1678 by Europeans as part of the towns of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plymouth ...
during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
.
[Obituary of Vice Admiral Sir Charles Paget i]
The Gentleman's Magazine
1839, p 657-8, accessed 28 October 2007
Citations
References
* Hannah, P., ''A Treasure to the Service'', Greenhill, Adelaide, 2021, isbn978-1-922629-73-9
*Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Superb (1798)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
Pompée-class ships of the line
1798 ships
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom