HMS ''Triumph'' 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 ...

, launched on 3 March 1764 at

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

. In 1797, she took part in the

Battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (known in Dutch as the ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral ...

, and in 1805 ''Triumph'' was part of Admiral Calder's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre. In 1810 ''Triumph'' and , salvaged a large load of elemental mercury from a wrecked Spanish vessel near Cadiz, Spain. The bladders containing the mercury soon ruptured, poisoning the crew with mercury vapour. ''Triumph'' was on harbour service from 1813 but was not broken up until 1850.

Notes

References

* Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .

External links

* M. P. Earles: ''A Case of Mass Poisoning With Mercury Vapour on Board H.M.S. Triumph at Cadiz, 1810.'' In: ''Medical History.'' July 1964, vol. 8(3), p. 281–286, online at /www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1033393/?page=1 NCBI
National Maritime Museum - HMS Triumph in 1808
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Valiant-class ships of the line Ships built in Woolwich 1764 ships {{UK-line-ship-stub