HMS ''Charles'' was a 96-gun
first-rate 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 Fr ...
, built by Christopher Pett at
Deptford Dockyard
Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events ...
until his death in March 1668, then completed by Jonas Shish after being launched in the same month. Her name was formally ''Charles the Second'', but she was known simply as ''Charles'', particularly after 1673 when the contemporary ''Royal Charles'' was launched.
''Charles'' was renamed HMS ''St George'' in 1687 and reclassified as a
second rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...
in 1691. In 1699–1701 she was rebuilt at
Portsmouth Dockyard
His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is ...
as a 90-gun
second rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...
.
In 1707, she belonged to
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...
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 Wa ...
's fleet. Under the command of Captain
James Lord Dursley,
[James Herbert Cooke, The Shipwreck of Sir Cloudesley Shovell on the Scilly Islands in 1707, From Original and Contemporary Documents Hitherto Unpublished, Read at a Meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, London, 1 February 1883]
/ref> she saw action during the unsuccessful Battle of Toulon and was present during the great naval disaster off the Isles of Scilly when Shovell and four of his ships ( ''Association'', ''Firebrand'', ''Romney'' and ''Eagle'') were lost, claiming the lives of nearly 2,000[ Sobel, Dava, '' Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time'', Fourth Estate Ltd., London 1998, p. 6, ] sailors. ''St George'' also struck rocks off Scilly, but got off.
''St George'' was taken to pieces 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 ...
in 1726 to be rebuilt again. On 4 September 1733, ''St George'' was ordered to be rebuilt to the 1733 proposals of 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 en ...
. She was relaunched on 3 April 1740.
Notes
References
* Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .
* Winfield, Rif (2009) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. .
* Winfield, Rif (2007) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles (1668)
Maritime incidents in 1707
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
1660s ships