HMS ''Conqueror'' was a
74-gun
The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...
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 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 ...
, launched on 23 November 1801 at
Harwich. She was designed by Sir
John Henslow as part of the middling class of 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. Whereas the common class carried 28 18-pounder guns on their upper gun decks, the middling class carried 30, and only ten 9-pounder guns on their quarterdecks instead of the 12 of the common class.
She fought at
Trafalgar Trafalgar most often refers to:
* Battle of Trafalgar (1805), fought near Cape Trafalgar, Spain
* Trafalgar Square, a public space and tourist attraction in London, England
It may also refer to:
Music
* ''Trafalgar'' (album), by the Bee Gees
Pl ...
under the command of Captain
Israel Pellew
Admiral Sir Israel Pellew, KCB, RN (25 August 1758 – 19 July 1832), was an English naval officer who spent his career under the shadow of his more successful older brother Edward Pellew.
Early naval service
Pellew first went to sea aboard ...
, brother of Sir
Edward Pellew
Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother ...
. Pellew's captain of marines took the surrender of the overall commander of the French-Spanish fleet, Admiral
Villeneuve, aboard the French ship ''
Bucentaure'' (80 guns). However, he was not able to deliver Villeneuve's sword to the ''Conqueror'' as she had passed on to engage another ship and it was received by the captain of
''Mars''.
Villeneuve, who spoke English, is alleged to have asked to whom he was surrendering. On being told it was Captain Pellew of the ''Conqueror'', he replied "I am glad to have struck to the fortunate Sir Edward Pellew." When he was informed that the ''Conqueror's'' captain was Sir Edward's brother, he said, "His brother? What, are there two of them? Hėlas!"
On 2 February 1812, ''Conqueror'' was driven ashore on the coast of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
between
Sheerness and
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, during a storm.
''Conqueror'' was broken up in 1822.
Notes
References
*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conqueror (1801)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
1801 ships
Ships built in Harwich
Maritime incidents in 1812