''Sovereign of the Seas'' was a 17th-century

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

of the

English 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 Fra ...

. She was ordered as a 90-gun

first-rate In the rating system of the British Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying ...

ship of the line of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

,Royal Navy, ''Sovereign of the Seas''. but at launch was armed with 102 bronze guns at the insistence of the king. It was later renamed ''HMS Sovereign'', and then ''HMS Royal Sovereign'' at the Restoration of Charles II. The elaborately gilded stern ordered by

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...

meant enemy ships knew it as the "Golden Devil".Famous Fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.200 She was launched on 13 October 1637, and served from 1638 until 1697, when a fire burnt the ship to the waterline at Chatham.

History

''Sovereign of the Seas'' was ordered in August 1634 on the personal initiative of

, as a prestige project. The decision provoked much opposition from the Brethren of

Trinity House "Three In One" , formation = , founding_location = Deptford, London, England , status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity , purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons , he ...

, who pointed out that "There is no port in the Kingdome that can harbour this ship. The wild sea must be her port, her anchors and cables her safety; if either fail, the ship must perish, the King lose his jewel, four or five hundred man must die, and perhaps some great and noble peer". These objections were overcome with the help of Admiral Sir John Pennington, and work commenced in May 1635. This was supervised by

Peter Pett Peter Pett (6 August 1610 – 1672) was an English Master Shipwright and Second Resident Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard. He protected his scale models and drawings of the King's Fleet during the Dutch Raid on the Medway, in Kent in June 1667, d ...

, later a Commissioner of the Navy, guided by his father Phineas, the royal shipwright, and was launched at

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 16th century until th ...

on 13 October 1637. As the second three-decked

(the first three-decker being the ''Prince Royal'' of 1610), she was the predecessor of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

's ''Victory'', although the ''Revenge'', built in 1577 by Mathew Baker, was the inspiration for her, providing the innovation of a single deck devoted entirely to broadside guns. The most extravagantly decorated warship in the Royal Navy, she was adorned from stern to bow with gilded carvings against a black background, designed by Anthony van Dyck, and made by John Christmas and Mathias Christmas. Construction costs of £65,586 was funded by

Ship Money Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs co ...

, the gilding alone being £6,691, the price of an average warship. For comparison, the total tax generated in 1637 was £208,000. Charles ordered 102 bronze cannon, to ensure it was the most powerfully armed ship in the world; these were made by John Browne. ''Sovereign of the Seas'' had 118 gun ports and only 102 guns. The shape of the bow meant that the foremost gun ports on the lower gun deck were blocked by the anchor cable. Consequently, the fore chase – the guns facing forward – occupied the next ports. There were two

demi-cannon The demi-cannon was a medium-sized cannon, similar to but slightly larger than a culverin and smaller than a regular cannon, developed in the early 17th century. A full cannon fired a 42-pound shot, but these were discontinued in the 18th centur ...

drakes – one port, one starboard – some long, weighing together five tons (5000 kg). They had a bore of and fired a shot weighing , using around ten pounds of gunpowder. In the third ports from the bow, there were two demi-cannon drakes weighing, together, 4.3 tons (4300 kg). Behind them were twenty cannon drakes, nine feet long, and weighing in all 45.7 tons (45700 kg). In the third port from the stern were two more demi-cannon drakes weighing, together, 4.3 tons (4300 kg). The last two ports on either side were occupied by the stern chase – four demi-cannon drakes weighing a total of 11.4 tons (11400 kg). The middle gun deck had heavy fortified

culverin A culverin was initially an ancestor of the hand-held arquebus, but later was used to describe a type of medieval and Renaissance cannon. The term is derived from the French "''couleuvrine''" (from ''couleuvre'' "grass snake", following the ...

s – that is, guns short for their bore – fore and aft. There were two pieces, weighing 4.8 tons (4800 kg), in the fore chase; four pieces, weighing 10.2 tons (10200 kg), in the stern chase. Immediately behind the fore chase were two demi-culverin drakes, long, weighing some 1.9 tons (1900 kg). Then came twenty-two culverin drakes weighing a total of 30.4 tons (30400 kg). On the upper gun deck there were two fortified demi-culverins in the fore chase and two in the stern chase, both pairs weighing 2.8 tons (2800 kg). Between them there were twenty-two demi-culverin drakes, long, weighing over 21 tons (21000 kg) in total. There were eight demi-culverin drakes weighing 7.7 tons (7700 kg) in the forecastle; another six weighing 5.7 tons (5700 kg) on the half-deck. The quarter-deck carried two six-foot demi-culverin drake cutts – a cutt, again, being a shorter version of a gun – weighing 16 hundredweight (726 kg). Then there were another two six-foot culverin cutts, weighing 1.3 tons (1,179 kg), aft of the forecastle bulkhead. In all, ''Sovereign of the Seas'' carried 155.9 tons (141,430 kg) of guns – and that did not include the weight of the gun carriages. Altogether they cost £26,441 13s 6d including £3 per piece to have the

Tudor rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists o ...

, a crown and the motto: ''Carolvs Edgari sceptrvm aqvarum'' – "Charles has established Edgar’s sceptre of the waters" – engraved on them. The gun carriages, made by Matthew Banks, Master Carpenter for the Office of Ordinance, cost another £558 11s 8d. By 1642, her armament had been reduced to 90 guns. Until 1655, she was also exceptionally large for an English vessel; no other ships of Charles were larger than '' Prince Royal''. Peter Pett

''Sovereign of the Seas'' was not so much built because of tactical considerations, but as a deliberate attempt to bolster the reputation of the English crown. Her name was, in itself, a political statement as Charles tried to revive the perceived ancient right of the English kings to be recognised as the 'lords of the seas.' English ships demanded that other ships strike their flags in salute, even in foreign ports. The Dutch legal thinker Hugo Grotius had argued for a ''mare liberum'', a sea free to be used by all. Such a concept was mainly favourable to Dutch trade; in reaction,

John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned ...

and William Monson published the book ''Mare Clausum'' ("the Closed Sea") in 1635, with special permission of Charles, which attempted to prove that King Edgar had already been recognised as ''Rex Marium'', or "sovereign of the seas" – this book had been previously repressed by

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

. The name of the ship explicitly referred to this dispute; King Edgar was the central theme of the transom carvings. Rear-Admiral Sir William Symonds noted that after the ship's launch she was "cut down" and made a safe and fast ship. In the time of the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execu ...

all ships named after royalty were renamed; it was first decided to change the name of the ship into ''Commonwealth'', but in 1650 it became a simple ''Sovereign''. In 1651 she was again made more manoeuvrable by reducing upperworks after which she was described as "a delicate frigate (I think the whole world hath not her like)". She served throughout the wars of the Commonwealth and became the flagship of General at Sea

Robert Blake Robert Blake may refer to: Sportspeople * Bob Blake (American football) (1885–1962), American football player * Robbie Blake (born 1976), English footballer * Bob Blake (ice hockey) (1914–2008), American ice hockey player * Rob Blake (born 196 ...

. She was involved in all of the great English naval conflicts fought against the United Provinces and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and was referred to as 'The Golden Devil' (''den Gulden Duvel'') by the Dutch. Médaille The Sovereign of the Seas

When, during the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or simply the First Dutch War, ( nl, Eerste Engelse (zee-)oorlog, "First English (Sea) War"; 1652–1654) was a conflict fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Province ...

, on 21 October 1652 the States General of the Netherlands in a secret session determined the reward money for the crews of

fireship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

s that succeeded in destroying an enemy vessel, ''Sovereign'' was singled out: an extra prize of 3000 guilders was promised 'in case they should ruin the ship named the Sovereign'. The ship had not seen action during the Civil War, remaining laid up. After being refitted in 1651, she had her first fight in the

Battle of the Kentish Knock The Battle of the Kentish Knock (or the Battle of the Zealand Approaches) was a naval battle between the fleets of the Dutch Republic and England, fought on 28 September 1652 (8 October Gregorian calendar), during the First Anglo-Dutch War near ...

, armed with 106 guns. In this battle she ran aground on the Kentish Knock itself. and remained in service for nearly sixty years as the best ship in the English fleet. By 1660 her armament had been changed to 100 guns. After the

English Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to ...

she was rebuilt at Chatham in 1660 as a first-rate ship of the line of 100 guns, with flatter gundecks and renamed ''Royal Sovereign''; most of the carvings had been removed. She was present at the

Four Days' Battle The Four Days' Battle, also known as the Four Days' Fight in some English sources and as Vierdaagse Zeeslag in Dutch, was a naval battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Fought from 1 June to 4 June 1666 in the Julian or Old Style calendar that w ...

of 1 to 4 June 1666, and the St. James's Day Battle of 25 July 1666, each fighting the Dutch fleet in the North Sea. She was smaller than ''Naseby'' (later renamed ''Royal Charles''), but she was in regular service during the three

Anglo-Dutch Wars The Anglo–Dutch Wars ( nl, Engels–Nederlandse Oorlogen) were a series of conflicts mainly fought between the Dutch Republic and England (later Great Britain) from mid-17th to late 18th century. The first three wars occurred in the second ...

, surviving the

Raid on the Medway The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At t ...

in 1667 by being 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 ...

at the time. She underwent a second rebuild in 1685 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 ...

, relaunching as a first rate of 100 guns, before taking part in the outset of the

War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between Kingdom of France, France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by t ...

. For the first time she ventured into the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

, and later participated in the Battle of Beachy Head (1690) and the

Battle of La Hougue The Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue took place during the Nine Years' War, between 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.) and 4 June O.S. (14 June N.S.) 1692. The first was fought near Barfleur on 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.), with later actions occurring ...

(1692), when she was more than fifty years old. In that period she was the first ship in history that flew royals above her

topgallant sail On a square rigged sailing vessel, a topgallant sail (topgallant alone pronounced "t'gallant", topgallant sail pronounced "t'garns'l",C.S. Forester, ''Beat to Quarters'', Chapter VI. is the square-rigged sail or sails immediately above the topsai ...

s and a topgallant sail on the jigger-mast.

Destruction

''Sovereign'' became leaky and defective with age during the reign of William III, and was laid up at Chatham Dockyards for repairs late in 1695. She ignominiously ended her days, in mid January 1696, by being burnt to the water line as a result of having been set on fire by accident. A bosun, who was on night watch, left a candle burning unattended. Admitting to his fault he was court-martialled on 27 January 1696 and not only publicly flogged but also imprisoned at

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, ...

for the rest of his life. In her honour, naval tradition has kept the name of this ship afloat, and several subsequent ships have been named HMS ''Royal Sovereign''.

In popular culture

A painting from this ship survives on the ceiling of Commissioners House at

, over the grand staircase. It depicts an assembly of the gods and depicts Mars being crowned by Neptune, surrounded by the goddesses Hope, Peace, Justice and Plenty. The painting is surrounded by a gilded frieze depicting sea creatures. It is attributed to

James Thornhill Sir James Thornhill (25 July 1675 or 1676 – 4 May 1734) was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the Ro ...

, the King's Serjeant Painter. He painted the ceilings of the Royal Hospital Greenwich and the Dome of Saint Paul's Cathedral. Thomas Carew's poem "Upon the Royal Ship called the 'Sovereign of the Seas', built by Peter Pett, Master Builder; His Father, Captain Phineas Pett, Supervisor: 1637" is a paean to the vessel, calling it the eighth wonder of the world: ...Monarchal Ship, whose Fabrick doth outpride The Pharos, Colosse, Memphique Pyramide... We y^t have heard of Seaven, now see y^e Eight Wonder at home; of Naual art the height... Neptune is proud o'th burden, and doth wonder To hear a Fourefold Fire out-rore Iouv's Thunder....

References

Sources

''Sovereign of the Seas''
Retrieved 22 December 2007. * *Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .

External links