HMS ''Kent'' was a 64-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 ...

. She was ordered from

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 a ...

on 10 May 1743 and was built by

Joseph Allin Joseph Allin was an 18th century shipbuilder to the Royal Navy. His works merge with those of his namesake son who was also a Master Shipwright at Portsmouth Dockyard and later Surveyor to the Navy at which point he became Sir Joseph Allin. Jo ...

the younger to the 1741 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 ens ...

, and was launched on 10 May 1746. Her first commander was Thomas Fox, who had previously commanded HMS ''Newcastle''.Ships of the Old Navy, ''Kent''.

Chasing the convoys

In April 1747 ''Kent'' was part of a small squadron under Fox's overall command consisting of HMS ''Hampton Court'', HMS ''Eagle'', HMS ''Lion'', HMS ''Chester'' and HMS ''Hector'', and accompanied by two

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. They cruised between

Ushant Ushant (; br, Eusa, ; french: Ouessant, ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and, in medieval terms, Léon. In lower tiers of governm ...

and

Cape Finisterre Cape Finisterre (, also ; gl, Cabo Fisterra, italic=no ; es, Cabo Finisterre, italic=no ) is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain. In Roman times it was believed to be an end of the known world. The name Finisterre, like ...

in an attempt to intercept a large merchant fleet that was sailing from

San Domingo Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. After a month at sea they encountered the convoy, which consisted of some 170 ships carrying a cargo of

cochineal The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessility (motility), sessile parasitism, parasite native to tropical and subtropical Sout ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

and other valuable commodities. Their escort was four French warships, which fled upon the approach of the British fleet. Fox's squadron captured 46 merchants, and dispersed the rest. Some were later captured by smaller British warships operating in the area.

Fox's court-martial

After this success ''Kent'' became part of a squadron under Rear Admiral Hawke, which was dispatched to intercept another French convoy, this time en route to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. During this period, Captain Fox's service appears to have been called into question, as Hawke requested that a

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

be brought against him. Fox was put on trial in

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 ...

on 25 November, which was presided over by

Sir Peter Warren Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Warren, KB (10 March 1703 – 29 July 1752) was an Anglo-Irish naval officer and politician who sat in the British House of Commons representing the constituency of Westminster from 1747 to 1752. Warren is best known fo ...

. Fox's charge was then read, stating that:

he did not come properly into the fight, did not do his utmost to engage, disable or damage the enemy, nor assist his majesty's ships who did.

Statements were collected from the other captains involved, which served to defend Fox's personal courage. According to their version of events Fox had had ''Kent'' engage the French ship ''Fougueux'', followed by the ''Tonnant'', eventually shooting away the ''Tonnant''’s topmast. ''Kent'' had then passed ahead of ''Tonnant'', her own 'braces, preventers and stoppers having all been shot away.' The trial concluded on 21 December, and found Fox guilty of leaving the engagement with ''Tonnant''. They acquitted him of cowardice however, but declared that he had 'paid too much regard to the advice of his officers, against his better judgement'. Furthermore he, his first lieutenant, and his master had misread the signal for 'close action' as meaning 'proceed to assistance of admiral'. Fox was dismissed from the command of ''Kent'', and was later retired from the Navy at the rank of rear admiral in 1749.

Subsequent service

In 1755 Captain Henry Speke was appointed captain of ''Kent''. A British-Portuguese-Indian naval force attacks the fort of Geriah, 1756

In the British anti-piracy campaign of 1756 ''Kent'', , and carried 300 Indo-Portuguese Topazes to capture the fortress of Gheriah on 14 February 1756.Pocock, T., ''Battle for Empire - The very first world war 1756-63.'', London 1988 Capture de Chandernagor en 1757 par la Royal Navy

Capture de Chandernagor en 1757 par la Royal Navy

In 1756 war broke out between France and Great Britain, and Colonel Robert Clive of the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and Admiral Charles Watson of the British Navy bombarded and captured

Chandannagar Chandannagar french: Chandernagor ), also known by its former name Chandernagore and French name Chandernagor, is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is part ...

on 23 March 1757. In order to take the Fort d'Orleans guarding the town, '' Kent'' and ''Tiger'' managed to edge up the Hooghly river, although the French had tried to block it with sunken ships, booms and chains. When they were close to the fort, they opened fire with all guns, but took a great punishment from the French in the process. On board with Captain Speke was his midshipman son Billy. They were both injured, Captain Speke less seriously, but Billy lost a leg due to his thigh being shattered by a cannon shot and died later, the result of blood poisoning after the necessary amputation. At some point ''Kent'' seems to have been under the command of a Captain Charles Windham (or Wyndham), during which time a young

William Locker William Locker (16 February 1866 – 15 August 1952) was an English footballer and cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1894 and 1903 and football for Stoke, Derby County and Notts County. He was one of nineteen spo ...

served aboard her.

Hulking

By 1760 ''Kent'' had been hulked in the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

and no longer appeared on the navy lists.Colledge, p. 184.

Citations and references

Citations References * * Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850''. Conway Maritime Press. . * Michael Phillips
''Kent'' (70) (1746)
Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 9 August 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kent (1746) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1746 ships