HMS Royal George (1756)
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 HMS Royal George, left, shown fictitiously at the launch of HMS Cambridge in 1755. |
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| Career (Great Britain) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Royal George |
| Ordered: | 29 August 1746 |
| Builder: | Woolwich Dockyard |
| Launched: | 18 February 1756 |
| Honours and awards: |
Participated in: |
| Fate: | Wrecked, 1782, Spithead |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 1745 Establishment 100-gun ship |
| Tons burthen: | 2047 tons |
| Length: | 178 ft (54 m) (gun deck length) |
| Beam: | 51 ft (16 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 21 ft 6 in (6.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Armament: |
100 guns:
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HMS Royal George was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She sank at Portsmouth on 29 August 1782 with the loss of more than 800 lives.
She was laid down at the Woolwich Dockyard in 1746 as Royal Anne and renamed Royal George before being launched on 18 February 1756. At her launch she was the largest warship in the world. She served in the Seven Years' War, joining the Western Squadron or Channel Fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, spending most of 1759 in the blockade of the French fleet at Brest. In early November of that year, when Hawke's flagship Ramillies went into dock for repairs, Hawke shifted his flag to the Royal George, which became his flagship just in time for the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759 where she sank the French ship Superbe.
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[edit] Sinking of the Royal George
On 28 August 1782, Royal George, under the command of Richard Kempenfelt, was preparing to sail with a fleet commanded by Admiral Richard Howe to Gibraltar. The ships were anchored at Spithead to take on supplies.
Royal George was being heeled at an angle to allow for minor repairs to be made to the water intake for the deck wash pump which was three feet below water level, and the larboard guns had been run out and the starboard guns moved in to the centre of the deck to heel over the ship until her lowest gun ports were close to the surface of the water. A supply vessel, the Lark approached the Royal George on her low side to transfer a cargo of rum and the additional weight together with that of the crewmen unloading the cargo caused the ship to heel to such a degree that the sea washed in at her gun ports and she soon began to ship water in her hold. A sudden breeze on the raised side of the ship forced her further over and the water rushed in. It is believed that during these operations the lower deck gunports were not properly secured, causing an inrush of water. The ship rolled on to her side and sank before any distress signal could be given, taking with her around 900 people, including up to 300 women and 60 children who were visiting the ship in harbour. About 230 people were saved, some by running up the rigging while others were picked up by boats from other vessels. Kempenfelt was writing in his cabin when the ship sank; the cabin doors had jammed due to the ship heeling and he perished with the rest.
Many of the victims were washed ashore at Ryde, where they were buried in a mass burial ground at Ryde on a site now occupied by a boating lake on the Esplanade.[1]
A court martial failed to attribute blame and acquitted the officers and crew (many of whom had perished), blaming the accident on the 'general state of decay of her timbers.'
The incident remains the worst single peace time disaster in the history of the British Royal Navy.
[edit] Salvage attempts
She was laid up from 1763 to 1778, when she was recommissioned to serve in the American War of Independence. In January 1780, while serving in the Channel Fleet, she took part in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780).
Several attempts were made to raise the vessel, both for salvage and because it was a danger to other shipping; six iron 12-pounder guns and nine brass 12-pounders were recovered during 1782 using diving bells.
After that no further work was carried out on the wreck until 1834, when Charles Anthony Deane, using the first air-pumped diving helmet, began work. From 1834 - 1836 he recovered 7 iron 42-pounders, 18 brass 24-pounders and 3 brass 12-pounders for which he received salvage from the Board of Ordnance. The remaining guns were buried under mud of the timbers of the wreck and he was unable to reach them.
In 1839 Major-General Charles Pasley, at the time Colonel of the Royal Engineers commenced operations. Pasley had previously destroyed some old wrecks in the Thames to clear a channel using gunpowder charges; his plan was to break up the wreck of the Royal George and then salvage as much as possible using divers. He initially detonated his charges using chemical fuses, then later switched to an electrical system where a resistance heated platinum wire detonated the explosives.
Pasley recovered 12 more guns in 1839, 11 more in 1840, and 6 in 1841. In 1842 he recovered only 1 iron 12-pounder because he ordered the divers to concentrate on removing the hull timbers rather than look for guns. By 1843 the whole of the keel and the bottom timbers had been raised and the site was declared clear.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- David Hepper, British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859 (1994)
- Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
