HMS Stirling Castle (1679)

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Career (England) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Stirling Castle
Builder: John Shish, Deptford Dockyard
Launched: 1679
Fate: Wrecked, 1703, on the Goodwin Sands
General characteristics as built[1]
Class and type: 70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,114 long tons (1,131.9 t)
Length: 151 ft 2 in (46.1 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 40 ft 4 in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold: 17 ft 3 in (5.3 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 70 guns of various weights of shot
General characteristics after 1699 rebuild[2]
Class and type: 70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,087 long tons (1,104.4 t)
Length: 151 ft 2 in (46.1 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 40 ft 6 in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold: 17 ft 8 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 70 guns of various weights of shot
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Stirling Castle.

HMS Stirling Castle was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, built at Deptford in 1679.[1] She underwent a rebuild at Chatham Dockyard in 1699.[2]

Contents

[edit] Wreck

HMS Stirling Castle was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands in the Great Storm of 1703. Unlike her two wrecked sister ships, where all perished, 21 men survived, because she seems to have dragged her anchor, slowing the ship's progress towards the Goodwin Sands and meaning that she reached the sands at high tide, narrowly avoiding the fate of the other ships which were grounded. As the storm continued, the tides turned and dragged the ship sideways, trapping her between the new tidal currents and the oncoming storms. The resulting tumultuous seas swamped the ship. Full of water, she sank onto the sands, leaving just the stern exposed for a fortunate few to cling to.

The ship re-emerged from the sand in 1979 and 2002. Relics from her were on show at Bleak House at Broadstairs while it was still a museum, and at the Deal Maritime Museum at Deal, Kent, but the majority of finds are displayed at Ramsgate Maritime Museum. In 2000 a team of divers successfully recovered a Demi-cannon, complete with its original gun carriage from the site.

HMS Stirling Castle was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 6 June 1980. She was featured on the Channel 4 documentary series Wreck Detectives.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p162.
  2. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p166.

[edit] References

  • 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.

[edit] External links

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