''Nonsuch'' was a

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal. They were first used as armed cargo carriers by Europe, Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail, and they were the principal vessels dr ...

of the

Tudor navy The Tudor navy was the navy of the Kingdom of England under the ruling Tudor dynasty (1485–1603). The period involved important and critical changes that led to the establishment of a permanent navy and laid the foundations for the future Roy ...

. She was built on the orders of Queen Mary (reign, 1553–1558) in 1555–56 as the ''Philip and Mary'' and renamed twice during her career – first to ''Nonpareil'' when she was rebuilt at

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

in 1584, and later as ''Nonsuch'' when she was again rebuilt from 1603 to 1605.The "HMS" prefix was not used until the middle of the 18th century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively Following her first rebuilding, she was mentioned in the Paris archives as part of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

's fleet in 1588 in ''A Statement of the two fleets possessed by the Queen of England, with numbers and names of the ships'', listed as "400 tons, 17 pieces each side, four pieces at the prow and the same at the stern. Her complement was 250 comprising 150 mariners, 30 gunners and 70 soldiers". The ship was under the command of

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

in 1588 – "Drake has also six large ships of the Queen's, namely :—''Revenge'', ''Hope'', ''Nonpareil'', ''Swiftsure'', ''Aid'' and ''Advice'', with 45 of the best merchant ships they could select, at the Isle of Wight." On 14 February 1591 a warrant was made "to pay to Sir John Hawkins 1,566l. 13s. 4d. disbursed in setting forth the ''Nonpareil''". In June 1602 she was off the coast of Spain and attacked Cezimbra Bay near Lisbon (Portugal) which resulted in the capture of a large

carrack A carrack (; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal and Spain. Evolving from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for Europea ...

loaded with treasure valued at a million

ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...

s. In 1603-05 she was rebuilt a second time as a

great ship The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing warships, initially classing them according to their assi ...

, and renamed ''Nonsuch''. Now of 454 tons, she carried 32 primary guns (2 cannon periers, 12 culverins, 12 demi-culverins and 6 sakers) and 6 smaller and more anti-personnel weapons (2 falconets and 4 fowlers). She was sold out of the navy in late 1645.

Notes

Citations

References

* Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . * Winfield, Rif (2009) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. . * http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87181&strquery=nonpareil Galleons of the Royal Navy Ships of the English navy 16th-century ships {{UK-line-ship-stub