HMS Bedford (1775)

HMS ''Bedford'' was a Royal Navy 74-gun third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 27 October 1775 at Woolwich.

Early service

At an unknown date on a cruise she captured American merchant ship Hanna; the prize arrived safely in England in early January 1778.
In May 1778 ''Bedford'' was under the command of Capt. Edmund Affleck.
In 1780, ''Bedford'' fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. Later, she was part of the squadron under Vice-Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot.

American Revolutionary War

During the American Revolutionary War, ''Bedford'', under the command of Captain Sir Edmund Affleck, fought in two engagements against the Comte de Grasse; at the Battle of St. Kitts (25–26 January 1782) under Admiral Samuel Hood, and the Battle of the Saintes (9–12 April 1782) under Admiral Rodney. Her crew was paid off and disbanded in the summer of 1783, and the vessel herself was put into ordinary.

Between 1787 and 1791, her captain was Robert Mann. Mann returned to take command of ''Bedford'' in January 1793, remaining with her until late 1794 and participating in the Raid on Genoa.

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

In 1795 she was in the Mediterranean under Captain Davidge Gould. She was with Vice-Admiral Hotham's squadron off Genoa on 14 March when it captured and . During the engagement ''Bedford'' suffered such damage to her masts and rigging that she had to be towed out of the action. ''Bedford''s casualties numbered seven men killed and 18 wounded, including her first lieutenant.

''Bedford'' was also present on 13 July when the British fleet engaged the Toulon fleet in an indecisive action. Only a few British vessels exchanged fire with the French before they withdrew. If ''Bedford'' participated at all, she did not suffer any casualties. The British did capture one vessel, , but she caught fire and blew up.

In September 1795, ''Bedford'' was part of the force escorting 63 merchants of the Levant convoy from Gibraltar. The other escorts were the 74-gun ship , the frigates , the 32-gun frigates and HMS ''Lutine'', and the fireship , and the recently captured . The convoy called at Gibraltar on 25 September, at which point thirty-two of the merchants left that night in company with ''Argo'' and ''Juno''. The rest of the fleet sailed together, reaching Cape St Vincent by the early morning of 7 October. At this point a sizable French squadron was sighted bearing up, consisting of six ships of the line and three frigates under Rear-Admiral Joseph de Richery. Eventually ''Censeur'' struck, and the remaining British warships and one surviving merchant vessel of the convoy made their escape. On 17 October ''Argo'' and ''Juno'' brought in to British waters their convoy of 32 vessels.

In 1797 ''Bedford'' saw action at the Battle of Camperdown under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Byard.

By 1799 she was out of commission at Plymouth. The next year she was fitted out there as a prison ship. Between September 1805 and October 1807 ''Bedford'' underwent extensive repairs and then was prepared for foreign service. In October she was commissioned by Captain James Walker. To man ''Bedford'' the Navy transferred over 's petty officers and crew.

''Bedford'' then joined Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Smith who was assisting the Portuguese royal family in its flight from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. The flotilla that left Lisbon consisted of , , and ''Bedford'', eight Portuguese ships of the line, four frigates, three brigs and a schooner, as well as many merchant vessels. Smith estimated the total number of Portuguese vessels as 37. The flotilla left on 11 November 1807 and reached Rio de Janeiro on 7 March 1808. While she was in Brazil ''Bedford'' was for a short time in 1808-9 under the command of Captain Adam Mackenzie (or M'Kenzie) of ''President''.

War of 1812

In September 1814 Captain Walker took command of a squadron that carried the advance guard of Major General Keane's army, which was moving to attack New Orleans. Also present in the squadron were the troopships , , , and , and the warship . ''Bedford'' arrived off Chandeleur Island on 8 December 1814 and the troops started to disembark eight days later. Sir Alexander Cochrane and Rear-Admirals Pulteney Malcolm and Edward Codrington went ashore with the army. Between 12 and 14 December ''Bedford''s boats, under the command of Lieutenant John Franklin, participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne, in which she lost one man killed and four or five men wounded, including Franklin and two other officers. In 1847 the Admiralty issued a clasp (or bar) marked "14 Dec. Boat Service 1814" to survivors of the boat service who claimed the clasp to the Naval General Service Medal.

''Bedford'' then contributed most of her officers and 150 men to land operations. During these operations Franklin helped dig a canal to facilitate the movement of troops. By default Walker became senior officer of the ships of the line, which were anchored 100 miles from the battle area as the waters were too shallow to permit these largest vessels to approach more closely.

Post-war and fate

After news of the Treaty of Ghent, which had ended the war, arrived, ''Bedford'' and sailed to Jamaica. There they collected a home-bound convoy.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 33 (January–July 1815), p. 332. In 1816 ''Bedford'' was out of commission at Portsmouth. She was broken up in 1817.

Notes

Citations

References

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* Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .
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External links

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Ships of the Old Navy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford (1775)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
Royal Oak-class ships of the line
1775 ships
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom