''Blackwall'' was a 50-gun
fourth-rate
In 1603 all English warships with a complement of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers, a six-tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided ...
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 tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...
of the
English Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, one of four ordered in September 1694 (''Blackwall'' and
''Guernsey'' on 12 September and
''Nonsuch'' and
''Warwick'' on 25 September) to be built by commercial contracts; eight further ships of this type were ordered on 24 December (six to be built by contract and two in Royal Dockyards). The ''Blackwall'' was built by
Sir Henry Johnson's
Blackwall Yard
Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987.
History
East India Company
Blackwall was a sh ...
and launched on 6 July 1696.
[Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.136.]
In September 1705, whilst under the command of Captain Samuel Martin, the ''Blackwall'', along with two smaller vessels, had been ordered to convoy some merchantmen to the
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
. On 20 October, as ''Blackwall'' and her two consorts
HMS ''Sorlings'' and
HMS ''Pendennis'' were convoying the return voyage, they encountered a superior French force. All the English ships were captured, ''Blackwall'' herself being taken by the French ship
''Protée''. Both Captain Martin and the French commander were killed in the action.
[Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.136.][Ships of the Old Navy, ''Blackwall''.]
''Blackwall'' was commissioned into the French Navy under the name ''Blekoualle''; she was recaptured on 15 March 1708 but was not taken back into service in the Royal Navy, the decision being taken to have her broken up instead.
[Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.136.] However, she was captured again by the French in 1709, this time being named ''Blakoual'' and used as a
privateer
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...
, remaining in French service until disposed of in 1720.
[Rif Winfield and Stephen S. Roberts, ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786'' (Seaforth Publishing 2017), .]
See also
*
List of ships captured in the 18th century
Notes
References
* Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850''. Conway Maritime Press. .
* Michael Phillips
''Blackwall'' (48) (1696) Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
*
* Winfield, Rif (1997), ''The 50-Gun Ship: A Complete History''. Chatham Publishing (1st edition); Mercury Books (2nd edition 2005). .
* Winfield, Rif (2009) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. Seaforth Publishing. .
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
1690s ships
Ships built by the Blackwall Yard
{{UK-line-ship-stub