HMS ''Canada'' was a

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently de ...

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Rating When the rating system was f ...

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

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 ...

, launched on 17 September 1765 at

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich - originally in north-west Kent, now in southeast London - whe ...

. On 2 May 1781, ''Canada'' engaged and captured the Spanish ship , of 34 guns.Ships of the Old Navy, ''Canada''. In 1782, ''Canada'' was under the command of

William Cornwallis Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, (20 February 17445 July 1819) was a Royal Navy officer. He was the brother of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British commander at the siege of Yorktown. Cornwallis took part in a number of decisive ...

, when she took part in the Battle of St. Kitts. Later that year she participated in the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

. She took part in the

action of 6 November 1794 The action of 6 November 1794 (Known in French as the ''Combat du 16 Brumaire an III'') was a naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars. Two British ships of the line, HMS ''Alexander'' and HMS ''Canada'' were intercepted while ...

under

Charles Powell Hamilton Admiral Charles Powell Hamilton (26 December 1747 – 12 March 1825) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of a ...

and managed to avoid capture.

Napoleonic Wars

In 1807, ''Canada'' was in the Caribbean in a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral

Alexander Cochrane Admiral Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane, GCB (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admi ...

. The squadron, which included , , and , captured ''Telemaco'', ''Carvalho'' and ''Master'' on 17 April 1807. Following the concern in Britain that neutral

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

was entering an alliance with

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, in December 1807 ''Canada'' sailed in Cochrane's squadron in the expedition to occupy the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies () or Danish Virgin Islands () or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with , Saint John () with , Saint Croix with , and Water Island. The islands of St ...

. The expedition captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.

Fate

''Canada'' became a

prison ship A prison ship, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoner of war, prisoners of war or civilian internees. Some prison ships were hulk (ship type), hulked. W ...

from 1810, and was broken up in 1834.

Notes

References

*Lavery, Brian (1983) The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. . *Michael Phillips
Ships of the Old Navy, A History of Ships of the 18th Century Royal Navy
Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 2 June 2007.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canada (1765) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Canada-class ships of the line 1765 ships Prison ships Maritime incidents in 1796