HMS ''Coventry'' 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
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
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 five such ships authorised on 16 November 1693 (three to be built in different Royal Dockyards and two to be built by commercial contract). The ''Coventry'' was built by Master Shipwright Fisher Harding at
Deptford Dockyard
Deptford Dockyard was an important Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and man ...
and launched there on 20 April 1695.
[Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1603-1714'', p.135.]
The French 54-gun ships
''Auguste'' and
''Jason'', at that date operating as
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 ...
s, captured the ''Coventry'' (then commanded by Captain Henry Lawrence, and escorting a convoy outbound for Newfoundland) on 24 July 1704 about 200 miles southwest of the Isles of Scilly.
[Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1603-1714'', p.135.]
On 6 May 1709,
''Portland'' recaptured ''Coventry'' at Bastimentos (near
Puerto Bello
Portobelo (Modern Spanish: "Puerto Bello" ("beautiful port"), historically in Portuguese: Porto Belo) is a historic port and corregimiento in Portobelo District, Colón Province, Panama. Located on the northern part of the Isthmus of Panama, it ...
), but she was not taken back into British service and was instead broken up.
[Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1603-1714'', p.135.][Roche (2005), p.134.]
See also
*
List of ships captured in the 18th century
Naval engagements were common throughout the 18th century and often involved the capture of enemy vessels. The captured vessels were typically renamed and incorporated into thseizingnation's naval fleet. Merchant ships were also seized and, at ...
Notes
References
*Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850''. Conway Maritime Press. .
*Roche, Jean-Michel (2005) ''Dictionnaire des Bâtiments de la Flotte de Guerre Française de Colbert à nos Jours.'' (Group Retozel-Maury Millau), Vol. 1.
* 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. .
See also
*
List of ships captured in the 18th century
Naval engagements were common throughout the 18th century and often involved the capture of enemy vessels. The captured vessels were typically renamed and incorporated into thseizingnation's naval fleet. Merchant ships were also seized and, at ...
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
1690s ships
Captured ships
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