The English ship ''Speaker'' was a 50-gun

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 ...

. ''Speaker'' was built for the navy of the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth of England was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when Kingdom of England, England and Wales, later along with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, were governed as a republi ...

Christopher Pett Christopher Pett (1620–1668) was an English shipbuilder for the Royal Navy and part of the Pett dynasty of shipbuilders. He is mentioned in the Diary of Samuel Pepys. History He was born on 4 May 1620, the eleventh child of many children ...

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 ...

and launched in 1650. At

the Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state. This may refer to: *Conservation and restoration of cultural property **Audio restoration **Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property **Film restoration ** Image ...

she was renamed HMS ''Mary''. She was the prototype of the . In 1688, HMS ''Mary'' was rebuilt by Thomas Shish at

as a 62-gun third-rate

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 ...

. The ship was wrecked on the

Goodwin Sands Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal, Kent, Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Chalk, Upper Chalk platform belonging to ...

in the

Great Storm of 1703 The Great storm of 1703 was a destructive extratropical cyclone that struck central and southern England on 26 November 1703. High winds caused 2,000 chimney stacks to collapse in London and damaged the New Forest, which lost 4,000 oaks. Ships wer ...

. Almost all who were aboard were drowned, including Rear-Admiral

Basil Beaumont Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont (1669–1703) was a senior Royal Navy officer who was the fifth son, amongst the twenty-one children, of Sir Henry Beaumont, 2nd Baronet, of Stoughton Grange and Cole Orton. Naval career Of his early service in the ...

Description and early history

The English ship ''Speaker'' was a 50-gun

and the name ship of the . She was built by

, as one of a pair of

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

s for the Winter Guard of the navy of the

. Built at

, she was launched in 1650. ''Speaker''s

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a cal ...

was 727 tons burthen. She had a length of , and two decks, designed to accommodate the

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

and his officers. The ship had a breadth of . Originally designed to have 44 guns, the armament was increased to 50 guns in October 1649, and 56 guns by 1653. This was increased again to 60 guns between 1655 and 1660. ''Speaker'' participated in the

Battle of the Gabbard The Battle of the Gabbard, was a naval battle fought from 2 to 3 June 1653 during the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place near the Gabbard shoal off the coast of Suffolk, England, between fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Repu ...

in 1653, being large enough to serve as the flagship for Rear Admiral

Samuel Howett Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venerated a ...

in the Rear division of the Red squadron.

Restoration of Charles II

''Speaker'' was part of the fleet led by ''Naseby'', ''London'', ''Richard'', and ''Swiftsure'' who collected

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

from Holland and brought him back from exile. Charles renamed ''Speaker'' HMS ''Mary''.

Post-Restoration career

, ''Speaker'' was renamed HMS ''Mary''. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 62 guns. In 1688, ''Mary'' was rebuilt by Thomas Shish at

as a 62-gun third-rate

. ''Mary'' was wrecked on the

in the

. Of her 275 crew, her captain and

purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

were ashore at the time of her loss; only one sailor on board survived. Rear-Admiral

was also aboard ship at the time and perished in the wreck.

Wreck site

Local divers found the wreck site in 1980. The initial designation was of around what is now known as the South Mound; the North Mound was discovered in 1999 and the area was amended under Statutory Instrument number 2004/2395 as a radius around 51° 15.6302' N, 01° 30.0262' E. It is believed that ''Mary'' lies under the South Mound and the North Mound is probably the

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 ...

HMS ''Restoration'' that was wrecked in the same storm. The site lies to the west of the Goodwin Sands off

Deal In cryptography, DEAL (Data Encryption Algorithm with Larger blocks) is a symmetric block cipher derived from the Data Encryption Standard (DES). Its design was presented by Lars Knudsen at the SAC conference in 1997, and submitted as a proposa ...

, between the wrecks of HMS ''Stirling Castle'' and HMS ''Northumberland'', which also sank in the storm. The site was investigated by

Wessex Archaeology Wessex Archaeology is a British company that provides archaeological and heritage services, as well as being an educational charity. Apart from advice and consultancy, it also does fieldwork and publishes research on the sites it surveys. The com ...

on 25 June 2006. The South Mound measures but has not been studied in detail.

Legacy

''Mary'' could be considered as the first example of a

. Although it was built before the concept of a ship of the line was developed, it some of the characteristics of such a ship.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Speaker (1650) Speaker-class ships of the line Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1650s ships Ships built in Woolwich Maritime incidents in 1703 Ships of the English navy