HMS ''Namur'' was a 90-gun

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

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 ...

, built at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

to the draught specified by the

1745 Establishment The 1745 Establishment was the third and final formal establishment of dimensions for ships to be built for the Royal Navy. It completely superseded the previous 1719 Establishment, which had subsequently been modified in 1733 and again in 1741 ...

as amended in 1750, and launched on 3 March 1756. HMS ''Namur''’s battle honours surpass even those of the more famous HMS ''Victory''.

History

''Namur'' was the flagship of Vice-Admiral

Edward Boscawen Admiral of the Blue Edward Boscawen, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (19 August 171110 January 1761) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He is known principally for his various naval commands during the 18th century and the engagements ...

in the capture of Louisburg in 1758. General

James Wolfe Major-general James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of ...

had sailed across the Atlantic in ''Namur'' on this occasion before his capture of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Also on this journey was 6th Lieutenant Michael Henry Pascal, with his slave and servant

Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano (; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (), was a writer and abolitionist. According to his memoir, he was from the village of Essaka in present day southern Nigeria. Enslaved as a child in ...

(called Gustavus Vasser at the time - this was the slave name given him by Pascal). In his book, Equiano wrote that the ceremony of surrender was "the most beautiful procession on the water I ever saw", and gives more detail of the occasion. In 1758, fifteen ''Namur'' sailors were tried and condemned to

death by hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. ...

for

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

; they had protested to be replaced aboard another ship. The King's grace reprieved them from death penalty, except for one sailor. ''Namur'' was the flagship of Admiral Sir

George Pocock Admiral Sir George Pocock, KB (6 March 1706 – 3 April 1792) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Seven Years' War. Family Pocock was born in Thames Ditton in Surrey, the son of Thomas Pocock, a chaplain in the Royal Navy. His grea ...

in the

Battle of Havana (1762) The siege of Havana was the successful capture of the Spanish-held city of Havana, Cuba in 1762 as part of the war between the two nations which formed part of the larger Seven Years' War. After the Spanish abandoned their former policy of neu ...

. ''Namur'' fought in the

Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was a fleet action fought on 14 February 1797 between the British and Spanish navies off Cape St. Vincent as part of the War of the First Coalition. In one of the opening battles of the recently declared war be ...

under the command of Captain James Hawkins-Whitshed. ''Namur'' was astern of , under the command of then

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

Horatio Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...

, at the beginning stages of the battle. ''Namur'' was

razee A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down (''razeed'') to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French ''vaisseau rasé'', meaning a razed (in the sense of shaved down) ship. Seventeenth century During the ...

d to a 74-gun ship in 1805, and took part in the naval engagement of 4 November 1805 (the

Battle of Cape Ortegal The Battle of Cape Ortegal was the final action of the Trafalgar campaign, and was fought between a squadron of the Royal Navy and a remnant of the fleet that had been defeated earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar. It took place on 4 November 1805 ...

), when the remnants of the French and Spanish fleet which had escaped from Trafalgar was engaged by Lord Strachan's squadron; she took on and captured the French warship ''Formidable''. She was placed on harbour service in 1807 and remained in this role until 1833, when she was finally broken up. Some of ''Namur'' timbers were used to support the floor of the

wheelwright A wheelwright is a Artisan, craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright" (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker - as also in shipbuilding, shipwright ...

's workshop at

. They were rediscovered there in 1995 and identified in 2003. The timbers represent approximately a quarter of the ''Namur'' 's frame and are from a contiguous section of the ship's

orlop deck The orlop is the lowest deck in a ship (except for very old ships), immediately above the hold Hold may refer to: Physical spaces * Hold (compartment), interior cargo space * Baggage hold, cargo space on an airplane * Stronghold, a castle or ...

and adjacent hull frames. While deck beams were repurposed to form and support the floor of the wheelright's shop, many others were placed in the gaps between these beams and serve no structural purpose, including many of the ship's futtock and knee timbers. Evidence suggests that the timbers were removed sequentially from the ''Namur'' as the ship was dismantled and directly installed under the workshop. While repurposing of ship timbers for structural purposes ashore was very common, the rediscovered timbers of the ''Namur'' are rare in being entirely unmodified, still bearing original carpenter's marks, traces of red paint common to Royal Navy warship lower deck interiors of the period, numbers denoting sailor's

hammock A hammock, from Spanish , borrowed from Taíno language, Taíno and Arawak language, Arawak , is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two or more points, used for swing (seat), swinging, sleeping, or Human relaxation, res ...

berths, hammock hooks and lengths of

oakum Oakum is a preparation of tarred fibers used to seal gaps. Its traditional application was in shipbuilding for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel ships. Oakum was also used in p ...

. The presence of many superfluous lengths of timber in and under the new workshop floor and their unaltered condition has been suggested as a deliberate form of preservation by workers at the Dockyard at the time, in recognition of the fame of the ''Namur'' and its prestigious service record. It is possible that the preservation and hiding of as much fabric as possible from the ''Namur'' was officially sanctioned by the Captain Superintendent of Chatham Dockyard,

James Alexander Gordon James Alexander Gordon (10 February 1936 – 18 August 2014) was a Scottish radio broadcaster, best known for reading out association football, football results on BBC radio. Born in Edinburgh in 1936, as a baby he was paralysed with polio a ...

, who had served on the ship during the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797. The restored timbers form the centerpiece of the "Command of the Oceans" gallery at the

Chatham Historic Dockyard The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former Royal Navy Dockyard, royal/naval dockyard at Chatham, Medway, Chatham in Kent, South East England. Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres (1.6 km2) and was o ...

museum opened in 2016.

Notable crewmembers

* The marine painter

Clarkson Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was an English painter best known for his large-scale paintings of marine art and Landscape painting, landscapes. He was the father of the painter George Clarkson Stanfield and the compo ...

served on board the ship, after being pressed into the

in 1808. He was discharged on health grounds in 1814. * One of ''Namurs captains was

Charles Austen Rear Admiral Charles John Austen CB (23 June 1779 – 7 October 1852) was an officer in the Royal Navy and the youngest brother of novelist Jane Austen. He served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and beyond, eventually ri ...

, a brother of

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

. *

, a former African slave who was active in the British

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

movement, served as a

powder monkey A powder boy or powder monkey manned naval artillery guns as a member of a warship's crew, primarily during the Age of Sail. Their chief role was to ferry gunpowder from the powder magazine in the ship's hold to the artillery pieces, either i ...

on ''Namur''.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Namur (1756) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1756 ships

History

Notable crewmembers

Notes

Further reading

External links