HMS ''Neptune'' 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 ...

. She was built under the 1677 "Thirty Great Ships" Programme and launched in 1683 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 ...

Naval career

She was first commissioned in 1690 under Captain Thomas Gardiner, as the flagship of Vice-Admiral

George Rooke Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke (1650 – 24 January 1709) was an Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and again at the Battle of Schooneveld duri ...

. In that capacity she took part in the

Battle of Barfleur The action at Barfleur was part of the battle of Barfleur-La Hougue during the War of the Grand Alliance. A French fleet under Anne Hilarion de Tourville was seeking to cover an invasion of England by a French army to restore James II to the ...

in May 1692. She underwent her first rebuild at William Johnson's yard at

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 ...

, from where she was relaunched on 6 May 1710 as a 90-gun second-rate built to the

1706 Establishment The 1706 Establishment was the first formal set of dimensions for ships of the Royal Navy. Two previous sets of dimensions had existed before, though these were only for specific shipbuilding programs running for only a given amount of time. In ...

. She was recommissioned on 3 February 1711 under Capt. Francis Wyvell, but

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

into reserve in July of that year and saw no service. On 18 August 1724 ''Neptune'' was ordered to be taken to pieces and rebuilt as a 90-gun second-rate to the

1719 Establishment The 1719 Establishment was a set of mandatory requirements governing the construction of all Royal Navy warships capable of carrying more than 20 naval long guns. It was designed to bring economies of scale through uniform vessel design, and e ...

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

Dockyard, from where she was relaunched on 15 October 1730. She was cut down to a 74-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 ...

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 ...

from 1747 to April 1749, and was renamed HMS ''Torbay'' on 23 August 1750, the previous ship bearing this name having been broken up in 1749.

Capture of ''Le Roche''

On 28 November 1756, ''Torbay'' engaged and defeated the 22-gun French privateer ''La Roche'' off the southwest coast of Wales. All but two of the French crew were brought aboard the British vessel as prisoners; the remaining two men were left on ''La Roche'' with eight of ''Torbay''s crew to help sail her into an English port as a

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

. ''Torbay'' and ''La Roche'' then parted company, with the prize vessel heading for the port city of

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was ...

. On the second night of that voyage the two Frenchmen broke out of their cabin and attacked the British sailors, killing one and wounding the others. The seven surviving British men surrendered and were imprisoned on the steerage deck while the French attempted to turn the vessel back towards the French coast. By the following morning the British had developed a plan for escape; with some effort a hole was made in the hull and one sailor climbed the outside of the ship, re-entering at the gundeck. Obtaining a musket, he shot dead one of the French; the other leapt overboard but was persuaded to return to the vessel on a promise of being spared. Again in command of the vessel, the ''Torbay'' crewmembers then reset course for Milford Haven. On 3 December they fell in with , whose crew assisted in bringing the captured ship into port ten days later. Combat du Scipion conte le London-Rossel de Cercy mg 5095c

Combat du Scipion conte le London-Rossel de Cercy mg 5095c

In 1759, under the command of Captain Augustus Keppel, the ship served in the

Battle of Quiberon Bay The Battle of Quiberon Bay (known as the ''Bataille des Cardinaux'' by the French) was a decisive naval engagement during the Seven Years' War. It was fought on 20 November 1759 between the Royal Navy and the French Navy in Quiberon Bay, off ...

Fate

Her last action was as part of the blue squadron at 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 ...

under Captain Keppel.Famous Fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.107 ''Torbay'' was sold at Portsmouth to be taken to pieces on 17 August 1784.

Notes

References

*Lavery, Brian (1983), ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850''. Conway Maritime Press. . *Winfield, Rif (2007), ''British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714-1792''. Seaforth Publishing. . (2009) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603-1714.'' Seaforth Publishing.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neptune (1683) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1680s ships Ships built by the Blackwall Yard Ships built in Deptford