HMS ''Salisbury'' 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

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 eight such ships authorised by the

Navy Board The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the Regulatory agency, commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headqua ...

on 24 December 1695 to be newly built (six by commercial contract and two in the Royal Dockyards); the others were the ''Hampshire'', ''Dartmouth'', ''Winchester'', ''Worcester'', ''Jersey'', ''Carlisle'' and ''Tilbury''. The contract for the ''Winchester'' was signed with shipbuilders Richard and James Herring in 1696, for the ship to be built in their yard at Baileys Hard (near

Bucklers Hard Buckler's Hard is a hamlet in the civil parish of Beaulieu, in the New Forest district, in the county of Hampshire, England, on the banks of the Beaulieu River. With its two rows of Georgian cottages running down to the river, Buckler's Har ...

) on the

Beaulieu River The Beaulieu River ( ), formerly known as the River Exe, is a small river draining much of the central New Forest in Hampshire, southern England. The river has many small upper branches and its farthest source is from its -long tidal estuary. ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and she was launched there on 18 April 1698.Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.137. ''Salisbury'' was commissioned in 1699 under her first commander, Captain

Richard Lestock Admiral Richard Lestock (22 February 1679 – 17 December 1746) was a Royal Navy officer who rose to the rank of admiral. He fought in a number of battles, and was a controversial figure, most remembered for his part in the defeat at the Battl ...

. The following year she joined 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 ...

's fleet in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

, and remained with Rooke off

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

in 1701.Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.137. Lestock was succeeded by Captain Richard Cotton, but while off

Orford Ness Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from th ...

on 10 April 1703 she encountered and was attacked by a squadron consisting of four French warships, including the ''Adroit'', and three

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. After an engagement which left 17 killed and 34 wounded, ''Salisbury'' was taken by the French. She served with the French under the name ''Salisbury'', and for a time was part of

Claude de Forbin Claude, comte de Forbin-Gardanne (6 August 1656 – 4 March 1733) was a French Navy officer, nobleman and diplomat. From 1685 to 1688, he led a diplomatic mission to the Ayutthaya Kingdom. He became governor of Bangkok and a general in the Siamese ...

's squadron.Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.137. On 1 May 1707, ''Salisbury'' very nearly fell back into English hands. ''Salisbury'' was part of the Dunkirk Squadron that attacked the English convoy commanded by Baron Wylde, during the action of 2 May 1707. Captain George Clements lost his life in defence of HMS ''Hampton Court'', but not before his crew so disabled ''Salisbury'' that she was left for a wreck, later recovered by the French who could not fit her out in time for their next warring exploit, but later commissioned her as ''Le Salisbury''. She was finally recaptured off Scotland on 15 March 1708 by and other ships of Sir George Byng's squadron.Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.137. She was first renamed HMS ''Salisbury Prize'', as a new had already been built.Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714'', p.137. She was renamed HMS ''Preston'' on 2 January 1716. On 9 January 1739 ''Preston'' was ordered to be taken to pieces to be rebuilt by Master Shipwright Thomas Fellowes at

Plymouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roya ...

according to the 1733 proposals of 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 ...

, and she was broken up in February. In 1739 the Navy Board finally decided to dispense with the fictional concept of "rebuilding", and new instructions on 8 May 1739 were that a new ship should be built, and the keel for this new ship was laid down in December 1739; the ''Preston'' was launched on 18 September 1742.Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792'', p.148. From 1745 she was assigned to the Royal Navy's East Indies squadron which was based in the Dutch-held port of

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

, Ceylon. In September 1748 she was declared unseaworthy and converted into a

hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...

. Over the following year she served as a storehouse for naval supplies and a support for the

careening Careening (also known as "heaving down") is a method of gaining access to the hull of a sailing vessel without the use of a dry dock. It is used for cleaning or repairing the hull. Before ship's hulls were protected from marine growth by fasten ...

of other vessels, and was broken up in November 1749.Baugh 1965, p. 346

Notes

References

* * *Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850''. Conway Maritime Press. . * 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.'' . * Winfield, Rif (2007) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. {{DEFAULTSORT:Salisbury (1698) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1690s ships Captured ships Ships built on the Beaulieu River

See also

Notes

References