''Sapphire'' was a 38-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 ...

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 ...

. After commissioning she was actively involved in the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or First Dutch War, was a naval conflict between the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. Largely caused by disputes over trade, it began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but expanded to vast ...

, participating in most major fleet actions. During the

Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War, began on 4 March 1665, and concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Breda (1667), Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667. It was one in a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, naval wars between Kingdom of England, England and the D ...

, she was only in the first two engagements then spent her time in Irish Waters and the Mediterranean. She was run ashore due to a pending attack by suspected Algerian pirates on Sicily in March 1670.Winfield 8 ''Sapphire'' was the first named vessel in the English and Royal Navy.

Construction and specifications

She was ordered by Parliament in 1651 to be built under contract by Peter Pett I at Ratcliffe. Her dimensions were keel for tonnage with a breadth of and a depth of hold of . Her builder's measure tonnage was tons.Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 159. Her gun armament in 1653 was 38 guns. By 1666 her guns were nominally increased to 40 guns. Her guns would consist of twelve culverins,The culverin was a gun of 4,500 pounds with a 5.5-inch bore firing a 17.5-pound shot with a twelve-pound powder charge on the lower deck with ten demi-culverins,The demi-culverin was a gun of 3,400 pounds with a four-inch bore firing a 9.5-pound shot with an eight-pound powder charge on the upper deck and fourteen sakers.The sacar or saker was a gun of 1,400 pounds with a 3.5-inch bore firing a 5.5-pound shot with a 5.5-pound powder charge on the quarterdeck. She actually carried 44 guns consisting of six culverins, sixteen demi-culverins eighteen sakers and four 3-pounder guns. Her manning was 140 personnel in 1653 and her established manning in 1666 was 160/130/90 personnel.Winfield 6 She was completed with a first cost of £2,873The cost accounting for inflation of approximately £ in reference to today. or 442 tons @ £6.10.0dThe cost accounting for inflation of approximately £ in reference to today. per ton.

Commissioned service

Service in the Commonwealth Navy

She was commissioned in 1651 under the Command of Captain Robert Moulton. She was with Robert Blake's Fleet in Rye Bay and sortied for the

Battle of Dover The Battle of Dover may refer to: * Battle of Sandwich (1217), also known as Battle of Dover, 24 August 1217, a naval engagement between England and France in the First Barons' War * Battle of Dover (1652) The naval Battle of Dover , fought on ...

on 19 May 1652. She followed this by accompanying Robert Blake's Squadron into the

Battle of Dungeness A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

on 29 November 1652. Late in 1653 she came under the command of Captain William Hill. She was with Robert Blake's Fleet at the

Battle of Portland The naval Battle of Portland, or Three Days' Battle, took place during 18–20 February 1653 (28 February – 2 March 1653 (Gregorian calendar)), during the First Anglo-Dutch War, when the fleet of the Commonwealth of England under General at ...

on 18 February 1653. Following the battle she came under the command of Captain Nicholas Heaton. As a member of Red Squadron, Center Division she 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 ...

on 2–3 June 1653. On 31 July 1653 she was at the Battle of Scheveningen near Texel as a member of Red Squadron, Center Division. She was at Portsmouth for the winter of 1653/54. In 1655 Captain Richard was her commander sailing with Robert Blake's Fleet until July 1656. She rejoined Blake in the autumn and participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz on 20 April 1657.

Service after the Restoration May 1660

She was in the Western Approaches in June 1660. On 23 November 1661 she was under command of Captain Samuel Titsell until 23 May 1663. on 29 October 1664 Captain Henry Clyde took command. As a member of Red Squadron Rear Division she participated in the

Battle of Lowestoft The Battle of Lowestoft took place on during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the Dutch Republic, United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam, Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam, at ...

on 3 June 1665. With the death of Captain Hyde on 11 June 1665 she came under command of Captain Thomas Elliot. She partook in the

Battle of Vagen A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

(Bergen, Norway) on 2 August 1665 losing 15 killed and 41 wounded.Winfield 7 On 7 December 1665 Captain Jasper Grant took command from Captain Elliot for service on the Irish coast between June and July 1666. On 28 January she came under the command of Captain Sir William Jennings until 7 December 1668. On 30 October 1669 Captain John Pearse took command for the Mediterranean.

Loss

''Sapphire'' escorted

merchant ships A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

travelling from Sicily to Venice to protect them from pirate attacks. ''Sapphire'' was wrecked on 31 March 1670 when she was deliberately run aground at

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

to escape from what her captain, John Pearce, thought were four pirate ships from Algeria. "Entirely losing his head," Sir

William Laird Clowes Sir William Laird Clowes (1 February 1856 – 14 August 1905) was a British journalist and historian whose principal work was ''The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900'', a text that is still in print. He also wrote numerous ...

would write later, "and paying no attention to the remonstrances of the master and of the whole of the ship's company, he ran the ''Sapphire'' ashore, in order, as he supposed, to save her from capture. She became a total wreck. If the strangers had really been Algerines his conduct would have been indefensible, but, as they proved to be friends, it was, in addition, contemptible."William Laird Clowes, ''The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900'' (Sampson, Low, Marston and Company Ltd., 1898) pp. 439-440 Pearce and his lieutenant, Andrew Logan, "who had abetted him in his foolish cowardice" were court-martialed on the Royal Navy yacht ''Bezan'' and, on 17 September 1670, were shot for cowardice.

Notes

Citations

References

*Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . * British Warships in the Age of Sail (1603 – 1714), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © Rif Winfield 2009, EPUB : # Fleet Actions, 1.1 Battle off Dover # Fleet Actions, 1.4 Battle of Dungeness # Fleet Actions, 1.5 Battle off Portland (the 'Three Days Battle') 18–20 February 1653 # Fleet Actions, 1.7 Battle of the Gabbard (North Foreland) 2–3 June 1653 # Fleet Actions, 1.8 Battle of Scheveningen (off Texel) 31 July 1653 # Fleet Actions, 3.1 Battle of Lowestoft # Fleet Actions, 3.2 Battle of Vagen (Bergen, Norway) # Chapter 4 Fourth Rates - 'Small Ships', Vessels acquired from 25 March 1603, 1651 Programme Group, Laurel * Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt-Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © the estate of J.J. Colledge, Ben Warlow and Steve Bush 2020, EPUB , Section L (Laurel) * The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1800 – 1815, by Brian Lavery, published by US Naval Institute Press © Brian Lavery 1989, , Part V Guns, Type of Guns {{DEFAULTSORT:Sapphire (1651) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1650s ships First Anglo-Dutch War Second Anglo-Dutch War Ships of the English navy