HMS ''Venerable'' was 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 ...

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 ...

, launched on 19 April 1784 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 ...

Service history

In 1795, ''Veneraable'' is known to have been under the command of Captain James Bissett. In 1797, ''Venerable'' served as Admiral Duncan's flagship at the

Battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was fought on 11 October 1797 between the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief, North Sea, North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, Adam Duncan and a ...

.Ships of the Old Navy, ''Venerable''. In 1801, ''Venerable'' took part in the

First Battle of Algeciras The First Battle of Algeciras was fought on 6 July 1801 between a Royal Navy squadron and a smaller French Navy squadron lying at anchor in the Spanish port of Algeciras during the Algeciras campaign of the War of the Second Coalition. The B ...

on 6 July and the

Second Battle of Algeciras The Second Battle of Algeciras (also known as the Battle of the Gut of Gibraltar) was fought on 12 July 1801 between a Royal Navy squadron and a larger Spanish and French squadron in the Gut of Gibraltar during the Algeciras campaign of th ...

on 12–13 July. During the latter engagement, she was driven ashore on the coast of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Algeciras Bay The Bay of Gibraltar (), is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around long by wide, covering an area of some , with a depth of up to in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the Strait of Gibraltar and the Med ...

, but she was refloated, repaired, and returned to service.

Fate

''Venerable'' was wrecked on 24 November 1804, off Roundham Head near

Torbay Torbay is a unitary authority with a borough status in the ceremonial county of Devon, England. It is governed by Torbay Council, based in the town of Torquay, and also includes the towns of Paignton and Brixham. The borough consists of ...

. Three of her crew were lost. Newspapers reported a dispatch dated 28 November: The Venerable had gone to pieces in a tremendous gale, the number of men drowned is said to be 13 — they are supposed to have been intoxicated when the ship struck. The commander of the Venerable was captain Hunter a brave and skilful officer and a gentleman of considerable literary and scientific acquirements who was for some time governor of New South Wales and has favoured the public with an interesting account of that colony. Two days later, on 26 November, the hired armed ship sailed from Plymouth to Torbay with , six gun-vessels and yard-lighters, and other craft, to save the stores, guns, etc. from the wreck of ''Venerable''.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 12, p.504.

Elizabeth Goudge Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge FRSL (24 April 1900 – 1 April 1984) was an English writer of fiction and children's books. She won the Carnegie Medal for British children's books in 1946 for ''The Little White Horse''. Goudge was long a popula ...

used the event of the destruction of H.M.S. ''Venerable'' in a storm as a key event in her 1950 novel, ''Gentian Hill'', as Goudge acknowledged in her prefatory Note.

Citations and notes

References

*Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . *Michael Phillips
Venerable (74) (1784)
Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 8 August 2007.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venerable (1783) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Culloden-class ships of the line 1784 ships Ships built by the Blackwall Yard Maritime incidents in 1801 Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Shipwrecks of Spain Maritime incidents in 1804 Shipwrecks of England