Author Topic: HMS Northumberland (1798 - 1850)  (Read 3570 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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Re: HMS Northumberland (1798 - 1850)
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2020, 10:11:36 PM »
Restored...
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.

Offline stuartwaters

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HMS Northumberland (1798 - 1850)
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2019, 08:07:50 PM »

HMS Northumberland was a Large type, 74 gun, third rate ship of the line, built under contract for the Royal Navy by William Barnard at his shipyard at Deptford, then in Kent, on the south bank of the River Thames. At the time, the third rate ship of the line was the largest type of warship built under contract in private or commercial shipyards. HMS Northumberland was the first of a pair of two large type 74 gun ships, the other was HMS Renown, also built under contract at Deptford, in John Dudman's shipyard.


The Northumberland Class were designed by John Henslow, co-Surveyor of the Navy and their design was based on that of the French Temeraire Class 74 gun ship L'Amerique, captured at the Battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794 by HMS Leviathan (74) and taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Impetueux. The French Temeraire Class was the most numerous class of capital ship ever built, with 120 ships built between 1782 and 1813. They were the standard French 74 gun ship. Many of them ended up in British hands and their evolving design was copied several times by the British. One of them, the Duguay Trouin, captured by the British at the Battle of Trafalgar, taken into the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Implacable, survived until 1949 when she was towed out into the Solent and scuttled in a mind-boggling act of vandalism by the British.


The contract for the construction of HMS Northumberland was signed between William Barnard and the Navy Board on Tuesday 30th April 1795 and her first keel section was laid down at Deptford some six months later. The completed hull was launched into the Thames on Friday 2nd February 1798. After her launch, she was taken to the Royal Dockyard at Deptford and was fitted with her guns, masts and miles of rigging. On completion, she was a large and powerful ship, larger and more powerful than the vast majority of 74 gun third rate ships then in service. In fact, she was pretty much the same size as the Second Rate and older First Rrate ships in the Royal Navy at the time, such as HMS Victory; the only difference being that she had two gundecks rather than the three of the First and Second rate ships.


On completion, HMS Northumberland was a ship of 1,907 tons. She was 182ft 2in long on her upper gundeck and 150ft 3in long at the keel. She was 48ft 10in wide across the beams and drew 13ft 6in of water at the bow and 19ft 3in at the rudder. Her hold between the orlop and her bottom was 21ft 7in deep. HMS Northumberland was armed with 30 x 32pdr long guns on her lower gundeck, 30 x 24pdr long guns on her upper gundeck, 4 x 18pdr long guns and 10 x 32pdr carronades on her quarterdeck, 2 x 18pdr long guns and 2 x 32pdr carronades on her forecastle and six 18pdr carronades on her poop deck. She also carried around a dozen half-pounder swivel guns attached to her upper deck handrails and in her fighting tops. This meant that although classified as a 74 gun ship, she actually carried 84 guns. HMS Northumberland was manned by a crew of 640 officers, men, boys and Marines.


Northumberland Class Plans


Orlop Plan:





Lower Gundeck Plan:





Upper Gundeck Plan:





Quarterdeck and Forecastle Plan:





Inboard Profile and Plan:





Sheer Plan and Lines:





The former HMS Implacable laying at Portsmouth, prior to being towed out to sea and scuttled. As a Temeraire Class vessel, L'Amerique would have been identical and being based on that design, HMS Northumberland would have been very similar.





Her construction at Barnards had cost £37,456, while fitting out added £18,647 to the bill for the ship. She commissioned under Captain Edward William Campbell Rich Owen on 24rd April 1798. Aged 27 when he took command of the ship, HMS Northumberland was Captain Owen's first appointment as Captain. Born in Nova Scotia, Captain Owen was to go on to have a long and distinguished career in the Royal Navy, was knighted in 1815 and eventually became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in 1841.


Captain Owen only remained in HMS Northumberland until July 1798, when he was replaced in command by Captain George Martin. He was an experienced combat commander who had seen action at the battles of Ile Groix under Lord Bridport in 1795 and the Second Battle of Cape St. Vincent under Sir John Jervis, later the Earl St Vincent in 1797. By December 1798, under Captain Martin, the ship was engaged in the blockade of Cadiz. She was part of a fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, flying his command flag in the 98 gun second rate ship HMS Barfleur and which also comprised the 98 gun second rate ships HMS London, HMS Princess Royal and HMS Prince George, the 90 gun second rate ship HMS Namur, the 80 gun third rate ships HMS Foudroyant and HMS Gibraltar along with the 74 gun third rate ships HMS Montagu, HMS Marlborough, HMS Warrior, HMS Hector, HMS Defence and HMS Majestic. The fleet only had a single frigate, the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Success and a single sloop, the 14 gun brig-sloop HMS Childers.


On 3rd May 1799, Lord Keith received alarming news when the two smaller vessels returned to the fleet from patrols. HMS Childers reported that five Spanish ships of the line had escaped from Ferrol and HMS Success brought news that she had spotted the French Brest fleet at sea about 100 miles west of Opporto on 1st May and had been chased by them until the following day. On receipt of the news about the French Brest fleet, Lord Keith ordered his ships to prepare for action, but remained off Cadiz in order to prevent the French and Spanish from joining up. At 08:30 on 4th May, the French were spotted about 15 miles away and at 10:00, HMS Majestic reported their strength to be 33 vessels. Later that day, a gale blew up from the south, which although prevented the Spanish from leaving Cadiz, also meant that the French fleet was able to slip away in the poor visibility and enter the Mediterranean Sea. HMS Childers had been sent with despatches and in company of a convoy to join Lord St Vincent at Gibraltar. On receipt of the news about the French, Lord St Vincent sent warnings to Rear-Admiral Sir John Duckworth off Minorca, Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson off Palermo and Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Smith off Alexandria. It later turned out that this fleet was intended as reinforcements for the French Toulon Fleet, which had been all but destroyed by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile back in 1797.


In the meantime, after checking Cadiz to make sure the Spanish were not preparing for sea, Lord Keith took his fleet to join Lord St. Vincent's at Gibraltar on 6th May, arriving on 10th. On 12th, Lord St. Vincent led the fleet to sea in his flagship, the mighty Chatham-built HMS Ville de Paris of 110 guns. He was accompanied by 15 other ships of the line, including HMS Northumberland. Heading for Minorca, the fleet was struck by a severe storm on 17th and 18th, but the ships weathered the storm without too much damage. The same storm, however struck the Spanish Cadiz fleet, which had taken the opportunity and escaped to sea. The Spanish having been bottled up in their base for two years suffered terribly in the storm, with eleven out of their seventeen ships of the line having lost at least one mast and four of their ships, including a giant 112 gun first rate ship being totally dismasted in the storm.


On 20th May, the ship dropped anchor at Port Mahon, Minorca and on 22nd, departed with the fleet towards the French naval base at Toulon. On 30th May, Lord St Vincent received intelligence that the French had left Toulon some three days earlier. At 2pm on 30th May, Captain Martin received orders from Lord St Vincent that he was to join the squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir John Duckworth, flying his command flag in HMS Leviathan. Duckworth's squadron had been ordered to Palermo to reinforce the squadron under Rear-Admiral Lord Nelson. Duckworth's force joined that of Nelson off Palermo on 1st June and on arrival, Nelson shifted his command flag from HMS Vanguard (74) to one of Duckworth's ships, HMS Foudroyant. On 13th June, Nelson put to sea with his fleet, which now comprised his flagship, HMS Foudroyant (80), HMS Northumberland, HMS Leviathan, HMS Zealous, HMS Minotaur, HMS Culloden, HMS Audacious, HMS Majestic, HMS Swiftsure, HMS Vanguard (all of 74 guns), the Portugese ships Alphonso, Principe-Real, San Sebastian (also all of 74 guns) and the ex-Dutch HMS Haarlem and HMS Lion, both of 64 guns. Nelson's force did not have any frigates, such was the shortage of frigates in the Royal Navy at the time. On 14th, the fleet was joined by the British 74 gun ships HMS Powerful and HMS Bellerophon. The fleet patrolled off Sicily looking for the French and the Spanish without success until August, when they put into Naples on 24th. From August 1799 until early 1800, HMS Northumberland's crew were engaged in operations ashore around Naples.


In 1798, the French had seized the islands of Malta, which had immediately been blockaded by an Anglo-Portugese squadron. British and Portugese troops had also landed on Malta and had driven the French into the fortress at Valetta. The French had managed to get supplies through to the besieged force of some 3,000 men in January and February 1799, but for the rest of that year, nothing had been able to get through the blockade and the miseries of starvation and disease were beginning to exact a toll on the French soldiers in the fortress. In November 1799, Nelson had invited the French General Vaubois to surrender, an invitation which was declined. In February 1800, the blockading force consisted of Nelson's flagship, HMS Foudroyant, plus HMS Northumberland, HMS Alexander (74), HMS Audacious and HMS Lion. They were joined in early February by the Commander-in-Chief himself, Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, who by now had taken over from Lord St Vincent. Lord Keith was flying his command flag in the 100 gun First Rate ship HMS Queen Charlotte.


On 15th February, Lord Keith received intelligence from the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Success that a small French squadron consisting of the 74 gun ship Genereux, the 28 gun frigate Badine and a number of corvettes plus cargo ships was going to attempt to resupply the French garrison. In response, Lord Keith stationed his flagship as close to the entrance to the harbour as he dared and sent Nelson with his squadron off in chase of the French. On 18th February, HMS Alexander sighted the French force and chased them towards Nelson's force, who intercepted them. HMS Alexander then captured the armed store ship Ville de Marseilles. Captain Shuldham Peard of HMS Success, in an almost insane act of courage, stationed his small frigate off the bow of the much larger and more powerful French ship of the line and engaged her, raking the Genereux through the bows before the Frenchman managed to expose her to a broadside. The French ship's broadside killed one man and wounded her sailing master and eight of her crew. By now however, the frigate's fire had slowed the Genereux enough to allow HMS Foudroyant and HMS Northumberland to catch up and at 16:30, the two British ships fired two broadsides each and the Genereux fired one back before striking her colours and surrendering. On boarding the Genereux, the British were to discover the reason for the lack of resistance from the French. Their commander, Rear-Admiral Perree, was one of those laying dead on the deck. He had been wounded by a splinter which had destroyed his left eye and after giving orders for manoeuvring the ship, had been struck by a round-shot which had taken his right leg off at the thigh. He had fallen to the deck unconscious and had rapidly bled to death. The French Admiral had been highly respected on both sides of the war and his death was enough to convince the crew of the Genereux to immediately surrender. The loss of the Genereux and her convoy was a severe blow to the French garrison, who by now were being forced to eat their horses and were being ravaged by Typhus. In desperation, General Vaubois sent his only ship of the line, the magnificent 80 gun two-decker Guillaume Tell on a mission to carry his dispatches to Napoleon, in which he pleaded that if the seige wasn't lifted by the end of June, he would have to surrender. By 30th May when the Guillaume Tell left Malta, Lord Keith had taken HMS Queen Charlotte to Leghorn (modern day Livorno) in Italy, where the ship was later destroyed in an accident and Nelson had left for Palermo. This left the blockading squadron under the command of Captain Thomas Troubridge in HMS Culloden. The Guillaume Tell was caught and captured in a running fight which had left the pursuing ships HMS Foudroyant and HMS Lion too badly damaged to take possession of her. This task was left to the 18pdr armed 36 gun frigate HMS Penelope.


By the beginning of August 1800, the situation for the French in Valetta was desperate. Captain Troubridge had issued further invitations for the French to surrender and the last one had indicated that a huge Russian force had arrived in Messina and was on it's way to overwhelm the French. All the birds which could be caught, every beast of burden, dog, cat, rabbit and rat in the fortress at Valetta had been eaten, the cisterns had all dried up and despite the French breaking up the frigate Boudeuse, all the firewood was also gone. French troops were dying from disease at a rate of over 100 a day. By 24th August, Captain Martin in HMS Northumberland had taken command of the blockading force and General Vaubois had decided that the moment of surrender had arrived. Before the surrender took place however, he had decided that he would try to save for the French Navy the two fine 40 gun frigates Justice and Diane which were trapped in Grand Harbour. He issued orders that the two frigates were to attempt to break the blockade and return to France. The two frigates departed Grand Harbour in the evening of 24th August and were immediately sighted and chased by HMS Success, the now HMS Genereux and HMS Northumberland. After a short fight with HMS Success, the Diane surrendered but the Justice escaped and made it back to Toulon. The Diane was a fine and powerful frigate of 1,142 tons and was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Niobe as there was already an HMS Diana in British service. On 3rd September 1800, General Vaubois held a council of war with his officers and they decided that surrender was the only option open to them. On 4th September an offer of surrender was sent under a flag of truce to Major-General Pigot commanding the allied forces ashore. The following day, General Vaubois and Rear-Admiral Villeneuve (as the senior French naval officer at Malta), Major-General Pigot and Captain Martin (as the senior British naval officer present) met and concluded the terms of surrender. Captain Alexander Ball of HMS Alexander, who had been running the civilian administration of Malta while Valetta was under seige was appointed to be the first British Governor of Malta. Under the terms of surrender, all remaining French ships in Grand Harbour were to be surrendered to the British. In the event, only one, the 64 gun ship of the line Athenien was in a seaworthy condition. The others were all broken up. Thus did Malta come into British hands.


On 8th January 1801, HMS Northumberland stood by ready to assist when HMS Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was laden with supplies for the beleagered French army which had been stranded in Egypt after the fleet which had transported them there had been destroyed by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile some three and a half years earlier. By now, the British had decided that this army should be destroyed and to that end, had assembled a large fleet of some 80 transport ships carrying an army 18,000 strong under the command of General Sir Ralph Abercromby and HMS Northumberland had received orders to join the force escorting this armada across the Mediterranean. On 31st January, the fleet anchored in the port of Marmorice in modern day Turkey, after stops in Minorca and Malta. The fleet was under the command of the Admiral Lord Keith himself, flying his command flag in HMS Foudroyant. In addition to HMS Foudroyant and HMS Northumberland, the force also comprised HMS Kent, HMS Ajax, HMS Minotaur, HMS Swiftsure and the ex-French HMS Tigre, all of 74 guns. On 2nd March, the fleet arrived in Aboukir Bay, in the Nile Delta and within sight of Alexandria and began to land the troops. Facing General Abercromby was a force of some 21,000 Frenchmen. The Egypt campaign was to last until early September and the fleet's sailors and Royal Marines were to play their role in supporting the army in it's eventual defeat of the French force occupying Egypt. General Abercromby himself died aboard HMS Foudroyant from wounds sustained in action on 28th March.


Following the success of the Egypt Campaign, HMS Northumberland returned to the UK and joined the Channel Fleet in 1803. In June 1803, Captain Martin was appointed to command the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Colussus. He was eventually to rise to the rank of Vice-Admiral and died in London on 28th July 1847. He was replaced in command of the ship by Captain Alexander Inglis Cochrane. He was the sixth (of seven) son of Thomas Cochrane, the Earl of Dundonald. On 7th April 1804, Cochrane was promoted to Rear-Admiral and chose HMS Northumberland to be his flagship, so his place as commander of the ship was taken by Captain George Tobin.


By June 1805, Rear-Admiral Cochrane had been appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the Barbados Station and the ship was stationed there when Nelson arrived with a fleet in his pursuit of Villeneuve. HMS Northumberland remained in the Carribbean when Nelson and his fleet departed for Europe once intelligence about Villeneuve's whereabouts was obtained. Villeneuve ran into a British fleet under Sir Robert Calder off Cape Finisterre, was defeated in the Third Battle of Cape Finisterre and fled into Ferrol. After making their way from Ferrol to Cadiz, Villeneuve was eventually defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805.


On 21st January 1806, HMS Northumberland was ordered to join a squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth which had arrived in the Caribbean after having abandoned their blockade of Cadiz, pursued and lost a French squadron which had broken out of Rochefort. Duckworth and his ships had arrived in order to resupply and head back across the Atlantic in order to resume their blockade of Cadiz. What Sir John Duckworth didn't know was that another French squadron, under Vice-Admiral Corentin Leissegues had broken out of Brest and was also headed for the Caribbean intending to conduct commerce-raiding operations. Fate intervened when HMS Kingfisher brought news that a squadron of French ships of the line had been sighted at San Domingo and that the French force consisted of the 120 gun ship of the line Imperial, plus four two-deckers, two frigates and a corvette. Duckworth immediately ordered his ships to sea and split his squadron into three divisions. The first division, led by Duckworth in his flagship, the Northfleet-built HMS Superb (74) also comprised HMS Northumberland, HMS Spencer (74) and HMS Agamemnon (64). The second division, led by Rear-Admiral Thomas Louis in HMS Canopus (80) also comprised HMS Atlas (74) and HMS Donegal (74). The third division, led by Captain Dunn in the 18pdr armed 40 gun frigate HMS Acasta also comprised the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Magicienne, the 16 gun ship-sloop HMS Kingfisher and the 16 gun ex-French brig-sloop HMS Epervier. This division was to take no part in the forthcoming battle, except to pick up men in the water and to tow badly damaged ships out of the battle. This was because of the unwritten rule that ships of the line do not fire on smaller warships like frigates and sloops unless first fired upon.


On receiving the news of the approaching British squadron, Leissegues ordered his ships to sea and formed a line of battle. The French line was led by the Alexandre (74), followed by Imperial (120), Diomede (74), Jupiter (74) and Brave (74). Duckworth was confident of victory; he outnumbered the French force 7 to 5. He was not concerned that the French flagship was an enormous three-decker of 120 guns, which in terms of the number of guns she carried, was worth almost two of the British ships of the line. At 06:00 on 6th February 1806, Duckworth led his ships into the attack. HMS Superb opened fire on Alexandre at 10:10. HMS Northumberland engaged the far larger and more powerful Imperial, supported by HMS Spencer which also engaged Diomede at the same time. At 10:25, the by now damaged Alexandre swung out of the line and attempted to pass between HMS Northumberland and HMS Spencer. HMS Spencer spotted the move and crossed the Alexandre's bow, raking her through it as she passed before coming up on Alexandre's opposite side and firing at point blank range into the French ship. Imperial was then able to engage HMS Superb and HMS Northumberland. Her far superior firepower was threatening to destroy both the smaller British ships, so in an almost insane act of courage, Captain Tobin of HMS Northumberland placed his ship between the Imperial and HMS Superb. Such was the close range that several shots from the Imperial's lower gundeck 36pdr guns passed through HMS Northumberland and hit HMS Superb anyway. All this left HMS Spencer and Alexandre locked in single combat until support was available from Rear-Admiral Louis' division, which caught up with Duckworth's division at 10:35. All three ships in Louis' division passed astern of the Alexandre and raked her, leaving her a dismasted ruin. After raking the Alexandre, HMS Canopus headed to engage the Imperial and support the flagship and HMS Northumberland. HMS Donegal headed off to engage Brave while HMS Atlas headed to engage Jupiter. HMS Spencer pulled away from the Alexandre at 11:00, which by then had caught fire, in order to follow HMS Canopus and engage the massive French flagship. By 11:10, the Alexandre's remaining crew had managed to put out the fire, but their ship was too badly damaged and too many of them were dead or wounded to be able to continue the fight, so she surrendered. HMS Donegal came up to the Brave, fired a broadside into her, then raked her through the stern before firing into the opposite side, forcing the Brave also to surrender. HMS Donegal then moved on to engage the Jupiter and ordered Captain Dunn in HMS Acasta to come up and take possession of the Brave. HMS Atlas was by now locked in combat with the Jupiter, but when HMS Donegal arrived to give support, HMS Atlas moved away to join in the fight against the Imperial. HMS Donegal then rammed the Jupiter's bow, locking both ships together, and fired into her from point blank range. Taking heavy casualties, the Jupiter also surrendered. On arriving alongside the Imperial, HMS Atlas fired two broadsides into her then crossed her stern, raking her through it before taking a broadside from the Diomede. After colliding with HMS Canopus and losing her bowsprit, HMS Atlas then engaged the Diomede at point blank range. By 11:30, Imperial had been severely damaged and had lost her main and mizzen masts. In order to escape capture, her captain ordered that the Imperial be driven ashore. By 11:40, the Imperial was hard aground, her bottom stoved in by the coral reef she had driven up on to. Diomede by this time was under attack by HMS Atlas and HMS Spencer and her captain decided to follow his admiral's example and run his ship ashore.


Because of their closeness to the shore, Duckworth ordered his ships to withdraw. The French frigates and the corvette had escaped, but apart from them, the French squadron had been utterly defeated. Imperial and Diomede were hard aground and had been abandoned by their surviving crews. Alexandre had been dismasted and was damaged beyond repair. Brave and Jupiter had surrendered. The French had suffered over 1,500 dead or wounded, the British had suffered 74 dead and 264 wounded across the whole squadron. The rout of the French squadron was complete.


In the Battle of San Domingo, HMS Northumberland suffered the heaviest casualties of all the British ships. Mr Midshipman David Ridgeway, 18 seamen and one Royal Marine and Rear-Admiral Cochrane's personal cook were killed. Lieutenant George Seymour, Midshipmen William Millard, Charles Selwyn and Jeremiah Lawrence, Rear-Admiral Cochrane's Secretary's Clerk, a Boatswain's Mate, 27 seamen and 12 Royal Marines were badly wounded. In addition to these men, Midshipmen Henry Stokes, Charles Comer and Phillip Peacock, another Secretary's Clark, a Quartermaster, two Boatswain's Mates, 20 seamen and six Royal Marines were slightly wounded. HMS Northumberland's main opponent in the battle was the largest of the French ships, the Imperial. Her enormous and well-directed firepower had badly damaged HMS Northumberland to the extent that she had lost her main mast. The mast when it fell, had fallen onto the boat booms and destroyed all the ships boats. Her other masts had been badly damaged and her sails and rigging had been cut to pieces to the extent that when the Imperial had moved away, the ship had been in no condition to pursue.


The Battle of San Domingo was the last time that the French and British navies fought each other in a major, set-piece naval action.


On 8th February, Vice-Admiral Duckworth ordered that men from the frigates HMS Acasta (40) and HMS Magicienne (32) board the Imperial and the Diomede, take off any survivors and destroy the enemy ships. This was achieved without opposition.


The Battle of San Domingo by Thomas Lyde Hornbrook





This painting shows HMS Acasta and HMS Magicienne (foreground) recovering their boats after setting fire to the Diomede and Imperial (hard aground in the background).





Although Duckworth's victory was widely celebrated, coming as it did only four months after the Battle of Trafalgar, his Commander-in-Chief was actually furious at him. Lord Collingwood, appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet after the death of Nelson and Duckworth's immediate superior at the time, felt that Duckworth had deserted his post on the blockade of Cadiz and in fact this action alone had forced Collingwood to detach ships from the already stretched Mediterranean Fleet to cover for him off Cadiz. Collingwood felt that Duckworth should have brought the French squadron under Willaumez to action and that having failed to do that, he should have returned immediately to his blockade station off Cadiz rather than swanning off to the Caribbean to resupply. If Duckworth hadn't brought the French to action at San Domingo or had achieved anything less than a convincing victory, he would almost certainly have been ordered by Collingwood to face a Court Martial. Collingwood instead displayed his anger by using his influence and ensuring that Duckworth only received what was officially due, ie. his share of the prize and head money for the French vessels destroyed and captured in the battle. Rear-Admiral Louis was made a Baronet and Rear-Admiral Cochrane was knighted. Many of the ships First Lieutenants were promoted, but other than his share of the prize money, Duckworth received nothing.


After the battle, Captain Tobin ordered that his men rig a jury main mast to enable the ship to return to her proper station at Barbados and the ship was accompanied on her way there by HMS Agamemnon (64). HMS Agamemnon had been ordered to accompany HMS Northumberland by Duckworth, should the larger ship require assistance.


In June 1806, Captain Tobin was appointed to command the ex-French 18pdr armed frigate HMS Princess Charlotte and his place in HMS Northumberland was taken by Mr Joseph Spear. Spear had previously been First Lieutenant in HMS Agamemnon and had been amongst the First Lieutenants awarded their own commands after the Battle of San Domingo. Spear was appointed to be Master and Commander in HMS Northumberland and held that position until his promotion to Captain was confirmed by the Admiralty. In the meantime, the French Rear-Admiral Willaumez, Duckworth's original quarry when he had abandoned his blockade of Cadiz, had been forced by a lack of supplies to abandon his activites in the South Atlantic and had decided to send his ships to Martinique to resupply. His original intention had been to refit and resupply his ships at Cape Town, a colony of French ally Holland, but this had fallen to the British. On 8th June 1806, the French 74 gun ship Veteran arrived at Martinique after having narrowly escaped an encounter with HMS Northumberland. HMS Northumberland had been patrolling off the north-eastern tip of Martinique because Rear-Admiral Cochrane had received intelligence that an enemy ship commanded by none other than Prince Jerome Bonaparte had been seen in that vicinity. On 14th, HMS Northumberland was joined by HMS Elephant (74), which had lost her fore topmast in a gale, and by HMS Canada (74). In the early hours of 15th June, whilst weathering a squall, HMS Northumberland's fore-topmast and fore-yard were carried away. The ship had to be towed to St Lucia by HMS Canada to make her repairs. Later that day, the French ships Eole (74) and Impetueux (74) also arrived at Martinique. On 20th, the French ship Foudroyant (80) made it into Port-Royal, Martinique, despite being chased by Sir Alexander Cochrane's ships. On 24th, the French 74 gun ships Cassard and Patriote were also chased into Port-Royal by Cochrane's ships and during this chase, HMS Northumberland once more suffered a mishap where her fore-yard carried away.


On 1st July, Willaumez and his force left Martinique and headed for Montserrat. Two of his ships appeared off the harbour and took three British merchant vessels which were there. In the meantime, a UK-bound convoy of 65 vessels left St Kitts under the protection of the 9pdr armed 28 gun frigate HMS Carysfort and the armed store ship HMS Dolphin and managed to make off without being seen by the French. A further 9 vessels which had missed the convoy were chased into the harbour at St Kitts where the shore batteries drove off the four French ships of the line chasing them. The French squadron re-formed off Montserrat on 4th July and headed off to Tortola, where they hoped to intercept the British convoy. Also on 4th July, Sir Alexander Cochrane had received intelligence about Willaumez' force, their strength and intentions and had set off in pursuit. Cochrane's squadron by now comprised HMS Northumberland (flagship), HMS Elephant and HMS Canada, all of 74 guns, HMS Agamemnon of 64 guns, the 18pdr armed 38 gun frigate HMS Ethalion, the 18pdr armed 36 gun frigate HMS Galatea, the ex-French 12pdr armed 36 gun frigate HMS Seine and the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Circe. Sighting the French force immediately, the British gave chase and the French ran through the channel between the islands of St Thomas and Passage Island. At 2pm, being satisfied that he had driven the enemy away, Cochrane ordered his ships to steer for Drake's Bay, Tortola, where they anchored on the morning of the 8th July. By this time, the convoy had grown to a total of 280 ships.


Rear-Admiral Willaumez eventually returned to France and by August 1807, HMS Northumberland had also returned home. Recommissioning into the Channel Fleet at Portsmouth after a short refit, to be engaged on blockade duty off the French Atlantic ports of Brest, Lorient, Rochefort etc. HMS Northumberland now came under the command of Captain George Losack. Cochrane had remained in the Caribbean, having transferred his command flag to the ex-French 74 gun ship HMS Belle Isle. Losack's previous command had been the 98 gun second rate ship HMS Prince George. Losack remained in command until he was promoted to Rear-Admiral in February 1808, and was replaced by Captain William Hargood. He was in command until 1810, when he too was promoted and he was replaced by Captain the Honourable Henry Hotham. Captain Hotham was an experienced and distinguished commander who had held six previous commands and had proved himself in action numerous times. On 22nd November 1810, HMS Northumberland captured the French privateer Glaneuse.


On 9th March 1812, HMS Northumberland was part of a force commanded by Captain Sir John Gore in the ex-French 80 gun ship HMS Tonnant, blockading Lorient. In addition to HMS Tonnant and HMS Northumberland, the force also comprised the 74 gun ships HMS Colossus and HMS Bulwark. In the afternoon of the 9th, Captain Gore decided to take a look into Lorient and closed with the shore. To his horror, he found that the French force, comprised of five ships of the line had escaped. Regaining contact with the rest of his squadron the following day, they set off in search of the enemy but didn't find them.


On 9th January 1812, a French force, comprising the 40 gun frigates Arienne and Andromaque, together with the brig-corvette Mamelouck of 16 guns, under Commodore Martin le Foretier, had left Nantes on a cruise. Their intention was to disrupt British shipping in the English Channel and Western Approaches. At noon on 15th, the French force was spotted and chased by the British 24pdr armed 40 gun Heavy Frigate HMS Endymion. The large British frigate was joined by the 50 gun Fourth Rate ship of the line HMS Leopard, which had been escorting the home-bound Lisbon convoy. By 5pm, HMS Endymion had left HMS Leopard behind and by 8pm, the French had escaped. Over the course of the next four months, the three French vessels destroyed and plundered any merchant vessel unfortunate enough to encounter them. This included vessels from Spain (which by then had changed sides in the war - again), Portugal and the USA, which was on the brink of war with Britain. Such was the impact the three French vessels were having that the Commander-in-Chief Channel Fleet, Admiral the Lord Keith was instructed by the Admiralty to do something about it. Knowing that French ships were not designed to spend long periods at sea and that having been at sea for 4 months they would have to return home soon, Lord Keith ordered Rear-Admiral Sir Harry Neale, commanding the blockading forces off the French Atlantic Coast, to intercept and destroy the French force. Rear-Admiral Neale, in turn, ordered Captain Hotham to cruise off Lorient and await the return of the three French vessels. On 19th May, HMS Northumberland, in company with the gun-brig HMS Growler of 12 guns parted company from the blockading squadron off Ushant and headed for Lorient. At 10am on 22nd May, the three French vessels were spotted under all sail off Ile Groix and Captain Hotham ordered HMS Growler to chase them while he sailed his ship around the island to cut off their approach to Lorient. Realising that his original direct approach had been cut off, the French Commodore intended to cut between HMS Northumberland and the rocky shore, under the protection of shore batteries and attempt to reach his destination that way. Considering it unsafe to stand his ship that close to the shore given her size, Captain Hotham followed a parallel course to the French and engaged them with broadside fire from a range of about 400 yards. Hotham and his Sailing Master, Mr Hugh Stewart hatched a daring plan where they would sail the ship as close as they dared to the Graul Rock, knowing that the French would have to sail between it and their ship and be destroyed by their massive broadsides and that there was insufficient depth of water to allow them to pass between the rock and the mainland. This was made more difficult by the fact that the clouds of gunpowder smoke were obscuring the rock from sight. Receiving fire from shore batteries and from the powerful French frigates, HMS Northumberland passed within 200 feet of the rock and the French, as expected, tried to pass inside, between the rock and the mainland. At 3.45pm, the two frigates ran aground and at 3.50, the brig followed. With her sails and rigging damaged, HMS Northumberland retired out of range, leaving the three French vessels stranded by the falling tide and made repairs to her sails and rigging.


The initial engagement in the Action off Lorient 22nd May 1812 by Thomas Whitcombe:





At 4.22pm, HMS Northumberland returned to the scene, where the three French vessels were now hard aground and heeling over. At 4.48, the Mamelouck cut away her mainmast in an attempt to lighten the vessel and try to escape. At 5pm, HMS Growler arrived on the scene and being much smaller, closed the range and opened fire with her 18pdr carronades. At 5.23, the Arienne's mainmast was shot away by HMS Growler's fire. At 5.28, HMS Northumberland anchored in six and a half fathoms (or 39 feet) of water and at 5.34, opened fire on the three French vessels with her starboard broadside. Captain Hotham had chosen his position well. His ship was out of range of all but one of the shore batteries and the enemy vessels were helpless. At 5.55, the Andromaque caught fire and five minutes later, her fore-topmast fell and her crew were seen to abandon ship in the boats. By now, the flames were spreading fast and at 6.45, the Andromaque's main and mizzen masts fell. At 6.49, the tide was fully out, the Andromaque was completely engulfed in flames and the other ships' bottoms were so badly damaged that they would fill with water when the tide came in. Captain Hotham decided that the time had come to leave the scene, so HMS Northumberland got under way and moved out of range of the one shore battery which could fire on her. All the time this had been going on, the ship had been coming under fire from the one shore battery and this had actually done some damage and caused casualties aboard her. Four of her seamen and one of her Royal Marines had been killed and Lieutenant William Fletcher, three Petty Officers, 19 seamen and five Royal Marines had been wounded.


When HMS Northumberland ceased fire, HMS Growler closed the range again and opened fire in order to prevent the French crews from returning to their vessels. At 8pm, the Andromaque blew up and was totally destroyed. At 10pm, the Arienne was seen to be on fire and by 11.30 was engulfed in flames. Mamelouck by this time was lying on her side and was also on fire. At 2.30 am the following day, Arienne blew up and later that day, the Mamelouck was also destroyed by an explosion.


The Action off Lorient 22nd May 1812. The scene at about 6.45pm. HMS Northumberland (right of centre) continues to fire while Andromaque burns. HMS Growler (far left) stands by:





In 1813, the ship was in dire need of a major refit so in September, she entered the Royal Dockyard at Chatham. The work continued until April 1815 and was completed at a cost of £54,178. HMS Northumberland fitted for sea and recommissioned in May 1815 under Captain Charles Ross.


In the meantime, the Napoleonic War had been ended by the Treaty of Fontainebleu, signed on 11th April 1814. Under that treaty, the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte was to be exiled to the Isle of Elba, in the Mediterranean Sea. He escaped from there on 26th February 1815 and very soon afterwards, the period known as the "Hundred Days" began. It ended with Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on 18th June 1815 and he surrendered himself to Captain Frederick Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon (74) on 15th July 1815. HMS Bellerophon immediately transported the former Emperor firstly to Torbay and then to Plymouth, where they arrived on 26th.


The British had by now decided to exile Bonaparte to the island of St Helena, in mid-Atlantic, confident that he would not be able to escape from there. It was decided that HMS Bellerophon was too old and in too poor a condition to transport such an important person as the former Emperor of France to exile and that it HMS Northumberland should get the job. On 1st August 1815, HMS Northumberland embarked the troops required to guard the former Emperor at Portsmouth. On 7th August 1815, Napoleon was transferred from HMS Bellerophon to HMS Northumberland and on 8th, the ship sailed for St. Helena.


Napoleon (standing in the boat) is transferred from HMS Bellerophon (background) to HMS Northumberland (foreground):





A handbill celebrating Napoleon's departure into exile aboard HMS Northumberland:





On 16th October 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte disembarked from HMS Northumberland at St Helena and passed into exile. He died in exile on 5th May 1821.


With the wars over, HMS Northumberland settled into the routine of a ship of the line inn peacetime. On 23rd September 1820, this ship was visited at Sheerness by tribal chiefs from New Zealand and was recorded as being in commission at Sheerness in November 1821.


In September 1826, HMS Northumberland was decommissioned and was converted to a Lazaretto Hulk at Sheerness. The ship took up her new role at Stangate Creek on the River Medway in February 1827. Lazarettes or Lazaretto Hulks were principally used for the airing of cargoes of cotton coming from the Levant or the eastern Mediterranean. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Government was concerned with preventing the entry of plague and other diseases into the UK. Ships leaving the Mediterranean were inspected before departure and were given a clean or foul bill of health. If they had a foul bill, they were required to perform quarantine on arrival in the UK. The main quarantine station was at Stangate Creek.


Plan of HMS Triumph (74) for her conversion to a Lazaretto Hulk. HMS Northumberland would have looked very similar.





HMS Northumberland remained in this role until July 1850, when she was towed to Deptford and was broken up.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.