HMS Maidstone was a fir-built, 5th Rate, 12pdr armed, 32 gun frigate and was the lead vessel of a pair of frigates both built by the Royal Dockyard at Deptford, which at the time was in the County of Kent.
The two frigates of the Maidstone Class were themselves a sub-group of the Alcmene Class of oak-built 18pdr armed 32 gun frigates. Designed by Sir John Henslow, Co-Surveyor of the Navy, they were externally identical to the Alcmene Class, also designed by him and other than carrying smaller guns, they differed from the oak-built ships in that they were fitted with additional frame members because they were built from softer, lighter and less durable timber.
Fir-built ships were in effect emergency, disposable ships, intended to be built quickly and in large numbers and then disposed of as soon as the war was over. This was because fir is much cheaper and easier to work than oak or teak. In that way, their concept was very similar to the emergency-built ships of WW2, which were also not expected to last long.
HMS Maidstone was ordered by the Navy Board from the Royal Dockyard at Deptford on 4th February 1795. Her first keel section was laid the following month and she was launched, her hull complete, with all due ceremony into the River Thames on 12th December the same year.
She commissioned under Captain John Mathews while fitting out in January of 1796 and was declared complete at Deptford on 12th February 1796. On completion, HMS Maidstone was a ship of 803 tons, she was 135ft 1in long on the gundeck and 112ft 4in long at the keel. She was 36ft 8in wide across the beams, drew 8ft 1in of water at the bow and 12ft 7in at the rudder. Her hold, between the orlop and her bottom was 12ft 5in deep. The ship was armed with 26 12pdr long guns on the gundeck, 4 6pdr long guns and 4 24pdr carronades on the quarterdeck with 2 6pdr long guns and 2 24pdr carronades on the forecastle. She was also fitted with swivel guns along her quarterdeck and forecastle handrails and in her fighting tops. She was manned by a crew of 240 officers, men, boys and Royal Marines.
Alcmene Class Plans with alterations for the Maidstone Class in redOrlop Plan:
Lower or Berth Deck Plan:
Upper or Gundeck Plan:
Forecastle and Quarterdeck Plans:
Framing Plan:
Inboard Profile and Plan:
Sheer Plan and Lines:
Plan showing additional reinforcement for the lower frames:
Once Captain Mathews had assembed his officers and crew, the ship sailed for the West Indies and was engaged in shutting down Spanish trade in the region, hunting down Spanish and French privateers and escorting convoys.
On 12th June 1797, Captain Mathews wrote to Evan Nepean Esq, Secretary to the Board of Admiralty, thus:
Dated Carlisle Bay, Barbados, the 28th June 1797
I beg leave to acquaint you, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that I arrived in this Bay on 26th instant after a long and tedious passage of 53 days from Princes, with all the convoy under my charge, and a privateer brig of 12 guns and 104 men, called the Flibustier, commanded by Antoine Fluet, with a National Commission signed by Victor Hugue, which vessel I captured on 24th instant, about ninety leagues to the windward of Barbadoes. Another privateer hovered upon the rear of the convoy the night before my arrival, but we lost sight of her almost as soon as discovered. The vessel is English-built, sails remarkably well and has very much annoyed the trade to Barbadoes; the capture of her therefore has given me a very sensible pleasure and afforded much satisfaction to the merchants.Less than a year later, on 21st March 1798, Captain Mathews died, but before he died, his ship captured the Spanish ship San Phillip and Jan Jago (possibly San Felipe y Santiago), for which prize money of about £10,000 was distributed amongst the ships crew on her arrival in Portsmouth in April 1798. Captain Mathews was replaced in command of HMS Maidstone by Captain Ross Donnelly. On her return to the UK, a new face joined her Midshipmens Berth. He was The Honourable Henry Duncan, aged 14, the son of the famous Admiral Sir Adam, the Lord Duncan of Camperdown.
By 1799, HMS Maidstone was part of the Channel Fleet and at some point in early 1799, the ship was part of a squadron commanded by Captain the Honourable Arthur K Legge in the 18pdr armed 38 gun frigate HMS Latona and which also included the 64 gun third rate ship of the line HNS York, the squadron captured the Danish ship Rascheiden for which prize money of £12,000 was divided amongst the squadron.
Captain Donnelly remained in command until 1st November 1801, when he was appointed to command the 18pdr-armed 32 gun frigate HMS Narcissus and was replaced by Captain Richard Hussey Moubray. He took the young Mr Midshipman Duncan with him. The ship remained in the Channel Fleet, patrolling off Cherbourg until 2nd April 1802, when she was sent to the Mediterranean.
In May of 1803, Vice-Admiral Sir Horatio, the Viscount Nelson arrived in the Mediterranean to take over as Commander-in-Chief in the theatre and it fell to HMS Maidstone to provide Nelson with his first success in his new post.
A letter from Nelson to Evan Nepean:
Amphion, At Sea, 17th of June 1803
Sir,
I herewith transmit to you, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, copy of a letter from Captain Mowbray, of His Majesty's Ship Maidstone, which was delivered to me by the Lieutenant sent in with the vessel therein mentioned, on the morning of 17th instant, as the Amphion was getting under weigh from Malta.
I am &c
NELSON & BRONTELetter from Captain Moubray to Lord Nelson
His Majesty's Ship Maidstone, June 14 1803, Fourteen leagues west from Isle Faro
My Lord,
I do myself the honour to inform you that His Majesty's ship under my command, fell in with and captured at six this morning, a brig, in the service of the French Republic, called L'Arab, carrying eight four-pounders and 58 men, commanded by Captain Mathurin Theodore Artulam: She was on her return to L'Orient from Athens.
I have the honour to be &c
R H Mowbray.In January 1804, Captain Mowbray was appointed to command the large, 18pdr-armed 38 gun frigate HMS Active and was replaced in command by Captain George Elliot.
Captain Donnelly assumed command of a small squadron of frigates , which in addition to HMS Narcissus and HMS Maidstone also included the 18pdr-armed 38 gun frigate HMS Seahorse. On 11th JUly 1804, Captain Donnelly ordered a raid on a convoy of 12 settees, mostly with cargoes, laying in the harbour at La Vandour. The raid was to be commanded by Mr John Thompson, First Lieutenant in HMS Narcissus, assisted by Lieutenants Hyde Parker, also from HMS Narcissus, Lieutenant John Lumley from HMS Seahorse and Lieutenant Ogle Moore of HMS Maidstone. The settees were moored fore and aft and also secured to the beach, from where they were also covered by a battery of three guns. Lieutenant Thompson had under his orders three boats from HMS Narcissus, three from HMS Seahorse and four from HMS Maidstone. The force departed HMS Narcissus at about 22:00 and arrived in the harbour at La Vandour at about midnight and upon being seen, came under a heavy fire from musketry from the settees, the houses in the town as well as grapeshot from the guns. Despite this, they quickly boarded and set fire to most of the settees and brought one off. British casualties were relatively heavy, with Mr Midshipman Thomas Roche, a Royal Marine and two seamen killed. In addition to the dead, Mr Lumley, Mr Midshipman Thomas Bedingfield, Thomas Watt and John Victor, Masters Mate Mr Robert Mansell, 15 seamen and three Royal Marines wounded. Lieutenant Lumley was particularly badly wounded, such that on returning to HMS Seahorse, the surgeon amputated his right arm at the shoulder, including the removal of some of his shoulder blade which had been shattered.After this, HMS Maidstone returned to the UK and was paid off into the Chatham Ordinary in December 1805. The ship was ten years old and was worn out, not suprising for a large, fir-built ship. In August 1810, the ship was taken into the Royal Dockyard and was broken up.
