HMS Neptune was a 98 gun, 2nd rate ship of the line built by the Royal Dockyard at Deptford. She was the lead ship of a class of 3 identical ships which included the Chatham-built HMS Temeraire, better known now as "The Fighting Temeraire". The class was originally going to be called the Dreadnought Class. HMS Dreadnought had actually been ordered first, from the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth. That ship wasn't delivered until 1801, after having spent no less than 17 years on the stocks. Because HMS Neptune was delivered first, the class became known as the Neptune Class.
HMS Neptune was ordered from the Royal Dockyard at Deptford on 15th February 1790. Because of the vast amounts of timber required for the construction of such a large ship and the need to season and cut it, her keel wasn't laid until April the following year. Once her frames were assembled and fixed in place, they were left in place for a year to settle before her hull planking and decks were installed. All of this meant that HMS Neptune wasn't launched until Saturday 28th January 1797, almost seven years after she was first ordered.
Her construction was supervised firstly by Martin Ware, Master Shipwright at Deptford, then by Thomas Pollard who succeeded Ware in the role. After her launch, HMS Neptune was taken to the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich where she was fitted out.
On completion, HMS Neptune was a huge ship for the day. She was a ship of 2,119 tons and was 184ft 9in long on her upper gundeck and 51ft 2in wide across her beam. When first completed, HMS Neptune was armed with 28 x 32pdr long guns on her lower gundeck, 30 x 18pdr long guns on her middle gundeck with 30 more on her upper gundeck. She was armed with 8 x 12pdr guns on her quarterdeck with two more on her forecastle. She was manned by a crew of 738 officers, men, boys and marines.
On 12th February 1797 HMS Neptune was declared complete at Woolwich. By this time, she had cost £77,053, or roughly £1,387,000 in todays money.
Neptune class plansOrlop Plan:
Lower Gundeck Plan:
Middle Gundeck Plan:
Upper Gundeck Plan:
Forecastle and Quarterdeck Plan:
Inboard profile and Plan:
Sheer Plan and Lines:
A model of HMS Temeraire built by Stephens and Kenau in South Africa for a movie company in New Zealand. The model is actually about 12 feet long. HMS Neptune was identical apart from decorations and figurehead.
HMS Neptune commissioned in April 1797 under Captain Sir Henry Edwin Stanhope. By the time the ship had been stored, taken on her crew and was in all respects ready for sea, the Great Mutiny at the Nore had broken out. After sailing from Woolwich, the ship got no further downstream than Gravesend, where she was held for fear of her crew joining the mutiny. The Great Mutiny at the Nore had broken out on HMS Sandwich (90) and was led by Richard Parker, who had been elected as President of the Delegates of the Fleet. Parker had served in the Royal Navy as a Masters Mate and had spent time as an Acting Lieutenant before being Court Martialled for an act of insubordination and disrated in 1793. He was subsequently discharged in 1794. In 1797, he had been imprisoned in Edinburgh for debt but had accepted a quota of £20 and had re-enlisted in the Royal Navy as a seaman. Such was his despair at the situation he had found himself in that he attempted suicide on the voyage from Edinburgh to Sheerness by throwing himself overboard, but was prevented from doing so. On arrival at Sheerness, he was assigned to HMS Sandwich, which in terms of the state of the ship and the conditions aboard, was widely regarded as being one of the worst ships for a sailor to serve on in the fleet. Parker had no part in the initial organisation of the Mutiny, but due to his experience and obvious intelligence and education, found himself in charge of the striking sailors.
Unlike the Great Mutiny at Spithead, which was resolved peacefully by Lord Howe, the Mutiny at the Nore took on an altogether more militant form, with the sailors demands expanding to the dissolution of Parliament and an immediate peace with the French. What had started as a strike over pay and conditions had expanded into the beginnings of a revolution, something which the Government was not prepared to tolerate. Plans were laid to end the Great Mutiny at the Nore by force. HMS Neptune, in company with HMS Lancaster (64) and HMS Agincourt (64), together with a fleet of gunboats were to proceed downstream from Gravesend and attack the mutinous ships at the Nore. This would have led to the awful spectacle of the Royal Navy at war with itself. Thankfully, news reached Gravesend that the mutineers had entered negotiations with Captain William Carnegie, the Earl of Northesk who commanded HMS Monmouth (64). In fact, the negotiations had entailed the mutineers presenting Lord Northesk with a list of their demands and an ultimatum that unless their demands were met within 54 hours, steps would be taken by the fleet which would "
astonish the nation". The increasingly militant nature of the mutiny had led to several ships deserting the Nore. This in turn had led to increasing tensions between the leaders of the Mutiny and several of them, realising that it was not going to end well, fled abroad. The authorities placed a reward of £500 on Parker's head, having realised that the Mutiny was falling apart and suspecting that he would attempt to flee.
The Great Mutiny at the Nore effectively ended on 9th June when the deadline expired without a response from the Government. When Parker attempted to carry out his threat by hoising a signal that the fleet should weigh anchor and sail to join the French and Dutch at Texel, none of the remaining ships obeyed the signal. Parker was arrested on 13th June 1797. His trial by Court Martial took place aboard HMS Neptune at the Nore between 22nd and 26th June. He was found guilty of treason, mutiny and piracy and was sentenced to death. Richard Parker was taken back to HMS Sandwich and was hanged from the fore-yard of that ship, being run up to the yard by his former shipmates, on 30th June 1797.
HMS Neptune then sailed to join the Channel Fleet, which was under the overall command of Admiral Alexander Hood, the Viscount Bridport, who was flying his command flag in the giant Chatham-built first rate ship of the line HMS Royal George (100).
In August 1797, Captain Stanhope was replaced in command by Captain Sir Erasmus Gower. Stanhope had been appointed to command the ex-Spanish HMS San Damaso (74). Gower's previous appointment had been as captain of the 32 gun frigate HMS Active.
HMS Neptune's time with the Channel Fleet was uneventful and involved patrolling the English Channel, escorting convoys and blockading the French Atlantic Fleet in their harbours. On 20th January 1799, while moving from Spithead to the anchorage off St Helens, Isle of Wight, HMS Triumph (74) got into difficulties when she missed her stays. This means that while going about (manoeuvring to change tack by passing the bow through the eye of the wind), she didn't have enough momentum to complete the manoeuvre and ended up drifting downwind, out of control. Whilst adrift in stays, HMS Triumph ran foul of HMS Neptune which was anchored at the time. HMS Triumph came off worse in the encounter and sustained damage as a result. In addition, whilst out of control, she went aground on the Hawse Bank. She was floated off the following day.
In March 1799, Captain Gower was promoted to Rear-Admiral. Command of the ship passed to Captain James Vashon on 5th March. On 8th June 1799, Lord Bridport dispatched sixteen ships of the line and four frigates to the Mediterranean to join a force commanded by Vice-Admiral George Elphinstone, the Viscount Keith. The squadron was commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Cotton and the ships met up with Lord Keith's force off Minorca, bringing the strength of the British Mediterranean Fleet to 31 ships of the line. Lord Keith was under orders to intercept and bring to action a Franco-Spanish force of 42 ships of the line under the joint command of Admirals Etienne Bruix and Jose Mazarredo. Lord Keith's expanded force set out from Minorca on 10th July, but in the end the enemy force successfully evaded Lord Keith and put into Brest on 9th August 1799.
On 7th December 1799, HMS Neptune arrived back at Plymouth in company with HMS Russell (74), HMS Ruby (64) and the cutters HMS Swan and HMS Joseph. The ship rejoined the Channel Fleet from this point.
In May 1800, HMS Neptune exchanged 4 of her quarterdeck 12pdr long guns for 24pdr carronades and had a further 2 such carronades fitted to her forecastle. Captain Vashon was replaced in command by Captain Edward Brace on 26th March 1801. In April 1801, HMS Neptune became flagship to Vice-Admiral James Gambier. Captain Brace only remained in command until 29th August when command passed to Captain Francis Austen, the brother of Jane Austen, the author.
In March 1802, the Treaty of Amiens was signed and the French Revolutionary War ended. On 29th April 1802, HMS Neptune paid off at Portsmouth. She immediately went into the Royal Dockyard for a refit. She recommissioned on 30th September 1802 under Captain William Drury, into the Channel Fleet. The peace lasted until May 1803. Drury remained in command until May 1804 when he was promoted to Rear-Admiral. He was replaced by Captain Sir Thomas Williams. The ship was assigned to blockade duty off the French atlantic coastline. Williams' health took a turn for the worse to the point where in May 1805, he was unable to continue in command of the ship and was sent home to the UK to recover. His place in command of HMS Neptune was taken by Captain Thomas Fremantle. Britain was at this time in the grip of an invasion scare and with good reason. Napoleon Bonaparte commanded an army which was encamped around Boulogne preparing for the planned invasion and Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had broken out with a fleet of powerful French ships-of-the-line. Villeneuve had been pursued across the Atlantic, around the Caribbean and back by a force under the command of Vice-Admiral Horatio, the Lord Nelson. Villeneuve's original plan to put into Brest and join up with the fleet there had been thwarted by his defeat at the Battle of Cape Finisterre by Sir Robert Calder. Instead, Villenueve had put into Ferrol. Calder, realising that his force would not be strong enough to contain Villeneuve should he decide to break out of Ferrol, headed north to join up with Admiral William Cornwallis' fleet blockading Brest. There he was reinforced by a force of 18 ships of the line including HMS Neptune and sent back to Ferrol. On arriving back at Ferrol, he found that Villeneuve had escaped and had gone to Cadiz and joined up with the Spanish fleet there. Calder's force was ordered to join up with a fleet under Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, who had the combined French and Spanish fleet bottled up in Cadiz.
In the meantime, Lord Nelson had been ordered to hand-pick a fleet and join Collingwood off Cadiz and take overall command of the force. Once his fleet was assembled, Nelson spent the next few weeks preparing to meet the Combined Fleet. He quickly formulated a battle plan whereby the British fleet would be split in two, with one column led by Nelson in HMS Victory and the other by Collingwood in HMS Royal Sovereign. The plan was that the most powerful ships in the fleet would head up the colums. There are very good reasons for this. Firstly, all the captains knew that the lead ships would be the most exposed to fire from the enemy and the biggest ships were better placed to absorb the punishment. Secondly, the initial contact had to be so devastating to the enemy as to demoralise them and the giant three-decked first and second rate ships could best achieve this.
HMS Neptune was assigned a place in Nelson's Weather Column, in third place between her sister-ship HMS Temeraire and HMS Leviathan (74). Nelson was advised to command the action from the frigate HMS Euryalus as this would be safer than being exposed to the full force of the enemy's fire during the long, drawn-out approach. Nelson refused, insisting on leading his ships and men into action personally.
On 19th October 1805, the Combined Fleet put to sea and was spotted by the British two days later, on the 21st. Prior to going into action, Captain Fremantle had written in his personal log, complaining about HMS Neptune's lack of speed. The ship had a reputation as a slow sailer. He wrote that he didn't like
"being in a large ship that don't sail and must continually be late into the action".
On the day of the Battle of Trafalgar, Mr Midshipman William Baddock wrote in his personal journal that
"the old Neptune, which never was a good sailer, took it into her head to sail better than I ever remember to have seen her do before". Captain Fremantle ordered that the ship's studding sails be set in order to make sure she didn't get left behind, but by 10am, was threatening to overtake HMS Victory. Such was the rate at which the supposedly slow HMS Neptune was catching up to HMS Victory that Nelson ordered a signal to be hoisted
"Neptune, take in your studding sails and drop astern, I shall break the line myself".
The fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar, 21st October 1805. British ships are in red, French in blue and Spanish in black.
HMS Neptune endured the long, drawn out approach to the enemy line with her band playing. Captain Fremantle ordered everyone on deck except the officers and the Marine band to lay down to protect them from the hail of incoming fire. At 13:45, HMS Neptune passed the stern of the French flagship Bucentaure, firing a double-shotted broadside in through the enemy ship's exposed and vulnerable gundecks from a mere 30 yards. This caused carnage on the enemy's open gundecks and brought down the French ship's main and mizzen masts. Having raked the Bucentaure, HMS Neptune next found herself under the stern of the gigantic Spanish ship Santissima Trinidad. This ship was at the time, the largest and most powerful ship in the world, mounting no fewer than 140 guns on four gundecks. HMS Neptune again fired a full broadside, this time through the Santissima Trinidad's stern. This turned the giant Spaniard's gundecks into a slaughter-house and brought down her main and mizzen masts.
HMS Neptune (centre) engages Santissima Trinidad (left of centre)
HMS Neptune then came alongside the Santissima Trinidad on her leeward (or downwind) side. HMS Leviathan (74) which had followed HMS Neptune through the enemy line came up astern of the Spanish giant and also fired a broadside in through the Spaniard's by now totally smashed stern. At the same time, HMS Conqueror (74) stationed herself on the Santissima Trinidad's windward side and opened fire from some distance, wary of the giant Spaniard's potentially overwhelming broadside. At 14:30, the Santissima Trinidad's foremast fell, leaving the pride of the Spanish navy a dismasted, broken and helpless floating wreck. HMS Neptune then found herself being fired upon by the Combined Fleet's vanguard, which had recovered from being cut off and isolated by the British attack, had turned around and was heading back into the melee. Santissima Trinidad eventually surrendered to HMS Prince (98) at 17:30. Totally wrecked and having suffered casualties of 205 dead and 103 wounded, Santissima Trinidad was tragically to founder in the storm which followed the battle.
In the Battle of Trafalgar, HMS Neptune suffered 10 dead. Her Captain's Clerk, 30 seamen and three marines were wounded. The ship had suffered nine shot holes around her waterline and had sustained damage aloft, though all her masts were still standing and her yards were intact.
Nelson had been killed in action aboard his flagship, HMS Victory during the battle and Collingwood had taken command of the British Fleet. His flagship, HMS Royal Sovereign (100) had been badly damaged in the battle, so he transferred his command flag to the undamaged frigate HMS Euryalus (36). HMS Neptune took the damaged HMS Royal Sovereign in tow on 22nd October. On 23rd, she cast off the tow as Franco-Spanish forces which had escaped into Cadiz looked as though they were going to come out. In the end, they didn't. The weather by now was beginning to deteriorate, so HMS Neptune sent her boats to assist in the evacuation of the Santissima Trinidad, which was beginning to sink in the rising seas. After riding out the storm, HMS Neptune took the badly damaged HMS Victory in tow on 26th October and towed her into Gibraltar, arriving on 28th.
HMS Neptune (background) tows the crippled HMS Victory (foreground) into Gibraltar.
After arrival at Gibraltar, HMS Neptune was given some running repairs before departing for England, arriving at Portsmouth on 6th December 1805, when she was paid off. The ship was moved to the anchorage at Spithead where she remained moored until 24th March 1807 when she was dry-docked at Portsmouth. Whilst in dry-dock, her hull was re-coppered and refitted. On 18th August 1807, the ship recommissioned under Captain Sir Thomas Williams, her previous commander who had now recovered his health and was fit to return to duty. On recommissioning, she was again assigned to the Channel Fleet. She remained with the Channel Fleet until the following year when she received orders to sail to the Leeward Islands. The ship departed Portsmouth on 23rd September 1808.
On 9th November 1808, Captain Williams was replaced in command by Captain Thomas Pinto, who was replaced himself on 20th December by Captain Charles Dilkes. Plans were being laid to take the French colony of Martinique. The British were planning to exploit the total dominance of the worlds oceans earned by the string of major naval victories they had won since the start of post-revolution wars against the French in 1793. The plan for Martinique involved an amphibious operation commanded by Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, who had chosen to fly his command flag in HMS Neptune. The invasion force was comprised of 44 ships and 10,000 soldiers under the command of Lieutenant General George Beckwith. In addition to HMS Neptune, Rear-Admiral Cochrane's force also comprised HMS Pompee (80), HMS Belle Isle (74), HMS York (74), HMS Captain (74), HMS Intrepid (64). In addition to these ships of the line, there was the 44-gun two-decker HMS Ulysses, the frigates HMS Acasta (40), HMS Ethalion (38), HMS Penelope (36), HMS Pique (36), HMS Cleopatra (32), HMS Circe (32) and HMS Eurydice (24). There were also the ship-sloops HMS Surinam (18), HMS Cherub (18), HMS Hazard (16), HMS Star (16), HMS Stork (16), the brig-sloops HMS Demerara (18), HMS Wolverine (16), HMS Amaranthe (16), HMS Fawn (16), the cutter HMS Liberty (14), the gun-brigs HMS Haughty (12) and HMS Swinger (12) and the armed schooners HMS Port d'Espangne (14), HMS Superieure (14), HMS Eclair (12), HMS Bacchus (10) and HMS Express (6).
This force departed Barbados on 28th January 1809 and arrived off Martinique two days later. The colony was defended by about 2,400 regular troops and 2,500 militia. The defences were commanded by the French Vice-Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, the same officer who commanded the French fleet defeated by Lord Howe at the Battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794. The various shore batteries had a total of 280 guns. In the harbour at Fort Royal lay the large frigate Amphitrite (40) which had arrived from Cherbourg. In addition to this, the corvette Diligente (18) lay off St. Pierre and at Marin Bay lay the ex-HMS Carnation (18), taken on 3rd October 1808.
On 30th January 1809, 3,000 men under Major-General Fredrick Maitland were landed at Pointe St Luce under the supervision of Captain William Fahie in HMS Belle Isle. A further 600 men under Major Henderson were landed at Cape Solomon. When the French defenders spotted Major-General Maitland's force, they burned the Carnation. In addition to these landings, 6,500 men under Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost landed at Baie Robert, on the northern coast of the island. The campaign proceeded rapidly and on 24th February, the last defenders at Fort Desaix surrendered to the victorious British.
Early in February 1809, the French dispatched a force under the command of Commodore Amable-Gilles Trude, on a mission to resupply the garrison at Martinique. His force comprised the ships of the line Courageux (74), Polonais (74) and Haultpout (74). These ships were escorting the en-flute frigates Felicite and Furieuse. The term en-flute meant a warship with some of it's armament removed to make room for cargo. Trude's force arrived in the Leeward Islands on 29th March and found that Martinique had already fallen. He anchored his small force off the Iles des Saintes off Guadeloupe, where they were spotted by patrolling British warships. Cochrane knew that he couldn't allow Trude's squadron to stay in the area. He ordered that men and heavy guns be landed on the islands to drive the French out to sea, where they could be pursued and brought to action. Operations on the islands commenced on 14th April 1809 and by 20:00 that day, fire from the guns landed by the British had the desired effect and Troude ordered his ships to weigh anchor and put to sea. Both forces then engaged in a running battle which lasted until the 17th when the 74 gun ship Haultport was eventually cornered and forced to surrender after a fight with HMS Pompee with damaged the British ship and left her with 9 dead and 30 wounded including her Captain. HMS Neptune was also engaged by the French and suffered one dead and four wounded. HMS Neptune's commander, Captain Wilkes was given command of the Haultport, which was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Abercromby. He was replaced in command of HMS Neptune by the commander of HMS Captain, Captain James Athol Wood on 2nd August 1809. HMS Neptune remained in the Caribbean after the capture of Martinique. On 2nd March 1810, Captain Dilkes resumed command of the ship and Captain Wood was transferred into HMS Pompee. Captain Dilkes was suffering poor health at this time and in July 1810, a Captain N Ballard took temporary command of the ship.
By this time, the war at sea was beginning to wind down and large ships of the line like HMS Neptune were no longer needed in such large numbers. HMS Neptune was chosen to be laid up in the Ordinary and was ordered to return to the UK arriving in Plymouth on 26th October 1810. On 9th November, she entered the Royal Dockyard at Plymouth, and her guns, yards and rigging were removed and she was moored in the Homoaze on 8th December 1810.
HMS Neptune in the Ordinary at Plymouth.
In October 1813, a routine survey of her hull found it to be riddled with rot and it was decided that the ship was no longer fit for sea service. It was decided to convert the ship into a prison hulk to accommodate the large numbers of French prisoners of war being taken in the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal. This work commenced in November 1813 and was completed the following month. HMS Neptune continued in this role until October 1818, when she was taken into the Royal Dockyard at Plymouth and was broken up.
