HMS Burford was a 70 gun Third Rate ship of the line of the 1754 Amended 1745 Establishment, built at the Royal Dockyard, Chatham. She was the last Third Rate ship built to an Establishment at Chatham and marked the final end of the Establishments.
The Establishments were a series of detailed, standardised specifications within which the Master Shipwright of a shipyard was expected to design and build a ship for the Royal Navy. The Establishment for the 70 gun ship was not a success and they quickly gained a reputation for being poor sailers, slow and cumbersome when compared to the 74 gun ships the French had been building since the 1730s. In addition to this, their lower gundeck gunports were too close to the waterline and they were unable to open their lee (downwind) lower deck gunports in anything above a faint breeze for fear of sinking the ship.
In 1748, during the War of Austrian Succession, the Royal Navy had managed to capture one of the finest of the French 74 gun ships, L'Invincible. Once in Royal Navy service, that ship had proved itself to be far superior to the British ships of the line. In ideal sailing conditions, the now HMS Invincible could manage 13 knots, a good two knots faster than the best of the British 70 gun ships and could open her lower gundeck gunports in all but the very worst weather. The Admiralty began to press the Navy Board for similar ships. Despite this, the Navy Board continued to resist pressure from the Admiralty and instead ordered an amendment in 1754, to reduce the specification of a Third Rate ship of the line with two gundecks to 68 guns in order to lighten the ship to raised the height of the lower gundeck gunport sills above the water.
By 1756, the conservative elements in the Navy Board had either died or had been pensioned off and had been replaced by more far-sighted men like Thomas Slade. The Establishments were replaced by a system of centrally-produced designs and the Royal Navy at last began to get what they wanted, 74-gun ships like the French ones. At Chatham, the next Third Rate ship to be built, HMS Lenox - a Dublin Class ship, was based on an enlarged version of the 1745 Establishment 70 gun ship, pierced for 74 guns. This ship, being based on the earlier design suffered the same problems as the earlier ships. The next two ships, HMS Valiant and HMS Bellona were a different matter entirely. HMS Valiant was a direct copy of HMS Invincible and was the prototype for the Large Type of 74 gun ship while HMS Bellona was a reduced version of the French design and was to be the prototype of the Common Type of 74 gun ship which went on to form the backbone of the Royal Navy's battlefleets for the next 50 years.
It was against this background that on Tuesday 15th January 1754, HMS Burford was ordered from the Royal Dockyard at Chatham, to be designed and built to the 1745 Establishment draught for a 70 gun ship, as amended in 1754, to carry 68 guns. She was one of three such ships ordered, the others being HMS Dorsetshire (to be built at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard) and HMS Boyne (to be built at Plymouth Royal Dockyard). The ship was designed by the Master Shipwright at Chatham, Mr John Locke, who also oversaw her construction. Her keel was laid at Chatham on Wednesday 30th October 1754 and was launched, her hull complete in 1757. The ship was fitted with guns, masts and rigging at Chatham and was commissioned on Friday 15th July 1757, under Captain James Young. By the time the ship was ready for sea, she had cost £38,118, 8s.
On completion, HMS Burford was a ship of 1,424 tons. She was 162ft 1in long on her upper gundeck and 44ft 8in wide across the beam. She was armed with 26 x 32pdr long guns on her lower gundeck, 28 x 18pdr long guns on her upper gundeck, 14 x 9pdr long guns on her quarterdeck and 2 x 9 pdr long guns on her forecastle. HMS Burford was manned by a crew of 520 officers, men, boys and marines.
A model of an un-named 70 gun ship of the 1745 Establishment. HMS Burford would have been very similar.
A model of HMS Yarmouth, also a 70 gun ship of the 1745 Establishment. HMS Burford again would have been very similar.
By the time HMS Burford was ready for sea, what is now known as the Seven Years War had broken out with France. Although the Seven Years War officially started in 1756, British and French forces had been fighting over what is now called Ohio since 1754. The Seven Years War very quickly became concentrated on a struggle between Britain and France over control of colonies in America, Canada and the Caribbean and it was against this background that HMS Burford was sent to the Caribbean to join a squadron under the command of Commodore John Moore, with orders to distract the French by launching amphibious attacks and taking French possessions in the Caribbean. Before her departure from Chatham, HMS Burford received a new commander, Captain James Gambier and left Chatham on Sunday 12th November 1758.
Between 16th and 19th January 1759, the British force attempted to invade French-held Martinique. The initial bombardment of the fortress at Fort Royal was unsuccessful because of it's height on the cliffs overlooking the town. The British cannon-fire had no effect, so Commodore Moore and General Peregrine Hopson, commanding the land forces, instead decided to attack the commercial port of Saint Pierre. Again, the naval bombardment had no effect on the port's defences. On 19th January, the British withdrew and Moore and Hopson instead decided to attack the French-held island of Guadeloupe, which was home to a considerable number of French privateers. On 22nd January, the British arrived at Basse-Terre on Guadeloupe and began a bombardment of the town which quickly reduced it to ruins. Two days later the troops were landed and began to occupy the island. They became bogged down and met strong French opposition in the mountainous terrain. Things were made a whole lot worse by the fact that a large proportion of the British soldiers were being struck down by disease, including the commander of the land force, Hopson himself. He died on 27th February and his 2nd in command, Colonel John Barrington assumed command. Commodore Moore's naval command was independant from army command and Moore sent ships around the island to Fort Louis. After reducing the defences there, he landed a further 300 soldiers and took possession of the fort there. On 1st May 1759, the French garrison on Guadeloupe surrendered. Unfortunately, the soldiers proved to be no match for the heat and humidity and by the end of 1759, 800 of them had died from disease.
Once the capture of Guadeloupe was complete, HMS Burford was ordered back to the UK, to join the fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. Hawke's fleet was maintaining a close blockade of the French coast around Brest.
In the first week of November 1759, Hawke's fleet was forced to run into Torbay to escape a fierce gale. The French, under the Marshal de Conflans took the opportunity to put to sea. The French force was under orders to rendezvous with and escort a fleet of troopships waiting in the Golfe de Morbihan to Scotland and mount an invasion there. On 14th November 1759, Conflans and his fleet left Brest and were spotted by the frigate HMS Actaeon that day. Actaeon was unable to meet Hawke's fleet which by now was on their way back to their blockade stations. The following day, the French were sighted by the British victualling ship Love and Unity, which met with Hawke's returning fleet. Love and Unity's master reported that he had sighted the French 70 miles west of Belle Ile, heading towards Quiberon Bay. Hawke ordered his fleet including HMS Burford, to sail for Quiberon Bay as hard as they could into the teeth of a South-south-easterly gale.
On the night of the 19th November, Conflans ordered his fleet to reduce sail in order to arrive at Quiberon Bay the following morning, rather than in the middle of the night. Early the following morning, the French force spotted sails which turned out to be those of a small squadron of 4 50 gun ships and 4 frigates, commanded by Captain Robert Duff. These had stayed behind to watch the transport ships while Hawke and the main fleet had sought shelter in Torbay. Realising that the strange sails belonged to a small squadron rather than a full fleet, Conflans ordered his fleet to give chase. Duff split his force into two, north and south, pursued by the French vanguard and centre. The rear of the French fleet peeled off to investigate strange sails appearing to the West. These turned out to be the British Fleet with 24 ships of the line, led by Admiral Hawke, flying his command flag in the giant First Rate ship HMS Royal George of 100 guns. The French broke off their pursuit of Duff's squadron
It was HMS Magnanime which spotted the French first, at 08:30 and on receiving signals to that effect, Hawke ordered his fleet to form a line abreast. Conflans on the other hand was forced to make a tough decision. Stand and fight where he was in the teeth of a violent gale or head into the Bay with it's shoals and rocks and try to entice Hawke to follow him. At 09:00, Hawke gave the signal for a general chase and for the seven ships closest to the French to form a line of battle and despite the dangers, make all sail and get stuck into the French. By 14:30, the British were beginning to overtake the French and what is now known as the Battle of Quiberon Bay began in earnest.
By sunset, it was all over. The power of the French fleet had been smashed. Hawke had scored an overwhelming victory against the French, who had lost six of their 21 ships of the line wrecked or sunk with another being captured by the British. In all, some 2,500 French sailors had perished. The British on the other hand, had lost two ships of the line wrecked and had suffered 400 fatalities.
The tracks of the fleets in the lead-up to the battle.
The Battle of Quiberon Bay
The aftermath of the battle.
The scale of the British victory had consequences for the rest of the war. The power of the French fleet was broken and did not recover until after the war. The French were unable to resupply their army in Canada and this in turn led to the eventual British victory there. In addition, the French Government suffered a credit crunch as financiers realised that the Royal Navy could now strike French possessions at will and refused to lend the French Government any more money. The French Government was forced to default on their debts in order to continue the war.
After the victory at Quiberon Bay, HMS Burford remained on blockade duty off the west coast of France for the rest of the war, which ended in February 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris that year. In the spring of 1763, HMS Burford was refitted and recommissioned in May as guardship at Plymouth under Captain James Logie. In that role, she would have remained fully rigged and armed, but would only carry about half her usual crew and was used to provide security for the ships of the Plymouth Ordinary.
In 1764, HMS Burford was refitted again, this time as a troopship and commissioned in that role in April of 1764. By 1765 however, she had returned to her previous role as Guardship at Plymouth. She was commanded by Captain Sir Francis Samuel Drake. He commanded the ship until she entered the dockyard at Plymouth in February 1768 to undergo a fairly substantial repair. The ship was in dockyard hands until March 1770 when she paid off into the Ordinary at Plymouth.
In the meantime, the Seven Years War had left the British Government deeply in debt and in an attempt to raise money and pay off the debt, it was decided to levy taxes on the colonists in America. Until then, the American Colonies had been pretty much a tax haven and the colonists did not react well to being taxed. Protests soon became open rebellion as each side escalated the levels of violence used to make their points. HMS Burford recommissioned in 1776 but saw no action. In 1778, what had started as covert French support for the rebels in America came out into the open as the French joined in what had now become a full scale war, for which the Royal Navy was totally unprepared. In March 1778, HMS Burford entered the dockyard at Portsmouth and was refitted, a task which took until November. Between June and October 1778, HMS Burford was commanded by Captain Taylor Penny, who oversaw the refit until he handed command of the ship to Captain Peter Rainier. Her refit had cost £11,397, 9s, 7d by the time the ship was ready for sea.
On 7th March 1779, HMS Burford sailed for the East Indies and joined a squadron under the command of Admiral Sir Edward HUghes based on Madras. Whilst on that station, HMS Burford became involved in a series of battles with a French fleet under the Baillie de Suffren. Suffren had been sent by France to provide military assistance to French colonies in India. Suffren first sailed to Madras, hoping to attack the British there, but on arriving off there, he found Hughes and his fleet already there. He turned south, intending to land troops who would march north, recapturing French and Dutch possessions lost to the British on the way. Having spotted Suffren's force, the British gave chase and caught the French on 17th February 1782. The Battle of Sadras which followed, ended indecisively with the British flagship HMS Superb (74) and HMS Exeter (64) being badly damaged before nightfall forced an end to the fight. Suffren landed the troops while the British sailed towards Trincomalee, intending to make repairs.
The Battle of Sadras by Dominic Serres:
Tracks of the fleets at the Battle of Sadras:
Suffren had other ideas and intended to destroy the British force. After making repairs at Pondicherry, the French force gave chase, departing on 23rd February. On 8th April, the French spotted Hughes' fleet, but were unable to bring them to battle for three days because of adverse winds. On 12th April, the British force including HMS Burford had to change tack to continue on their way to Trincomalee, the French seized their chance, formed a line of battle and attacked. Hughes ordered his ships to form a line of battle and at about 12:30, the two forces engaged each other. The British flagship HMS Superb received another battering and HMS Monmouth (64) was dismasted in the action, known as the Battle of Providien. HMS Burford escaped relatively unscathed and the action again ended indecisively due to worsening weather and the coming of nightfall.
The Battle of Providien by Dominic Serres:
After the battle, HMS Burford and the other ships sailed on to Trincomalee, while Suffren and his force made for Batticaloa. Whilst there, Suffren received orders to go to Ile de France (modern day Mauritius) and escort a troop convoy back to India. He refused to do so, considering that it was too dangerous to leave Hughes and his force loose in the area.
Suffren had by now decided to capture the important port of Negatapam, held by the British and sailed to Cuddalore, arriving on 20th June to pick up the troops required for this. Whilst there, he learned that Hughes and his force had sailed past the port, apparently also on their way to Negatapam, so left to give chase. Suffrens force arrived off Negatampam on 3rd July, but found the British force already in the harbour. A squall then blew up and damaged one of the French vessels, the 64 gun ship Ajax. When the squall passed, the wind was in Hughes' favour, so the British force, including HMS Burford left the harbour and anchored for the night in view of the French. At 09:30 the following morning, the two forces closed with each other. Ajax had still not made her repairs, so veered away from the action. The British force was unable to line up directly against the French, so the rear part of the lines could only engage each other at long range, while the ships at the front engaged in fierce combat until about 1pm, when the wind changed, throwing both forces into confusion. Unable to move back into combat positions, both fleets drew away from each other. Suffren sailed away back to Cuddalore while the British spent the next two weeks a sea before making for Madras for repairs. The Second Battle of Negatapam had ended as indecisively as the previous battles between the two forces.
The Second Battle of Negatapam by Dominic Serres.
While in Cuddalore, Suffren was reinforced by a French force comprised of two more ships of the line, a frigate and a transport ship carrying 800 troops and their supplies. The anchorage at Cuddalore was too exposed to the weather for Suffren's liking, so he resolved to take Trincomalee from the British and the force arrived off there on 21st August. The French landed 2,400 troops near Trincomalee on 25th August and following a fiercely fought seige, the British garrison surrendered five days later and on September 1st, the French took possession of the town and the harbour.
Hughes had not been idle in the intervening time either. Whilst making repairs at Madras, his fleet was reinforced with the addition of the 64 gun Third Rate ship HMS Sultan. On learning that the French were off Trincomalee, the British set off at once to give assistance, but didn't arrive until the day after the British garrison had surrendered.
On seeing that the British fleet had arrived, Suffren found that he outnumbered Hughes' force and that if the French plans for India were to come to fruition, the British fleet would have to be destroyed. For that reason, the French left Trincomalee to face the British once again. The two fleets met again at about 2:30pm on 3rd September 1782. The heaviest action was in the centre of the lines, where the British flagship HMS Superb (74) assisted by HMS Eagle (64), HMS Burford, HMS Sultan (64), HMS Hero (74) and HMS Monarca (70) engaged the French ships Heros (74), Ajax (64) and Illustre (74). Surrounded by the British, Suffren signalled for assistance and the French ship Brilliant (64) came to his aid. His flagship, Heros lost her mainmast and had run out of ammunition. Things were going better for the French on the ends of the line, where HMS Isis (50), HMS Worcester (64) and HMS Monmouth (64) were badly damaged and HMS Exeter (64) had been dismasted and her captain was killed. At about 5:30pm, the wind changed, favouring the French. The main part of the action now shifted to the ends of the battle lines. HMS Hero lost her mizzen and main masts and HMS Worcester lost her main topmast. The battle ended with nightfall.
The Battle of Trincomalee by Dominic Serres
Once the action had been broken off, Hughes, who did not want to be in the exposed anchorage at Madras during the monsoon season which was imminent, made for Bombay, while Suffren withdrew back into Trincomalee to make repairs. The British force had been so badly damaged that the army commanders at Madras recalled their troops from the field in case the French decided to attack.
By this time, Vice Admiral Sir George Rodney's victory over the French at the Battle of the Saintes on 12th April 1782 had ended French ambitions in the Caribbean and the Royal Navy was able to spare ships to assist in the defence of British possessions in India. Hughes' force was reinforced by the arrival of five more ships-of-the-line, bringing his total strength to 18 ships of the line plus frigates. By June 1783, the British were laying seige to Cuddalore and Suffren was ordered to support the city with his 15 ships-of-the-line. Hughes' fleet was there when Suffren arrived on 13th June 1783. Hughes was not keen on facing the French again, so moved his force away. After five days of adverse winds, Suffren anchored his force off the city. After a conference with the commander of the defending force, it became apparent that the outcome of the seige was going to be dependant on a naval action. The two fleets then began manoeuvring for advantage from 18th June, but were both frustrated in their attempts by fickle winds. Finally, the winds settled down from a westerly direction and the two fleets engaged each other again on 20th June. The action was fought with long-range gunnery and neither fleet was able to significantly damage the other and both forces withdrew at nightfall.
The Battle of Cuddalore by Auguste Jugelet, painted in 1836.
On 22nd June, Hughes headed back to Madras. Many of his ships required repair, his force was short of water and a lack of fresh fruit had led to an outbreak of scurvy aboard his ships. The seige continued until 29th June when a British ship under a flag of truce brought news of the war's end.
After the end of the war, HMS Burford was ordered to return to the UK and arrived at Woolwich on 3rd July 1784. By this time, HMS Burford was an old ship. Not only that, but in the almost thirty years since her launch, large numbers of the far superior 74 gun ships of the line had entered service and HMS Burford and ships like her were not only obsolete, but were surplus to requirements. Being a large vessel with deep holds and spacious decks and in good condition made HMS Burford a good candidate for sale and on 31st March 1785, HMS Burford was sold into merchant service for £1,320.
