HMS York (1807)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS York.

Career

Laid down:
Launched:	7 July 1807
Reclassified:	Prison ship, 1819
Status:	Broken up, 1854
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1743 tons
Length:	175 ft (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in
Propulsion:	Sails
Speed:
Range:	No fuel, so limited only by provisions
Complement:
Armament:	74 cannons, various sizes

HMS York was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Rotherhithe by the contract firm Samuel & Daniel Brent, and launched on July 7, 1807. She saw service during the Napoleonic Wars, though is best known for her time spent as a prison ship. She was broken up in March 1854.

[edit] Service History

HMS York was one of many British warships ordered after they were most needed. Although the major naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars had already occurred by the time of her launching, York was employed on some notable campaigns.

After her launch, York was under the command of Captain Robert Barton, and as part of Sir Samuel Hood's squadron, she participated in the occupation of Madeira. In 1809, York was on the West India Station, and was involved in the capture of Martinique. Later that year, York was involved in the disastrous landings at Walcharen. York was later with the Mediterranean Squadron off Toulon.

In 1819, York entered Portsmouth harbour, where she was stripped of her masts and guns, and converted into a prison ship. HMS York is best remembered in this state, thanks to a contemporary drawing by Edward William Cooke, which shows her fully converted, and with laundry above her decks where sails once would have been. She would have typically contained approximately 500 convicts.

After many years at this harbour service, she was finally broken up in March 1854.