HMS Sceptre (1781)
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| Career (Great Britain) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Sceptre |
| Ordered: | 16 January 1779 |
| Builder: | Randall, Rotherhithe |
| Laid down: | May 1780 |
| Launched: | 8 June 1781 |
| Honours and awards: |
Participated in: |
| Fate: | Wrecked, 1799 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Inflexible-class ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1398 tons (1420.4 tonnes) |
| Length: | 159 ft (48 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 44 ft 4 in (13.5 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 18 ft 10 in (5.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: |
64 guns:
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HMS Sceptre was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on June 8, 1781 at Rotherhithe.
Shortly after completion she was sent out to the Indian Ocean to join Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes's squadron. She arrived in time for the Battle of Trincomalee in 1782, the fourth battle of a bloody campaign between Vice-Admiral Hughes and the French Admiral Suffren's squadron.
The following year, she took part in the Battle of Cuddalore (1783), the final battle in the East Indies campaign. She was then laid up for the peace.
In 1794, under the command of Commodore John Ford, Sceptre assisted in the capture of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
In 1795 Sceptre earned her second Battle Honour in Vice Admiral Sir Keith Elphinstone's squadron, which captured a Dutch squadron in the Battle of Muizenberg.[citation needed]
Sceptre was lost on 5 December 1799 in a storm in Table Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope, when a series of anchor cables parted in the rising winds. She was driven ashore onto a reef at Woodstock Beach, at the site of the present-day Royal Cape Yacht Club.
About 290 lives were lost in the wreck; 128 of her crew survived, mostly those who were on shore at the time.
[edit] References
- Terence Grocott - Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras (1997)
- Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
