HMS Dunkirk (1754)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Dunkirk.
Career (Great Britain)
Name: HMS Dunkirk
Ordered: 12 July 1750
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Launched: 22 July 1754
Fate: Sold, 1792
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: 1750 amendments 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,246 long tons (1,266.0 t)
Length: 153 ft 6 in (46.8 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 42 ft 5 in (12.9 m)
Depth of hold: 18 ft 6 in (5.6 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:

60 guns:

  • Gundeck: 24 × 24 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 12 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 8 × 6 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

HMS Dunkirk was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Woolwich Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1750, and launched on 22 July 1754.[1]

Career

HMS Dunkirk was sent to America in 1755, along with several other ships, under Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen. On 5 June she spotted four French ships which were bound for Canada under the command of Admiral Bois de la Mothe. Dunkirk, HMS Defiance and several other ships gave chase. Dunkirk came alongside the 64-gun Alcide and requested the captain meet with the Vice-Admiral, who was then about three miles away. After the captain of the Alcide refused, the Dunkirk opened fire. Soon afterwards, HMS Edgar came alongside the French at which Alcide struck her colours. The Alcide had been carrying 900 troops and the governor of Louisbourg. The general of those troops was killed and 30,000 pounds sterling captured. In the battle, another French vessel, the Lys was captured by HMS Fougueux.[2]

Dunkirk was placed on harbour service in 1778, and eventually sold out of the navy in 1792.[1]

However, she is among the vessels credited with a capture on 23 December 1781. According to the London Gazette. she was in company with Squirrel, Antigua, and Cambridge at the capture of the Dutch ship De Vrow Esther.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 174.
  2. ^ Phillips, Michael. "Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy". http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=5263. Retrieved 29 August 2010. 
  3. ^ London Gazette: no. 12678. p. 410. 30 August 1785.

References

  • 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.