| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Spencer |
| Ordered: | 19 September 1795 |
| Builder: | Adams, Bucklers Hard |
| Laid down: | September 1795 |
| Launched: | 10 May 1800 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1822 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | 74-gun third-rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1917 (bm) |
| Length: | 180 ft 10 in (55.12 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 49 ft 3 in (15.01 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 21 ft 10 in (6.65 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament: |
74 guns:
|
HMS Spencer was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 May 1800 at Bucklers Hard. Her designer was the French émigré shipwright Jean-Louis Barrallier.[1]
Contents |
By July 1801 Spencer was at the Rock of Gibraltar in the squadron under the command of Rear Admiral James Saumarez in Caesar[2] On 6 July Saumarez sailed from Gibraltar with Caesar, Pompee, Spencer, Venerable, Hannibal and Audacious with the intention of attacking Admiral Linois's squadron of three French line-of-battle ships and a frigate, which were lying a considerable distance from the batteries at Algeciras. As Venerable, the leading ship, approached the wind dropped and she was forced to anchor. Pompee managed to get into action but Hannibal grounded and was forced to strike. In the battle the British drove two of the French ships ashore and badly damaged the rest. The total loss in the British squadron was 121 killed, 240 wounded, and 14 missing. The Franco-Spanish force lost 317 men killed and some 3-500 wounded.[3]
On 8 July a squadron of five Spanish ships-of-the-line, a French 74, three frigates and a large number of gunboats reinforced the French ships. Hard work repaired all the British ships at Gibraltar, except Pompee in time for them to follow the Franco-Spanish fleet when it sailed on 12 July. In the subsequent second phase of the Battle of Algeciras Bay, the two first rates Real Carlos and Hermenegildo fired upon each other during the night, caught fire and exploded, with tremendous loss of life. The British captured the third rate St Antoine.[4][5]
On 28 August 1803, Spencer, under the command of Captain Robert Stopford, recaptured the East Indiaman Lord Nelson.[6] On 28 May she recaptured the Castle Douglas, and the next month, on the 10th, she recaptured the Lord North.[7] On 20 November Spencer captured the Virgin del Brien Consiglio, and then nine days later, the Nostra Senora del Carmen, J. de Moro, Master.[8]
Spencer was then part of a squadron off Cadiz under Vice-admiral John Duckworth, when news reached Duckworth that two French squadrons had sailed from Brest in December 1805. Duckworth took his squadron to Barbados to search for them, eventually sighting Leissègues' squadron off San Domingo on 6 February 1806. Duckworth organised his ships into two lines, the weather line consisting of Superb, Northumberland and Spencer, while the lee line consisted of Agamemnon, Canopus, Donegal and Atlas. The lines moved to attack the French ships and the Battle of San Domingo broke out.
During the battle, Superb badly damaged the French 74-gun Indivisible, leaving her adrift, her rigging shot off and her rudder destroyed. Spencer then took Indivisible. The battle was a victory for the Royal Navy, and Stopford and the other captains received a Naval Gold Medal for their actions.
Next, Stopford and Spencer participated in the British invasions of the Río de la Plata and Battle of Copenhagen.
During the American War of 1812-15 Captain Richard Raggett took the ship to North America escorting a convoy to Canada. Later in 1814 he patrolled in the Gulf of Maine. Under threat of bombardment, two undefended Cape Cod towns yielded to Raggett's ransom demands, earning his warship the nickname "Terror of the Bay". During 1814, Spencer shared in the capture of the American brigantine Superb.[9]
After a successful cruise in the summer of 1814 during which she captured the Royal Navy schooner Landrail, the American privateer Syren returned to the United States but as she approached the Delaware River the British blockading ships gave chase.[10] To escape the boats of Spencer and Telegraph, on 16 November Syren ran ashore under Cape May.[11] Her crew set her on fire before making their escape.[12][Note 1]
On 16 March 1817, Wolf, a tender to Spencer, captured two smuggling boats, the Albeona and the Two Brothers, and their cargo. Wolf was in company with the revenue cruiser Vigilant. At the time Spencer's captain was William Robert Broughton.[14][Note 2]
Spencer was broken up in 1822.[1]