HMS Augusta (1736)

Augusta
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Augusta
Ordered4 September 1733
BuilderDeptford Dockyard
Launched1 July 1736
FateBroken up, 1765
General characteristics [1]
Class and type1733 proposals 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen1067
Length144 ft (43.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam41 ft 5 in (12.6 m)
Depth of hold16 ft 11 in (5.2 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 60 guns:
  • Gundeck: 24 × 24-pounders
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 9-pounders
  • Quarterdeck: 8 × 6-pounders
  • Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounders

HMS Augusta was a 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Deptford Dockyard, and launched on 1 July 1736.[1]

Augusta was active in the Caribbean during the Seven Years' War. Arthur Forrest became the ship's commander in 1757. On 23 December 1757 she sighted an armed 9-ship French convoy off of Haiti, which was disguised under neutral Dutch flags. The convoy, led by the 32-gun Le Mars, wrongly assumed Augusta was a Dutch warship. Forrest fired a broadside at Le Mars that resulted in the ship's surrender, as well was the capitulation of the entire convoy.[2] Forrest and Augusta captured the 400-ton French ship Pallas after a 5-day chase in October 1758. The prize, laden with oil, wine, and other goods, was valued at over two million livres.[3]

Augusta served until 1765, when she was broken up.[1]

This British ship served as the inspiration to Danish shipbuilder Andreas Gerner in designing the 50-gun ship-of-the-line HDMS Fyen. Senior lieutenant A Gerner had been impressed by Augusta's sailing qualities while he was on a study tour of Britain during the 1730s.[4]

  1. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 171.
  2. ^ "Kingston, in Jamaica, January 5". The Pennsylvania Gazette. 16 March 1758.
  3. ^ "Kingston, in Jamaica, October 22". Boston News-Letter. 19–26 January 1758.
  4. ^ Royal Danish Naval Museum database - Fyen Archived 24 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine (click vis for plans and notes)