HMS Augusta (1736)

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

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)