HMS Speedwell (1690)

History
England
Name	HMS Speedwell
Ordered	6 December 1689
Builder	Thomas Gressingham, 'Redrith' (Rotherhithe)
Launched	3 April 1690
Commissioned	4 April 1690
Fate	Wrecked in 1720
General characteristics
Type	8-gun fireship 24-gun fifth rate
Tons burthen	259+53⁄94 bm
Length	94 ft 0 in (28.7 m) gun deck 78 ft 6 in (23.9 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	24 ft 11 in (7.6 m) for tonnage
Depth of hold	9 ft 8 in (2.9 m)
Sail plan	ship-rigged
Complement	as fireship 45 as fifth rate 115
Armament	as fireship 8 × 6-pdrs on wooden trucks Rerated as fifth rate 2 × 9-pdrs on wooden trucks (LD) 20 × 6-pdr 19 cwt guns on wooden trucks (UD) 4 × 4-pdr 12 cwt guns on wooden trucks (QD)
General characteristics as rebuilt 1702
Type	24-gun fifth rate
Tons burthen	269+22⁄94 bm
Length	94 ft 9 in (28.9 m) gun deck 78 ft 10.5 in (24.0 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	25 ft 4 in (7.7 m) for tonnage
Depth of hold	9 ft 8.5 in (3.0 m)
Sail plan	ship-rigged
Armament	2 × 9-pdrs on wooden trucks (LD) 20 × 6-pdr 19 cwt guns on wooden trucks (UD) 4 × 4-pdr 12 cwt guns on wooden trucks (QD)
General characteristics as rebuilt 1716
Type	20-gun sixth rate
Tons burthen	273+69⁄94 bm
Length	95 ft 5.5 in (29.1 m) gun deck 78 ft 9.75 in (24.0 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	25 ft 6.5 in (7.8 m) for tonnage
Depth of hold	11 ft 6 in (3.5 m)
Sail plan	ship-rigged
Armament	20 × 6-pdr 19 cwt guns on wooden trucks (UD)

HMS Speedwell was a fireship of the 1689 Programme built under contract.^[1] She would be rebuilt and rerated several times from a fireship to a 24-gun fifth rate then reduced to a 20-gun sixth rate and finally a bomb ketch. She was at the Battle of Barfleur in 1692 and had an attempted mutiny in 1699. After her first rebuild she was employed in the Irish Sea capturing four privateers and recapturing a sloop. She was wrecked on the Dutch coast in 1720.^[2]

Speedwell was the fifth named vessel since it was used for a galley captured from the French in the Firth of Forth in January 1560 and broken in 1580.^[3]