HMS Culloden (1776)

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

Engraving of HMS Culloden
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameCulloden
Ordered30 November 1769
BuilderDeptford Dockyard
Laid downJuly 1770
Launched18 May 1776
FateRan aground 23 January 1781 on Culloden Point, Montauk, New York and destroyed to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy.
Notes
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeCulloden-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1659 (bm)
Length170 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
Beam47 ft 2 in (14.38 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 11 in (6.07 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement650 officers and men
Armament
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs
H.M.S. Culloden Shipwreck Site[2]
Nearest cityMontauk, New York
Coordinates41°4′20.5″N 71°57′38.3″W / 41.072361°N 71.960639°W / 41.072361; -71.960639
NRHP reference No.79003795
Added to NRHP5 March 1979

HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard, England, and launched on 18 May 1776.[1] She was the fourth warship to be named after the Battle of Culloden, which took place in Scotland in 1746 and saw the defeat of the Jacobite rising.

She served with the Channel Fleet during the American War of Independence. May, 1778 under command of Capt. George Balfour.[3] She saw action at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, before being sent out to the West Indies. Her stay there was brief, sailing for New York City with Admiral Rodney in August 1780 to join the North American station. The ship's specific duties were to blockade the French at Newport, Rhode Island where a French army of 6,000 had disembarked in July 1780.[citation needed]

Diorama of Culloden wreck at the Marine Museum

On 23 January 1781, while trying to intercept French ships attempting to run the blockade at Newport, Rhode Island, Culloden encountered severe weather and ran aground at North Neck Point (Will's Point) in Montauk.[4] All attempts to refloat the vessel were unsuccessful,[citation needed] but all the crew were saved, and Culloden's masts were taken aboard HMS Bedford.[5] The area is today known as Culloden Point.

Cannon retrieved from Culloden on display at the East Hampton Marine Museum in Amagansett, New York
  1. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 180.
  2. ^ NRHP, New York.
  3. ^ "NAVAL DOCUMENTS OF The American Revolution" (PDF). history.navy.mil. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  4. ^ Holden, Albert R. (2000) [1983]. A Pictorial History of Montauk (3rd ed.). Montauk: Holden's Publications. p. 15.
  5. ^ Ships of the Old Navy, Culloden.