HMS Ruby (1708)

History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Ruby
BuilderAllin, Deptford Dockyard
Launched25 March 1708
RenamedHMS Mermaid, 1744
FateSold, 1748
General characteristics [1]
Class and type1706 Establishment 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen707 bm
Length130 ft (39.6 m) (gundeck)
Beam35 ft (10.7 m)
Depth of hold14 ft (4.3 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 50 guns:
  • Gundeck: 22 × 18-pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 22 × 9-pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 4 × 6-pdrs
  • Forecastle: 2 × 6-pdrs

HMS Ruby was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Joseph Allin the elder at Deptford Dockyard to the 1706 Establishment, and launched on 25 March 1708.[1]

She achieved an unwelcome notoriety in March 1741 when her captain, Samuel Goodere, was convicted of murder at Bristol and subsequently hanged; he had enticed his elder brother, Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet, on board, and had caused him to be strangled in the purser's cabin.[2]

Ruby was renamed HMS Mermaid in 1744, and was sold out of the service in 1748.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p168.
  2. ^ Emlyn, Sollom, ed., Complete Collection of State Trials (1742) vol. VI p. 797 et seqq.; online (PDF) here