HMS Seaford (1695)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Seaford
Builder	Richard Herring, Bursledon
Cost	1,688.18.2d
Acquired	27 December 1695
Commissioned	Late 1695
Captured	5 May 1697
Fate	Taken by French Squadron and burnt
General characteristics
Type	20-gun Sixth Rate
Tons burthen	293+60⁄94 bm
Length	98 ft 5 in (30.0 m) gundeck 81 ft 3 in (24.8 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	26 ft 1 in (8.0 m) for tonnage
Depth of hold	10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Complement	110
Armament	initially as ordered 24 × sakers on wooden trucks (UD) 4 × 3-pdr on wooden trucks (QD)

HMS Seaford was purchased from Richard Herring of Bursledon, who had built the vessel on speculation to a similar specification as the Maidstone Group. After she was commissioned, she sailed as part of the expedition to recapture Fort York on Hudson Bay. She was also part of Symond's squadron in the West Indies, where she was captured and burnt by the French in 1697.^[1]

Seaford was the first named ship tin the Royal Navy.^[2]