LION HMS 1778

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aukepalmhof
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LION HMS 1778

Post by aukepalmhof » Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:15 pm

Built as a 3th Rate ship-of-the-line by the Portsmouth Drydock for the Royal Navy.
12 October 1768 ordered.
May 1769 keel laid down.
03 September 1777 launched under the name HMS LION.
Tonnage 1.377 ton, dim. 159.0 x 44.8 x 19.0ft.
Armament: Lower deck 26 – 24pdrs., upper deck 26 – 18pdrs., quarter deck 10 – 9 pdrs., forecastle 2 – 9pdrs. (1794 increased with 2 – 24pdrs. carronades), poopdeck from 1794, 6 – 18pdrs..
Crew 500.
07 September 1778 completed.

May 1778 commissioned.
06 July 1779 she fought in the Battle of Grenada under command of Capt. William Cornwallis, she was badly damaged, and forced to run down winds to Jamaica, she stayed the next year on the Jamaica station.
March 1780 she came in action with two other Royal Navy ships to a larger French force off San Domingo, while a second action took place off Bermuda in June 1780 with a French force carrying the troops of Rochambeau to North America. The British squadron was not strong enough, and the French squadron did not seek the confrontation and pressed on. Most probably the LION and her squadron were homeward bound.
December 1780 till January 1781 refitted and coppered at Portsmouth.
August 1783 after the war she paid off.
Under repair from February till September 1787 at Portsmouth.
June 1790 re-commissioned under Capt. Seymour Finch, for the Spanish.
September 1791 paid off.
Again fitted out at Portsmouth from March till July 1792.
May 1792 re-commissioned under command of Sir Erasmus Gower.
26 September 1792 she sailed out from Spithead with on board Lord Mccartney’s with his suite of 100 beside soldiers and servants for the court at Peking as ambassador to the Chinese Emperor Tchien Lung. With her was the tender HMS JACKALL and the East Indiaman HINDUSTAN.
The JACKALL lost contact in a gale off Portland on 28th September and made the voyage independently till she made again contact on 23 March 1793.
On her passage from Batavia to North Island (where is that?) she struck a knoll, but got not much damage.
October 1794 after her return paid off at Chatham, got a refit there till April 1795.

February 1795 re-commissioned under command of Capt.George Palmer, for the North Sea station.
Command was later taken over by Capt. Henry Inman.
1796 Command taken over by Capt. Edmund Crawley her crew took part in the Noire mutiny in 1797.
July 1797 command taken over by Charles Cobb, and in September 1797 under command of Capt. Manley Dixon.
02 June 1798 sailed for the Mediterranean, took part in the blockade of Malta 1798 –1800.
15 July 1798 came in action against the Spanish frigates SANTA CAZILDA (34-guns), POMONA, PROSERPINE, and SANTA DOROTEA off Cartagena, the SANTA DOROTEA armed with 42 guns and a crew of 370 was captured. The LION had only 2 men wounded.
08 April under command of Capt. Lord William Stuart till July when command was taken over by Capt George Hammond.
30 August 1800 together with the PENELOPE and FOUDROYANT took the French Le GUILLAUME TELL off Malta. During this action she lost 8 men and got 38 wounded.
November 1800 paid off at Chatham, got a refit there from February till May 1801.
March 1801 re-commissioned under command of Capt. Henry Mitford.
19 May 1801 sailed together with a convoy of East Indiamen from Portsmouth for China.
1803 After her return in reserve at Chatham.
Under repair by John Dudman at Deptford from December 1804 till December 1805.
December 1805 under command of Robert Rolles, and January 1805 re-commissioned.
May 1806 sailed for the East Indies, convoyed home some East Indiamen. After her return in the Channel Fleet.
27 December 1807 took the privateer La RÉCIPROCITÉ (14-guns) which had sailed from Dieppe off Beachy Head.
February 1808 under command of Capt. Henry Heathcote, 05 March 1808 she sailed for China.
18 July 1810 sailed again for the East Indies.
July 1811 at reduction at Java.
1812 Flagship of Vice Admiral Robert Stopford at the Cape of Good Hope.
From 1812 till 1813 under difference captains flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Tyler at the Cape.
August 1814 fitted out as a sheer hulk at Plymouth.
September 1816 moved to Sheerness.
30 November 1837 sold to John Levy & Son at Chatham for £2.300 for breaking up.

She is one of the two-deckers depict on the stamp.

Source: http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk British Warships in the age of Sail 1793 – 1817 by Rif Winfield.
Malta 2006 29c sg?, scott?
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