Royal George HMS 1756

[john sefton]

Ordered on 29 August 1746, she was laid down at Woolwich Dockyard in 1746 as Royal Anne, and renamed Royal George whilst building. At the time of her launch in 1756, she was the largest warship in the world. She served in the Seven Years' War, joining the Western Squadron or Channel Fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, spending most of 1759 in the blockade of the French fleet at Brest. In early November of that year, when Hawke's flagship Ramillies went into dock for repairs, Hawke shifted his flag to Royal George, which became his flagship just in time for the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759 where she sank the French ship Superbe.

At Spithead Review July 1760.

With Hardy's fleet in Autumn 1762; paid off 18.12.1762.

She was laid up from 1763 to 1778, when she was recommissioned to serve in the American War of Independence.

In January 1780, while serving in the Channel Fleet, she took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent.

On 28 August 1782, whilst under the command of Richard Kempenfelt, Royal George was preparing to sail with a fleet commanded by Admiral Richard Howe to Gibraltar. The ships were anchored at Spithead to take on supplies. Royal George was being heeled over at an angle to allow for minor repairs to be made to the water intake for the deck wash pump which was three feet below water level, and the larboard guns had been run out and the starboard guns moved in to the centre of the deck to heel over the ship until her lowest gun ports were close to the surface of the water. A supply vessel, the Lark approached the Royal George on her low side to transfer a cargo of rum and the additional weight together with that of the crewmen unloading the cargo caused the ship to heel to such a degree that the sea washed in at her gun ports and she soon began to ship water in her hold. A sudden breeze on the raised side of the ship forced her further over and the water rushed in. It is believed that during these operations the lower deck gunports were not properly secured, causing an inrush of water. The ship rolled on to her side and sank before any distress signal could be given, taking with her around 900 people, including up to 300 women and 60 children who were visiting the ship in harbour. About 230 people were saved, some by running up the rigging while others were picked up by boats from other vessels. Kempenfelt was writing in his cabin when the ship sank; the cabin doors had jammed due to the ship heeling and he perished with the rest.

Many of the victims were washed ashore at Ryde, where they were buried in a mass burial ground at Ryde on a site now occupied by a boating lake on the Esplanade. In April 2009, Isle of Wight Council placed a new memorial plaque in the newly-restored Ashley Gardens on Ryde Esplanade in memory of HMS Royal George. It is a copy of the original plaque unveiled in 1965 by Earl Mountbatten of Burma which was moved in 2006 to the Royal George Memorial Garden, also on the Esplanade.

A court-martial failed to attribute blame for the tragedy and acquitted the officers and crew (many of whom had perished), blaming the accident on the 'general state of decay of her timbers.'
The accident was commemorated in verse by the poet William Cowper:
Toll for the brave
The Brave that are no more,
All sunk beneath the wave,
Fast by their native shore.
—William Cowper, The Loss of the Royal George, 1782

Class and type: 1745 Establishment 100-gun first rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 2,047 long tons (2,079.8 t)
Length: 178 ft (54.3 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 51 ft (15.5 m)
Depth of hold: 21 ft 6 in (6.6 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:
100 guns:

* Gundeck: 28 × 42 pdrs
* Middle gundeck: 28 × 24 pdrs
* Upper gundeck: 28 × 12 pdrs
* Quarterdeck: 12 × 6 pdrs
* Forecastle: 4 × 6 pdrs

British Warships in the Age of Sail, Rif Winfield and various web sites.

British Indian Ocean Terr. SG227 Antigua SG2292, Barbuda SG1884, Cook Is SG630, Turks & Caicos Is SG844.

[Anatol]

HMS Royal George
The 'Royal George' at Deptford Showing the Launch of 'The Cambridge' (1755) by John Cleveley the Elder. Fictitious combination of two events set in Deptford Dockyard in south-east London, England, UK: Launch HMS Cambridge (left) in Deptford October 21, 1755 and HMS Royal George (right), which was actually launched in Woolwich Dockyard in the next year 1757.
Turks&Caicos1985;25c;SG844. Cook Islands1979;35c;SG630. Nicaragua1998;3.00cs;SG? Paraguay1981;Gs0,25;SG?