Built as a second rate ship-of-the-line at the Portsmouth Drydock by the Master shipbuilder Sir John Tippetts for the British Navy.
26 October 1664 ordered.
30 September 1669 launched as the SAINT MICHAEL.
Tonnage 1,042 ton, dim. length of keel 125ft.x 40.8 x 17.5ft. Draught 19.8ft.
Crew 480 when built later more or less.
Armament: Original 84 but at the Battle of Solebay 98 guns.
1677 She carried: Lower deck 26 demi-cannon, tween deck 26 culverins, upper deck 26 demi-culverins, quarter deck 10 – 5¼pdr sakers, and 2 – 3 pdrs.
16 January 1672 commissioned under command of Captain Sir Robert Holmes.
13-14 March 1672 took part in the attack on the Dutch Smyrna fleet before the outbreak of the third Anglo-Dutch War. The Smyrna fleet was a yearly convoy of Dutch Merchants from the Levant and covered by a flotilla of Dutch warships to protect them against the Barbary Corsairs. The British fleet under command of Admiral Robert Holmes attacked the convoy in the English Channel but was beaten back by the Dutch Admiral Cornelis Evertsen, the British fleet capturing only a few merchantmen.
During the battle the SAINT MICHAEL lost 34 men and 56 were wounded.
28 May 1672 at the Battle of Solebay, in which she became Duke of Yorks flagship for a while after the PRINCE was disabled.
28 May 1673 and 04 June 1673 in the Battles of Schooneveld off the Dutch coast.
11 August 1673 in the Battle of Texel in which she lost 60 men and 139 were wounded.
19-24 May 1692 took part in the Battle of Barfleur.
October 1694 with Russels fleet to the Mediterranean.
1696 Again a unit of the Channel Fleet.
21 November 1705 decommissioned.
18 December 1706 renamed MARLBOROUGH and rebuilt at Blackwall by the master shipbuilder William Johnson.
18 December 1706 launched, 1708 in Chatham.
Tonnage 1,579 ton, dim. 162.8 x 47.4 x 18.6ft.
20 January 1708 commissioned under command of Captain Gerard Ellwes.
24 August 1709 paid off into ordinary in Chatham.
Early 1711 recommissioned.
July 1711 again decommissioned.
06 March 1725 scrapped at Chatham for rebuilt.
25 September 1732 re-launched at Chatham.
11 October 1741 sailed for the Mediterranean.
22 February 1744 took part in the Battle of Toulon; in the battle she attacked the flagship ISABELA which lost about 300 men. The MARLBOROUGH was also riddled with shot and only her foremast was standing. Her commander Cornwall lost both legs and died soon afterwards. Command was taken over by his nephew Lieut. Frederick Cornwall. She was later towed away from the battle by boats.
In the battle she lost 43 men and got 120 men wounded.
1752 Was she reduced to a 68 gun ship.
1762 She took part in the expedition against Martinique under command of Capt. John Hollwell and was the flagship of Rear Admiral George Rodney in January and June.
Then took part with the fleet of Admiral Pocock in the attack and occupation of Havana, the MARLBOROUGH together with the DRAGON and CAMBRIDGE bombarded Fort Morro on the entrance to Havana for several hours, but the vessel were so damaged that she were ordered back, the MARLBOROUGH had two men killed and 8 wounded.
November the MARLBOROUGH sailed home from Havana together with a convoy of merchantmen and other warships. During bad weather she lost contact with the convoy, she started to leak so badly that the guns had to be thrown overboard and the crew had to pump day and night. She met the HMS ANTELOPE on 29 November and all crew was taken on board that ship, the MARLBOROUGH foundered shortly thereafter.
St Maarten 2011 80c sg?, scott?
Article written by Capt Palmhof and published in Log Book Vol 43 No 3