Belleisle HMS

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john sefton
Posts: 1816
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:59 pm

Belleisle HMS

Post by john sefton » Thu Apr 29, 2010 7:00 pm

BELLEISLE, H.M.S., the only British ship to be completely dismasted in the Battle of Trafalgar.
She was formerly the French FORMIDABLE, captured on June 23, 1795, at Belle Isle.
She was a 3rd Rate of 74 guns; 1889 tons (builders' measurement). Length 184 ft. Beam 49 ft.
Broken up in August, 1814.
Ship on the left side of the stamp design.
E W Argyle Log Book April 1972


British Virgin Islands, 1972,SG271
Attachments
SG271
SG271

aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: Belleisle HMS

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Jan 03, 2021 8:26 pm

Built as a wooden third rate ship-of-the-line at the Rochefort shipyard for the French Navy.
1791 Laid down under the name LION.
28 September 1793 renamed as MARAT.
29 April 1794 launched as MARAT one of the TÉMÉRAIRE class. She was named after the revolution leader Jean-Paul Marat, who was murdered in his bath on 13 July 1797.
Tonnage 2,966 ton, 5,260 ton full load, dim.55.87 x 14.90m, draught 7.26m, length of keel 45.56m.
Sail area up to 2,485m².
Armament Lower gundeck 28 – 36 pdr. long guns, upper gundeck 30 – 18 pdt. Long guns, fo’c’s’le, and quarter deck 16 – 8pdr, long guns and 4 – 36 pdr. carronades.
June 1794 commissioned.
25 May 1795 was she renamed in FORMIDABLE.

Capture in the Battle of Groix
Fighting under captain Linois on 23 June 1795 at the Battle of Groix, she was captured by HMS BARFLEUR near the French port of Lorient. She was taken into service in the Royal Navy, but because the Navy already had a FORMIDABLE, she was renamed BELLEISLE, apparently in the mistaken belief that she had been captured off Belle Île, rather than the Île de Groix.

Her details under the Royal Navy flag.
Tonnage 1,889 ton (bm), dim. 56,24 x 14.90 x 6.61m, (draught).
Armament: Upper deck 30 – 32pdrs, lower deck 30 – 34pdrs, quarter deck 2 – 9pdrs, and 14 – 32pdrs, carronades, fo’c’sle 2 – 9pdrs, and 2 – 24pdr, carronades, roundhouse 6 – 24pdrs, carronades.
Crew 700.
October 1800 commissioned under Capt. William Domett as a unit of the Channel fleet.

1801 Under command of Capt. George Lumsdaine.
October 1801 under command of Capt. Domett as the flagship of Admiral Sir William Cornwallis in the Channel fleet.
April 1802 under command of Capt. William Ricketts sailed for the Mediterranean 10 February 1803.
December 1803 under command of Capt. William Hargood to the West Indies.

Battle of Trafalgar 1805
Captained by William Hargood, she was the second ship in the British lee column at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and as such was engaged by the Franco-Spanish ships ACHILLE, AIGLE, NEPTUNE, FOUGUEUX, SANTA ANA, MONARCA, and SAN JUAN NEPOMUCENO. She was soon completely dismasted (the only British ship which suffered that fate), unable to manœuvre and largely unable to fight, as her sails blinded her batteries, but kept flying her flag for 45 minutes until the British ships behind her in the column came to her rescue. With 33 dead and 93 wounded, she was then towed to
Gibraltar after the battle by the frigate HMS NAIAD.
She was repaired in Plymouth.

April 1806 in Strachan squadron.
Admiral Strachan's squadron was ordered to prepare for sea during December at Plymouth, but like Warren's force, Strachan was trapped by strong winds in Cawsand Bay and could not sail until mid-January. Strachan's orders were to sail for Saint Helena and search for signs of the French squadrons. If their whereabouts could not be discovered, Strachan was to join the squadron under Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham detailed to invade the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. During February and March Strachan searched in vain, eventually receiving the news that Willaumez had anchored in neutral Salvador in Brazil during April. Steering northwest in the hope of intercepting the French squadron, Strachan was hampered by the presence of HMS ST GEORGE, which proved too slow for a flying squadron. Returning to Plymouth, Strachan detached ST GEORGE and CENTAUR, which had been made the flagship of the Rochefort blockade squadron and was given HMS BELLEISLE, HMS AUDACIOUS, and HMS MONTAGU as replacements, as well as two frigates.

Departing Plymouth on 19 May, Strachan sailed for the Caribbean, passing Madeira and the Canary Islands before anchoring at Carlisle Bay, Barbados on 8 August. Five days later Strachan sails northwards in pursuit of Willaumez and on 18 August was caught in the same hurricane that dispersed Willaumez's squadron slightly to the north. During August and September, Strachan's scattered ships gathered off the rendezvous point at the Chesapeake Bay in the hope of intercepting any French vessels seeking shelter in American ports. On 14 September, BELLEISLE, BELLONA and MELAMPUS sighted the limping French ship IMPÉTUEUX off Cape Henry and drove her ashore, burning the wreck in violation of American neutrality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_ ... gn_of_1806


Danish West Indies 1807
Following the concern in Britain that neutral Denmark was entering an alliance with Napoleon, the BELLEISLE sailed as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, who commanded the squadron of ships that were sent to occupy the Danish West Indies. The squadron, which included HMS PRINCE GEORGE, HMS NORTHUMBERLAND, HMS CANADA, HMS RAMILLIES, and HMS CERBERUS, captured TELEMACO, CARVALHO, and MASTER on 17 April 1807. The actual occupation of the Danish West Indies did not occur until December, after receipt of the news of the second battle of Copenhagen.
Channel Fleet

September 1809 laid up in Ordinary in Portsmouth, and in 1814 the decision was taken to have her broken up there in August 1814.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belleisle_(1795)
Great Britain 2005 1st sg 2547, scott?
Jersey 2005 33p sg 1247, scott?
Attachments
2005 British-Cutter--Entrepreante--with-dismasted-British--Belle.jpg
2005 Bellisle.jpg

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