Built as a sixth-rate wooden ship by Hugh Blaydens, Hull for the Royal Navy.
13 April 1756 ordered.
05 June 1756 keel laid down.
25 May 1756 named HMS ROSE.
08 March 1757 launched, one of the Seaford class.
Tonnage 444 ton (bm), dim. 108.11 x 30.4 x 9.8ft., length of keel 90.10ft
Armament: upper deck 20 – 9 pdr. guns.
Crew 160.
January 1757 commissioned under command of Captain Charles Webber.
May 1758 a unit of Howe’s squadron.
From June till September 1758 took part in the operations at St Malo, Cherbourg, and St Cas.
Around April 1760 a unit of Rodney’s squadron sailed for the Leeward Islands.
1761 she took the privateer La REVANCHE on 13 November 1761.
26 February 1762 she sailed to St Lucia to be part of the force that captured St Lucia from the French.
June till August 1762 in the Havana operations
July till October 1762 at Martinique.
May 1764 paid off.
April 1767 till June 1768 under repair and outfitting in Sheerness.
April 1768 recommissioned under command of Captain Benjamin Caldwell. 13 August 1768 sailed for North America.
1771 Ordered home after arrival fitted out in Sheerness for foreign service.
08 May 1772 sailed for New Foundland.
27 November 1774 she arrived at Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island to replace the schooner GASPEE which had been burned by a band of Providence men on 09 June 1772 under command of James Wallace, she was sent to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island also to put an end to the lucrative smuggling which had made Newport the fourth wealthiest city in America. At this time Rhode Island enjoyed a very liberal charter of self-government dating back to the time of King Charles, a charter so liberal that Rhode Island was the only colony permitted to appoint its own customs agents. The combination of this lax custom arrangement and the natural protection of Narragansett Bay allowed Rhode Island merchants to broker the best trade deals in the Colonies. Even during the French and Indian War, products from the French West Indies flowed through Newport. Since the ROSE was much larger than any American vessel of the time, and Captain Wallace was very efficient at his job (the Rhode Islanders considered him to be a brutal pirate) smuggling soon came to a relative standstill. This so decimated the economy of Newport that four-fifths of the population moved inland. Rhode Island’s powerful merchants petitioned their colonial legislature (which had relocated to Providence from Newport) to create a navy deal with Wallace. They backed up their petitions with money by refitting a merchant vessel, the square topsail schooner for naval service. This vessel has commissioned the sloop of war PROVIDENCE. Within a year or so PROVIDENCE (on Grenada Grenadines 1976 50c sg180.
http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=2&t=8797 ) became the first naval command of John Paul Jones. Rhode Island also initiated the Declaration of Independence by declaring its own independence from Britain on 4 May 1776, two full months before the rest of the colonies. And by petitioning Congress to form a Continental Navy to rid Narragansett Bay of the ROSE, the creation of the United States Navy may be directly attributed to the presence of the HMS ROSE.
In July of 1776, the HMS ROSE played a large part in the British invasion of New York, shelling the land-based fortification and making forays far up the Hudson River. Captain James Wallace was knighted for his actions in helping to drive Washington and his troops from the city.
Later the same year was she ordered home.
1777 Under command of James Reid sailed again for North America.
In 1778 under command of Captain Philips Brown and a unit of Parker’s squadron at Savannah.
The HMS ROSE finally met her end on 19 September 1779 in Savannah, Georgia. At that time the British occupied the city and the French who were now fighting on the side of the Americans sent a fleet up the Savannah River to attack the British from the riverfront while Americans aided by Poles and other allies continued an assault from the rear. The British scuttled HMS ROSE in Five Fathom Hole in a narrow part of the channel effectively turning her into an aquatic roadblock. Consequently, the French fleet was unable to approach within range and Savannah remained in British hands until the war’s end.
Admiralty-Office, 21 December 1779: Captain Christian, of his Majesty's armed ship the VIGILANT, arrived here early this morning, with a letter from Capt Henry of his Majesty's ship the FOWEY, to Mr. Stephens, dated in Savannah River, Georgia, Nov 8, 1779, of which the following is an extract:-
'It being apprehended the enemy's ships might come too near the town, and annoy the rear of our lines, it was judged expedient to sink a number of vessels to stop the passage; his Majesty's ship ROSE, making at this time seventeen inches water an hour, after sheathing her as low as we could at Cockspur, her bottom worm-eaten quite through, and stern rotten, as appears by a survey of shipwrights held on her a short time before, wherein it was declared she could not float two months.
Her men, guns, and ammunition being onshore, I thought her the most eligible to sink, as weight would keep her across the channel, when lighter vessels could not, owing to the rapidity of the current, and hard sand bottom, which prevented them sticking fast where they sunk. The SAVANNAH armed ship, purchased into the King's service by order of commodore Sir James Wallace sometime before, was scuttled and sunk also; four transports were sunk besides, which blocked up the channel..
[Saunders's News-Letter, Tuesday, 28.12.1779]
After the war, the ROSE was destroyed to clear the channel. Only a few artifacts, brought up in dredging operations over the years, remain from what was once the British frigate HMS ROSE.
Jersey 1976 11p sg, scott162.
St Lucia 1973 $1 sg355, scott340.
Central African Republic 2021 850 FCFA, sgMS?, Scott? and in margin MS 3300 sg?, Scott?
(Although this edition is authorized by the Central African Postal Administration, it was not sold in Central Africa, but only distributed to the novelty trade by the Central African Philatelic Agency.)
Source: Log Book. Gather the Shadowmen by Mark M. McMillin. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714 – 1792 by Rif Winfield.
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