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Built as a 1st Rate three-decker ship-of-the-line by the Royal Dockyard at Chatham for the Royal Navy.
1670 Launched as PRINCE, sometimes wrongly given as ROYAL PRINCE.
Tonnage 1.395 ton (bm), dim. 167 x 45.6 x 19ft.
Armament, 26 – 42pdr., 28 – 18 pdr., 44 – 6 pdr. guns.
Crew maximum 780.

1672 In service as flagship for the Duke of York, then Lord High Admiral of England, and the later King James II.
She was designed by Phineas Pett, and was a successor to the ROYAL SOVEREIGN.
26 May 1672 took part in the Battle of Solebay, in the Third Anglo Dutch War. In the battle she was badly damaged and the Duke had to shift his flag three times.
28 May and 4 June 1673 took part in the Battle of Schooneveldt near the Scheldt estuary, and the Battle of Texel on 11 August 1673. She was during these battles the flagship of Admiral Sir Edmund Spragge of the Blue Squadron.
1692 Was she rebuilt, and all useable timbers and equipment used for the rebuilding, (mostly when a warship was rebuild almost a complete new ship was built.)
Renamed in ROYAL WILLIAM in honour of King William III.
Tonnage 1.568 (bm), dim. 167.5 x 47ft.
Armament 100 guns.

19 May 1692 took part in the Battle of Barfleur.

03 September 1719 launched after rebuilt at Portsmouth, tonnage then 1.918 (bm), dim. 175.4 x 50.3 x 20.1ft.
After completing laid up.
April 1757 commissioned.
04 April 1758 took part in the Battle of Ile d’Aix near Rochefort, France.
1758 Took part in the Capture of Louisburg, Nova Scotia, and September 1759 in the Capture of Quebec.
1762 Decommissioned.
August 1782 recommissioned.
1782 Armament: lower deck 28 – 68pdr. carronades, main deck 28 – 18 pdrs., upper deck 28 -9 pdr. forecastle 2 – 9pdr. guns.
Crew 650.
Used for Lord Howe’s relief at Gibraltar.
1783 Paid off.

The 68pdr. guns were in May 1784 replaced by 24pdrs.

May 1790 commissioned as a receiving ship under command of Capt. George Gayton, as flagship of Vice-Admiral Robert Roddam at Portsmouth.
September 1791 paid off.
February 1793 recommissioned, as receiving ship again under command of Gayton but as flagship of Admiral Sir. Peter Parker.
1794 Under command of Capt. Francis Pickmore, flagship of Admiral Mark Milbank.
Between 1800 and 1801 refitted at Portsmouth and from September 1803 again in service.
1805 Flagship of Admiral George Montagu.
July 1807 flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin.
1809 Flagship of Admiral Sir Roger Curtis.
1812 Flagship of Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton.
August 1813 broken up at Portsmouth.

The painting after which the stamp is designed is painted by Jan Karel Donatus van Beecq, and in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, U.K.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/pages/mnuExplo ... ID=BHC0976

(Receiving ships: were mostly old navy ships for the reception of recruits of the navy, especially those brought in through impressments. They were usually to be found at the larger ports, decrepit and foul hulks with a bad reputation.)

Paraquay 1972 12.45g sg? Scott 1433.

Source: Navicula. Log Book. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 by Winfield. A Dictionary of British Ships and Seaman by Uden & Cooper.
Ships of the Royal Navy by J.J. Colledge.

HMS Prince or HMS Royal Prince (First Rate Ship of the Line) 1670

HMS Prince or HMS Royal Prince depicted on both stamps but on Paraguay stamp date of 1679 is date of painting not date of built.

She was built to the orders Charles-II, when Samuel Pepys was his Secretary to the Admiralty. She was built at Chatham under the supervision, and to the designs, of Phineas Pett, the finest English shipyard of the time.

She was a first rate of 100 guns ship of the line built in 1670. She was 167' long with a beam of 45,5' and had a builders measurement tonnage of 1,395.

A contemporary shipyard model (today at theScience Museum London) and a drawing by Willem van de Velde the Elder (today in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) give a good impression how she looked. Especially her stern was extensively decorated with gilded carvings.

During the Third Anglo-Dutch War she served as a flagship of the later king James II, then Duke of York and Lord High Admiral. During the Battle of Solebay (1672) she was in the centre of the English fleet that was attacked by the Dutch centre led by Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. The Prince was heavily damaged by De Ruyter's flagship De Zeven Provinciën in a two hours' duel and Captain of the Fleet Sir John Cox was killed on board. The Duke of York was forced to shift his flag toHMS St Michael. The Prince's second captain, John Narborough, however conducted himself with such conspicuous valour that he won special approbation and was knighted shortly afterwards.

HMS Prince was rebuilt by Robert Lee at Chatham Dockyard in 1692, and renamed at the same time as HMS Royal William. During the War of the Grand Alliance the ship saw action at the Battle of Barfleur of 19 May 1692. The Prince belonged to the red squadron and carried the flag of Rear Admiral of the Red Sir Cloudesley Shovell. She was the first ship to break the French line during the battle.

Later she was rebuilt for a second time by John Naish at Portsmouth Dockyard from 1714, relaunching on 3 September 1719. She was laid up after her re-launch and saw no service at all until she was reduced to an 84-gun Second rate ship in 1756. One year later, she was part of an unsuccessful expedition against Rochefort led by Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. Her squadron, under Vice-Admiral Charles Knowles, attacked the Île-d'Aix and forced her garrison to surrender. In 1758 she participated in Boscawen's and Wolfe's attack on the French Fortress of Louisbourg (Nova Scotia) and an indecisive skirmish with a French squadron.

The following year the Royal William returned to Canada under the command of CaptainHugh Pigot to join the attack on Quebec. After the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the capture of Quebec she sailed back to England with the body of General Wolfe. In 1760 the Royal William was Boscawen's flagship when he took command of the fleet in Quiberon Bay. However, after a severe gale he was forced to return and shift his flag to the Namur. During the expedition against Belle Île of 1761 she was detached with several other ships to cruise off Brest and prevent a French counter-attack from there.

The Seven Years' War seems to be the last time that the Royal William played an active role. She was broken up in 1813.

Angola, 1969, 12,000 Kzr. S.G.?, Scott; 965.

Paraguay, 1972, 12,45Gs, S.G.?, Scott;1433.

Source: Wikipedia.