ORION HMS 1787 ship-of-the-line

[aukepalmhof]

She was built as a 3rd Rate ship by Adams and Barnard in Deptford for the Royal Navy.
01 June 1787 launched under the name HMS ORION.
Tonnage 1.646 tons, dim. 170 x 47ft.
Armament: 28 – 32pdr, 30 – 24pdr, 16 – 9pdr. guns.
Crew 590.

1794 under command of Capt. John Thomas Duckworth she fought in the battle of the Glorious First of June, the first major naval engagement of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars 1792-1815.
Took part in the Battle of Île de Groix on 23 June 1795, where the British Channel Fleet sighted a French squadron of nine ships-of-the-line, in the battle that followed three French ships were captured.
During the action the ORION was under command of Captain James Saumarez.
1797 Took part still under command of Saumarez in the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797, where a small British fleet under command of Admiral John Jervis got a victory over a much larger Spanish force. Two Spanish ships were captured.

During the Battle of the Nile on 01 August 1789, Saumarez was second in command, still on board the ORION.

03 January 1799 paid off at Plymouth after a commission of five years.

16 March 1801 again commissioned under command of Capt. R.C. Reynolds at Plymouth.
09 April 1801 it was blowing to hard for ORION to go out into Cawsand Bay, a safe anchorage opposite Plymouth into the mouth of the Tamar estuary. After two days the wind moderated.
She sailed to Spithead to be manned prior to joining the North Sea Fleet.

12 September the ORION arrived from off Rochfort at Cawsand Bay, before she sailed to Ireland.
01 November the ORION, VENGEANCE and RESOLUTION experienced dreadful gales of wind during a storm, when she were embayed on the west coast of Ireland.

Under command of Capt. Cuthbert, ORION arrived at Portsmouth from Bantry Bay on 29 December 1801, and on 07 February 1802 she sailed for Jamaica with a squadron under command of Rear Admiral Campbell on board HMS TEMERAIRE.
24 June 1802 she returned to Portsmouth and one week later was she paid off and laid up.

1803 Under repair at Portsmouth.
May 1805 under command of Capt Edward Codrington and took part in the blockade off Cadiz in Lord Collingwood’s squadron.

21 October 1805 took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, and she was the eighth ship in the line led by Admiral Nelson, the Orion kept his fire when she approached the battle, till her fire could be released to give maximum effect.
First her fire hit the already before damaged French SWIFTSURE, who lost a mast when the ORION passed her, then she engaged the French INTREPIDE who was alongside the AFRICA and LEVIATHAN.
Codrington took the ORION around the stern of the INTREPIDE, then along her port side and then lay off her port quarter, shooting down a mast and her rudder was shot to pieces, her hull was severely damaging. The INTREPIDE struck her colours and was taken by the crew of the ORION.

During the battle the ORION had one man killed and 23 wounded.

After running repairs the next morning the ORION took the Spanish BAHAMAS in tow, but the day after during the big storm she had to abandon the tow.

The ORION stayed off Cadiz in the blockade of that port till December 1806.

1807 Command taken over by Capt. Sir A.C. Dickson and she served on the Downs station.
1808 Again under command of Saumarez in the Baltic.

17 November 1810 a court-martial was held on Mr. Henson Barker, assistant surgeon, who was accused of taking ashore the necessaries allowed to the sick of the ship. He was sentenced to be dismissed the service.
The following day William Fogwell, boatswain of ORION, was tried for drunkenness and beating a man unmercifully. He was dismissed his ship and ordered to serve in an inferior rate.
1811 At Spithead.
July 1814 broken up.

Guernsey 1986 14p sg361/2, scott?
Cayman Islands 2005