|
AUGUSTA
|
(60) |
4th rate
|
Built in 1736, Deptford DY.
Broken up in 1765. |
|
|
- 1739 Capt. Peter LAWRENCE.
- 1740 Capt. Charles DENNISON.
- West Indies. On her arrival she was stationed as the third in Mr VERNON'S division and put to sea with him from Port Royal on 26th. January 1741. The wind dying away, the whole squadron was obliged to anchor and the AUGUSTA fell so far to leeward that she fell on a shoal which lay astern of her. She beat off her rudder and struck so hard that she became extremely leaky and had to be sent back into port to refit. AUGUSTA was not ready for sea until the middle of July.
- 1744 Capt. Hon John HAMILTON. On 3rd. January 1745 news from Plymouth that nearly 100 ships from Lisbon and Oporto had safely arrived in Plymouth under convoy of AUGUSTA, MARY GALLEY, SAPPHIRE and BALTIMORE. The masters of the ships commended Commodore HAMILTON for his care and will present him with a gold cup worth 100 L.
- In March 1745 AUGUSTA was acting as a cruiser on the Irish station and fell in with a 36-gun privateer during the night. After exchanging fire for a short time the enemy suddenly disappeared and they concluded that she had sunk; two men were killed and three wounded. Later in the cruise she captured a large French privateer belonging to St. Malo called La COMPTESSE de la RIVIERE (22), with 160 men, and took her into Kinsale.
- On 7 August AUGUSTA was with the Anglo-Dutch fleet, under Ad. Sir John BALCHEN in VICTORY, that sailed from Spithead with 200 sail of merchant ships for Portugal and the Mediterranean. On 9 September they were off Lisbon where they were joined by Charles HARDY's squadron and storeships which had been blockaded in the Tagus by the French Brest squadron. Ad. BALCHIN convoyed the storeships to Gibraltar and victualled the Mediterranean fleet before returning to search for the French. Finding that they had retired to Cadiz he sailed for England, entering the Bay of Biscay on 30 November. On 3 October, as they approached Ushant, the fleet was dispersed by a violent storm. Except for VICTORY, which was driven onto the coast of Alderney and lost with the Admiral, Capt. FAULKENER and more than 1100 sailors, the whole fleet, greatly damaged, arrived at St. Helens on 10 October.
- 1755 Capt. Saltern-William WILLET, Plymouth. His first lieutenant was John RUSHWORTH.
- 1756 Capt. Arthur FORREST, West Indies.
- Letter written by Rear Ad. COATS addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty, being nearly an exact copy of Capt. FORREST's report.
- "Port Royal, 9th. November 1756.
- On 25th. of last month capt. Forrest, with the Dreadnought (60), and the Edinburgh (68), under his command, returned from a cruise off Cape Francois; on the 28th. they fell in with seven French ships of war. At seven in the morning the Dreadnought made the signal for seeing the enemy fleet coming out of Cape Francois, and at noon discovered with certainty they were four ships of the line and three large frigates. Capt. Forrest then made the signal for the captains, Suckling and Langdon, who agreed with him to engage them; accordingly they all bore down; and in about twenty minutes after three the action began with great briskness on both sides. It continued for two hours and a half, when the French commodore making a signal, one of the frigates came to tow him out of the line, and the rest of the French ships followed him. Our ships had suffered so much in their mast, sails and rigging, that they were in no condition to pursue them . Both officers and seamen behaved with the greatest resolution the whole time of the action and were unhappy at the conclusion of it that their ships were not in a condition to follow the French, who had frigates to tow them off. The French on this occasion had put on board the Sceptre her full complement of guns, either from the shore or out of the India-ship and had also mounted the Outarde storeship with her full proportion of guns, and had taken not only the men out of the merchant ships but soldiers from the garrison in hopes their appearance would frighten our small squadron and, and oblige them to leave the coast clear for them to carry out their large convoy of merchant ships; but our captains were too gallant to be terrified of their formidable appearance. So far from avoiding them, they bore down and engaged them with the greatest resolution and good conduct; and I have the pleasure to acquaint their lordships, that the captains, officers, seamen and marines, have done their duty on this occasion much to their honour. I hope their good behaviour will be approved by their lordships."
- AUGUSTA had 9 men killed and 30 wounded. The French used a shot neglected by the English called Langridge, or Langrel, consisting of pieces of iron tied together, which was very destructive to rigging
- The enemy ships were the INTREPIDE and SCEPTRE of 74 guns each, OPINEATRE of 64, L'OUTARDE of 44; the GREENWICH of 50; and the SAVAGE and UNICORN of 30 guns each. AUGUSTA and EDINBURGH were extremely foul.
- 1757 Capt. Arthur FORREST. Jamaica.
In October he was sent by Rear Ad. COTES, with EDINBURGH (64) and DREADNOUGHT (60) under his command, to cruise off Cape Francois to intercept a convoy being assembled there. M. de Kersaint who was to escort the convoy, had been reinforced to seven ships including two 74s. When the French sailed on 21st October the British ships bore down in line to engage them. After an action lasting two and a half hours the French made off with casualties of more than 500, the British ships were too much damaged aloft to follow. AUGUSTA lost 9 killed, including the the 1st lieutenant, and 29 wounded, 12 dangerously, the other two ships 14 killed and 60 wounded. - On 24 November Capt. FORREST was sent to cruise off the island of Gonave (in the Gulf of Gonaives, Haiti) where he intended to cut out a rich fleet under the convoy of two merchant frigates.
On the 25th he disguised his ship with tarpaulins and hoisted Dutch colours and, in the late afternoon seven ships were seen sailing westward. To avoid raising their suspicions Capt. FORREST sailed away from them until after dark when he reversed his course and crowded on all sail in pursuit. He came alongside one ship and hailed her, threatening to sink her if she did not surrender without raising any alarm. He put a lieutenant and 35 men into her with instructions to stand off Petit Godve and intercept any ships entering the port. By dawn AUGUSTA was in the middle of the main convoy and three of the largest ships soon struck after they were fired on. Capt. FORREST used them to pursue the others and succeeded in capturing nine ships of considerable value carrying 112 guns and 415 men. - On 24 December 1759 Capt. FORREST captured the MARS, a French frigate of 32 guns - 12, 9, and 6 pounders, with her whole convoy bound from Port au Prince to Old France with sugar, indigo, coffee, cotton etc. worth 170,000 pounds. The MARS struck after receiving one broadside and the others followed her example. They were La THEODORE (22); La MARGARETTA (16); Le ST. PIERRE (16); Le SOLIDE (14); Le FLORE (14); Le MORRICE le GRAND (18); le BRILLIANT (14); and Le MONETTE, a brigantine of 10 guns.
- Capt. FORREST returned to England shortly after and was appointed to CENTAUR.
|
|
|
