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BLENHEIM
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(90) |
2nd rate
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Built in 1761, Woolwich DY.
Lost in 1807. |
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- She was launched on 5 July 1761 and in September Capt. William GORDON was appointed command her.
In the following spring he was advanced to be Commodore and Commander in Chief of the ships in the Medway and at the Nore, a position he held for the remainder of the war.
On 21 October 1762 he was promoted to Rear Admiral. 1762 Capt. James CRANSTON, she sailed for the Mediterranean on 28th. May to relieve the NEPTUNE, and, under the King's orders, to renew the treaties with the Barbary States. - 1799 Out of commission at Chatham.
- 1801 After being inspected by the Navy Board (Sir A. Snape Hammond, Comptroller; Clerk of the Acts Hartwell; Commissioner Hope and Sir John Henslow, Surveyor) at Chatham on 15 January 1801, BLENHEIM was ordered to be cut down to a 74 gun ship.
With Capt. T. P. BOVER (act.) she became the flagship of Vice Ad.A. DICKSON, C-in-C North Sea. - She arrived in Portsmouth from the Downs on 26 April 1802 and was employed as a Guardship at Portsmouth.
Flagship of Ad.M. MILBANKE.
In October, when she was ordered to be stored for four months, the rumours in Portsmouth were that she was bound for the Mediterranean, but on the 31th. she dropped down to St. Helen's and sailed for the West Indies.
It took her one month to reach Martinique. - 1803 Capt. Henry MATSON.
Trinidad.
Bearing the flag of Commodore Samuel HOOD, C-in-C Leeward Is until July 1803 when she became a private ship and Capt. MATSON joined VENUS. - Capt. Thomas GRAVES.
On 15 September 1803 he discovered a small schooner endeavouring to enter Fort Royal Bay in Martinique.
Because it was nearly calm she was rowing with her sweeps but Lieut. FURBER in BLENHEIM's pinnace and Lieut. CAMPBELL in the barge were able to cut her off after an hour and a half hard rowing. She was carried under a fire of grape and musketry but fortunately no lives were lost.
The prize, mounting two carriage guns was the FORTUNEE. - On 17 October BLENHEIM and ULYSSES recaptured the English sloop CORIANTHUS.
- When he discovered that the French privateer L'HARMONIE, with a prize, had put into Marin St. Ann's Bay, Martinique, Capt. GRAVES determined to capture her.
It was not until the 16th. that he was able to beat up from Diamond Rock and found that the harbour was protected by a battery on each side of the entrance and another above the town. He detached 60 marines under Lieuts. Beatie and Boyd to storm Fort Dunkirk, a battery of six 24-pounders and eighteen 3-pounders, on the right side, and 60 seamen under Lieuts. COLE and FURBER to attack the privateer He was joined by DRAKE and her Capt. FERRIS volunteered to command the seamen and added 14 to their number. The boats with the seamen were towed in by DRAKE and the marines by the SWIFT hired cutter. The fort was taken by surprise and, after the marines charged in with bayonets, 15 prisoners were sent on board SWIFT. The guns were spiked and their carriages destroyed; the magazine was blown up but the barracks were not burnt as they stood by a field of sugar cane. The seamen passed one battery undiscovered but had to attack the privateer under heavy fire. She was soon boarded and carried.
L'HARMONIE was armed with 8 carriage guns and had 66 men at the attack. Of these 2 were killed, 14 wounded and a number drowned when they jumped overboard. BLENHEIM had one man killed and two wounded, DRAKE, three wounded. The boats brought the privateer out past the fire from the other battery without damage or casualties. - BLENHEIM's barge and pinnace made an unsuccessful attempt to cut out a French national schooner from St. Pierre on the night of 4 March 1804. Fifty officers and men were led by Lieut. FURBER but found that the schooner was protected by netting up to the lower mast-heads and her sweeps were rigged on each side. Under heavy fire from soldiers lining the beach they managed to cut her cables but she only drifted ashore and hopes of bringing her out were given up.
One seaman and two marines were killed and five officers, eleven seamen and three marines were wounded. - 1805 Capt. Austen BISSELL, East Indies.
Flagship of Vice Ad. Sir Thomas TROUBRIDGE.
At the end of 1806 BLENHEIM sailed under jury masts from Pulo Penang, after running aground at the entrance to the Straits of Penang, to Madras where she was found to be hogged and totally unfit for sea; in fact the pumps were barely able to cope with the water coming in when she was at anchor.
Despite protests by his captain, Sir Thomas insisted in sailing in her to the Cape of Good Hope when Sir Edward PELLEW took over as commander in chief. - She left Madras on 12 January 1807 with JAVA and HAZARD but, on 5 February, HAZARD lost contact with her two consorts during a gale off the island of Rodriguez and they were not seen again.
When last sighted both had signals of distress flying and BLENHEIM appeared to be settling in the water.
It is possible that JAVA ran foul of the sinking BLENHEIM while trying to rescue Sir Thomas TROUBRIDGE The Admiral's son, Capt. Edward TROUBRIDGE, in GREYHOUND, cruised to Mauritius, Madagascar and the Cape in a desperate search for his father before returning to India.
Two lucky young men were Edward DELAFOSSE and George GOSLING who were placed on board FOX to prevent them remaining idle while BLENHEIM was undergoing repairs at Pulo PENANG. They were instructed to rejoin BLENHEIM at the Cape. - The JAVA was commanded by Capt. George PIGOT and the joint crews of the two ships amounted to at least 1,000 people.
HARRIER foundered in the same general area about March 1809.
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