_RMG_J4028.jpg) Augusta
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} Great Britain | |
| Name | HMS Augusta |
| Ordered | 4 September 1733 |
| Builder | Deptford Dockyard |
| Launched | 1 July 1736 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1765 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | 1733 proposals 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 1067 |
| Length | 144 ft (43.9 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam | 41 ft 5 in (12.6 m) |
| Depth of hold | 16 ft 11 in (5.2 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament |
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HMS Augusta was a 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Deptford Dockyard, and launched on 1 July 1736.[1]
Augusta was active in the Caribbean during the Seven Years' War. Arthur Forrest became the ship's commander in 1757. On 23 December 1757 she sighted an armed 9-ship French convoy off of Haiti, which was disguised under neutral Dutch flags. The convoy, led by the 32-gun Le Mars, wrongly assumed Augusta was a Dutch warship. Forrest fired a broadside at Le Mars that resulted in the ship's surrender, as well was the capitulation of the entire convoy.[2] Forrest and Augusta captured the 400-ton French ship Pallas after a 5-day chase in October 1758. The prize, laden with oil, wine, and other goods, was valued at over two million livres.[3]
Augusta served until 1765, when she was broken up.[1]
This British ship served as the inspiration to Danish shipbuilder Andreas Gerner in designing the 50-gun ship-of-the-line HDMS Fyen. Senior lieutenant A Gerner had been impressed by Augusta's sailing qualities while he was on a study tour of Britain during the 1730s.[4]