Lichfield was built as a replacement to the previous HMS Lichfield which had been broken up in 1744, and used some of the timbers from that vessel.[2] In June 1756, under Captain Matthew Barton, Lichfield captured the French ship of the line Arc-en-Ciel off Louisbourg, Nova Scotia during the Seven Years' War.
In November 1758 Lichfield, was assigned to a squadron under the command of Commodore Augustus Keppel, with orders to transport troops to West Africa to capture the island of Gorée from the French.[3] The ship left Cork Harbour, Ireland on 11 November 1758 along with four larger ships of the line, and six smaller vessels.[a]
Lichfield was assigned to lead the squadron. At nightfall on the sixteenth day at sea her sailing master estimated their position as being around 350 miles (563.3 kilometres) from shore. This proved to be incorrect, as at dawn the following morning Lichfield ran aground on the Barbary Coast.[4]
Loss of HMS Litchfield off the coast of Barbary 30 Nov 1758
According to the account of Lieutenant Southerland:
At six in the morning I was awakened by a very great shock, and a confused noise of the men on deck. I ran up, thinking some ship had run afoul of us, for by my own reckoning, and that of every other person on the ship, we were at least 35 leagues distant from land; but, before I could reach the quarter-deck, the ship gave a great stroke upon the ground, and the sea broke over her.[5]
The ship was badly damaged, and broke apart during the day. Around 220 of the 350 crew managed to reach the shore. They were captured and held as slaves for 18 months until ransomed with other Europeans in April 1760.[5]
Citations
Notes
^The ships in the squadron were Torbay (80), Nassau (70), Fougueux (64), Dunkirk (60), Lichfield (50), Prince Edward (44), Experiment (24), Roman Emperor (8) (fireship), Saltash (14), and the bomb vesselsFiredrake (12) and Furnace (8).[3]
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Great Britain