Lord Howe's action, or the Glorious First of June by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, painted 1795, shows the two flagships engaged on 1 June 1794. Queen Charlotte is to the left and Montagne to the right.
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Queen Charlotte
NamesakeCharlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Ordered12 December 1782
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Laid down1 September 1785
Launched15 April 1790
Completed7 July 1790
FateBurned and exploded 17 March 1800
General characteristics [1]
Class and type100-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen2,286
Length190 ft (58 m) (gundeck)
Beam52 ft 5.5 in (15.989 m)
Depth of hold22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 100 guns:
  • Gundeck: 30 × 32-pounder guns
  • Middle gundeck: 28 × 24-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 10 × 12-pounder guns
  • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

HMS Queen Charlotte was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1790 at Chatham. She was built to the draught of Royal George designed by Sir Edward Hunt, though with a modified armament.[1]

Queen Charlotte shown in the preliminary action which led, two days later, to the engagement known as 'Battle of the Glorious First of June

History

In 1794 Queen Charlotte was the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, and in 1795 under Captain Andrew Snape Douglas she took part in the Battle of Groix.

In 1798, some of her crew were court-martialed for mutiny.[2]

Fate

The Burning of the Queen Charlotte of 110 Guns Lord Keith's flagship off the Harbour of Leghorn, in the Mediterranean, 17 March 1800

At about 6am on 17 March 1800, whilst operating as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, Queen Charlotte was reconnoitring the island of Capraia, in the Tuscan Archipelago, when she caught fire. Keith was not aboard at the time and observed the disaster from the shore.[3]

The fire was believed to have resulted from someone having accidentally thrown loose hay on a match tub. Two or three American vessels lying at anchor off Leghorn were able to render assistance, losing several men in the effort as the vessel's guns, which were loaded, cooked off in the heat. Captain A. Tod wrote several accounts of the disaster that he gave to sailors to give to the Admiralty should they survive. He himself perished with his ship. The crew was unable to extinguish the flames and at about 11am the ship blew up with the loss of 673 officers and men.[3]

Citations

  1. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p183.
  2. ^ MacDougall, Phillip (2022). "The Naval Mutinies of 1798". The Mariner's Mirror. 108 (4). Society for Nautical Research: 423–438. doi:10.1080/00253359.2022.2117457. S2CID 253161503.
  3. ^ a b Gossett (1986), pp. 26–7.

References

  • Gossett, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793–1900. Mansell. ISBN 0-7201-1816-6.
  • Lavery, Brian (2003): The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008): British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1793 - 1817. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.

External links


Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1800
Categories