HMS Hercule
| File:Fight of the Poursuivante mp3h9426.jpg Fight of the Poursuivante – 28th of June 1803, by Louis-Philippe Crépin (detail) HMS Hercule receives raking fire | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| File:Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svgFrance | |
| Name | Hercule |
| Namesake | Hercules |
| Ordered | 14 August 1793 |
| Builder | Lorient shipyard |
| Laid down | June 1794 |
| Launched | 5 October 1797 |
| Completed | March 1798 |
| Captured | 21 April 1798 |
| File:Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svgGreat Britain | |
| Name | HMS Hercule |
| Acquired | 21 April 1798 |
| Fate | Broken up in December 1810 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class & type | Téméraire-class ship of the line |
| Displacement | 3,069 tonneaux |
| Tons burthen |
|
| Length | 55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied) |
| Beam | 14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in) |
| Draught | 7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied) |
| Propulsion | Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails |
| Armament |
|
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HMS Hercule was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was previously Hercule, a Téméraire class ship of the line of the French Navy, but was captured on her maiden voyage in 1798, and spent the rest of her career as a British ship. She was broken up in 1810.
French career and capture
[edit | edit source]During her maiden journey, on 21 April 1798, and just 24 hours out of port, she was captured by the British ship HMS Mars after a violent fight at the Battle of the Raz de Sein, off Île de Sein near Brest. Hercule attempted to escape through the Passage du Raz, but the tide was running in the wrong direction, and she was forced to anchor, giving the British the chance to attack at close quarters. The two ships were of equal force, both seventy-fours, but Hercule was newly commissioned; after more than an hour and a half of bloody fighting at close quarters she struck her colours at 10.30 pm, having lost — by her own officers' estimate — 290 men killed and wounded. On Mars, 31 men were killed, including her captain, Alexander Hood, and 60 wounded. Captain Louis Lhéritier of Hercule was wounded by sabre and spike leading his boarding party.[3]
The Hercule was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Hercule.
British career
[edit | edit source]In mid-1803, the squadron under Captain Henry William Bayntun, consisting of Cumberland, Hercule, Bellerophon, Elephant, and Vanguard captured Poisson Volant and Superieure.[4] The Royal Navy took both into service.
In May 1803, Hercule's captain Solomon Ferris died suddenly on board the ship.
On 28 June 1803, during the Blockade of Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean Hercule was under First Lieutenant John B. Hills, acting captain as Ferris had died a month before. She encountered the French frigate Poursuivante and the corvette Mignonne, and attempted to capture Poursuivante. However, the latter outmaneuvered and delivered raking fire to assure her escape. Hercule was stricken across its rigging and dropped out of the fight. Louis-Philippe Crépin painted the sails, sky, smoke and fire in his relevant seascape. HMS Goliath then captured Mignonne.
Hercule, under Captain Dun, participated in the failed attempt in January 1804 to capture Curaçao.
Hercule, was caught in a Hurricane off San Domingo between 4 and 11 September 1804, both she and HMS Theseus were badly damaged, but eventually survived to reach Port Royal on 15 September.
Fate
[edit | edit source]She was broken up in 1810.[5]
See also
[edit | edit source]Citations
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). P. 161
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Roche, p.240
References
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S. (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
