Fire Aboard HMS Queen Charlotte

foreign Charlotte was a mighty ship launched in 1790 the 100 gun first-rate ship of the line was one of the most powerful ships in the most powerful navy of its day she was the flagship of the channel Fleet at the largest Battle of the French Revolutionary Wars the scourge of the French Navy and yet 223 years ago this week accident did what the french navy could not the website of the Penobscot Maritime Museum was likely being deliberately understated when they said as one can imagine Wooden Ships and fire do not make for a good day at sea the March 1800 disaster aboard HMS Queen Charlotte deserves to be remembered the idea of rating ships of the English Navy goes back as far as the fleet of Henry VIII whose fleet was divided between ships galleys Pinnacles and row barges was nearly a century later during the reign of Charles the first that the system was revised to measured by rank the ranks were not initially determined by the number of guns that the ship carried but were an administrative measure based on the size of the crew and thus the ship's ranks approximated the cost to operate the ship smaller vessels might be fourth fifth or even sixth rank but the first rank was reserved for the largest ships originally called ships Royal ranks were shown on tables that would help a sovereign determine the costs of keeping ships in service in fact a tax that had originated in medieval times called ship money intended to pay for Royal Naval vessels helped to drive the resentment that would draw England into Civil War eventually resulting in Charles the First's execution the 1660 restoration of the monarchy brought changes including For the First Time The designation Royal Navy under Charles II the system was changed from Counting crew to Counting gun carriages a necessary change in that the size of Crews had grown substantially making the old ranked tables irrelevant the size and weight of the gun served as an approximation of the amount of crew the ship would need to carry and also served to define whether a ship was powerful enough to stand in a line of battle the typical formation used for Fleet engagements from the 17th through the middle 19th century the system which should change terms from ranks to rates was largely standardized under the famous Naval administrator Samuel peeps this was a time when the Royal Navy was frequently engaged during the anglo-dutch wars by the middle of the 18th century ships considered suitable for the line of battle range from third-rate chips carrying 70 to 80 guns second rate chips carrying 84 to 98 guns and first-rate ships carrying at least 100 guns but in fact by far the largest number of ships of the line were the Third Rate ships in the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar during the war of the third Coalition one of the largest and most famous engagements of the 19th century between the Royal Navy and the combined franco-spanish Fleet the Royal Navy Fleet included only three first-rate ships including HMS Victory Flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson still preserved in Dry Dock at Portsmouth Harbor first-rate ships of the line often served as flagships for Admirals and were expensive enough to operate that usually handful were kept in service at any given time and they were usually considered too valuable for distant postings where second rate chips served as flagships so when we talk about the 100 gun First Rate ship of the line HMS Queen Charlotte laid down in 1785 and launched in 1790. we're talking about one of the most powerful warships of the day the pride of the royal Navy at a time when the Royal Navy only had four such vessels named after the queen consort of George III built at Chatham dockyard and designed by master builder Edward hunt although built after his death HMS Queen Charlotte was of the same draft as another first-rate ship of the line HMS Royal George and constructed simultaneously Royal George and Queen Charlotte were the two largest ships that had ever been constructed for the Royal Navy in 1794 Admiral Lord Howe chose HMS Queen Charlotte as the flagship of the channel Fleet and in that role she was at the heart of the first and largest naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars The Battle of the British called The Glorious first of June while friendships at the time were generally somewhat heavier the French navy had been hit hard in the revolution with many of its most experienced officers killed or dismissed During the period called the reign of terror the goal of the French Commander rear Admiral Louis Thomas vire de joyu did not seek to engage but rather to draw the British away from a vital Convoy of food being sent from America having drawn house attention the array de joyu attempted to escape in the night but how had the weather gauge and was able to bring the French to battle Hal then called for his Fleet to engage in an unusual strategy instead of sailing in line Howe ordered his Fleet to turn into the French line it was a gamble I was counting on the inexperienced French Gunners to react slowly allowing the British to close but Hal's own fleet was confused by the order and several ships executed the maneuver poorly but HMS Queen Charlotte was not one of those Hal took his ship directly into the French Center where she badly mauled Via de joyu's Flagship damaged several other ships and forced one foot chip to surrender the battle was a tactical victory for the Royal Navy getting the best of the print in the fight but a strategic loss as the Supply Convoy successfully got through a year later in June of 1795 HMS Queen Charlotte again distinguished herself in the Battle of Gua playing a central role in chasing down and capturing Three French ships of the line HMS Queen Charlotte was a powerful vessel which had proven itself in combat against the best ships of the French Fleet five years later France and Britain were again at War this time called The War of the second Coalition HMS Queen Charlotte was in the Mediterranean the flagship of vice admiral Lord Keith on March 16th Keith left the ship Landing in Northern Italy at the Port that the English called Leghorn but the Italians call Livorno giving orders to the ship's Captain James Todd to reconorder the French occupied island of Capra the ship was still close to shore quite visible to Lord Keith when she caught fire it might seem incongruous to worry about fire while literally on the ocean but the website shipping Wonders of the World explains the chief dread of every old-time Seafarer was fire the reason is simple the website 1632 explains wooden chips were some of the biggest fire traps ever invented they're composed of wood dried with pitch-soaked rope used as caulking with canvas sails and rope stays Sailors have been well aware of the dangers of fire and in the year 1800 the crew of HMS Queen Charlotte would have been experienced and professional but dangers always exist in this case the cause was a bit of carelessness a report in the European magazine in London review wrote the accident was occasioned by the fire of a match which was kept lighted for the purpose of firing some signal guns and was communicated to some hay which lay on the half deck in enemy Waters the ship kept signal guns at the ready to warn other ships if an enemy was cited this meant keeping lit matches burning rope used to fire cannon in a bucket isn't clear why there was hay on the half deck but that might have been betting straw that was being aired out ship's Carpenter John braid made an eyewitness report about 20 minutes after six yesterday morning he was dressing himself he heard throughout the ship a general Cry of fire in which he immediately ran up the four ladder to get up on deck and found the whole half deck the front bulkhead in the Admiral's cabin the main Mast and the boats covering the booms All In Flames the fire spread quickly the European magazine in London review continues the fire spread very rapidly and burned through the portals in the hatchway of the ship and soon caught the shrouds HMS Queen Charlotte Was preparing to go underway was in full sail the flame quickly reached the cloth sails braid writes the Mainsail at this time was set and almost entirely caught fire the people not able to come to the clue garnets that is the ropes that attached to the lower part of the sail used to furl it on account of the flames on land lord Keith could see the fire the European magazine in London review explains when Lord Keith had the mortification of discovering the Queen Charlotte on fire four or five leagues at Sea he was almost frantic he immediately gave orders for all the vessels and boats to be put off and every assistance to be given the crew was desperately fighting The Blaze braid reported that he immediately went to the focal and found Lieutenant Dundas in the boson encouraging people to get water to extinguish the fire he applied to Mr Dundas seeing no other officer on the forepth of the ship and being unable to see any of the quarter deck from the flames and smoke between them to give him assistance to drown the lower decks and to secure the hatches to prevent the fire falling down Lieutenant Dundas accordingly went down himself with his many people as he could Prevail upon to follow him and the Lord dexports were opened and the scupper's plugged the main M4 hatches secured the Cox turned and water drawn in at the port and the pumps kept going by the people who came down as long as they could stand at them this was a desperate move done this in some 70 men were trying to flood the lower part of the ship to keep the fire from reaching the ship's Powder Room the fire reached the powder the explosion would destroy the ship it was a brave act placing those men endangered themselves Antoine Banner an author who writes about the period noted on his website it must have been hell below decks by that stage burning wood and rigging was falling down the hatchways filling the space with steam as well as smoke done this and his men managed to get the hatches closed and covered with wet hammocks to keep the fire away from the lower deck and magazine above the fire was raging the European magazine and London review reports the ship came to an acre as the wind blew strongly off the land but the Flames were too rapid and that very hopes could be entertained of saving her between eight and nine o'clock the mast in rigging caught fire and made an awful Blaze the crew however cut the mass by the board and going over the ship they no longer threatened Mischief but the fire had taken strung hold of the body of the vessel and continued to rage below decks Dundas and his men did the best they could braid reported he thinks that by their exertions the lower deck was kept free from fire and the magazines preserved for a long time from danger nor did Lieutenant Dundas or he quit the station but remained there with all the people who they could Avail upon to stay until several of the middle deck guns came through the deck the men had bravely protected the vital lower Dax but as the ship burned the heavy guns from the deck above fell through the deck and the crew could no longer protect the lower deck some of those guns were cooking off that his powder inside was going off it's had a terrible effect as the European magazine in London review explains the people in the boats and other vessels who had gone from Leghorn were so alarmed for fear of the shaft that they would not approach the ship their concerned that they were at risk from the Cannons caught in the fire was not in fact warranted as European magazine in London review explains but in fact the danger was not so great as the people of the vessels from Leghorn imagined for the guns were not shotted and never having been the custom of Lord Keith or his captain to have the guns shot it till they were going into action this meant that the rescue vessels with Lord Keith were deterred not only from helping to fight the fire but from rescuing the crew there were however other heroic acts notable because some of the men involved have been part of the spithead Mutiny in 1797. the European magazine in London review continues here we must mention that some of the queen Charlotte's own crew who had rode Lord key to Shore and particularly some of the men who had were principal mutineers three years ago at spithead behaved with the most generous bravery despising all danger they approached the ship and saved many of their Gallant countrymen there were some American boats nearby as well and some of their Crews braved the Flames to rescue members of the crew among those was the brave Lieutenant Dundas braid reported he continued about an hour on the Folk Soul and finding all efforts to extinguish the Flames unavailing he jumped from the jib boom and Swan to an American boat approaching the ship by which he was picked up but too few boats came the European magazine in London reviewed laments but unfortunately the impression was made on the minds of the persons near the Queen Charlotte that the guns occasioned going off were loaded was shocked and nothing could remove their fears or do something to approach the ship otherwise the whole crew might have been saved hundreds have been climbed out on the bowsprit and some of the Italian boatsmen came close enough to save many of them as well but many found no such respite among them the ship's Captain Andrew Todd whose efforts to save his ship were unrecorded dying apparently with him and 672 other officers and Men of his crew the European magazine and London review writes the ship continued to burn about four hours and at 11 o'clock it blew up with a tremendous explosion she sunk and in a moment left not a wrecked behind the Royal Navy did not mourn the loss of the ship for very long in 1810 a new 104 gun ship of the line was christened HMS Queen Charlotte Lieutenant dundas's heroism that day was recognized he was given his own command a sixth straight ship by the time that he retired he was a rear Admiral in command of the ship of the line he served in Parliament and in August of 1834 was made first Naval Lord making him the head of the royal Navy although he passed away just two months later the loss of one of the greatest ships in the world to something as trivial as some matches and some straw really represents the risks of the age of sale in fact fire is still a great risk aboard ships today but the loss of the 673 officers and crew of HMS Queen Charlotte really represents a much larger number because as the website shipping Wonders of the World notes fire likely accounts for around half of all vessels in history that have been listed is missing which means a ghost of the men who died aboard HMS Queen Charlotte might represent as many as hundreds of thousands of other Mariners who faced a similar fate and yet most of whose stories are lost to history I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 45,723

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: agwBZqRIfAY

Length: 14min 25sec (865 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 20 2023