HMS Namur (1756)
 HMS Namur at the Battle of Lagos | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
| |
| Name: | HMS Namur |
| Ordered: | 12 July 1750 |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard |
| Launched: | 3 March 1756 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1833 |
| Notes: | |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class & type: | 1750 amendments 90-gun second rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1814 bm |
| Length: | 175 ft (53.3 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 48 ft 6 in (14.8 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 20 ft 6 in (6.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: |
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HMS Namur was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1750, and launched on 3 March 1756.[1]
Namur fought in the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) under the command of Captain James Hawkins-Whitshed. Namur was astern of HMS Captain, under the command of then Commodore Horatio Nelson, at the beginning stages of the battle.[2]
Namur was razeed to a 74-gun ship in 1805, and was placed on harbour service in 1807. She remained in this role until 1833, when she was finally broken up.[1]
Some of Namur's timbers were used to support the floor of the wheelwright's workshop at Chatham Dockyard. They were rediscovered there in 1995 and identified in 2003.[3] http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/472
Notable passengers
- The marine painter Clarkson Stanfield served on board the ship, after being pressed into the Royal Navy in 1808. He discharged on health grounds in 1814.
- One of Namur's captains was Charles Austen, a brother of Jane Austen.[4]
- Olaudah Equiano, a former African slave who was active in the British abolitionist movement, served as a powder monkey on Namur.[5]
Notes
- 1 2 3 Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p174.
- ↑ Adkin, The Trafalgar Campaign, p163.
- ↑ Fighting ship's identity revealed in Chatham Dockyard – BBC News, 17 August 2012
- ↑ http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2012/08/20/timbers-from-jane-austens-brothers-ship-hms-namur-found-under-floorboards-at-chatham-historic-dockyard/
- ↑ http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/equiano.html
References
- 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.
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