HMS Sedgemoor was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Chatham Dockyard in May 1687.[2] One of only three 50-gun ships to be built during James II's brief reign (all three completed with an unusual "square tuck" stern), she was first commissioned on 5 May 1687 under Captain David Lloyd, who was still in command (although actually ashore in Dover) when she was wrecked twenty months later.
| History | |
|---|---|
 England | |
| Name | HMS Sedgemoor |
| Ordered | 6 January 1683 |
| Builder | Robert Lee, Chatham Dockyard |
| Launched | May 1687 |
| Fate | Wrecked, 2 January 1689 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 692 tons |
| Length | 123 ft (37.5 m) (on the gundeck) 109 ft 4 in (33.3 m) (keel) |
| Beam | 34 ft 6 in (10.5 m) |
| Depth of hold | 13 ft 7 in (4.1 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament | 50 guns of various weights of shot |
Armament
editAll three ships ordered in 1682/3 (all were launched in 1687) were intended to carry 54 guns each - twenty-two 24-pounders on the lower deck, the same number of demi-culverins (9-pounders) on the upper deck, and ten demi-culverin drakes on the quarterdeck. However, each was completed with just 50 guns in wartime service; Sedgmoor actually carried twenty culverins (18-pounders) on the lower deck and thirty sakers (6-pounders) on the upper deck and quarterdeck.
Loss
editThe Sedgemoor was driven ashore and wrecked at South Foreland, in St Margaret's Bay, Dover, Kent on 2 January 1689. Some of her timbers were later salvaged and used in the building of a new Fourth Rate at Chatham.[1][3][4]
References
edit- ^ a b Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603–1714 p120.
- ^ Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p162.
- ^ David Hepper, British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail 1650-1859 (Jean Boudriot Publications, 1997), p.13.
- ^ Larn, Richard (1977). Goodwin Sands Shipwrecks. Newton Abbot, London, North Pomfret: David & Charles. p. 46. ISBN 0-7153-7202-5.
- 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 (1997), The 50-Gun Ship: A Complete History. Chatham Publishing (1st edition); Mercury Books (2nd edition 2005). ISBN 1-845600-09-6.
- Winfield, Rif (2009), British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603–1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-040-6.
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