Maidstone Group

Before 1688 no sixth rate carried more than 20 guns. At the start of the Anglo-French War in 1688 the British captured four 20 plus gunned French vessels, that were rated by the French as sixth rates. The British Admiralty submitted a requirement to the Navy Board for a 'standard' sixth rate of 20 guns on the upper deck with four smaller guns on the quarterdeck. The vessel proposed by the Navy Board had an estimated cost of £1,676.10.0d per ship with another £2,513 for materials for completion. Initially fourteen ships were ordered, Batch 1 of four vessels in July 1693, Batch 2 of eight vessels in spring 1694, Batch 3 of two vessels in March 1695 with a further four in 1696. This first standardized group of sixth rates became known as the Maidstone Group.

Class overview
Name	Maidstone Group
Builders	Chatham Dockyard Sheerness Dockyard Deptford Dockyard Portsmouth Dockyard 9 vessels by contract
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Nightingale Group
Built	1693–1697
In service	1694–1719
Completed	18
Lost	11
Retired	7
General characteristics
Type	20-gun sixth rate
Tons burthen	244+57⁄94 bm
Length	93 ft 0 in (28.3 m) gundeck 77 ft 8 in (23.7 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	24 ft 4 in (7.4 m) for tonnage
Depth of hold	10 ft 8 in (3.3 m)
Armament	initially as ordered 20 × sakers on wooden trucks (UD) 4 × 3-pdr on wooden trucks (QD) 1703 Establishment 20 × 6-pdrs on wooden trucks (UD) 4 × 4-pdr on wooden trucks (QD)

Design and specifications

The initial order was for fourteen vessels spread over three building seasons with another four added in 1696. The construction of the vessels was evenly split between Dockyard-built vessels and contracted vessels. As with most vessels of this period only order and launch dates are available. Each ship was built to a generalized specification with dimensional creep accruing in all vessels. The dimensional data listed here is the general specification, whereas the actual dimensions where known will be listed with each ship. The general specification called for a gundeck of 93 feet 0 inches (28.3 metres) with a keel length of 77 feet 8 inches (23.7 metres) for tonnage calculation. The breadth would be 24 feet 4 inches (7.4 metres) for tonnage with a depth of hold of 10 feet 8 inches (3.3 metres). The tonnage calculation would be 244+57⁄94.

The initial gun armament would be twenty sakers mounted on wooden trucks located on the upper deck (UD) with a further four 3-pounders mounted on wooden trucks on the quarterdeck (QD). A saker or sacar was a muzzle-loading smoothbore gun of 1,400 pounds in weight with a 3+1⁄2-inch bore firing a 5+1⁄2-pound shot with a 5+1⁄2-pound powder charge. In 1703 the armament would be established at twenty 6-pounders mounted on wooden trucks on the upper deck with four 4-pounders on the quarterdeck.

Ships of the Maidstone Group

Name	Builder	Launch date	Remarks
Maidstone	Chatham Dockyard	31 December 1693	Sold 29 July 1714
Jersey	Deptford Dockyard	17 January 1694	renamed Margate 21 October 1698 Wrecked 9 October 1707
Lizard	Chatham Dockyard	19 March 1694	lost with all hands 31 May 1696
Newport	Portsmouth Dockyard	7 April 1694	taken by French 5 July 1696
Falcon	Nicholas Barret, Shoreham	28 September 1694	taken by French 10 June 1695, retaken in 1703 and broken
Queenborough	Sheerness Dockyard	22 December 1694	Sold 20 August 1719
Swan	Robert & John Castle, Deptford	13 September 1694	Lost in tropical storm 17 August 1707
Drake	George Fowler, Rotherhithe	26 September 1694	Lost with all hands 20 December 1694
Solebay	Edward Snelgrove, Redhouse	13 September 1694	Wrecked 25 December 1709
Seahorse	John Hayden, Limehouse	27 September 1694	Wrecked 14 March 1703
Bideford	Nicholas Barret, Harwich	25 October 1695	Wrecked 12 November 1699
Penzance	Thomas Ellis, Shoreham	22 April 1695	Sold 24 September 1713
Dunwich	William Collins & Robert Chatfield, Shoreham	15 October 1695	Sunk as breakwater at Plymouth 15 October 1714
Oxford	Thomas Ellis, Shoreham	29 November 1695	renamed Newport 3 September 1698 Sold 29 July 1714
Lizard (ii)	Sheerness Dockyard	29 March 1697	Sold 29 July 1714
Flamborough	Chatham Dockyard	10 July 1697	Taken by French 10 October 1705 and scuttled
Seaford	Portsmouth Dockyard	15 October 1697	Broken in August 1722
Deal Castle	Deptford Dockyard	6 November 1697	Taken by French 3 July 1706

References

• Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail (1603 – 1714), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © 2009, EPUB ISBN 9781783469246, Chapter 6, The Sixth Rates, Vessels acquired from 18 December 1688, Sixth Rates of 20 guns and up to 26 guns, Maidstone Group
• Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © 2020, e ISBN 978-1-5267-9328-7 (EPUB)