HMS Blackwall (1696)

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Career (England) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Blackwall
Ordered: 12 September 1695
Builder: Henry Johnson, Blackwall Yard
Launched: 6 July 1696
Captured: 20 October 1705, by the French
Career (France) French Royal Navy Ensign
Name: Blekoualle
Acquired: 20 October 1705
Captured: 15 March 1708, by the British
Fate: Captured again by French 1709
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 678 long tons (688.9 t)
Length: 131 ft 1.5 in (40.0 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 34 ft 2.5 in (10.4 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 7.5 in (4.2 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 230 (160 peacetime)
Armament: 54 guns in wartime (46 in peacetime) comprising
LD: twenty-two 12-pounders:
UD twenty-two 6-pounders;
QD eight 6-pounders;
Fc two 6-pounders

HMS Blackwall was a 50-gun Fourth rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Blackwall Yard in 1696.[1]

In September 1705, whilst under the command of Captain Samuel Martin Blackwall, along with two smaller vessels, had been ordered to convoy some merchantmen to the Baltic. On 20 October, as Blackwall and her two consorts were convoying the return voyage, they encountered a superior French force. All the English ships were captured, Blackwall herself being taken by the French ship Protée. Both Captain Martin and the French commander were killed in the action.[1][2]

Blackwall was commissioned into the French Navy under the name Blekoualle; she was recaptured on 15 March 1708 but was not taken back into service in the Royal Navy, the decision being taken to have her broken up instead.[1][2]However, she was captured again by the French in 1709,, this time being named Blakoual, remaining in French service until disposed of in 1719.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 164.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Ships of the Old Navy, Blackwall.

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.
  • Michael Phillips. Blackwall (48) (1696). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  • 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.