Grace Dieu (ship)
The yellow hazard marker is sited on the wreck of Grace Dieu in the River Hamble
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| History | |
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 England
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| Name: | Grace Dieu |
| Ordered: | 1416 |
| Builder: | William Soper |
| Launched: | 1418 |
| Commissioned: | 1420 |
| In service: | 1420-1439 |
| Fate: | Struck by lightning and burnt in 1439 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 1,400 - 2,750 tons |
| Length: | 218 ft (66 m) |
| Beam: | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Complement: | 250 |
| Armament: |
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Grace Dieu was the flagship of King Henry V of England and one of the largest ships of her time. Launched in 1418, she sailed on only one voyage and was subsequently laid up at anchor in the River Hamble. She was burned in 1439 after being struck by a bolt of lightning.
Grace Dieu was built to a design proposed by William Soper, a burgess of Southampton and Clerk of the King's Ships. She was clinker-built with three planks nailed together along each part of her hull and waterproofed with tar and moss sandwiched between the timbers. As constructed she was 218 ft (66 m) long with a 50 ft (15 m) beam, comparable in size with HMS Victory and twice as large as Mary Rose. Estimates of her weight range between 1,400 tons and 2,750 tons. Two other ships, Valentine and Falcon were built to escort her. A dock was specially built for her construction near Town Quay in Southampton.
The remains of Grace Dieu suggest that it was built in a hurry, with some of the planks and ribs left only roughly finished. She was a vast ship requiring 2735 oak, 1145 beech, and fourteen ash trees for her timbers. When completed in 1418, she was one of the largest wooden ships of its time.Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester regarded her as "the fairest [vessel] that ever man saw," while the Florentine Captain of the Galleys, Luca di Masa degli Albizzi, remarked that despite his lifetime at sea he had never seen "so large and beautiful a construction."
Grace Dieu was designed for use in battle against Genoa's formidable fleet of carracks, that city being at the time the ally of France and enemy of England. To this end she was built with high sides and a prow that rose more than 50 ft (15 m), so that her archers could fire from above into the much lower carracks that she would run alongside. However, by the time she was completed the English had firm control over the Channel, and was at peace with France following the Treaty of Troyes.
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Wikipedia