HMS Berwick (1775)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
|
|
| Name: | HMS Berwick |
| Ordered: | 12 December 1768 |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Laid down: | May 1769 |
| Launched: | 18 April 1775 |
| Captured: | 8 March 1795, by the French |
| Notes: |
|
 France
|
|
| Name: | Berwick |
| Acquired: | 8 March 1795 |
| Honours and awards: |
Battle of Trafalgar |
| Captured: | 21 October 1805, by Royal Navy |
| Fate: | Wrecked, 22 October 1805, in the storm following the Battle of Trafalgar |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Elizabeth-class ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1622 56⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 47 ft (14 m) |
| Draught: |
|
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: | |
HMS Berwick was a 74-gun Elizabeth-class third rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 18 April 1775, to a design by Sir Thomas Slade. She fought the French at the Battle of Ushant (1778) and the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank (1781). The French captured her in the Action of 8 March 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars and she served with them with some success then and at the start of the Napoleonic Wars until the British recaptured her at the Battle of Trafalgar. Berwick sank shortly thereafter in a storm.
As one of the newest ships of the line, she was commissioned in December 1777. On the entry of France into the American War of Independence in 1778 Berwick joined the Channel Fleet. In July, she took part in the Battle of Ushant under the command of Captain the Hon. Keith Stewart. She served with the Channel Fleet throughout 1779.
In 1780 she was sent out to the West Indies as part of a squadron under Commodore Walshingham that was sent out to reinforce the fleet under Sir George Rodney. But Walshingham's ships arrived too late for the battles of that year and she was then sent to Jamaica. The lieutenant on this trip was John Hunter who later became an admiral and the second Governor of New South Wales.
While Berwick was on the Jamaica station, she received serious damage from the October 1780 West Indies hurricane, which completely dismasted her and drove her out to sea. The damage forced her to return across the Atlantic to England for repairs.
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Wikipedia