HMS Resolution (1667)
HMS Resolution in a gale by Willem van de Velde, the younger depicts HMS Resolution c. 1678.
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| History | |
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 England
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| Name: | HMS Resolution |
| Builder: | Deane, Harwich Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 1665 |
| Launched: | 1667 |
| Fate: | Wrecked in the Great Storm of 1703 |
| General characteristics as built | |
| Class and type: | 70-gun third-rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 902 (bm) |
| Length: | 148 ft 2 in (45.16 m) (gundeck); 120 ft 6 in (36.73 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 2 in (11.33 m) ; after girdling 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: | 70 guns of various weights of shot (68 guns by 1685) |
| General characteristics after 1698 rebuild | |
| Class and type: | 70-gun third-rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 885 37⁄94 bm |
| Length: | 148 ft 2 in (45.16 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: | 70 guns of various weights of shot |
HMS Resolution was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Harwich Dockyard on 6 December 1667. She was one of only three third rate vessels designed and built by the noted maritime architect Sir Anthony Deane.
Resolution served as the flagship in an expedition against the Barbary Corsairs in 1669 and took part in the unsuccessful attack on the Dutch Smyrna convoy, which resulted in the Third Dutch War. She was later girdled, which increased her breadth slightly, and underwent a rebuilding in 1698 - although this limited reconstruction did not involve taking her hull to pieces. She was lost in 1703.
By 1685, Resolution was only armed with 68 guns. She was relaunched after a rebuild at Chatham Dockyard on 30 April 1698, as a 70-gun ship once more.
In the Great Storm of 1703 in Pevensey Bay, East Sussex she hit the Owers Bank off Littlehampton before the crew could even get up sail, then blown across the Solent, limping on around Beachy Head. With the ship seriously flooded her Captain, Thomas Liell, tried un-successfully to beach her in Pevensey Bay, but the crew had to abandon ship and all made it ashore.
In April 2005, a well-preserved wreck believed to be hers was discovered by 3 divers attempting to recover a tangled-up lobster pot 1½ miles offshore and 9 metres below sea level, at approximately 50°48′10″N 0°24′38″E / 50.80278°N 0.41056°E. It was only when a 12 ft anchor appeared that Paul Stratford, Martin Wiltshire, and Steve Paice then found dozens of cast iron cannon around a timber hull. The discovery was kept secret whilst a preliminary survey by Wessex Archaeology was carried out at the site and whilst discussions were carried out as to how best to protect it. This found at least 45 large cannon, along with a ballast mound surrounded by wooden ribs and planking protruding from a seabed of sand and silt. These all seemed to be from a large warship dating between 1600 and 1800 which is 'likely' to be Resolution.
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Wikipedia