HMS Cressy (1810)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Cressy.
History
UK
Name: HMS Cressy
Ordered: 1 October 1806
Builder: Brindley, Frindsbury
Launched: 7 March 1810
Fate: Broken up 1832
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Vengeur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1763 bm
Length: 176 ft (54 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold: 21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Cressy was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 7 March 1810 at Frindsbury.[1]

Service

On 24 December 1811 Cressy was off the west coast of Jutland, Denmark, in the company of St George, under Rear-admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds, and Defence, when a hurricane and heavy seas came up.[2] St George was jury-rigged and so Captain Atkins of Defence refused to leave her without the Admiral's permission. As a result both were wrecked near Ringkøbing.[2] Cressy did not ask for permission and so avoided wrecking.[2]

Both St George and Defence lost almost all their crews, including the Admiral.[2] Most of the bodies that came ashore were buried in the sand dunes of Thorsminde, which have been known ever since as "Dead Mens Dunes".[2]

Shortly after the outbreak of the War of 1812, on 12 August, Cressy shared in the seizure of several American vessels: Cuba, Caliban, Edward, Galen, Halcyon, and Cygnet.[Note 1]

Fate

She was broken up in 1832.[1]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes
  1. ↑ Prize money was paid in November 1815. A first-class share was worth £360 2s 3d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £3 11s 7d.[3]
Citations
  1. 1 2 3 Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 188.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Gossett (1986), p. 81.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 17076. p. 2209. 4 November 1815.
References
  • Gossett, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. Mansell. ISBN 0-7201-1816-6. 
  • 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.


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