HMS Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Association |
| Launched: | 1697 |
| Fate: | Wrecked, 22 October 1707 (OS) |
| General Characteristics | |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: | 800 officers and men |
| Armament: | 96 guns of various weights of shot |
HMS Association was a 96 gun second-rate ship of the line, launched at Portsmouth dockyard in 1697. She served as the flagship of Cloudesley Shovell in the Mediterranean during the War of the Spanish Succession, in engagements including the capture of Gibraltar on 21 July 1704.
In 1707, she was wrecked off the Isles of Scilly in what was, and remains, one of the worst maritime disasters in British history.
Contents |
[edit] Sinking
In October 1707, Association, commanded by Captain Edmund Loades, was returning from the Mediterranean with Shovell on board. The 21 ships in the squadron entered the mouth of the English Channel on the night of 22 October 1707 (Old style). The Association struck the Outer Gilstone Rock off the Isles of Scilly, and was wrecked with the loss of her entire crew of about 800 men, along with three other ships (including HMS Eagle and HMS Romney). As a result of navigational errors, the ships were not where they were reckoned to be. It was largely as a result of this disaster that the Board of the Admiralty instituted a competition for a more precise method to determine longitude.
HMS Association had previously survived the Great Storm of 1703. She was at anchor in the Thames Estuary and after cutting rigging to avoid foundering on the "Galloper" sandbar, was blown to Gothenburg in Sweden before way could be made back to England.
[edit] Further reading
- Simon Harris - Sir Cloudesley Shovell: Stuart Admiral (2001) ISBN 1-86227-099-6
[edit] References
- David Hepper - British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859 (1994)
