HMS Magnificent (1766)
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The HMS Magnificent built in 1766 was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line, built to replenish and update the navy following the rigours of the Seven Years' War. She was a sound ship, and served through two wars before her untimely loss during blockade duty off the French coast.
Her war service in the American War of Independence was conducted with Rodney's fleet in the Caribbean, where she served in the battles off Grenada in 1779, Martinique in 1780 and the Saintes in 1782. Her duties during the Napoleonic Wars mainly consisted of blockade duties off the French coast, but between 1798 and 1800, the ship had received a complete overhaul designed to extend her service life and improve her ability at performing the close blockade.
On the morning of the 25 March 1804, during her duties blockading the French port of Brest, she struck an uncharted reef close to the Black Rocks the bordered the port and rapidly began to founder. The remaining ships of the blockading squadron closed in and removed most of the crew, the remainder of whom took to boats as the ship sank at 10.30am, just an hour and a half after she struck the reef. Although all her crew survived, a boat carrying 86 men became diverted from the main group and was washed ashore on the French coast, where the men remained in captivity for ten years. The captain, William Jervis, was later reported to have lost £1500 in lost property on board the wreck.
[edit] References
- Grocott, Terence, Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras, Caxton Editions, Great Britain: 2002. ISBN 1-84067-164-5.
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