HMS York (1796)
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This HMS York was originally laid down at Deptford as an East Indiaman named Royal Admiral, but the shortage of naval shipping caused by the outbreak of the Revolutionary War with France prompted her purchase and eventual commissioning under her new name in 1796.
She was a third-rate ship of the line, usually carrying 64 guns, making her smaller than the average battleship of the day. This factor combined with her unusual build resulting from her conversion from a mercantile craft to a warship to make a slightly ungainly and awkward ship. She spent much of her early career in the Caribbean Sea, where she had her only contact with the enemy when she captured the small French schooner Fancy near St Thomas.
She departed Woolwich under Captain Henry Mitford on the 26 December 1803 for a routine patrol in the North Sea, but in January 1804 she struck Bell Rock in the Firth of Forth, and sank with the loss of all 491 men and boys on board.
[edit] References
- Grocott, Terence, Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras, Caxton Editions, Great Britain: 2002. ISBN 1-84067-164-5.
- Ships of the Old Navy entry BBC History ; Who built the Bell Rock Lighthouse. www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/bell_rock_02.shtml
