History of His Majestie’s Ship the Somerset 1745-1778
SOMERSET III
Built: Chatham Dockyard under Master Shipwright John Ward, the third of seven in her class built under the Establishment of 1745.
As Built: 160ft 0in, 131ft 4in x 45ft 4in x 19ft 4in, 1,43563/94bm
Ordered: 8.11.1744 & 6.8.17451; Keel Laid: 5.5.1746 (named 8.7.1748); Launched: 18.7.1748; Completed: 29.7.1748
First Cost; L 33,967.13.8d (including fittings)
Crew: 520. Guns LD 26 x 32pdrs; UD 28 x 18pdrs; QD 12 x 9pdrs; Fc 2 x 9pdrs
History
Commissioned 12.1748 under Capt. Thomas Sturton (-1752)
As guard ship at Chatham
To Sheerness 1750
Recommissioned 1.1753 under Capt. Harry Powlett
As guard ship at Chatham
In 3.1755 under Capt Francis Geary
Sailed 22.4.1755 for Boscawen’s squadron to N. America
1756 flagship of Vice Admiral Henry Osborn
Cruise in 1.1756
To Hawke’s fleet in 3.1756
Boscawen’s fleet in summer 1756 and Knowles Fleet in 11.1756
Sailed 1757 as reinforcement to Holburne in America
Took (w/Devonshire and Rochester) 26gun Bayonne privateer La Victoire 13.4.1757
In 1758 under Capt. Edward Hughes (-1762) at Louisburg
In 1759 flagship of Adm. Sir Charles Saunders
Sailed 14.2.1759 for N. America, and to Quebec
Joined Hawke’s fleet after Quiberon
Sailed 21.5.1760 for the Mediterranean
In 1763 under Capt. John Clark
Paid off 6.1763
Recommissioned 1.1771 under Hughes
As guard ship at Plymouth
Spithead Review 22.6.1773
In 1774 under Capt. Edward Le Cras
Sailed 24.10.1774 for N. America (Boston and Halifax)
Returned 3 or 4 1776 to pay off
Recommissioned again in 1776 under Capt. George Oury
As guard ship at Plymouth
Sailed 9.4.1777 for N. America
At Sandy Hook 22.7.1778
At Howe’s encounter w/d’Estaing 11.8.1778
Wrecked off Cape Cod 2.11.1778 (21 drowned)
The seven 3rd rates of the 1745 Establishment
¢ Northumberland
¢ Grafton
¢ Somerset
¢ Oxford
¢ Swiftsure
¢ Vanguard
¢ Buckingham
Battle Honors
Vigo 1702
Velez Malaga 1704
Louisburg 1758
Quebec 1759
Sources:
Winfield, Rif; British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792
Colledge J.J.; Ships of the Royal Navy
Thomas, David A.; A Companion to the Royal Navy
Compiled by Frank Rodriques
1. Somerset was originally ordered under the establishment of 1733, which provided for a 70 gun ship. She was ultimately reordered under the new Establishment of 1745 as a 68 gun ship.
HMS was never used in the C18. There are dozens of official documents where only the vessel name is used, i.e., the Somerset, or His Majestie’s Ship the Somerset, or maybe HM Ship the Somerset, or just plain Somerset. Other variations can also be seen, there is no standard.
The third Somerset is the subject of a book (HMS Somerset, 1746-1778. The Life and Times of an Eighteenth Century British Man-o-War and Her Impact on North America, Marjorie Hubbell Gibson, Abbey House, 1992), currently out of print.
http://www.hmssomerset.com/somersetiiihistory.htm
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-rate
As a Third Rate Ship of the line, it was one of the workhorses of the fleet. The first and second rates were larger, but were fewer and, with a few exceptions like the H.M.S. Victory, were not very good as sailors.