HMS Cressy (1810)

	Cressey
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Cressy
Ordered	1 October 1806
Builder	Brindley, Frindsbury
Launched	7 March 1810
Fate	Broken up 1832
General characteristics
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, under command by commander Charles Dudley Pater and in the company of St George, under Rear-admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds, and Defence, when an extratropical cyclone and heavy seas came up. 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. Cressy did not ask for permission and so avoided wrecking.^[2]

Both St George and Defence lost almost all their crews, including the Admiral. 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.^[a]

On 11 February 1813m Severn ran down and sank Wargrave. Cressy rescued Wargrave's crew. Wargrave, Ostler, master, was on a voyage from Dublin to Surinam.^[4]^[b]

Fate

She was broken up in 1832.^[1]

Notes

^ 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]
^ Wargrave, of 175 tons (bm), had been launched in Denmark in 1801.^[5]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 188.
^ ^a ^b Gosset (1986), p. 81.
^ "No. 17076". The London Gazette. 4 November 1815. p. 2209.
^ Lloyd's List №4722.
^ Lloyd's Register (1810), Seq.№W29.

References

Gosset, 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.

This article about a ship of the line of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[4] 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]

[7] Wargrave, of 175 tons (bm), had been launched in Denmark in 1801.^[5]

[Lavery,_SoLv1_p188-1] Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 188.

[FOOTNOTEGosset198681-2] Gosset (1986), p. 81.

[3] "No. 17076". The London Gazette. 4 November 1815. p. 2209.

[5] Lloyd's List №4722.

[6] Lloyd's Register (1810), Seq.№W29.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[4]

[b]

[3]

[5]

v t e Vengeur-class ships of the line
Ajax Berwick Rodney Poictiers Vigo Cressy Egmont Armada America Vengeur Conquestador Edinburgh Barham La Hogue Duncan Asia Stirling Castle Mulgrave Cornwall Dublin Gloucester Scarborough Clarence Anson Pembroke Rippon Devonshire Medway Indus Benbow Cornwallis Blenheim Vindictive Redoubtable Defence Hercules Pitt Wellington Agincourt Russell
Preceded by: Swiftsure class Followed by: Black Prince class
List of ships of the line of the Royal Navy