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_-_Het_opbrengen_van_het_Engelse_admiraalschip_de_%27Royal_Charles%27.jpg) Royal Charles off Hellevoetsluis, captured by the Dutch after the Raid on the Medway, June 1667. Jeronymus van Diest (II).
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 England | |
| Name | Naseby |
| Ordered | 3 July 1654 |
| Builder | Peter Pett II, Woolwich Dockyard |
| Launched | 12 April 1655 |
| Renamed | Royal Charles, 23 May 1660 |
| Captured | 12 June 1667, by the Dutch |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 1673 (by Dutch navy) |
| Notes |
|
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | 80-gun first-rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 1129 (bm) on completion, later increased to 125817⁄94 bm |
| Length | 131 ft (39.9 m) (keel) |
| Beam | 42 ft 0 in (12.8 m) on completion, later increased to 42 ft 6 in (13.0 m) |
| Depth of hold | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement | 500 - later raised to 550 then 650 |
| Armament | 80 guns of various weights of shot |
Royal Charles was an 80-gun first-rate three-decker ship of the line of the English Navy. She was built by Peter Pett and launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1655, for the navy of the Commonwealth of England.[1] She was originally called Naseby, named in honour of Sir Thomas Fairfax's decisive 1645 victory over the Royalist forces during the English Civil Wars. She was ordered in 1654 as one of a programme of four second rates, intended to carry 60 guns each. However, she was altered during construction to mount a complete battery of guns along the upper deck (compared with the partial battery on this deck of her intended sisters, on which there were no gunports in the waist along this deck), and so was reclassed as a first rate.
In the run-up to the Restoration of the monarchy in May (June, New Style) of 1660, she was anchored in The Downs off Deal, where her laurel-crowned figurehead of Oliver Cromwell was removed before sailing to the Dutch Republic at the head of the fleet sent to bring King Charles II back to England, captained by Sir Edward Montagu and still under her Parliamentary name.[2] On arrival in Scheveningen she took Charles and his entourage (including Samuel Pepys) on board. On 23 May 1660 the King and the Duke[a] renamed her from Naseby to HMS Royal Charles.[3] The ship landed them at Dover on 25 May.[4]
Under her new name, she joined the Royal Navy, which formally came into being in 1660. At 1,229 tons, Naseby was larger than Sovereign of the Seas built by Phineas Pett, Peter's father. Unlike Sovereign of the Seas, which was in service from 1637 to 1697, Naseby was to enjoy only twelve years in service.
As Royal Charles she took part in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1665, she fought in the Battle of Lowestoft under the command of the Lord High Admiral, James Stuart, Duke of York, her captain being Sir William Penn. During that battle she probably destroyed the Dutch flagship Eendracht. In 1666, she participated in two further actions, the Four Days Battle and the defeat of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter in the St. James's Day Battle off the North Foreland.
In 1667, flagging English national morale was further depressed by the Raid on the Medway in which a Dutch fleet invaded the Thames and Medway rivers and on 12 June captured the uncommissioned Royal Charles,[1] removing her with great skill to Hellevoetsluis in the United Provinces. The Dutch did not take her into naval service because it was considered that she drew too much water for general use on the Dutch coast. Instead the Royal Charles was permanently drydocked near Hellevoetsluis as a public attraction, with day trips being organised for large parties, often of foreign state guests. After vehement protests by Charles that this insulted his honour, the official visits were ended when she was auctioned for scrap in 1673. A mirror from the ship would eventually be returned to Britain in a conciliatory gesture in 2012.
The wooden carving showing the royal arms, originally placed on the ship's transom, was, however, preserved. After remaining at Hellevoetsluis for a while, it was brought to a naval shipbuilding yard in Rotterdam in the nineteenth century, and in 1855 was transferred to the Dutch navy's model collection. It is now on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam,[5] which took most of the naval collection in the 1880s.[6]
Footnotes
- ^ presumably the Duke of York, later Lord High Admiral and later still James II of England. Pepys has King Charles dining with both James and his youngest brother Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester
Notes
- ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p160.
- ^ Parliamentary Intelligencer, 30 April – 7 May 1660, in Random Edition
- ^ Pepys 1893, p. 156 line 4: "After dinner the King and the Duke altered the name of some of the whips, viz. the Naseby into Charles ..."
- ^ Pepys 1893, p. 162 line 2: "... got on shore when the King did, who was received by General Monk with all imaginable love and respect at his entrance upon the land of Dover."
- ^ Rijksmuseum website: Stern carving from the Royal Charles, anonymous, c. 1663 - c. 1664
- ^ Rijksmuseum website: Ship models
References
- 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.
- Pepys, Samuel (1893), Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (ed.), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, vol. 1, London: George Bell and Sons - 1 January 1659/60 – 30 March 1660/1
- Royal Charles stern piece, preserved at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Archived 16 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine (Object number: NG-MC-239)
14 Annotations
First Reading
helena murphy • Link
The Naseby: This ship was so named to commemorate the great parliamentarian victory over the royalist army near Naseby on June 14th 1645. The New Model Army was commanded by Cromwell, Fairfax, Skippon and Henry Ireton while the royalists were commanded by Charles I, the princes Rupert and Maurice of the Rhine,Sir Jacob Astley and Marmaduke Langdale. The battle lasted a mere three hours and the parliamentarians lost no more than 300 men. On the other hand the king's army was decimated. This battle did not end the civil war but it made the outcome inevitable as the royalists never recovered strength after this. Interestingly, the royalist infantrymen who surrendered could join the New Model Army provided they took the Covenant which was a prerequisite to serve. Ironically the Naseby was the same ship sent to Holland to bring Charles II back from his continental exile but it was then hastily renamed the Royal Charles.The Royal Charles saw action in the second Anglo-Dutch war but unfortunately it was captured by the Dutch when they humiliated Britain by sailing up the Medway in june 1666. It was towed back to Holland where it arrived amidst jubilation as one of the greatest spoils of war.
Glyn • Link
Here are two Dutch paintings of the Nazeby (which by then had been renamed the "Royal Charles") which give a very good idea of what a 17th-century warship was like. This was one of the most powerful warships of its era.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/pages/ti…
Here the ship has been captured and is being taken to the Netherlands, which is why it is flying Dutch flags. If you look closely at its stern you will see the Lion-and-Unicorn of the Royal Coat of Arms. This has been preserved and is now in the Rikjsmuseum in Amsterdam.
http://www.btinternet.com/~j.past…
This painting shows it still flying the Union Jack (which you can see does not have the red diagonal stripe that later symbolized Ireland).
KVK • Link
The Naseby was first launched in 1655. Cromwell had provoked a war with Spain in May of that year by seizing Jamaica, and the Naseby was the flagship of the fleet sent in 1656 to harass Spanish shipping.
Commanded by Robert Blake, the fleet destroyed the entire Spanish treasure fleet anchored on the island of Tenerife in 1657. This event is sometimes described as the death-knell for Spain as a major power. Blake died just a few months later.
The ship was designed by Peter Pett, the shipwright who built the 'Sovereign of the Seas', the first three-decked 'first-rate', for Charles I in 1637. The unorthodox form of taxation Charles used to pay for that expensive ship was one of the major grievances held against him by the Long Parliament in 1640. Pett thus forms a link from Charles I through the governments of the '50s to Charles II, who was brought back on the later ship of Pett's design.
michael f. vincent • Link
The Naseby, named for Oliver Cromwell's crushing victory over the royal forces in 1645, was launched at Woolwich dockyard in 1655. At 1230 tons, she was larger than the celebrated ...
Captain Sir Edward Montagu, another army man who joined the navy, was ordered over to Holland with some 37 great ships to bring him back. The Naseby was the flagship of this fleet.
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropi…
.....
it is at the bottom of the page.
Within a decade, the word "frigate" was being used to denote either a ship with a higher than usual keel:beam ratio or one with a good turn of speed. It must be in this sense that the word was used in relation to the 90-gun Naseby.
....
At this time there were in 1660 a huge fleet of 154 ships. Most of them in uncommissioned due to insufficient funds
Pauline • Link
Montagu's first command on the Naseby
michael f vincent • Link
Naseby in a fight "Spoiler"
battle of lowerstotf
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/uploads//jpg…
Paul Brewster • Link
Wheatley adds the following :
"The Naseby now no longer England's shame,
But better to be lost in Charles his name."
Dryden, Astraa Redux.
vincent • Link
from J Evelyn:1655
9th ... my Bro: dining with me, we went to see the greate Ship(*2) newly built, by the
Usurper Oliver, carrying 96 brasse Guns, & of 1000 tunn: In the prow was Oliver on horseback
trampling 6 nations under foote, a Scott, Irishman, Dutch, French, Spaniard & English as was
easily made out by their several habits: A Fame held a laurell over his insulting head, & the word
God with us:
(2) The Naseby, renamed the Royal Charles in 1660, E went aboard
in 1665.
Michael Robinson • Link
surviving 'counter decoration' - the royal arms, includes historical info etc. on tabs:-
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/ar…
Australian Susan • Link
Excellent website, Michael - thanks very much!
Second Reading
Bill • Link
If you want to see what the Royal Charles/Naseby looked like: http://bloodflag.blogspot.com/201…
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Royal Charles was an 80-gun first-rate 3-decker ship of the line of the English Navy. [1]
1 ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p160.
She was originally called Naseby, built by Peter Pett, and launched at Woolwich dockyard in 1655, for the navy of the Commonwealth of England, and named in honor of Sir Thomas, Lord Fairfax's decisive 1645 victory over the Royalist forces during the English Civil Wars.
The Naseby was ordered in 1654 as one of 4 second rates, intended to carry 60 guns each. However, she was altered during construction to mount a complete battery of guns along the upper deck (compared with the partial battery on this deck of her intended sisters, on which there were no gun ports in the waist along this deck), and so was reclassed as a first rate.
In the run-up to the June 1660 return of Charles II, during May 1660 the Naseby was anchored in The Downs off Deal, where her laurel-crowned figurehead of Oliver Cromwell was removed before sailing to the Dutch Republic at the head of the fleet sent to bring Charles II back to England, captained by Sir Edward Montagu and still under her Parliamentary name.[2]
2 Parliamentary Intelligencer, April 30 to May 7, 1660, in Random Edition
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS….
San Diego Sarah • Link
Another version of what the Naseby/Royal Charles looked like
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections…
Terry Foreman • Link
Bryan on 1 Apr 2013 • Link • Flag
These diagrams are from A Ship of War, Cyclopaedia, 1728, Even though they were drawn nearly 70 years later I think they give a good idea of the ships Sam is sailing in.
The top diagram represents a third rate ship of the line, such as the Swiftsure (42 guns) in which Sam is currently sailing.
The Naseby (80 guns) is a first rate ship of the line similar to the lower diagram. Notice that the State Room (S) and the Ward Room (T) both have cannons in them. From the legend: "The State Room out of which the Bed Chamber and other Con...(illegible) for the Commander in Chief"; "The Ward Room. Allotted for Voluntier(?) and Land Officers".
Spoiler
There is also The Cuddy (R) just below the Poop Deck (P) "which is commonly divided for the Masters and Secretaries Officers". Would this be where our favorite secretary finds lodging?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki…