Grafton (70)
Hierarchical Path: Seven Years War (Main Page) >> Navies >> British Navy >> Grafton (70)
Origin and History
The ship was built at Portsmouth and launched in 1750.
During the Seven Years' War, the ship was under the command of:
- 1757: captain Thomas Cornewall
- in September 1759: captain Richard Kempenfelt
- in 1760: captain Robert Hughes
The ship was sold in 1767.
Service during the War
In July 1756, the ship was part of Holmes' squadron who cruised off Louisbourg. The squadron nearly succeeded in cutting off a small French force and on the following day it fought another French force, which, however, also got away.
In 1757, the ship was part of admiral Holbourne's squadron which left Ireland on May 5 for the planned expedition against Louisbourg. By July 10, the entire squadron was finally at anchor before Halifax where it made its junction with Hardy's squadron. However on August, when the combined fleet was ready to set sail, Louisbourg had already been reinforced by three French squadron and governor Loudon canceled the whole enterprise. Holbourne's squadron stayed off Louisbourg till September 25 when it was shattered by a most terrible storm, the Grafton struck but was got off. She lost her mainmast, foretopmast, and rudder. The squadron then returned to Great Britain in a very bad condition, the Grafton was safely steered to destination by means of a jury-rudder devised by commodore Holmes.
On June 30 1759, the ship joined the fleet of vice-admiral George Pocock, who was cruising off Pondicherry (actual Puducherry) in India. On September 10, the ship took part in the battle of Pondicherry. At 11:00 AM, when Pocock engaged the French, the ship attacked the Zodiaque (74).
To do: campaigns from 1760 to 1763
Characteristics
| Guns | 70 N.B.: reported with 68 guns in 1757 by "Complete History"
| ||||||
| Crew | 590 | ||||||
| Length | ??? | ||||||
| Width | ??? | ||||||
| Depth | ??? | ||||||
| Displacement | ??? |
References
Anonymous, A Complete History of the Present War, from its Commencement in 1756, to the End of the Campaign, 1760, London, 1761, pp. 202-205, 233-235
Blasco, Manuel, British 3rd Rates, 3 Decks Wiki
Clowes, Wm. Laird, The Royal Navy – A History from the Earliest Time to the Present, Vol. III, Sampson Low, Marston and Company, London: 1898, pp. 145-146, 167-169, 171-172
Phillip, Michael, Ships of the Old Navy
N.B.: the section Service during the War is mostly derived from our articles depicting the various campaigns, battles and sieges.
