Temple (70)
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Origin and History
The ship was built by Hugh Blaydes at Hull and launched on Novenber 3 1758.
During the Seven Years' War, the ship was under the command of:
- from January 1759: captain Washington Shirley
- from 1760: captain Lucius O'Brien
- from 1762: captain Julian Legge
- from September 1762 to December 18 1762: captain Thomas Collingwood
The ship foundered off Cape Clear on December 18 1762.
Service during the War
On November 20 1759, the ship was present at the decisive battle of Quiberon who eliminated any serious threat from the French navy for the rest of the war.
On March 9 1760, the ship was part of rear-admiral Holmes' squadron who sailed from Gosport to escort a convoy transporting the 68th Foot (approx. 600 men) as reinforcements for the garrison of Guadeloupe Island. The squadron reached Barbados then sailed for Guadeloupe. On May 7, it anchored in the roads of Basse-Terre one of most important towns of Guadeloupe island. In August, captain O'Brien was informed that the sloop Virgin (12), who had been captured in May, and 3 French privateers were in Petit Havre Bay in Martinique Island. He set sail along with the Griffin (44), attacked the French vessels even though they were covered by 3 small forts mounting a total of 18 guns (including some 32-pdrs and 24-pdrs). The British ships captured the 4 French vessels and destroyed the 3 forts. They then attacked a nearby fort where they captured 3 additional vessels along with 13 victuallers. They brought back their prizes to Antigua. In this action, the ship lost 1 man killed and 3 wounded.
In April 1762, the ship was at Jamaica. In June, she took part in the expedition against Cuba. In October, she sailed from Havanna for Great Britain. On December 18, she foundered off Cape Clear.
Characteristics
| Guns | 68
| ||||||||
| Crew | 520 men | ||||||||
| Length | 159 feet 11 inches (48,74 m) | ||||||||
| Width | 45 feet 1 inch (13,74 m) | ||||||||
| Depth | 19 feet 4 inches (5,89 m) | ||||||||
| Displacement | 1428 long tons (1451 tonnes) |
References
Blasco, Manuel, 3 Decks Wiki – British 3rd Rates
Harrison, Simon; Three Decks - Warships in the Age of Sail
Phillips, M., Michael Phillip's Ships of the Old Navy
N.B.: the section Service during the War is partly derived from our articles depicting the various campaigns, battles and sieges.
