HMS Diana (1757)

HMS Diana was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757. In 1760, at the Battle of Neuville she and HMS Vanguard pursued and sank two French frigates, Atlante, commanded by Jean Vauquelin, and Pomone; Diana took on board the important prisoners. Later, she served through the American Revolutionary War.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Diana.
History
Great Britain
Name: HMS Diana
Ordered: 1 June 1756
Builder: Robert Batson, Limehouse
Laid down: June 1756
Launched: 30 August 1757
Completed: 12 September 1757 at Deptford Dockyard
Commissioned: August 1757
Fate: Sold to break up at Deptford, 16 May 1793
General characteristics
Class and type: Southampton-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 668 ​57⁄94 bm
Length:
  • 124 ft 6 in (37.95 m) (gundeck)
  • 103 ft 1.125 in (31.42298 m) (keel)
Beam: 34 ft 11 in (10.64 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 0 in (3.66 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 210 officers and men
Armament:
  • 32 guns comprising
  • Upperdeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
  • Quarterdeck: 4 × 6-pounder guns
  • Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Career

In 1792 there was a civil in San Domingo with between the white and black inhabitants. Captain Thomas McNamara Russell of Diana, on a relief mission to the authorities on Saint-Domingue, received the intelligence that John Perkins, a mulatto (mixed-race) British former naval officer from Jamaica, was under arrest and due to be executed in Jérémie for supplying arms to the rebel slaves. Britain and France were not at war and Russell requested that the French release Perkins. The French authorities promised that they would, but didn't. After the exchange of numerous letters, Russell decided that the French were not going to release Perkins. Russell then sailed around Cap-Français to Jérémie and met with Ferret. Russell and Captain Nowell, of Ferret, decided that Nowell's first lieutenant, an officer named Godby, would go ashore and recover Perkins whilst the two ships remained offshore within cannon shot, ready to deploy a landing party if need be.[1] Lieutenant Godby landed and after negotiations the French released Perkins.[2]

Fate

The "Principle Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the hull of "Diana, Burthen 668 Tons" for sale at Deptford on 16 May 1793. The purchasers had to post a bond of £2000 that they would break her up in a limited time.[3]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Naval Chronicle, 27 (1812), pp.351–352.
  2. Naval Chronicle, 17 (1807), pp. 458–462.
  3. "No. 13527". The London Gazette. 11 May 1793. p. 391.

References

  • Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9.
  • David Lyon, The Sailing Navy List, Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. ISBN 0-85177-617-5.
  • Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1844157006.
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