HMS Vestal (1757)

HMS Vestal was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and was broken up in 1775.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Vestal.

History
Great Britain
Name: HMS Vestal
Ordered: 25 May 1756
Builder: John Barnard & John Turner, Harwich
Laid down: June 1756
Launched: 17 June 1757
Completed: 17 August 1757
Commissioned: April 1757
Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford, June 1775
General characteristics
Class and type: Southampton-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 659 ​11⁄94 bm
Length:
  • 124 ft 4 in (37.90 m) (gundeck)
  • 102 ft 1.5 in (31.13 m) (keel)
Beam: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 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

Service history

During the Seven Years' War, on 21 February 1759, Vestal, under the command of Captain Samuel Hood, was part of a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes bound for North America. Vestal was in advance of the squadron when she sighted a sail ahead, and set off in pursuit. Vestal came up to the enemy ship, the 32-gun Bellone, at 2 p.m. After a fierce engagement lasting four hours, Bellone surrendered, having forty men killed, and being totally dismasted. Vestal had only her lower masts standing, and had five killed and twenty wounded.[1] She returned to Spithead with her prize, which was bought into the Navy and renamed Repulse.[2] The prize money for the capture of the Bellone was paid out at Portsmouth from May 1760.[3]

In June 1759 Vestal was part of Rear-Admiral George Brydges Rodney's squadron, which bombarded Le Havre destroying flat-bottomed boats and supplies which had been collected there for a planned invasion of England.[4]

On 16 March 1762 prize money was paid out at Leghorn to Vestal for the capture of the Marquis de Pille on 12 December 1760, the St. Antoine de L'Aigle on 19 January, the Marie Euphrosine on 17 April, and the St. Antoine de Padua on 17 June 1761, all in the Mediterranean.[5]

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References
Notes
  1. "No. 9874". The London Gazette. 27 February 1759. p. 1.
  2. Clowes (1898), pp. 300–301
  3. "No. 10005". The London Gazette. 31 May 1760. p. 2.
  4. Clowes (1898), pp.215–216
  5. "No. 10207". The London Gazette. 8 May 1762. p. 2.
Bibliography



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