HMS Antelope (1546)

The first HMS "Antelope" was a galley of the English Royal Navy, launched in 1546. She was rebuilt twice and served from the time of King Henry VIII to the English Civil War. She is mostly remembered for being a part of the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada.

History of the ship

HMS "Antelope" is described in a Royal Navy list of 5 January 1548 as a galley of 300 tons built in 1546 with a crew of 200 and armed with 4 brass and 40 iron guns. She was rebuilt in 1581 and converted into a sailing ship of 400 tons. A more detailed description is given in a navy list of 1603 where she is said to have 350 tons and a crew of 160 (consisting of 114 sailors, 16 gunners and 30 soldiers). At this time, "Antelope" carried 26 heavy and 12 light guns.Fact|date=August 2008

When she participated in the campaign against the Spanish Armada in 1588, she had a crew of 170 and mounted 30 guns. "Antelope" was captained by Sir Henry Palmer and belonged to the squadron of Lord Henry Seymour in which she took part at the Battle of Gravelines and the chase of the Spanish fleet to the north. In 1597 "Antelope", then commanded by captain Sir Thomas Vavasour, participated in the unsuccessful expedition against the Azores led by the Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh.Fact|date=August 2008

She was again rebuilt or extensively repaired in 1618 and classified as a middling ship of 450 tons and 34 guns. The only remarkable action in her later career is her participation in Sir Robert Mansells disappointing expedition against Algiers in 1620/1621. In the beginning of October 1624 "Antelope" was hit by a storm and driven onto the Goodwin Sands, after her anchor cables where cut by a merchant ship. Though she lost all her masts and her rudder she got off into the Downs and was repaired by Phineas Pett whose son John had been on board. He left a description of this incident in his "Autobiography".Fact|date=August 2008

During the Second English Civil War she belonged to the Royal Navy ships that where brought over to the royalist side by vice admiral William Batten in June 1648 and carried into Hellevoetsluis (Netherlands). When Prince Rupert was made commander of the badly equipped royalist fleet, he sold "Antelope"'s brass guns to fit out some other ships. In the spring of 1649 "Antelope" was ready for sea, but her weak crew was surprised by a raid of seamen from the parliamentarian ship "Happy Entrance" who took the ship without a fight and immediately destroyed her.

Notes

References

* William Laird Clowes: The Royal Navy. A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, vols. 1-2,1896-1898
*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.