HMS Blenheim (1761)

HMS "Blenheim" was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 July 1761 at Woolwich.

She took part in the Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795 and the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. By 1801, she had become so badly hogged as to be unsafe for sea. However, she was razeed to a 74 in 1801–1802, and set sail for Barbados under the command of Captain Peter Bover at the end of the year, carrying Captain Samuel Hood and other commissioners to Trinidad. Captain Bland sailed her back to Portsmouth in 1804.

In 1805, "Blenheim" sailed for Madras under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, Bt, flag captain Austin Bissell. By the time Troubridge received orders to take command at the Cape of Good Hope, at the beginning of 1807, "Blenheim" was in alarming condition, and required constant pumping to keep her afloat. Despite the request of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Edward Pellew, that he transfer his flag to another ship, Troubridge determined to take her to the Cape. Bissell also warned Troubridge of "Blenheim"'s condition, but received in return the taunt that he might go ashore if he liked. Unable to shake Troubridge's confidence, Bissell composed a last letter to his wife before sailing, convinced the ship would founder.

"Blenheim" left Madras on 12 January 1807, in the company of the sloop HMS "Harrier" (Capt. Justice Finley) and the frigate HMS "Java" (Capt. George Pigot), the latter recently captured from the Dutch. The two parted company from "Harrier" in a gale on 5 February 1807. The French frigate "Sémillante" later reported having seen her off Rodrigues in a gale on 18 February. Another frigate later reported in Calcutta that ships answering to the description of "Blenheim" and "Java" had been seen in distress off of Réunion after the gale, and had put in for repairs at Île Sainte-Marie in February 1807 and sailed again. No further trace of the ships was ever found, despite an extensive search by Troubridge's son Captain Edward Troubridge in HMS "Greyhound" and the co-operation of the French. They are presumed to have foundered somewhere off Madagascar. A painting depicting their loss was created by Thomas Buttersworth.

About 280 men were lost aboard "Java" and 590 aboard "Blenheim". Those lost aboard "Blenheim" included Troubridge, Bissell, Captain Charles Elphinstone (nephew of Admiral the Lord Keith), the midshipmen George, Lord Rosehill (eldest son and heir of Rear-Admiral the Earl of Northesk) and William Henry Courtenay (illegitimate son of Admiral the Duke of Clarence), and gunner James Morrison.

Notes

References

*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.
*Grocott, Terence (1998) "Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras." Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-81171-533-7.