HMS Hercules was a Common Type, 74-gun, third rate ship of the line of the Hero Class, built at the Deptford Royal Dockyard. She was one of a pair of ships designed by Thomas Slade, Co-Surveyor of the Navy, built to a slightly altered version of the 74-gun ship HMS Hero. The other ship was HMS Thunderer, built at the Woolwich Royal Dockyard. They were four inches wider at the beam than HMS Hero, but in all other respects, were identical. The Slade-designed HMS Hero was originally a one-off, based on Slade's earlier Dublin Class, the first serious attempt by the British to design a 74-gun ship following the end of the era of the Establishments and the Hero Class were a step on the way to the development of the Common Type of 74-gun ship.
The 74-gun ship of the line was by far the most numerous type of ship of the line, not just in the Royal Navy and the navies of France and Spain, but also in the navies of other powers too. They were also operated in numbers by Russia, Portugal, Sweden and Denmark amongst others. They gave the best compromise between speed and agility on one hand, and strength and firepower on the other. In British hands at least, they could and did go toe to toe against much larger and more powerfully armed opponents and come out on top. They had begun to enter service in the Royal Navy in the mid-1750s and formed the backbone of the British battlefleet until the late 1820s. Some of them survived in supporting roles until well into the 20th Century. HMS Wellesley was renamed to TS Cornwall and was sunk by the Luftwaffe in 1940, HMS Cornwallis was used as a floating jetty at Sheerness Dockyard until just before closure and was broken up in 1957, while HMS Implacable (actually the ex-French Duguay Trouin, the last French survivor of the Battle of Trafalgar) was renamed to TS Foudroyant and was scuttled in 1947 because funds couldn't be found for the ship's preservation in post-war austerity Britain.
HMS Hercules was ordered from the Deptford Royal Dockyard on the 15th July 1756, on the same day as her sister-ship. Her first keel section was laid on the 17th September and construction was supervised by Mr Adam Hayes, Master Shipwright in the Deptford Royal Dockyard. The ship was launched with all due ceremony into the River Thames on the 15th March 1759.
At the time the ship was built, the Seven Years war was underway and the Royal Navy was in the midst of a massive shipbuildingprogramme, not just to expand it to meet the needs of the war, but also to replace older, obsolete ships. Such was the hurry to get the ship into service that HMS Hercules commissioned into the Channel Fleet under Captain Jervis Henry Porter five days before she was launched. She was declared complete at Deptford on the 17th April 1759 at a cost of £41,897.5s.5d.
On completion, HMS Hercules was a ship of 1,609 tons, she was 160ft 6in long along the upper gundeck and 135ft 11in long along the keel. She was 47ft 2in wide across the beams. The ship was armed with 28 x 32pdr long guns on her lower gundeck, 28 x 18pdr long guns on her upper gundeck, 4 x 9pdr guns on her forecastle with fourteen more on her quarterdeck. In addition to her main guns, she was fitted with about a dozen half-pounder swivel guns along her upper deck handrails and in her fighting tops.
Hero Class PlansOrlop Plan:
Lower Gundeck Plan:
Upper Gundeck Plan:
Quarterdeck and Forecastle Plans:
Inboard Profile and Plan:
Sheer Plan and Lines:
A model of HMS Thunderer in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, HMS Hercules would have been identical. Detail of the bows, bowsprit and lower foremast rigging:
The same model, port broadside view:
Starboard Quarter view, showing the upper deck beams:
Captain Porter was an experienced combat commander at the time he took command of HMS Hercules. He was also well connected. His mother, Elizabeth Porter, had married the famous Dr. Samuel Johnson after the death of Captain Porter's father Mr Henry Porter. Dr. Johnson was a famous writer, poet, essayist and playwright who had also created the "Dictionary of the English Language", the forerunner to the Oxford English Dictionary. Captain Porter himself was born in 1717 and had entered the Royal Navy in 1731 and the age of 14. He had passed his Examination for Lieutenant on the 31st August 1739 and gained his first command appointment on the 16th November 1744 when he was appointed Master and Commander in the Sloop of War HMS Speedwell. Posted, or promoted to the rank of Captain on the 3rd April 1746, his appointment prior to HMS Hercules had been in command of another Seventy-Four, the ex-French HMS Magnanime.
On being appointed, Captain Porter immediately set about recruiting a crew for his brand-new ship. His commissioned sea-officers were appointed by the Admiralty and the senior Warrant Officers, including the Standing Officers - those men who would remain with the ship whether or not she was in commission, were appointed by the Navy Board.
The ship's six Lieutenants were ranked in order of seniority, First, Second etc, based on the dates on which they had passed their Examinations. The First Lieutenant was clearly the most important of these and was the second-in-command and controlled the day-to-day organisation of the ship and her crew.
The Standing Officers were:
The Boatswain or Bosun. He was a man who had worked his way up through the ranks of seamen, with a great many years of experience of the sea. He was answerable to the First Lieutenant and was responsible for the operation, repair and maintenance of the ship's boats as well as her masts and rigging. When the ship was in commission, he was assisted by two Boatswains Mates. Amongst the duties of the Boatswains Mates was the administering of any floggings ordered by the Captain.
The Gunner. He was another man who had worked his way up through the ranks of seamen. He was responsible to the First Lieutenant for the maintenance, operation and repair of the ships main guns, the training of gun crews and training of Midshipmen in Ordinary in the art of gunnery. In action, his station was in the magazine, filling gunpowder cartridges to be taken to the gun captains by the powder monkeys. When the ship was in commission, he was assisted by two Gunners Mates and 20 Quarter Gunners, each of whom was a Petty Officer in charge of four gun crews.
The Carpenter. He was a fully qualified Shipwright who was answerable to the First Lieutenant for the repair and maintenance of the ships hull, frames and decks. When the ship was in commission, he was assisted a Carpenters Mate and had a dedicated crew of eight men.
The Purser. He was answerable directly to the Captain and was responsible for the purchase and distribution of all the ship's stores and provisions. While the ship was in the Ordinary, he was allowed to live ashore within a reasonable distance of the Dockyard.
The Cook. He was responsible to the First Lieutenant for the distribution and preparation of the ships provisions. He was also in charge of the ship's complement of servants.
The rest of the senior Warrant Officers were, like the Standing Officers, were appointed by the Navy Board and were:
The Sailing Master. He was the highest-ranking of all the ships Warrant Officers, was answerable to the Captain and so was entitled to live in the wardroom with the commissioned officers. He was a fully qualified Master, able to command a vessel in the merchant service when not employed by the Royal Navy. Of all the wardroom officers, he had the second-largest cabin, second only to that of the First Lieutenant. In a ship like HMS Hercules, he was assisted by a more junior but equally qualified Sailing Master, known as the Second Master and three Masters Mates. Each of the Masters mates was themselves a Qualified Mate, able to work as such in the merchant service. The Master was responsible for the day-to-day sailing and navigation of the ship, training the Midshipmen-in-Ordinary in the arts of navigation and seamanship and the storage of supplies and stores in the hold to ensure the optimum trim of the ship for manoeuvring. In addition to the Second Master and the Masters Mates, he was also assisted by six Quartermasters, each responsible for the ship's steering and each assisted by their own Mate.
The Surgeon. Also answerable directly to the Captain and so entitled to live in the wardroom with the commissioned officers. Although not a qualified Doctor as such, the Surgeon had had to complete a seven-year apprenticeship which had been overseen by the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians. He was responsible for the day-to-day healthcare of the whole ship's Company from the Captain downwards and was assisted in this by two Assistant Surgeons.
The lesser Warrant Officers were appointed by the Captain on the recommendation of the First Lieutenant after having applied for the posts and presenting their credentials. These were:
The Armourer. He was responsible for the storage, maintenance and repair of the ships stocks of small-arms and bladed weapons. A qualified Blacksmith, he would also manufacture new bladed weapons as and where necessary. He was answerable to the Gunner and was assisted by two Armourers Mates.
The Sailmaker. Answerable to the Boatswain and responsible for the maintenance and repair of the ships sails and flags as well as their storage. He was assisted by a single Sailmakers Mate and had a dedicated crew of two men.
The Ropemaker. Also answerable to the Boatswain, he was responsible for the storage, maintenance and repair of the ship's supplies of cordage and the manufacture where necessary of new cordage.
The Caulker. He was answerable to the Carpenter and was responsible for ensuring that the ship's hull and decks remained watertight. He was assisted by a single Caulkers Mate and seamen as and when required.
The Chaplain. An ordained priest, he was answerable to the First Lieutenant. In deference to his status as an ordained priest, the Chaplain was entitled to live in the wardroom with the commissioned officers. In action, his role was to assist the Surgeon's crew with the care of wounded men. In the absence of a Chaplain, the Captain would carry out his pastoral duties.
The Schoolmaster. Answerable to the First Lieutenant, he was responsible for training the Midshipmen-in-Ordinary in the theory of navigation and the associated branches of arithmetic. Where possible and appropriate, he would also teach the rest of the ships boys the basic three Rs.
The Cooper. Answerable to the Purser, he was responsible for the maintenance and repair of all the barrels stored in the hold. He was responsible for cleaning the barrels after their contents had been used, especially barrels used to store the ship's water supply and would be assisted by seamen as and where required.
The Clerk. Answerable to the Purser, he was responsible for all the record-keeping and administration aboard the ship and ensuring that the appropriate books were sent to the Admiralty for checking.
The Master-At-Arms. In effect, he was the ship's policeman and was answerable to the First Lieutenant and was responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of discipline on the ship. He was assisted by two Corporals (not related to the military rank of the same name) who themselves had the status of Petty Officers. He would investigate misbehaving seamen and would report them to the First Lieutenant who would in turn report them to the Captain who would decide their punishment. In cases where the Captain decided that the offender should be flogged, the flogging itself would be carried out by the Boatswains Mates. In cases where the alleged offence required a Court Martial, the offender would be kept in irons until a Court Martial could be arranged and the Master-at-Arms would then be responsible for their safety and security.
A 74-gun ship of the line would have 16 Midshipmen, appointed by the Port Admiral or local commander-in-chief on behalf of the Admiralty. Commanders in training, their job was to assist the Lieutenants in their day-to-day duties.
In addition to the Midshipmen, there would be Midshipmen-in-Ordinary. Also known as Quarterdeck Boys, these young men were in effect officers in training. They would usually be the sons of friends of the Captain, or had a family connection to the Captain, or be sons of people the Captain was either doing a favour for or owed a favour to. They would be on the ships books as Captains Servants, rated and paid as Able Seamen but wore the uniform and performed the duties of a Midshipman. A ship with a crew of almost 600 would entitle the Captain to have as many as 24 servants or four per hundred of her Company, but unless he was extraordinarily extravagant, the Captain would only actually require a fraction of this number, so the remaining posts were taken up with the Midshipmen-in-Ordinary. The Quarterdeck Boys would have to put in two years of sea-service before they could be appointed as Midshipmen proper and would have to serve at least six years in the post of Midshipman before they would be considered for their Lieutenants Examination.
In any case, the Captain would come aboard with his own staff who would move between appointments with him, consisting of his own Clerk or secretary, his Steward, who would have a Stewards Mate to assist him and his Coxswain. The Captains Coxswain was a Petty Officer who was expected to act as the Captain's eyes and ears on the Lower Deck. The Coxswain himself would appoint a Coxswain's Mate from amongst the Able Seamen.
The rest of the ships crew would be made up with Petty Officers, those men with experience in those roles, such as Captains and Yeomen of Parts of the ship such as the Forecastle, the Waist, Tops, Gun Captains etc. Able Seamen; those men with plenty of sea-going experience who could perform any task asked of them without supervision, Ordinary Seamen; those men with some sea-going experience and Landsmen, those with none. Landsmen were the unskilled labourers in a ship and were generally regarded by everyone else as being the lowest form of life until they had proved themselves. Boys were graded in much the same way, 1st class - those with Able Seaman levels of skills and experience, 2nd class, those with Ordinary Seaman level skills and 3rd class. The Boys 3rd Class were employed as cabin servants for the wardroom and for those senior Warrant Officers entitled to have servants, such as the Standing Officers. In action, the ship's boys would be employed in carrying gunpowder cartridges from the magazine to the Gun Captains, a role known as a "Powder Monkey".
HMS Hercules' contingent of Marines would come aboard as a pre-existing unit and would consist of a Captain of Marines in charge, assisted by three Marine Lieutenants ranked in order of seniority, three Sergeants, three Corporals, two Drummers and 98 Marine Privates. The commissioned Marine officers were entitled to live in the wardroom with the commissioned sea-officers. The Marines themselves would live in a screened-off part of the Lower Deck, known as the Marine Barracks, while the non-commissioned officers would have the same status aboard the ship as the Petty Officers.
The opening battles of the Seven Years War had gone badly for the British. The island of Minorca with the vital naval base at Port Mahon had been lost in June 1756. It had also gone badly ashore in America after the French managed to persuade many Native American Nations to fight alongside them and in Europe, the main British ally Austria had allied herself with the French. Things weren't helped by political instability at home. This changed in June of 1757 when a coalition was formed between two former political opponents, the Duke of Newcastle and William Pitt the Elder. Once a division of political responsibilities had been agreed between the two men, the Government was able to set a strategic policy which had been lacking before. In 1758, Pitt decided on a strategy to distract the enemy by attacking them in their overseas possessions and launching large scale raids or "Descents" on their own coast. This approach had a number of advantages. Firstly, it would divide the enemy forces by making them send troops and ships to defend their colonies and trading posts and secondly it would deprive the French of trade and therefore money. A series of amphibious assaults were launched on the French coast, their trading posts on the west coast of Africa and in the Caribbean were attacked and taken and plans were laid to take Quebec.
In early 1759, the British became aware of French plans for an invasion of Britain. This was to involve the transport of 100,000 French troops in a huge fleet of barges and flat-bottomed boats across the English Channel. The invasion fleet was to be built in Le Havre, Brest, Morlaix, Lorient and Nantes. Initially, the plans were to involve a Jacobite uprising in Scotland under Charles Stewart, the so-called Bonnie Prince Charlie, but this part of the plan was cancelled after the Young Pretender turned up to a meeting with the French military High Command late and drunk. Nevertheless, plans for the invasion continued to evolve such that by the summer of 1759, it had been decided that the invasion would be launched from Le Havre alone and that the hundreds of invasion craft should gather there to await favourable winds, to carry them to the Portsmouth area where they were to land. The British laid their own plans to counter the invasion threat. Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, commanding the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet was to mount a close blockade of the main French naval base at Brest to prevent them from being able to escort the invasion force across the English Channel, while troops were stationed on the Isle of Wight and shore batteries thrown up near likely landing sites. In the early summer, intelligence reached London that the French intended to try to send the fleet unescorted.
In late June 1759, Rear-Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney was ordered to take a squadron of five ships of the line, five frigates, a sloop of war and six Bomb Vessels to Le Havre and destroy the invasion fleet. The subsequenty Bombardment of Le Havre led to the French calling off plans to send the invasion fleet unescorted. An alternative plan was hatched to launch the invasion with the remaining invasion craft from Brest, to be escorted across the English Channel by the combined French Brest and Toulon Fleets and land at Maldon in Essex and in Scotland to support a planned Jacobite uprising, dividing the defending British. The Toulon Fleet was caught and scattered by the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Boscawen at the Battle of Lagos in August 1759.
On the 10th October 1759, while enforcing the blockade of the French Atlantic coast, HMS Hercules engaged the French 74-gun ship Florissant, as described in Captain Porter's own report of the action:
"Hercules
Plymouth Sound
October 26th 1759
On the 10th. instant, at eight in [he morning. being in in latitude of about 46 deg. 40 min. steering S. E. with the wind at S. W. we saw a sail to windward, which we chased, and soon after discovered her studding sails set, and that she came down lasking upon us. About noon the chace hoisted a blue flag at her main-top gallant mast head, which we answered by hoisting an English ensign at the mizzen-top mast head (a signal which is sometimes made between two French ships of war, upon meeting, after parting company) she neared us very fast, and we plainly discovered her to be a large ship of war. At two in the afternoon, a Dutch galliot passing near us, we hoisted a French jack, and fired a shot at her, upon which the chace hoisted a French jack at her ensign staff, and fired a gun to leeward. At half past five, being about one mile to windward of us, and abaft our beam, coming down as before seemingly with an intention of coming to action, as her guns were run out below, she hauled her jack down, and hoisted her ensign and pendant; we shortened sail, handed down the French jack, hoisted our colours, hauled our ports up (which were until this time down) and run our weather guns out; upon which she immediately hauled her wind, and set her main-sail and stay-sails; we then discovered her to be a 74 gun ship, having fourteen ports below, made sail and stretched a-head of her, and tacked, passing her to leeward. At six tacked again, and stood after her; found she kept away large; we bore after her keeping her a little upon the lee-bow, to prevent her choice of the engaging distance. About three quarters after nine, being pretty near up with her, though not near enough to engage, she put her helm hard a-starboard, and gave us her larboard broadside, and then kept on as before, and gave us her starboard broadside. We then immediately starboarded our helm, and ran right down upon her, whilst she was loading her guns, and getting close to her, ported our helm, and began to engage as the guns bore upon her.
At half past ten we were so unlucky as to have our main-top mast shot away, which she took the advantage of, and made all the sail She could from us; we did the same after her, and continued to chace until eight the next morning, when we saw the north end of Oleron, about five leagues distance. The chace was about four or five miles from us; finding it impossible to come up with her in so short a run, and engaging ourselves with a lee-shore, with our fore-yard shot thro' in two places, our fore-top-sail-yard so badly wounded, that when we came afterwards to reef the sail, it broke, and having all our sails and rigging very much shattered, (at which the enemy only aimed) we left off the chace, and wore ship, having one man killed and two wounded, including myself, being wounded in the head by a grape-shot, and have lost the use of my right leg. The officers and men behaved with the greatest spirits and alertness, without the least confusion,"Amongst the wounded taken off the ship when she returned to Plymouth was Mr Briton Hammon. He was a former slave from Massachusetts who had found his way by a roundabout route onto HMS Hercules. He was taken to the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, where he became the first black man to be treated there.
Captain Porter lost a leg in the action and temporarily handed his command to Captain William Fortescue.
In the first week of November 1759, Hawke's fleet was forced leave their blockade stations to run into Torbay to escape a fierce storm. The French, under the Marshal the Compte de Conflans took the opportunity to put to sea. The French force was under orders to rendezvous with and escort a fleet of troopships waiting in the Golfe de Morbihan to Scotland and mount the invasion there. On 14th November 1759, Conflans and his fleet left Brest and were spotted by the frigate HMS Actaeon that day. On the 15th November, Hawke ordered the fleet to weigh anchor from Torbay and the following day was informed by Captain William McCleverty of HMS Gibraltar (20) that the French Brest Fleet had sailed and had been seen 24 leagues (72 miles) to the north-west of Belle Isle. Hawke immediately ordered the fleet to head for Quiberon Bay under all possible sail, guessing that the French fleet would head that way in order to break the blockade and free the transport ships trapped there.
At this stage, Hawke's Channel Fleet comrised the following ships of the line:
HMS Royal George (100), HMS Namur, HMS Union and HMS Duke (all Second Rate ships with 90 guns), HMS Mars, HMS Warspite, HMS Hercules, HMS Torbay, the ex-French HMS Magnanime, HMS Resolution and HMS Hero (all of 74 guns), HMS Swiftsure, HMS Dorsetshire, HMS Burford, HMS Chichester and HMS Temple (all of 70 guns), HMS Revenge and HMS Essex (both of 64 guns), HMS Kingston, HMS Intrepid, HMS Montagu, HMS Dunkirk and HMS Defiance (all of 60 guns), HMS Portland, HMS Falkland, HMS Chatham and HMS Rochester (all of 50 guns).
The four 50-gun ships had been left behind to blockade the French transport ships and had been placed under the command of Commodore Robert Duff.
The frigates accompanying the fleet were:
HMS Venus (12pdr, 36), HMS Minerva and HMS Sapphire (both 12pdr, 32), HMS Vengeance, HMS Maidstone and HMS Coventry (all 9pdr, 28).
HMS Hercules had been assigned to the Vanguard Division, led by Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, flying his command flag in HMS Duke.
With his ships beating into the teeth of a south-easterly gale, Hawke and his fleet were delayed in their arrival at the Bay. On the 19th, the wind eased and Hawke ordered the frigates HMS Maidstone and HMS Coventry to sail ahead and scout for the enemy. Early the next morning, Hawke also ordered HMS Magnamime to sail ahead of the fleet to support the two frigates
On the night of the 19th November, Conflans ordered his fleet to reduce sail in order to arrive at Quiberon Bay the following morning, rather than in the middle of the night. Early the following morning, the French force spotted sails which turned out to be those of Commodore Duff's squadron. Realising that the strange sails belonged to a small squadron rather than a full fleet, Conflans ordered his fleet to give chase. Duff split his force into two, north and south, pursued by the French vanguard and centre. The rear of the French fleet peeled off to investigate strange sails appearing to the West. These turned out to be the British Fleet with 24 ships of the line, led by Admiral Hawke in HMS Royal George. The French broke off their pursuit of Duff's squadron and retreated back into the Bay. This enabled Commodore Duff's squadron to rejoin the main body of the fleet.
At 08:30 on the 20th November 1759, HMS Maidstone signalled Sir Edward Hawke aboard HMS Royal George that she had sighted a fleet. At 09:45, HMS Magnanime signalled the flagship that she had the enemy in sight. Hawke immediately ordered the fleet to form a line abreast. This was followed shortly afterwards by a signal ordering the seven ships nearest the enemy to give chase and attempt to hold them up for long enough for the main body of the fleet to come up and force a general engagement.
Realising the British were upon them, the French fell into confusion, but soon recovered and began to form a line of battle to meet the oncoming British fleet. While the French were attempting to form their line of battle, Conflans realised that Hawke's fleet would be all over them before the manoeuvres were complete. He figured that since he knew the Bay with it's labyrinth of sandbanks, rocks and treacherous currents, while the British were in unfamiliar waters in deteriorating weather, he had the advantage. His priority became keeping his fleet together and ordered the French fleet to head for the land, twelve miles away, hoping to tempt Hawke to follow. With the wind from the North-West or North-North-West and increasing in strength, both fleets crowded on sail, the French to escape and the British to catch them. At 14:00, the French rear opened fire on the British vanguard and half an hour later, Hawke gave the order to engage the enemy.
A short while later, HMS Resolution, HMS Magnanime, HMS Revenge, HMS Torbay, HMS Montagu, HMS Swiftsure and HMS Defiance got stuck into the French rear. The flagship of the French Rear Division, the 80-gun ship Le Formidable was engaged in passing by these ships until HMS Resolution came alongside and engaged her at point blank range. With the French Rear-Admiral and over 200 of her men dead and battered to a floating wreck, Le Formidable surrendered. The French Seventy-Four Thesee was engaged first by HMS Magnanime and then by HMS Torbay. Her commander refused to order his lower gundeck gunports to be closed in his determination to fight off the British attacks and as a result, while engaged against HMS Torbay in the heavy seas, the Thesee foundered, taking all but 20 of her 800-man crew with her. The French ship Superbe of 70 guns received a full broadside at point blank range from HMS Royal George and capsized. Captain Lord Howe of HMS Magnanime then saw the French Seventy-Four L'Heros laying crippled downwind of him, brought his ship alongside and forced them to surrender. In the heavy seas, Lord Howe was unable to send a boat across to accept the Frenchman's surrender.
By this time, it was getting dark. The British had no pilots and unreliable charts, so Hawke ordered the fleet to anchor where they were and await daybreak. He knew he had the upper hand in the battle. Unfortunately, the signal to anchor for the night was in the form of two guns fired in rapid succession from the flagship, but with several of the British ships still engaged against the enemy and with a full gale howling through the rigging, the signal wasn't heard by everybody. With the coming of darkness, some of the British ships anchored, some headed back out to the safety of the open sea.
On the morning of the 21st November, Sir Edward Hawke found that HMS Resolution had gone aground on the Four Bank in the night and that the French flagship, Le Soleil Royal of 80 guns had anchored in the middle of his fleet. Realising her situation, Conflans ordered that his flagship cut her anchor cable and get away, but the ship ended up going aground off the town of Croisic. L'Heros had also tried to get away in the night but had also gone aground on the Four Bank. Seeing the French flagship getting under way, Hawke ordered HMS Essex to give chase, but before long, that ship too joined the others on the Four Bank.
The rest of the French fleet managed to get away in the night. On the 22nd, the French set their flagship on fire and men sent by Hawke burned L'Heros.
Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hawke and his men had won a stunning victory. The British had lost two ships of the line wrecked and suffered 400 casualties across the fleet. The French on the other hand had lost six ships of the line wrecked, sunk and captured with many others battered to floating ruins. Over 2,000 French sailors had died in the Battle. Despite the victory, Admiral Hawke was disappointed with the result. He was later to state that if he had had two more hours of daylight, he might have taken the whole enemy fleet.
The tracks of the fleets in the lead-up to the Battle of Quiberon Bay:
The Battle of Quiberon Bay, painted by Nicholas Pocock in 1812.
The loss of the French 74-gun ship Thesee during her duel with HMS Torbay (74)
The aftermath of the battle - HMS Resolution (74) lies on her side on the Four Shoal while the French ships Le Soleil Royal and L'Heros lie aground in flames behind her:
The scale of Admiral Hawke's victory had consequences for the rest of the war. The power of the French fleet was broken and did not recover until after the war. The French were unable to resupply their army in Canada and this in turn led to the eventual British victory there. In addition, the French Government suffered a credit crunch as financiers realised that the Royal Navy could now strike French possessions anywhere in the world at will and refused to lend the French Government any more money. The French Government was forced to default on it's existing debts in order to continue the war.
On the 6th July 1760, Captain Porter returned to his command and HMS Hercules sailed to the Mediterranean where she was to remain for the rest of the war.
On the 15th February 1763, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the war. For the British, Pitt's strategy of amphibious assaults on key strategic points on the French coast and of capturing both French and Spanish overseas possessions had effectively won the war. France, unable to trade and generate the money needed to conduct the war, had suffered a credit crunch as financiers refused to loan the French government of King Louis XVI the money needed. This had left them unable to defend their overseas colonies and had led to a vicious circle where defeat had followed defeat. The British had taken French and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean, North America, India and as far away as the Philippines, where the jewel in the crown of Spanish possessions in the far east, Manila, had been taken. Florida and Havana in Cuba had also been lost. The Treaty had forced the French to cede all of French Canada and all the territory in North America between the Appalacian Mountains and the Missisippi River.
On the 26th March 1763, Captain Porter paid off his ship into the Plymouth Ordinary. The ship was stripped of masts, running rigging and stores. The ship became the responsibility of the Master Attendant in the Dockyard and was manned by a skeleton crew comprised of her Standing Officers, their servants and 26 Able Seamen. Captain Jervis Porter died on the 31st March 1763.
Outside this little world, 1765 saw the start of the sequence of events which was to lead to the next war. Struggling under the huge debts run up during what was the first real world war in the true sense of the phrase, the British government began to directly levy taxes on the American colonies. The colonists, although happy to pay taxes intended for the running of local Governments and duties intended for the regulation of trade, objected to the imposition of taxes from London, over which they had no say at all. Political debate grew into protests, not just over the taxes themselves, but also over the draconian and increasingly heavy-handed methods used to enforce them. Protests grew into riots and from 1775, armed rebellion. In 1776, after the American rebels had driven the British from their stronghold at Boston and the part-time soldiers of the colonial militias had won two victories over the regular troops of the British Army at Saratoga, the French began to supply them with arms and money. With the war in America going badly for the British, the French saw an opportunity to regain the possessions and prestige they had lost in the Seven Years War. King Louis XVI calculated that with the British bogged down in a seemingly never-ending war of attrition in North America, they would be unable to prevent the French expanding the scope of the war should they become openly involved in it. This was a move the British feared and attempted to head off by appointing a commission to negotiate an end to the war with the Americans by offering major concessions. The French, fearing this, offered the Americans unlimited military assistance and financial aid in return for a commitment to seek nothing less than full and complete independence. On February 6th 1778, the American Rebels and the French signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a month later, Britain declared war against France.
In the meantime, shortly after being paid off, HMS Hercules was surveyed and as found to be in need of repairs. The ship entered the Dockyard in October of 1764. The repairs took almost a year and were completed in September of 1765 at a cost of £4,587.3s.
The ship entered the Dockyard again for more repairs in May of 1773 which lasted a month.
Despite the outbreak of war, HMS Hercules was to remain in the Plymouth Ordinary until April of 1781.
Up to the time the decision was taken to survey HMS Hercules prior to fitting the ship for sea, the war thus far had been a disaster. The political Establishment was divided, with the Tory Party who formed the Government throwing more and more resources into an already unpopular conflict two thousand miles away. It had grown from a colonial brushfire into a global war between the superpowers of the day. The British were losing the propaganda war as well as the actual war itself. The Tory Party had tried to portray the Americans as tax-dodging crooks who had the audacity to try to usurp the rule of their rightful King. The Americans successfully protrayed themselves as liberty and freedom-loving underdogs fighting for a principle against an authoritarian colonial ruler. The Whig Party, which formed the Opposition, generally agreed with the American cry of "No taxation without representation" and had done their best to undermine the Government's position. The Royal Navy was also riven by political differences, with many naval Officers being MPs for either Party. This political infighting amongst the Royal Navy's most senior officers came to a climax in the aftermath of the First Battle of Ushant when the Commander in Chief of the Channel Fleet, Admiral Sir Augustus Keppel, faced a politically-motivated Court Martial for not doing his utmost in the face of the enemy, a charge which on conviction would carry the death penalty. The fact that the Court Martial was little more than a politically motivated witch hunt was exposed during the trial and the Admiral was acquitted of all charges. The First Lord of the Admiralty, the Tory-supporting Lord Sandwich, although embarrassed by the affair, continued to make sure that the Royal Navy's top commanders had the right political allegiances, regardless of whether or not they were the right men for the job.
With the war going from bad to worse, the Royal Navy found itself in a desperate scramble to get ships of the line ready for sea. The first major naval engagement of the warin 1778 had ended indecisively in the First Battle of Ushant. The following year, the French and their Spanish allies had made a serious attempt to invade the UK which was only called off at the last minute because of indecision on the part of the enemy high command which led to an unacceptable loss of men to malnutrition and disease making an invasion impossible. This led the Royal Navy to the realisation that the defence of the realm came before all else and that there were not enough ships of the line in service to both prevent another invasion attempt and to defend Britains possessions in the Americas and the West Indies and trade through the Mediterranean. More ships were needed, so another massive shipbuilding programme was initiated but in the meantime, more ships needed to be dragged out of the Ordinary for front line service, regardless of their condition.
It was against this background that HMS Hercules was taken into the Royal Dockyard at Plymouth and was fitted for sea. The survey prior to the work had found the ship to be weakened by her age and the effects of being sat on a mooring for eighteen years in all weathers. Because of the need to get the ship back into service rather than have her undergo a Great Repair which would potentially take years, the decision was taken to remove all her guns and replace them with lighter ones. When HMS Hercules completed fitting for sea and commissioned for the Channel Fleet under Captain John Brisbane in September of 1781, she was armed with 28 x 24pdr long guns on her lower gundeck, 28 x 12pdr long guns on her upper gundeck, 4 x 6pdr long guns on her forecastle with fourteen more on her quarterdeck.
On the 24th December 1781, Captain Brisbane was replaced in command by Captain Henry Savage. The ship had received orders to go to the West Indies to reinforce the fleet under Vice-Admiral Rodney, but Captain Brisbane had asked to be excused this duty on the grounds of his poor health.
Captain Henry Savage had passed his Examination for Lieutenant on the 20th March 1758 and had been made Master and Commander in the former American privateer Sloop of War HMS Rover (16) on the 16th June 1780 on the orders of Vice-Admiral Rodney. HMS Rover had been captured by the French on the 13th September and Commander Savage had been a prisoner of war. He was released under a prisoner exchange deal negotiated by Rodney and was Posted and appointed to command the 9pdr-armed Frigate HMS Boreas (28) on the 31st January 1781. He had returned to the UK in HMS Boreas in December 1781 and had immediately been appointed in command of HMS Hercules with orders to take her to the West Indies.
Once the French were openly involved in the war, they sent their best naval commander, Vice-Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, Compte de Grasse to support operations in North America and he had inflicted a defeat on Vice-Admiral Thomas Graves in the Battle of Chesapeake Bay in September of 1781. This defeat had led directly to the surrender of the bulk of the British Army in North America at the Seige of Yorktown, which had left the British position ashore in North America untenable. The Compte de Grasse had then taken his fleet to the Caribbean with the intention of driving the British out. After two attempts to capture the British-held island of St Lucia were frustrated by the weather, De Grasse had taken the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. He had achieved this despite being outmanoeuvred and driven away by Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood in the Battle of Frigate Bay, fought off St. Kitts in January of 1782. De Grasse's next target was Jamaica, the richest British possession in the Caribbean. Shortly after his tactical victory at Frigate Bay, Hood had met reinforcements sent from the UK including HMS Hercules After the capture of St. Kitts and Nevis, De Grasse had returned to the French base at Martinique to refit and resupply his ships. Rodney had gained intelligence about De Grasse's intentions and had sent his fleet's Frigates to watch the French at Martinique.
On 7th April 1782, De Grasse set out from Martinique with 35 ships of the line with a convoy of 100 transport ships with the intention of meeting up with a Spanish squadron of 12 more ships of the line and 15,000 soldiers and launching the operation against Jamaica.
News of the French departure reached Rodney the following day and the entire British fleet left St Lucia in search of the French. HMS Hercules had been assigned to the British Centre Division, commanded by Rodney himself in the Second Rate ship of the line HMS Formidable (98).
After only a day, the French were sighted. Surprised at the sheer speed of the British fleet, the Compte de Grasse ordered the convoy to head to Guadeloupe while he covered them with his fleet. Hood decided to attack as soon as he could. Commanding the Vanguard Division of Rodney's fleet, Hood and his force of 12 ships of the line fought an inconclusive action against the French in which both sides suffered damage. This encounter saw Captain William Bayne of HMS Alfred (74) killed in action and HMS Royal Oak (74) and HMS Montagu (74) both damaged.
The next two days saw the British follow parallel to the French, but with both sides keeping their distance as they made repairs. On 12th April, Hood's vanguard force was still making its repairs, so Rodney ordered Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Samuel Drake and his Rear Division to take the lead. The two fleets were passing through the passage between the Iles des Saintes and the northern end of the island of Dominica. By 07:40, HMS Marlborough (74) of Drake's division was leading the fleet and was approaching the centre of the French line. It looked as though the action was going to be a typical fleet action of the time, with both fleets in lines of battle, sailing in opposite directions along each others lines. At about 8am however, as HMS Formidable was engaging the mighty French flagship, the Ville de Paris of 104 guns, the wind changed, throwing the French into confusion. This confusion enabled Rodney's fleet, starting with HMS Formidable, to sail straight through the French line of battle, raking enemy ships through their bows and sterns and inflicting terrible damage and casualties. By 13:30, HMS Barfleur had come up and had begun a gunnery duel with the French flagship. This went on until about 16:00 when the Ville de Paris, having suffered horrific casualties, struck her colours and surrendered to HMS Barfleur. The French admiral was the only unhurt officer aboard the Ville de Paris, which had had over 400 of her crew killed. In fact, the casualty figures for the Ville de Paris alone were more than those for the entire British fleet. It is estimated that French casualties in the Battle of the Saintes came to more than 3,000 killed or wounded and more than 5,000 captured. The British suffered 243 killed and 816 wounded across the fleet. The British had not lost any ships and had captured four French ships of the line and another, the Cesar of 74 guns had blown up after having caught fire.
The remains of the shattered French fleet withdrew towards Guadeloupe. On 17th, Rodney sent Hood in the Vanguard Division after the retreating French ships and Hood's force caught up with them in the Mona Passage, between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Hood had been sent after he had criticised Rodney for not having pursued the retreating French immediately after the Battle of the Saintes and completing his rout of the enemy. The only ships of Hood's force to actually engage the enemy at the Battle of Mona Passage were the 74 gun ship HMS Valiant, which vastly outgunned and captured the French 64 gun ships Caton and Jason, while the 74 gun ship HMS Magnificent captured the French frigate Aimable of 32 guns.
In the Battle of the Saintes, Captain Savage, who suffered with severe gout, had not taken up his usual custom of commanding the ship from a chair on the quarterdeck. This time, he was going to be on his feet, as painful as it was. His natural aggression came to the fore during the battle as he shouted insults at the French through a speaking trumpet as they closed the range and came alongside the enemy. HMS Hercules had been the first British ship to come alongside and exchange fire with the Ville de Paris and Captain Savage had been wounded and taken below. Once his wounds had been dressed, he ordered that his chair be placed on the quarterdeck and he resumed command of the ship from there despite all hell breaking loose around them. In the battle, HMS Hercules suffered casualties of six dead and nineteen men, including Captain Savage wounded.
The tracks of the fleets up to and during the Battle of the Saintes:
HMS Formidable breaks the French line, painted by William Elliot, who was serving as a Lieutenant during the battle:
The moment of victory, the Ville de Paris surrenders to HMS Barfleur by Thomas Whitcombe:
After the battle, HMS Hercules retired to Jamaica with the rest of the fleet. Captain Savage handed temporary command of the ship to Mr William Nowell, the First Lieutenant, who oversaw the repairs.
Repairs complete, HMS Hercules sailed to New York on the 21st July 1782 to avoid the hurricane season and she remained there until the 24th October when she returned to the West Indies.
The war was ended by the Treaty of Paris, signed on the 3rd September 1783 and effective from May 12th 1784. On the 3rd July 1783, HMS Hercules paid off once more into the Plymouth Ordinary. The ship was sold out of the Royal Navy on the 17th August 1784 for £1,300.
