HMS Agamemnon (1781)
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 Painting by Nicholas Pocock - the HMS Agamemnon can be seen in the background as the third ship from the left
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| Ship data | ||
| Owner: | British Royal Navy | |
| Surname: | Agamemnon | |
| Nickname: | "Eggs-and-bacon" | |
| Keel laying : | May 1777 | |
| Launching ( ship christening ): | April 10, 1781 | |
| Builder: | Bucklers-Hard shipyard on the Beaulieu River | |
| Crew: | about 500 officers and men | |
| Fate: | stranded in the estuary of the Río de la Plata on June 16, 1809 | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Type: | Battery ship (timber construction, two-decker ) | |
| Length over all: | not known | |
| Main battery deck length: | 49 m | |
| Width: | 13.5 m | |
| Drive: | sail | |
| Displacement : | 1,384 t | |
| Draft: | 5.8 m | |
| Armor system: | without | |
| Armament | ||
| 4-pounder on the quarterdeck : | 10 | |
| 9-pounder on the bow fort: | 2 | |
| 18 pounder on the upper battery deck: | 26th | |
| 24-pounder on the lower battery deck: | 26th | |
The HMS Agamemnon was a sailing warship of the British Royal Navy , which was classified as a third rank ship of the line and belonged to the Ardent class .
General
The ship was equipped with 64 cannons and served during the American Wars of Independence , the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars . It took part in numerous battles during this period:
- Second naval battle of Ouessant (1781)
- Battle of Les Saintes (1782)
- Battle of Genoa (1795)
- Sea battle of Îles d'Hyères (1795)
- Naval Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
- Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
- Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
- Naval Battle of Santo Domingo (1806)
- Second naval battle of Copenhagen (1807)
The Agamemnon is remembered as Horatio Nelson's "favorite ship" and was named after the Greek King Agamemnon , who she was the first to wear in the Royal Navy.
From January 1793, the future Lord Nelson commanded the Agamemnon for three years, which was doing Mediterranean service at that time. After Nelson left the ship, she was involved in the famous mutinies of Spithead and The Nore in 1797 . In 1801 she was then present in the First Sea Battle of Copenhagen, but ran aground and could therefore not take part in combat operations.
Although Nelson's favorite ship was in need of repair and maintenance, it was almost always in need of repair and was supposed to be scrapped in 1802. The war with France however, made it indispensable so that the Agamemnon further used was: On October 21, 1805 participated in the Battle of Trafalgar in Luv - line part of Nelson and forced the surrender of the Spanish four-decker Santissima Trinidad . The further career of the Agamemnon finally led to South American waters off Brazil .
Due to the poor condition of the ship, she was finally scrapped after she stranded in the river delta of the Río de la Plata in June 1809 , when she sought protection from a storm here together with other ships from her squadron. All of the crew and most of the supplies could be saved, but the ramshackle timber of the hull made it impossible to free the ship. Thanks to a detailed, documented list of the previously existing damage to the ship, the captain was relieved of personal responsibility for the dilemma of losing a ship.
Some time ago, the wreck of the Agamemnon was located and numerous artifacts were found , including one of its cannons.
construction
The Agamemnon was ordered on February 5, 1777 by the commercial shipbuilder Henry Adams at his Bucklers Hard shipyards in Beaulieu to be built according to the lines of the so-called Ardent class, which go back to construction patterns by Sir Thomas Slade . The keel was laid in May 1777; the wood necessary for the construction of the ship was felled in the peripheral New Forest . The total cost was about £ 38,303. She was assigned to Captain Benjamin Caldwell on March 28, 1781 , 13 days before she was launched on April 10, 1781.
history
American War of Independence
Second naval battle of Ouessant (1781)
In November 1781 the British Admiralty became aware of a large French convoy , which under the command of General de Luc Urbain du Bouëxic Guichen from Brest to expire. The cargo in these convoys consisted of maritime goods for the British West Indies ( Bermuda ) and for the French fleet in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). The Agamemnon was subordinate to Admiral Richard Kempenfelt at that time , who commanded a squadron of 18 ships from his flagship , the HMS Victory .
Kempenfelt was instructed to intercept the convoy, which it implemented immediately. So he ran out on December 10, 1781 together with eleven other ships of the line, a 50-gun ship 4th rank and five frigates to intercept the French convoy coming from Brest. Kempenfelt ignored the fact that the convoy was accompanied by 21 ships of the line and ordered a pursuit after the first enemy ships were sighted. The battle began in the Bay of Biscay about 240 km southwest of Ouessant .
When Kempenfelt finally realized that the enemy was superior, he was satisfied with having captured 15 ships in the convoy and withdrew with these prizes . The French escort ships were widely scattered by a breaking storm and could no longer intervene in time. They went back to their home waters without further fighting. Only five ships reached the West Indies .
Battle of Les Saintes (1782)
Beginning in 1782 sailed the Agamemnon to the West Indies, this time as part of the squadron, under the command of Admiral Sir George Rodney and Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood was. On April 9, 1782, the Battle of Les Saintes began with an indecisive battle, in the course of which so many ships were seriously damaged that they had to leave the battle prematurely for necessary repairs. In the second battle on April 12, 1782, the Agamemnon took part, which lost two lieutenants and 36 other crew members.
After the signing of the Versailles Treaty , the American War of Independence was over and the Agamemnon returned to Chatham (Kent) . Here she was docked on October 29, 1783 for repairs, which included a renewal of the copper fittings on her underwater hull. On June 4, 1784, the ship was undocked again and a little later laid up .
French Revolution
Toulon (1793)
Foreshadowing that after the execution of King Louis XVI. could go to war against France, the Agamemnon was put back into service on January 31, 1793, this time under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson . After returning to the fleet, she was initially anchored in front of The Nore, a sandbank in the Thames estuary. She was later placed under the command of Vice-Admiral Hood's Mediterranean fleet , which blocked the French port of Toulon . On August 27, 1793, the city of Toulon declared its allegiance to the royal Bourbons , which prompted Hood to enter the port and conquer the 30 French ships of the line there and the local shipyards. After 19 ships were taken over, the Agamemnon was sent to Naples to ask King Ferdinand I (Sicily) for troops that would secure Toulon. The king agreed and sent 4,000 soldiers. After Napoleon Bonaparte's troops launched their attack against Toulon, however, King Ferdinand's soldiers could not hold the city and had to leave it to the revolutionary troops.
Bastia and Calvi (1794)
In April and May 1794, sailors helped the Agamemnon, led by Nelson, to take the Corsican city of Bastia . The French surrendered on May 21, 1794 after a 40-day siege. The Agamemnon was then forcibly sent to Gibraltar to have urgent repairs carried out there after having been at sea for 16 months without interruption. After these repairs, she returned to Corsica , where she anchored south of Calvi on June 18, 1794 . After Hood arrived there with other ships, the Agamemnon contributed to the 51-day siege of Calvi by providing weapons and crew members. During the fighting, Nelson lost part of his right sight when a French ball hurled sand and gravel in his face.
The Agamemnon suffered the loss of six crew members during this siege before the city surrendered on August 10, 1794. A short time later, the inhabitants of Corsica declared their allegiance to King George III.
Battle of Genoa (1795)
In 1794 Vice-Admiral William Hotham replaced the previous commander of the squadron, Rear Admiral Hood, so that the Agamemnon was now subordinate to him, but still belonged to the Mediterranean fleet. After a total of 15 French ships of the line were sighted on March 10, 1795, she took part in the naval battle of Genoa . On March 13, 1795, both sides had a skirmish, whereupon Admiral Hotham ordered free hunting. The French liner Ça Ira lost the fore and main mast, which is why it rammed another French ship, the Victoire . The British HMS Inconstant took advantage of this to attack the Ça Ira . The Agamemnon rushed to the rescue and fired at the 80-gun ship until more French ships arrived on site. Admiral Hotham then ordered the retreat. The French Ça Ira was intercepted and captured by the British on the following day together with the Censeur in tow .
Sea battle of Îles d'Hyères (1795)
On July 7, 1795, the Agamemnon was chased by a squadron of 22 French ships of the line and six frigates. At the time she was in a small squadron of frigates. Due to unfavorable winds, Admiral Hotham could not rush to her aid until the next day, but the enemy parties lost sight of each other. Only on July 13, 1795 could the French fleet be sighted again - off the Îles d'Hyères . Hotham started the chase with his 23 ships under his command. The Agamemnon was one of the few ships that could first exchange blows. The French ship Alcide canceled the flag during the battle but could not prevent it from catching fire and eventually sinking. Many of the other French ships were in a similar situation. The Agamemnon and the British HMS Cumberland were attacking an 80-gun ship of the line when Admiral Hotham signaled retreat, allowing the French to escape into the Gulf of Fréjus . Admiral Hotham had to take a lot of criticism for his premature end to the battle and was replaced as commander of the Mediterranean fleet by Admiral Sir John Jervis . Because of the great need for repairs, the Agamemnon was then ordered back to Great Britain .
Mutiny (1797)
In May 1797, now under the command of Captain Robert Fancourt , the Agamemnon was involved in the so-called Nore mutiny : on May 29, 1797, the North Sea squadron anchored in Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) was ordered to sail . Only three ships, the HMS Adamant , Agamemnon and HMS Glatton obeyed orders. However, the crew of the Agamemnon mutinied shortly afterwards and sailed the ship back to Yarmouth. The ship then went to the main venue of the mutinies of that time, the sandbank Nore . The ship then took part in a blockade of London when parts of the mutinous fleet turned away from the mutiners. Apparently, the loyal seamen and the marines of the Agamemnon on board finally succeeded in throwing the mutineers overboard and restoring order to the ship. Captain Fancourt was able to obtain a pardon for the rest of the crew on board.
On March 18, 1799, the Agamemnon was damaged after it ran aground on the Penmarks Rocks. With the help of two sloops and troops from nearby Pendennis Castle , who were able to keep the water level constant with the help of the on-board pumps, the ship managed to sail to Plymouth to repair the damage. Due to the structural stress on the hull during the unavoidable sailing maneuvers, the water level in the ship rose again, so that the Agamemnon , after having passed Penlee Point near Plymouth, fired a cannon shot that signaled a request for help. The HMS Clyde then escorted her to Falmouth on March 25 , where she was tied to a Hulk to prevent further sinking.
First naval battle of Copenhagen (1801)
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As a result of developments in the Baltic States, the Agamemnon was assigned to Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and Vice Admiral Lord Nelson in 1801, subordinate to the Baltic Sea Fleet. The order of the fleet was to attack Danish forces in Copenhagen .
On April 2, 1801, the Agamemnon positioned itself in the second line behind the HMS Edgar , but ran aground after trying to avoid a shoal. The same fate befell the HMS Bellona and the HMS Russell . Although the battle began around the aground ships, they could be towed free on the night of April 3rd.
After the Treaty of Amiens was signed, the Agamemnon was reissued in Chatham in 1802.
Napoleonic war
The state of the Agamemnon was actually so bad in 1802 that she would normally have been turned into a Hulk or broken up - not taking into account renewed hostilities with France . Instead, when the British again went to war against France , she was put back into service on July 31, 1804 under Captain John Harvey and reassigned to Admiral William Cornwallis' Canal Fleet .
Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
The Agamemnon was now cruising on July 22, 1805 as part of the squadron of Vice-Admiral Robert Calder at Cape Finisterre when the combined French-Spanish fleet was sighted. The British immediately went into the keel line - with the Agamemnon in fifth place - and attacked Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve's fleet in hazy weather conditions and light winds. As a result of the battle, the Agamemnon recorded three wounded and also had to accept some damage, this time mainly to the masts. By nightfall the British fleet was so scattered that Admiral Calder signaled his ships to abandon the engagement.
Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
In September 1805, after a brief overhaul in Portsmouth , Captain Harvey was replaced by Captain Sir Edward Berry , who had previously commanded Nelson's flagship, the HMS Vanguard , in the battle at Abukir . The Agamemnon thus sailed on October 3, 1805 with a new commander to Cádiz , in order to subject Villeneuve's fleet to a blockade. On the way there, however, the ship came into the focus of a French squadron, consisting of six ships of the line and a few smaller sailors, who immediately took up the chase. The Agamemnon managed to escape, however, and reached the Nelson blockade squadron on October 13, 1805.
On October 20th, the Agamemnon captured a large American merchant brig , which she then took in tow as a prize . However, she sailed straight for the entire French fleet of Villeneuve, which was just leaving the port of Cádiz. However, the HMS Euryalus was able to warn the Agamemnon in good time so that she could take part in the Battle of Trafalgar the next day without further incident . The Agamemnon positioned itself here in eighth position in the windward line of Nelson, exactly between the HMS Orion and the HMS Minotaur .
Their first combat action was to bombard the Spanish four-decker Santissima Trinidad until it was finally dismasted and had to drop the flag after a loss of 216 crew members . Before Captain Berry could take over the captured prize , the front French division, which was cut off from the rear division by Nelson's tactics, lost the order of battle that had already been painstakingly maintained. In the meantime, Thomas Masterman Hardy took over as "captain of the fleet" the coordination of further fighting, since Lord Nelson - hit by a bullet - was dying below deck of the HMS Victory . Hardy ordered the immediate pursuit of the disordered enemy ships, so that the Agamemnon, along with other British ships, had to go on an interception course and let go of their prizes. Three enemy ships then tried to break through to Cádiz. After a brief skirmish with the French Intrépide , the British ships tried to cut the path of the fleeing enemy. Until then, the Agamemnon had only recorded two dead and eight injured.
After the battle, the ship took the HMS Colossus in tow , although it had to struggle with three inches of water rise in the hull every hour , and towed it to Gibraltar . After a few necessary repairs, it then returned to Vice-Admiral Collingwood's squadron to blockade Cádiz again.
Naval Battle of Santo Domingo (1806)
In early 1806, the Agamemnon belonged to Vice-Admiral Duckworth's Caribbean Squadron and was in pursuit of a French fleet that was supposed to transport troops to Santo Domingo . On February 6, 1806, the two enemy squadrons clashed and opened the naval battle of Santo Domingo .
The Agamemnon supported in this battle Duckworth's flagship HMS Superb here, the French flagship Impérial by Vice-Admiral Corentin Urbain Leissègues to drive in a shoal, and succeeded, so the Impérial later scrapped there had.
In October 1806, she finally escorted a convoy back to Great Britain.
Second naval battle of Copenhagen (1807)
In 1807 the Agamemnon became part of the fleet of Admiral James Gambier to gain control of the Danish fleet before it fell into French hands. At this time Denmark had come under the influence of Napoléon Bonaparte . The Agamemnon eventually took part in the Second Naval Battle of Copenhagen . As in the First Sea Battle of Copenhagen , however, she ran aground and had to be freed. It was moved to the Bay of Kjørge, where it became part of the local port battery and took control of the town of the same name. After Copenhagen surrendered on September 7, 1807, the Agamemnon sought out the Lisbon blockade squadron .
Loss (1808)
In February 1808, the Agamemnon sailed together with Rear Admiral Sir Sidney Smith's flagship , HMS Foudroyant , to Brazil , where both joined a British squadron. In Rio de Janeiro it was found that the Agamemnon was very worn and even some of its frame bolts were broken. The ship later anchored together with the HMS Monarch in the mouth of the Río de la Plata when a bad weather front approached. The Monarch ran aground and needed the help of the Agamemnon . This undertaking succeeded, but another attempt to leave the river failed due to the bad weather. It wasn't until January 1809 that both ships returned to Rio de Janeiro. Here the Agamemnon was fully examined by a shipbuilder who listed the damage in detail - but she did not undergo a major overhaul at this time.
On June 16, 1809, the Agamemnon , together with the rest of its squadron - this time under the command of Rear Admiral Michael de Courcy - again set course for the mouth of the Río de la Plata to escape a storm. There the ship ran into an undisclosed shoal and got stuck. Captain Jonas Rose tried to pull the ship free with the dinghies, using the current and the existing anchors, but this did not succeed. In the course of the efforts it was also found that an anchor thrown shortly before the stranding was located directly under the run-up ship and thus caused additional punctual pressure on the hull and ultimately even pierced it. On June 17, 1809 the ship had already strong list to starboard, so that inventories and the crew were taken off the ship. The following day, Captain Rose and his officers also left the no longer seaworthy ship. The wreck of the Agamemnon is today near Maldonado northeast of Isla Gorriti .
The trial on the occasion of the loss of the Agamemnon was held on July 22, 1809 in Rio de Janeiro on board the HMS Bedford . It was determined that the ship could have been saved if it had been in better structural condition, which was no longer the case and had previously been documented accordingly in Rio de Janeiro. Captain Rose was thus honorably acquitted of all guilt.
Trivia / Varia
In 1993 the wreck was found north of Gorriti Island in the mouth of the Río de la Plata. Expeditions have documented the remains and secured a few artifacts. Among them were z. B. a seal with the words "Nelson" and a 24-pound cannon from their main battery deck.
The author of marine history novels, Patrick O'Brian , selected the Agamemnon as the ship on which his main character Jack Aubrey served as a lieutenant . The novels were filmed in the feature film Master and Commander . The Agamemnon has also been immortalized in two paintings by Geoff Hunt , who deals with marine-related painting.
For the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005, 33 trees were planted, named after the Royal Navy ships involved at the time . The Agamemnon tree was planted in November 2005 on the Beaulieu property in Hampshire , near the Buckler's Hard shipyard where the ship was built.
literature
- Anthony Deane: Nelson's Favorite. HMS Agamemnon at War 1781-1809. Caxton Editions, London 2003, ISBN 1-84067-430-X .
- Peter Goodwin: Nelson's Ships. A History of the Vessels in which he Served, 1771-1805. Conway Maritime Press, London 2002, ISBN 0-85177-742-2 .
- Peter Goodwin: The Ships of Trafalgar. The British, French and Spanish Fleets, October 1805. Conway Maritime Press, London 2005, ISBN 1-84486-015-9 .
- Brian Lavery: The Ship of the Line. Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet, 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press, London 2003, ISBN 0-85177-252-8 .
Individual evidence
Web links
- engineering drawing in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich