HMS Minotaur (1793)
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| Ship data | ||
| Owner: | Royal Navy | |
| Surname: | Minotaur | |
| Launching ( ship christening ): | 1793 | |
| Builder: | Woolwich | |
| Crew: | 634 | |
| Fate: | Launched in 1793, participated in the battles of Abukir, Trafalgar and Copenhagen, lost in 1810 | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Type: | Battery ship (timber construction, two-decker ) | |
| Main battery deck length: | 172 " | |
| Width: | ||
| Drive: | sail | |
| Displacement : | 1,721 t | |
| Draft: | ||
| Armament | ||
| Guns: | ||
The HMS Minotaur was an English Leviathan-class 74-gun ship of the line that was launched in 1793 and participated in three major naval battles. It was built on the model of the captured French Courageux and ran aground on the Dutch coast in 1810.
history
The first captain of the Minotaur was Captain Thomas Louis, under whom she also took part in the Battle of Abukir . Previously, after June 1, 1794, the fleet of Rear Admiral George Montagu, to whom the Minotaur was assigned, pursued a French formation under Rear Admiral Cornice as far as the Bay of Bertheaume and blocked it there until the French fleet under Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse took the British ships threatened to include. Montagu then withdrew and sailed for England. In 1798 in the Battle of Aboukir , Captain Louis and the Minotaur horrified Nelson's flagship, the HMS Vanguard , by attacking the French Aquilon and finally conquering it , together with the HMS Theseus . For this, Captain Louis received Nelson's personal thanks. The Minotaur lost 23 dead and 64 wounded in this battle.
In 1800 the Minotaur was Vice Admiral Keith's flagship during the siege of Genoa . Three years later, Captain Charles JM Mansfield took command of the Minotaur , which he held until 1807. Under him, she served in the Canal Fleet and carried the Admiral's flag for a few days when Admiral Collingwood's flagship, HMS Venerable, came to Portsmouth to replenish supplies .
In the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, she was part of Admiral Nelson's battle line and only came within range hours after the start of the battle. Together with the Spartiate standing in the formation behind her , the final ship of the line of battle on the windward side, she fought the Spanish Neptuno , which was taken as a prize. She came back to Nelson's flagship, here the HMS Victory , to help. After the battle, Captain Mansfield received a sword and a gold medal for his bravery. However, the Neptuno was recaptured by its crew and was then lost.
In 1806, the Minotaur carried the flag of Rear Admiral Purvis , Admiral Collingwood's deputy in the Mediterranean for a few months . Under the flag of Rear Admiral William Essington, the Minotaur was there when Admiral Gambier bombed Copenhagen in 1807 . She was the flagship.
Average
Captain John Barrett, who had already led the Minotaur for a short time in November 1807, took it over again in 1809. Under his command, she was en route from Gothenburg to England in December 1810. She was stranded in a heavy storm off the Dutch coast near the Dutch island of Texel . One lieutenant, eight midshipmen and about a hundred men of the crew were rescued and taken prisoner, all others including Captain Barrett perished. After the stranding, allegations were made in England that the Dutch had made no effort to rescue the castaways, although this would have been possible.
painting
The stranding of the Minotaur was considered the subject of a painting by the English painter William Turner , which he completed in 1810, but had begun five years earlier. It originally represented the failure of any merchant ship, but in the wake of the excitement after the accident it became known as the image of the Minotaur stranding. It is now better known as the "wreck of a merchant ship".
flag
Before the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Nelson ordered that all British ships had to put a Union Jack on Voroberbramstengenstag in order to be able to better distinguish between friend and enemy ships. The flag carried by the Minotaur was taken as a trophy after the battle by the sailing master's mate Stephen Hilton. Hilton died in Selling, Kent, in 1872 . In 1930 his descendants gave this and another flag, the Neptuno National , which Hilton had also brought from Trafalgar, to St. Mary's Church. When the Church considered selling the flags that were then in storage in 2011, a debate ensued over the sale and the prospect of the flags ending up in private collectors' hands. An investigation revealed that the flags would not withstand being hung in the church again. Ultimately, both flags were sold to the National Maritime Museum . A replica was made for St. Mary's, while the original is on display in the museum's Nelson Gallery, which opened in 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Minotaur.org website for the ship (English)
- ^ [1] William James: Naval History of Great Britain , Vol. IV, p. 173.
- ↑ a b The Guardian, October 21, 2015, accessed August 9, 2019
- ↑ [2] Minotaur.org: Captain's Log - The Battle of Trafalgar
- ^ The Wreck of the Minotaur in 1810
- ^ "The Wreck of the Minotaur" by JMW Turner
- ↑ Crew list