HMS Vestal (1757)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Vestal.

HMS Vestal was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was built at King's Yard in Harwich by John Barnard and launched in 1757. She was broken up in 1775.^[1]

History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Vestal
Ordered	25 May 1756
Builder	John Barnard & John Turner, Harwich
Laid down	June 1756
Launched	17 June 1757
Completed	17 August 1757
Commissioned	April 1757
Fate	Taken to pieces at Deptford, June 1775
General characteristics
Class and type	Southampton-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	659 11⁄94 bm
Length	124 ft 4 in (37.90 m) (gundeck) 102 ft 1.5 in (31.13 m) (keel)
Beam	34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 0 in (3.66 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	210 officers and men
Armament	32 guns comprising: Upperdeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 4 × 6-pounder guns Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Service history

During the Seven Years' War, on 21 February 1759, Vestal, under the command of Captain Samuel Hood, was part of a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes bound for North America. Vestal was in advance of the squadron when she sighted a sail ahead, and set off in pursuit. Vestal came up to the enemy ship, the 32-gun Bellone, at 2 p.m. After a fierce engagement lasting four hours, Bellone surrendered, having forty men killed, and being totally dismasted. Vestal had only her lower masts standing, and had five killed and twenty wounded.^[2] She returned to Spithead with her prize, which was bought into the Navy and renamed Repulse.^[3] The prize money for the capture of the Bellone was paid out at Portsmouth from May 1760.^[4]

In June 1759 Vestal was part of Rear-Admiral George Brydges Rodney's squadron, which bombarded Le Havre destroying flat-bottomed boats and supplies which had been collected there for a planned invasion of England.^[5]

On 16 March 1762 prize money was paid out at Leghorn to Vestal for the capture of the Marquis de Pille on 12 December 1760, the St. Antoine de L'Aigle on 19 January, the Marie Euphrosine on 17 April, and the St. Antoine de Padua on 17 June 1761, all in the Mediterranean.^[6]

References

Notes

1. "John Barnard (1705-1784)".
2. "No. 9874". The London Gazette. 27 February 1759. p. 1.
3. Clowes (1898), pp. 300–301
4. "No. 10005". The London Gazette. 31 May 1760. p. 2.
5. Clowes (1898), pp. 215–216
6. "No. 10207". The London Gazette. 8 May 1762. p. 2.

Bibliography

• Clowes, William Laird (1898). The Royal Navy: A History From the Earliest Times to the Present. Vol. III. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company.
• Gardiner, Robert, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9.
• Lyon, David, The Sailing Navy List, Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. ISBN 0-85177-617-5.
• Winfield, Rif, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 to 1792, Seaforth Publishing, London 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.