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Coventry-class Royal Navy frigate
For other vessels bearing the name HMS Liverpool, consult the relevant disambiguation page.
Ship plan of Liverpool
The schematics offer a glimpse into the design of the HMS Liverpool, a vessel that, for all its naval significance, ultimately met a rather ignominious end. It’s a testament to the era’s shipbuilding, a blend of calculated design and the inherent risks of maritime endeavor. One can almost feel the creak of the timber, the salt spray on the decks, just by observing these lines.
History
Great Britain
- Name: HMS Liverpool
- Ordered: 3 September 1756
- Builder: John Gorill & William Pownall, Liverpool
- Laid down: 1 October 1756
- Launched: 10 February 1758
- Commissioned: February 1758
- Fate: Wrecked 1778
General Characteristics
- Class & type: Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate
- Tons burthen: 589 85⁄94 bm
- Length:
- 118 ft 4 in (36.1 m) (gundeck)
- 97 ft 7¼ in (29.7 m) (keel)
- Beam: 33 ft 8½ in (10.27 m)
- Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
- Complement: 200
- Armament:
- Upperdeck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
- Quarterdeck: 4 × 3-pounder guns
- 12 × swivel guns
HMS Liverpool was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate that served with the Royal Navy. Her launch in 1758 marked the beginning of a career that spanned significant conflicts, including the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Her operational life concluded abruptly in 1778 when she was wrecked in Jamaica Bay, a location near New York. It’s a rather anticlimactic end for a vessel of her type, wouldn't you agree?
Construction
The Liverpool was constructed from oak, a standard practice for vessels of her caliber. She belonged to the Coventry class, a group of 18 frigates designated as sixth-rates. The design itself was loosely based on the specifications of HMS Tartar, a ship launched in 1756 that had proven remarkably effective, capturing five French privateers in its first year of service. This success likely influenced the Admiralty’s decision to build the Coventry class.
The order for these ships came at a particularly demanding time for the Royal Navy – the Seven Years' War had begun. The Royal Dockyards were already stretched to their limits, heavily occupied with the construction and fitting-out of ships of the line, the capital ships of the era. This meant that, despite some reservations from the Navy Board regarding reliability and cost, contracts for most of the Coventry vessels, with the exception of one, were awarded to private shipyards. The priority was speed, a necessary evil when facing a formidable adversary like France.
The contract for the Liverpool's construction was awarded on 3 September 1756 to the private shipwrights John Gorill and William Pownall. Their shipyard, conveniently located in the city of Liverpool, lent its name to the vessel. The terms stipulated an ambitious completion within eleven months for a 28-gun ship of approximately 590 tons burthen. Gorill and Pownall were to receive a modest fee of £8.7s per ton, paid through periodic imprests from the Navy Board. Private shipyards, unlike their naval counterparts, operated with less stringent oversight, allowing for a degree of flexibility in internal design. The Admiralty granted permission for "such alterations withinboard as shall be judged necessary," a clause that permitted individual shipwrights to adapt designs based on their expertise or available resources, and even to experiment.
The keel of the Liverpool was laid on 1 October 1756. However, the construction process proved to be protracted. The ship was finally launched on 10 February 1758, a full six months behind the initial schedule. When completed, the Liverpool was slightly longer and narrower than her sister ships in the Coventry. Her dimensions were recorded as 118 ft 4 in (36.1 m) in length along the gundeck, with a keel length of 97 ft 7 in (29.7 m), a beam of 33 ft 8½ in (10.26 m), and a hold depth of 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m). Her registered tonnage was 589 85⁄94 tons.
Naval frigates typically underwent their final fitting-out and armament at Royal Dockyards. However, the Liverpool was armed while still at the builder's yard. Her armament consisted of 24 nine-pounder cannons positioned along the gun deck. These were supplemented by four three-pounder cannons on the quarterdeck and twelve ½-pounder swivel guns mounted along her sides.
The vessel was christened Liverpool, after the prominent city in North West England. This naming choice followed a tradition established in 1644 by the Board of Admiralty, which favored geographical names. Indeed, ten out of the nineteen Coventry vessels were named after regions, rivers, or towns. The remaining ships in the class, with a few exceptions, bore names drawn from classical antiquity, a trend that had gained traction in 1748 under John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who served as First Lord of the Admiralty.
In terms of sailing performance, the Liverpool was considered comparable to French frigates of similar size. However, she possessed a shorter, sturdier hull and carried heavier broadside guns. Her relatively broad beam provided ample space for provisions, the ship's mess, and a substantial magazine for gunpowder and round shot. These attributes combined to enable the Liverpool to undertake extended voyages without frequent resupply. Furthermore, she was equipped with broad and heavy masts, which counterbalanced the weight of her hull, enhanced stability in rough seas, and allowed her to carry a greater sail area. The trade-off for this robust design was a reduction in maneuverability and a slower speed in light winds.
Her designated crew complement was 200 individuals. This included two commissioned officers – a captain and a lieutenant – along with 40 warrant and petty officers, 91 naval ratings, 38 Marines, and 29 servants and other ranks. Within this latter category were four positions designated as widow's men. These were essentially fictitious crew members whose wages were intended to be diverted to the families of sailors who perished at sea.
Seven Years' War
The Liverpool was launched on 10 February 1758 and immediately entered naval service under the command of Captain Richard Knight. After her crew was assembled, she was assigned to the Royal Navy squadron tasked with patrolling the English Channel and intercepting French vessels that threatened British merchant shipping. Her early career was marked by a close call in June. While sailing from the port of Crosby, Merseyside on 28 June, the ship encountered severe swell and the onset of a storm. Captain Knight ordered the vessel anchored fore and aft to ride out the tempest close to shore. The anchors held, but the increasing swell began to inundate the decks and drain into the hold. Realizing the ship risked sinking at anchor due to waterlogging, Knight ordered the anchor cables cut to allow the ship to raise sail and head for open sea. However, the storm's ferocity made it impossible to set the sails effectively. Instead, the Liverpool was driven ashore near Crosby. As she neared the beach, the swell rolled her onto her side. Fearing the ship would break apart, many crew members abandoned their posts and swam ashore. The remaining crew, under Knight’s direct command, worked to cut away the main and mizzen masts, allowing the ship to right herself in the shallows. She grounded on the beach, remaining there until the following day when the high tide refloated her, and she was towed back to port for repairs.
Following repairs and a re-crewing, the Liverpool returned to active service in 1759. She was part of a small squadron deployed to disrupt French trade at the port of Dunkirk. On 11 May 1759, off Dunkirk, she engaged and captured L'Emerillon, an 8-gun French privateer. The captured vessel and her 52 crew were handed over to British authorities at Yarmouth. Two more successes followed: La Nouvelle Hirondelle was taken on 7 July, and Le Glaneur on 20 November.
In March 1760, the Liverpool was reassigned to convoy protection duties, escorting merchant ships between Britain and its colonial outposts in the East Indies and North America. After two years in this role, she was again redeployed, this time to support the Royal Navy's loose blockade of the French port of Brest. Her duties involved relaying messages between the blockading ships and monitoring for any French attempts to sortie. On 25 April 1762, while still engaged in these operations, the frigate encountered and overcame Le Grand Admiral, a privateer operating out of Bayonne. This was Captain Richard Knight's final engagement aboard the Liverpool; he relinquished command in June 1762 and returned to England. In Knight's absence, the Liverpool secured her fifth victory at sea with the capture of the French privateer Le Jacques.
Captain Edward Clark, formerly the first lieutenant of the 14-gun sloop HMS Fortune, took command of the Liverpool in September. The war with France was nearing its conclusion, and by January 1763, peace negotiations were well underway, culminating in the Treaty of Paris. On 20 January 1763, Clark received orders to sail for the East Indies, carrying dispatches announcing the impending peace. Tragically, Captain Clarke died by suicide in March 1764 during the Liverpool's return voyage. Upon reaching England, the frigate was deemed surplus to the Navy's peacetime requirements and was sent to Woolwich Dockyard for decommissioning.
Inter-war period
The Liverpool underwent a significant overhaul, termed a "great repair," between March 1766 and April 1767. She was recommissioned in March 1767 and subsequently ordered to Newfoundland. After two years of service in that region, she was deployed to the Mediterranean, where she remained until her return to Chatham, England in March 1772, at which point she was paid off.
American Revolutionary War
The Liverpool was recommissioned in July 1775, shortly after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Captain Henry Bellew assumed command, and the frigate sailed for North America on 14 September. On 1 January 1776, she participated in the bombardment of Norfolk, Virginia alongside two other English warships under the command of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore. A cannonball fired from her batteries during this engagement remains lodged in the wall of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church (Norfolk, Virginia).
On 26 August 1776, while on patrol off Nova Scotia, she encountered two American schooners, USS Warren and USS Lynch. The American vessels attempted to escape in separate directions. Captain Bellew pursued the Warren. After a brief chase, the schooner was captured. She was subsequently repurposed as a ship's tender for the Liverpool, and her crew were held under guard until September, when they and the captured schooner's guns were transferred to HMS Milford.
In 1777, the Liverpool was integrated into a fleet under the overall command of Viscount Howe. She formed part of the advance fleet, led by Francis Reynolds, which participated in the Battle of Red Bank on the Delaware River. On 11 February 1778, her operational history came to an abrupt end when she was wrecked in Jamaica Bay, on Long Island.
Coordinates: 40°35′25″N 73°51′16″W
Notes
- ^ The fee of £8.7s per ton paid to Gorill and Pownall was favorable compared to the average £9.0s per ton demanded by Thames River shipwrights for building 24-gun Royal Navy vessels in the preceding decade. It was also significantly less than the average £9.0s per ton paid for all Coventry-class vessels constructed in private shipyards between 1756 and 1765.
- ^ The Hussar, Active, and the final vessel in the class, Hind, were exceptions to the general naming conventions for the Coventry class.
- ^ The Liverpool's dimensional ratios—3.57:1 for length to breadth, and 3.3:1 for breadth to depth—contrast with standard French equivalents, which could reach up to 3.8:1 and 3:1 respectively. Royal Navy vessels of comparable size and design to the Liverpool could carry up to 20 tons of powder and shot, whereas French vessels typically carried around 10 tons. They also carried more extensive stores of rigging, spars, sails, and cables. However, they had fewer ship's boats and less space allocated for the personal effects of the crew.
- ^ The 29 servants and other ranks included in the ship's complement comprised 20 personal servants and clerical staff, four assistant carpenters, an assistant sailmaker, and the four aforementioned widow's men. Unlike the naval ratings, these individuals did not participate in the sailing or handling of the ship.
- ^ The Warren continued to serve as a ship's tender for the Milford until December 1776, when she was lost after running aground off Portsmouth, New Hampshire.