HMS Southsea Castle (1696)

HMS Southsea Castle was a 32-gun fifth rate built under contract by John Knowler of Redbridge (Southampton) in 1695/96.

She was the first vessel to bear the name Southsea Castle in the English and Royal Navy.

Construction and specifications

She was ordered on 3 May 1695 to be built under contract by John Knowler of Redbridge (Southampton). She was launched on 1 August 1696. Her dimensions were a gundeck of with a keel of for tonnage calculation with a breadth of and a depth of hold of . Her builder's measure tonnage was calculated as 373 tons (burthen).

The gun armament initially was four demi-culverins on the lower deck (LD) with two pair of guns per side. The upper deck (UD) battery would consist of between twenty and twenty-two 6-pounder guns with ten or eleven guns per side. The gun battery would be completed by four 4-pounder guns on the quarterdeck (QD) with two to three guns per side.

Commissioned Service 1696-1697

She was commissioned in 1696 under the command of Captain Samuel Whitaker. In 1697 she was under Commander Thomas Legge to sail with a Virginia bound convoy.

Loss

She was wrecked on the Dove Sands off Hoylake (Wirral) on 15 September 1697.

Notes

Citations

References

• Winfield (2009), British Warships in the Age of Sail (1603 – 1714), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © 2009, EPUB
• Colledge (2020), Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © 2020, EPUB
• Lavery (1989), The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600 – 1815, by Brian Lavery, published by US Naval Institute Press © Brian Lavery 1989, , Part V Guns, Type of Guns
• Clowes (1898), The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to the Present (Vol. II). London. England: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, © 1898