Making History: Radio 4

Tuesday 11 November 2008: the sinking of the Royal George

To listen to this programme, please visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history.shtml

Royal George was a first rate, carrying 100 guns, comparable only to Victory and Britannia. These three ships were built to be flagships, and were larger than the rest so as to accommodate an Admiral and his staff.  She was launched in 1756 and named for the reigning monarch George II.  She was the ‘pride of the Navy’ at that time and was the first English Man of War to exceed 2,000 tons burden.  She carried the tallest mast and the squarest canvas of any British built ship in the Navy. Royal George cost £65,274 to build and was a giant 3 decker with an overall length of 210 feet, 6 inches.  The total weight of her guns was 240 tons and she carried 72 tons of shot.  Her nominal complement was 850.  She was commissioned at the start of the Seven Years War and saw service at the Battle of Quiberon Bay November 1759 and Battle of St Vincent 1780.

On 29 August 1752, at 09.20am Royal George sank in 12 fathoms of water, at Spithead.  She was due to sail in a few days for the Mediterranean and had come to Spithead for minor repairs and provisioning.  She had just been victualled for six months and would have been carrying 548 tons of food, drink and miscellaneous stores.  It was discovered that the watercock, which let sea water into the ship for washing the decks, needed replacing.  The ship was heeled to raise the watercock out of the water and the guns were run out as far as possible on the port side, bringing the water level with the port holes of the lower gun deck.  Water began coming in through these and carpenter asked the Lieutenant of the watch twice to have the ship righted.  The Lieutenant gave a short answer and would do nothing until it was too late.  She capsized and sank very quickly.  300 women and 60 children were onboard and only one woman and one child are believed to have been saved.  Figures for those lost vary from between 900 and 1200.

A court martial was held on 7 September 1782, on HMS Warspite, Portsmouth Harbour.  The verdict was that some material part of her frame gave way, which can only be accounted for by the state of her timbers’.  The Captain and ship’s company were acquitted of all blame.  Until 1839, the wreck remained a danger to shipping at the entrance to Britain’s principal naval harbour– her masts remained visible above the water for several years until 1794 when they were run down at night by a frigate.  No fewer than 117 proposals were considered for how to raise her.  Finally, the wreck was blown up after several attempts.  Each time the charges exploded, fragments of the hull came to the surface and were used for souvenir making. 

Some of the sources used in this research:

National Maritime museum - www.nmm.ac.uk

Manuscripts: MID/9/14, HSR/B/16/1

J Hammond, An account of the loss of the Royal George at Spithead, August, 1782 : with Tracey's attempt to raise her in 1783, also Mr J Dean's operations, 1834-1836, as well as the success of Colonel Pasley in removing a part of the wreck (1840)

RF Johnson, Brigadier, The Royal George (Charles Knight & Co, London, 1971) 

William Tracey, A candid and accurate narrative of the operations used in endeavouring to raise His Majesty's ship Royal George in the year 1783 (1785)

WH Charpentier, A concise account of the loss of the Royal George at Spithead, 1782 (1840)

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