HMS Jupiter (1778)

Naval battle off the coast of Lisbon, 20 October 1778. The French vessel Triton against the British ship Jupiter and the frigate Medea.
History
UK
Name: HMS Jupiter
Ordered: 21 June & 1 July 1776
Builder: John Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
Laid down: July 1776
Launched: 13 May 1778
Completed: By 26 July 1778
Fate: Wrecked on 10 December 1808
General characteristics
Class and type: 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate
Tons burthen: 1061 ​30⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • 146 ft 1 1⁄2 in (44.5 m) (overall)
  • 119 ft 8 in (36.5 m) (keel)
Beam: 40 ft 10 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold: 17 ft 6 in (5.3 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 350
Armament:
  • Lower deck: 22 x 24-pounder guns
  • Upper deck: 22 x 12-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 x 6-pounder guns
  • Fc: 2 x 6-pounder guns

HMS Jupiter was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years. She was also one of the fastest ships in the Royal Navy as shown by her attempt to capture the cutter Eclipse under Nathaniel Fanning.

Built in Rotherhithe, she was launched in 1778. Her trial copper sheathed hull featured the new technical breakthrough of protecting her iron bolts by the application of thick paper between the copper plates and the hull. This innovation she trialled successfully.[1]

On 1 April 1779 she assisted Delight after Delight captured the French 20-gun privateer Jean Bart.[2] On 20 October, she fought an indecisive action with the French ship Triton.

On 2 October 1779, Jupiter captured two French cutters, each of 14 guns and 120 men. The Royal Navy took both into service essentially under their existing names.[3] One was Mutin, under the command of Chevalier de Roquefeiul. She was pierced for 16 guns but carried 14, either 4 or 6-pounders.[4] The other was Pilote, under the command of Chevalier de Clonard. She carried the same armament as Mutine (or Mutin).[5] The cutters surrendered after an engagement that left Mutin dismasted.[4] Jupiter shared the prize money with HMS Glory 1763 and HMS Apollo (1805),[6] Crescent,[7] and Milford.[8]

Jupiter fought at the battle of Porto Praya in 1781 and the Battle of Muizenberg in 1795, winning the battle honour 'Cape of Good Hope' for the latter. In 1799 Jupiter battled a French frigate in the aftermath of the Battle of Algoa Bay.

On 25 April 1799 Jupiter, Adamant, and Tremendous recaptured Chance as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate Forte had captured Chance, which was carrying a cargo of rice, in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. Lastly, after the French had driven the American ship Pacific onshore at River Noir, Adamant, Jupiter, and Tremendous came on the scene and sent in their boats, which removed much of Pacific's cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set Pacific on fire.[9]

On 17 September 1801 she arrived at Cape Town from Rio de Janeiro, together with Hindostan and Euphrosyne, after a voyage of about a month. Lion had escorted a convoy of East Indiamen bound for China to Rio, together with Hindostan. They had arrived there on 1 August. Captain George Losack, of Jupiter, decided to accompany the convoy eastward until they were unlikely to encounter some Spanish and French vessels known to be cruising off Brazil.[10]

Jupiter shared with Diomede, Hindostan, and Braave in the capture of the Union on 27 May 1803.[11]

Fate

She was wrecked on 10 December 1808 in Vigo Bay, but all her crew were saved.

Citations

  1. ↑ Knight, R. J. B. "The introduction of copper sheathing into the Royal Navy, 1779-1786" (PDF). rogerknight.org. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  2. ↑ "No. 11967". The London Gazette. 3 April 1779. p. 1.
  3. ↑ "No. 12020". The London Gazette. 5 October 1779. p. 2.
  4. 1 2 Demerliac (1996), p. 87, #574.
  5. ↑ Demerliac (1996), p.87, #573.
  6. ↑ "No. 12102". The London Gazette. 18 July 1780. p. 3.
  7. ↑ "No. 12116". The London Gazette. 5 September 1780. p. 2.
  8. ↑ "No. 12105". The London Gazette. 29 July 1780. p. 2.
  9. ↑ "No. 15212". The London Gazette. 10 December 1799. p. 1280.
  10. ↑ Government of the Cape Colony (1899), Vol. 4, pp.76-7.
  11. ↑ "No. 15736". The London Gazette. 11 September 1804. p. 1149.

References

  • Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20110928115307/http://www.hmsjupiter.co.uk/history-1489.html
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