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HMS ''Blenheim'' was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 July 1761 at Woolwich.〔 In 1797 she participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. In 1801 ''Blenheim'' was razeed to a Third Rate. She disappeared off Madagascar with all hands in February 1807. ==Service== ''Blenheim'' was originally commissioned in August 1761, for the final year of the Seven Years' War, but paid off in June 1762. She was recommissioned in March 1777 under Captain Broderick Hartwell, but decommissioned again in September 1784. She was recommissioned for her third war in August 1794 under Captain Charles Calmady. Under the command of John Bazely from December 1794, she took part in the Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795. ''Blenheim'' then fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. By 1801, this by now 40-year-old ship had become so badly hogged as to be unsafe for sea. However, she was razeed to a 74-gun Third Rate in 1801–1802, and set sail for Barbados under the command of Captain Peter Bover at the end of the year, carrying Captain Samuel Hood and other commissioners to Trinidad. On 14 November 1803 the French privateer ''Harmonie'' entered the harbour at Le Marin, together with a prize that she had taken. Captain Thomas Graves, in ''Blenheim'', determined to cut her out. He beat around Diamond Rock but was not able to get into position until the 16th. He then decided to put 60 seamen in four boats, and 60 marines into another four. The seamen were to go into the harbour to cut out ''Harmonie'', while the marines were to attack a battery of nine guns at Fort Dunkirk on the starboard side of the bay to block French reinforcements from massing there. arrived on the scene and Graves had Captain William Ferris lead the seamen in the attack, together with 16 men from her. ''Drake'' towed the cutting out party, whilst the hired armed cutter ''Swift'' towed the marines. The two parties set out at 11p.m., and at 3a.m. the two attacks succeeded. The marines captured the fort, which was only guarded by 15 men, who they took prisoner. They spiked six 24-pounder guns and three 18-pounders, and blew up the magazine. The cutting out party met with resistance from ''Harmonie'' and suffered the only British casualties. ''Hermione'', of eight guns, had had a crew of 66 men under the command of Citizen Noyer at the start of the British attack. Some 12 escaped overboard and some may have drowned. Two were killed and 14 wounded. ''Blenheim'' had one man killed and two wounded, and ''Drake'' had three wounded, one dangerously so. The inhabitants of Grenada purchased and donated ''Harmonie'' to the Royal Navy, which named her . Captain Loftus Bland sailed ''Blenheim'' back to Portsmouth in 1804. In 1805, ''Blenheim'' sailed for Madras under the command of Captain Austin Bissell, as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, Bt. By the time Troubridge received orders to take command at the Cape of Good Hope, at the beginning of 1807, ''Blenheim'' was in alarming condition, and required constant pumping to keep her afloat. Despite the request of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Edward Pellew, that he transfer his flag to another ship, Troubridge determined to take her to the Cape. Bissell also warned Troubridge of ''Blenheims condition, but received in return the taunt that he might go ashore if he liked. Unable to shake Troubridge's confidence, Bissell composed a last letter to his wife before sailing, convinced the ship would founder.〔Grocott (1998)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Blenheim (1761)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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