A painting of HMS Aeolus in action during the Battle of Bishops Court in 1760.
HMS Aeolus (1758) was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.[1] In 1800, she renamed as HMS Guernsey.[2]
The original name of the ship comes from Greek mythology and means 'quick moving/nimble'.[3] The ship is commemorated with a neo-classical temple in Kew Gardens, London.[3] Aeolus temple was designed by William Chambers, along with two other temples as a memorial to three British ships involved in naval victories in the Seven Years' War.[3]
History[]
The ship was built at Deptford Dockyard and launched 29 November 1758.[1]
On 28 February 1760, the Aeolus was involved in the Battle of Bishops Court (also known as the Defeat of Thurot) during the Seven Years' War.[4] The naval engagement took place in the waters between the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. The Aurora served as the flagship of a victorious British squadron commanded by John Elliot, her captain and together with the rest of the squadron they captured three French ships.[5] The name of the ship was given to a monument commemorating the victory at Bishopscourt Glen on the Isle of Man.[6]
On 17 May 1760, the ship was involved in a small action with a French brig laden with naval stores while under the guns of a French shore battery at Belle Île. The ship was badly damaged in the action and returned to port to be repaired.[7] After repairs were completed, the ship spent 1761 cruising in the Bay of Biscay.[7] This involved the seizure of a small French privateer named Carnival on 23 March 1761.[7]
In 1762, the ship was assigned to the fleet of Rear-Admiral of the Blue Charles Hardy and is recorded to have seized the French privateer Le Formidable of Bordeaux on 20 August 1762 and destroyed the 32-gun ship San Josef at Aviles on 2 September 1762.[1]
In September 1777 while on station in Jamaica she captured the American privateer Swallow and with HMS Ruby also captured the 36-gun La Prudente (and her commander Jacques François de Pérusse des Cars).[1] The ship was refitted and coppered in 1780 and saw service off Portugal.[1]
In 1800, the ship was renamed HMS Guernsey and broken up a year later.[2]
Mount Aeolus on the Isle of Man, which takes its name from the ship's action during the Battle of Bishops Court.
Notable crew[]
Admiral John Elliot served as Captain of the Aeolus during her first three years, including commanding her during the battle of Bishops Court.[5]
Admiral Henry Curzon began his seagoing career on 14 October 1776 on the ship, assigned as an able seaman.[8]
Admiral Sir Charles Cunningham also began his seagoing career by first serving on the Aeolus in early 1776.[9]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. pp. 194–195. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "HMS Guernsey". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/guernsey/content/articles/2008/06/25/hms_guernsey_feature.shtml.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mcewen, Ron (2018). ""SOLVING THE MYSTERIES OF KEW’S EXTANT GARDEN TEMPLES."". pp. 196–216. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26589606.
- ↑ Manx Society (1873). Publications Volume 21 of Publications of the Manx Society, Manx Society. Manx Society. pp. 67–70. https://books.google.com/books?id=2GE2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA66.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Laughton. "Elliot, John (1732–1808)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8667/8667?back=,8659.
- ↑ "Francois Thuroy (1727–1760) and his naval engagement off the Isle of Man", Manx Notes & Queries, ed. C. Roeder, 1904
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Colburn, H. (1803). The Naval Chronicle. 9. p. 437.
- ↑ O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "
Curzon, Henry". A Naval Biographical Dictionary. John Murray. Wikisource.
- ↑ Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown (1835). The Annual Biography and Obituary for the Year. p. 110.
.jpg){kind=link}
The original article can be found at HMS Aeolus (1758) and the edit history here.