History
Great Britain
NameHMS Preston
Ordered28 March 1751
BuilderDeptford Dockyard
Launched7 February 1757
FateBroken up, 1815
Notes
General characteristics [1]
Class and type1745 Establishment 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen1044 (bm)
Length150 ft (45.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam42 ft 8 in (13.0 m)
Depth of hold18 ft 6 in (5.6 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • Gundeck: 22 × 24-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 22 × 12-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns
  • Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Preston was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard by Adam Hayes to the draught specified in the 1745 Establishment, and launched on 7 February 1757.[1]

Service history

From May until October 1769 she was under command of Captain Basil Keith.[2]

Preston attended the attack on Rhode Island, 8 December 1776, by Irwin John Bevan

From January 1774 until April 1776 she was under command of Captain John Robinson with a crew of 350 men.[3] Cuthbert Collingwood was a midshipman on the ship during this period.[4]

She took part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War under William Hotham. On 13 August 1778, cut off from her squadron by a storm, she encountered the French 74-gun Marseillois, which she fought indecisively.

Battle of Dogger Bank

Taking part in the Battle of Dogger Bank (1781) where she was disabled, with her commander, Captain Alexander Graeme losing an arm, she was sailed back to the Thames by Lieutenant Saumarez[5]: 51 

From March 1783 until April 1784 she was under command of Captain George Martin.[6]

In 1785, Preston was converted to serve as a sheer hulk, and she was eventually broken up at Woolwich in January 1815.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p173.
  2. ↑ "British Fourth Rate ship of the line 'Preston' (1757)".
  3. ↑ "Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 1 AMERICAN THEATRE: Dec. 1, 1774–Sept. 2, 1775 EUROPEAN THEATRE: Dec. 6, 1774–Aug. 9, 1775" (PDF). United States government Printing Office. Retrieved 3 December 2021 – via American Naval Records Society.
  4. ↑ Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood
  5. ↑ Ross, Sir John. Memoirs of Admiral de Saumarez Vol 1.
  6. ↑ "British Fourth Rate ship of the line 'Preston' (1757)".

References

  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.


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