Lot Essay
Built during the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, the lines of H.M.S. Ocean were adapted from Surveyor Slade's 1755 design for H.M.S. Sandwich and she was ordered on 22 April 1758. Once sufficient timber had been assembled, Ocean's keel was laid in Chatham dockyard on 4 August the same year and she was launched on 21 April 1761. A fine and well-proportioned second rate mounting 90 guns, she was measured by her builder at 1,827 tons and was 176 feet in length with a 49 foot beam. Her armament consisted of twenty-eight 32 pounder guns, thirty 18 pounders, thirty 12 pounders, and two 6 pounders and, when fully crewed, she carried a complement of seven hundred and fifty officers and men.
Although completed while England was still embroiled in the Seven Year's War, Ocean's first battle experience was not until the American War of Independence, which began in 1775. Before long, France and Spain had allied themselves to the United States in the hope of territorial gain at England's expense, with the result that the conflict, initially confined to the Americas, spread nearer to home. On 27 July 1778, Admiral (later Viscount) Keppel - having sailed from Spithead on 9 July - brought a large French fleet under the Comte D'Orvilliers to action off Ushant with the Ocean amongst the thirty ships-of-the-line under his overall command. Ocean herself was in the rear division, under Vice-Admiral Palliser, and although the battle proved indecisive, she was heavily involved in the affray. Her commander, Captain Laforey, was subsequently one of the principal witnesses in Keppel's notorious court-martial for alleged negligence.
In the winter of 1781 Ocean was again off Ushant where, on 12 December, she was one of Rear-Azxiral Kempenfelt's squadron which sighted a large French convoy outward bound for the West Indies under the protection of a powerful escorting force. Seizing the opportunity afforded by the escort's poor positioning, Kempenfelt swooped down upon the convoy while the French ships remained helpless spectators. In a brilliant manoeuvre, fifteen prizes laden with stores of great value and immense importance to the French war effort were captured, while those ships that managed to escape were so badly mauled by an ensuing storm that the remainder of the convoy was practically annihilated. Late the next year, in what was almost the last action of the war, Ocean was amongst Admiral Lord Howe's fleet which defeated a combined Franco-Spanish fleet off Cape Spartel on 20 October 1782 during the operations to relieve Gibraltar. Laid up when peace came, Ocean saw little further service and was broken up in 1791.
This picture would appear to show the Ocean leaving Spithead to join Admiral Keppel's fleet. Keppel was a friend and political ally of Charles, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, who subsequently appointed him 1st Lord of the Admiralty in his ministry of 1782 and raised him to the peerage as Viscount Keppel.
Although completed while England was still embroiled in the Seven Year's War, Ocean's first battle experience was not until the American War of Independence, which began in 1775. Before long, France and Spain had allied themselves to the United States in the hope of territorial gain at England's expense, with the result that the conflict, initially confined to the Americas, spread nearer to home. On 27 July 1778, Admiral (later Viscount) Keppel - having sailed from Spithead on 9 July - brought a large French fleet under the Comte D'Orvilliers to action off Ushant with the Ocean amongst the thirty ships-of-the-line under his overall command. Ocean herself was in the rear division, under Vice-Admiral Palliser, and although the battle proved indecisive, she was heavily involved in the affray. Her commander, Captain Laforey, was subsequently one of the principal witnesses in Keppel's notorious court-martial for alleged negligence.
In the winter of 1781 Ocean was again off Ushant where, on 12 December, she was one of Rear-Azxiral Kempenfelt's squadron which sighted a large French convoy outward bound for the West Indies under the protection of a powerful escorting force. Seizing the opportunity afforded by the escort's poor positioning, Kempenfelt swooped down upon the convoy while the French ships remained helpless spectators. In a brilliant manoeuvre, fifteen prizes laden with stores of great value and immense importance to the French war effort were captured, while those ships that managed to escape were so badly mauled by an ensuing storm that the remainder of the convoy was practically annihilated. Late the next year, in what was almost the last action of the war, Ocean was amongst Admiral Lord Howe's fleet which defeated a combined Franco-Spanish fleet off Cape Spartel on 20 October 1782 during the operations to relieve Gibraltar. Laid up when peace came, Ocean saw little further service and was broken up in 1791.
This picture would appear to show the Ocean leaving Spithead to join Admiral Keppel's fleet. Keppel was a friend and political ally of Charles, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, who subsequently appointed him 1st Lord of the Admiralty in his ministry of 1782 and raised him to the peerage as Viscount Keppel.