(HMS) Harwich
The Harwich was a 64 gun 3rd rate built by Anthony Deane in the port of Harwich, ordered on the 10th February 1672 she was launched 12th April 1674. She was lost on the 3rd September 1691 in the same storm that claimed the 2nd rate Coronation
In 1690, England and Holland were again at war with France, and the Royal Navy were maintaining a Channel Patrol, in an attempt to lure the French fleet to sea to do battle. Against Admiral Russel's advice, the Admiralty inisted on keeping the fleet at sea for long periods without refit, and very late in the season. In early September 1691, after another fruitless patrol, the combined fleets were caughht in a severe gale from the SE, which causes the Admiral to signal the fleet to return to Plymouth.
While trying to enter the Hamoaze a total of 11 ships of the line were driven into each other and pushed ashore under Mount Edgecumbe, of these only the Harwich was a total loss. The dockyard staff were able to remove all her guns stores and rigging, after which the remains were sold to a Joseph Bingham on 20th February 1693 for breaking up.
It was the Harwich the Plymouth Sound Branch dive club were looking for in 1973 while searching thousands of square metres of seabed over two months, they did not find the salvaged Harwich but they did find the wreck of Die Frau Metta Catharina von Flensburg.
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Van de Velde painting of the Harwich (NMM) |
