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AGINCOURT
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Built in 1796, Blackwall. She was laid down as an East Indiaman and purchased by the Admiralty on the stocks.
Sold in 1814. |
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- 1796 Capt. John WILLIAMSON, 10/1796.
WILLIAMSON, as a Lieutenant, had commanded the launch and Mr ROBERTS, the master, the pinnace, when Capt. COOK landed on the beach in Hawaii on 14 February 1779 to find out who had stolen the cutter belonging to DISCOVERY. COOK and four marines were killed while the rest managed to scramble aboard the pinnace which had moved inshore. WILLIAMSON did nothing to help but moved the launch farther out. He was challenged to a duel by the captain of the marines over the matter, but refused to fight.
On 4 December 1797 a court martial at Sheerness tried Capt. WILLIAMSON for his conduct at the Battle of Camperdown in October.
It was charged that, through cowardice, negligence and disaffection he had held AGINCOURT back from the fight and not done his utmost to bring the enemy ships to battle.
The court found that cowardice had not been proved but that other parts of the charge had been proved in part. He was sentenced to be placed at the bottom of the captain's list and rendered incapable of ever serving on board a ship of the Royal Navy. - 1798 Capt. John LAWFORD, 01/1798, who removed to ROMNEY two months later. Capt. John BLIGH, 03/1798, with Vice Ad. William WALDEGRAVE's flag on the Newfoundland station.
When he sailed with convoys to Newfoundland in 1797 and 1798 WALDEGRAVE had found that some of the merchant ships were deficient in the complement of their sails. This hindered the sailing of the whole convoy and he suspected that some merchants were even hoping to profit from the capture of their ships. When he had the authority as Commander in Chief of the Newfoundland station he issued new regulations in November 1789 that ships were to be properly equipped before they would be afforded protection. Proof that this was necessary was found when the sailing of a convoy from St. John's for Portugal under the protection of LATONA was delayed while masters completed the complement of their sails. - 1799 With the Channel fleet off Brest in the spring of 1799 she sailed for Newfoundland on 31 August and sailed again from there on 28 October with a convoy. The fishing on the Newfoundland Banks was unusually productive. One vessel, the VENUS, Squarney, with only 5 hands, caught 80,000 fish which were converted into oil. She separated from AGINCOURT in a gale on 3 November.
- 1800 Sir Charles Morice POLE was C-in-C at Newfoundland. Capt. George Frederick RYVES, 04/1800. AGINCOURT spent the summer at Newfoundland and returned home at the end of the season.
- She sailed from Portsmouth for the Downs on 2 March 1801 with Lord NELSON's squadron, but her orders to join the expedition to Copenhagen were countermanded and she served for some time in the North Sea under Ad. DICKSON.
- On 30 May AGINCOURT and MADRAS, with General Graham (Lord Lynedoch) and the 25th. and 26th. regiments on board, sailed from Portsmouth for Egypt. They were landed at Aboukir Bay in perfect health. Since AGINCOURT was not fitted out for troops, Capt. RYVES found that he had to entertain 10 officers, apart from the General, at his own expense, without receiving any compensation. Before taking the same troops back to Malta the captain was presented with the gold medal of the Order of the Crescent.
- Capt. RYVES commanded the squadron, consisting of AGINCOURT, SOLEBAY, CHAMPION and SALAMINE which took possession of Corfu in April 1802. They were welcomed with open arms by the the local inhabitants, who were sad to see him leave on 4 July.
- Following the treaty of Amiens, when hostilities should have ceased, there were reports that the French intended to occupy the Maddalena Islands and AGINCOURT was sent by Sir Richard BICKERTON to foil any attempt. No French appeared so Capt. RYVES spent a week surveying the islands. There were no existing charts and AGINCOURT was nearly lost while trying to anchor.
Capt. RYVES was appointed to GIBRALTAR after the crew of that ship mutinied in May 1803 and her commander was dismissed by a court martial. - 1804 Capt. Thomas BRIGGS, 03/1804, North Sea.
- 1807 Capt. Henry HILL, North Sea. By the end of the year she was at the Cape of Good Hope.
- 1808 Capt. Robert HENDERSON, (pro tem.), 06/1808, fitting at Chatham.
- 1809 Armed en flute as a troopship. Capt. William KENT, 10/1808, Lisbon.
- 1812 Renamed BRISTOL. Capt. George WYNDHAM, Lisbon.
- 1814 Ditto, Mediterranean.
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