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ILLUSTRIOUS
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(74) |
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Built in 1803, Rotherhithe.
Gunnery ship in 1854. |
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- 1803 Capt. William SHIELD, Plymouth.
- 1804 Capt. Sir C. HAMILTON, Downs.
On 28 March ILLUSTRIOUS, IMPERIEUSE, SQUIRREL and a number of sloops, bombs and gunbrigs sailed from Deal to cruise off Boulogne. She sailed again on 2 April with IMMORTALITE, SQUIRREL, SEINE and an a number of small vessels to escort block ships filled with stone which a Mr Mumford proposed to sink at the entrance to Boulogne. (see IMMORTALITE). ILLUSTRIOUS returned to the Downs the following day. - On 10 September 1804 she recaptured the MARY of Greenock, which was trying to make a port in Spain after being captured by the French privateer UNCLE TOM during her outward bound passage to the West Indies.
- 1805 Capt. SHIELD, Plymouth.
On 9 January the Spanish ship SANTA MARIA (14) from the Havana, detained by ILLUSTRIOUS and AJAX, arrived in Plymouth. She was a letter of marque with a valuable cargo consisting of 10,000 dollars, several hundred ounces of gold in dust and ingots, 140 bales of cotton, 150 bales of wool, hides, hogsheads of beef, cocoa and sheets of copper.
On the evening of the 12th. the SANTA MARIA moved from between the Island and the mainland to go up the Catwater for safety above the Turnchapel Rock. She cleared the Gut of Mount Batten and was endeavouring to wear ship near Queen Anne's Battery at Teat's Hill, but the wind flattening and being a large ship, she missed stays and sailed ashore on the reef of rocks near the Victualling Office at Point Pier Head. She lay there through the night but got off on the morning tide without much damage. - In April she was with Vice Ad. COLLINGWOOD's squadron of six 74's off the coast of Spain and in July with a squadron under Rear Ad COCHRANE.
On 7 July she and RAMILLIES captured the French privateer schooner JOSEFINE of 2 guns and 35 men, on a cruise from St. Pierre.
In the autumn she escorted home a large convoy from the Leeward Is. Many of the ships were separated in a gale. - 1806 blockade of Cadiz.
- 1807 Ditto, to the Mediterranean on 1 January. At the end of the year Capt. William Robert BROUGHTON, off Cadiz.
- 1809 She was present in the attack on the French fleet in the Basque roads on 11/1812 April, but does not appear to have taken an active part.
Capt. Edward CHETHAM (act.), 06/1809. ILLUSTRIOUS accompanied the expedition to the Scheldt where Capt. CHETHAM was employed landing troops and artillery until Capt. BROUGHTON resumed command on 9 August. - 1811 Ditto, Cape of Good Hope East Indies.
- 1811 Capt. BROUGHTON, was now flying the broad pendant of a Commodore as the senior officer off Java, with Robert Worgan FESTING (from DASHER) as acting captain of ILLUSTRIOUS.
On the afternoon of 4 August ILLUSTRIOUS anchored off the village of Chillingchill in five fathoms of water. The army was landed before dark and three days later crossed the Antziol river on a bridge of flat boats prepared by Capt. SAYER of LEDA and Cdrs. MAUNSELL and REYNOLDS.
On the 8th. the city of Batavia agreed to surrender. The Dutch European troops were in the strongly fortified camp of Meester Cornelis, about 5 miles from the city, where they had 34 heavy guns (18, 24 and 32-pounders).
500 seamen from the British ships under the direction of Capts. SAYER, FESTING, MAUNSELL, REYNOLDS and STOPFORD, manning batteries of twenty 18-pounders for three successive days in extreme heat, succeeded in silencing them by the evening of the 25 August. The fort was captured the next day following an assault by the troops and marines. ILLUSTRIOUS lost one seaman killed, three marines wounded and one seaman missing in the operations ashore.
She sailed from Batavia on 4 September with LION, MINDEN and LEDA to rendezvous with the transports off Gressi for an attack on Gressi and SOURABAYA. The warships carried the 14th. regiment of foot and part of the 78th. regiment with artillery and field pieces. - On 10 September Commodore BROUGHTON joined Rear Ad. STOPFORD off Samarang.
- 1813 Capt. A. SKENE, Portsmouth.
At the beginning of 1814 the Admiralty revived an old practice of forming juries of warrant and petty officers to sit on inquests into accidental deaths. The first sat on the body of a seaman who fell from the main-yard of ILLUSTRIOUS at Spithead.
From the spring of 1814 she was out of commission at Portsmouth. - 1844 Capt. John ERSKINE, 08/1841, NAWI Flagship of Vice Ad. Sir Charles ADAM.
- 1846 Portsmouth.
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