Dutch ship Batavier (1779)

Batavier was a Dutch 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the navy of the Admiralty of Amsterdam (one of five provincial navies of the United Provinces of the Netherlands). In 1795 she became part of the Batavian Navy, and on 30 August 1799 was captured by the Royal Navy, who retained her in various subsidiary roles until she was broken up in 1823.

Batavier (E) during the Battle of Dogger Bank on 5 August 1781.
History
Dutch Republic
Name: Batavier
Laid down: 8 September 1777
Launched: 18 February 1779
Commissioned: 1780
Batavian Republic
Name: Batavier
Captured: By the Royal Navy in 1799
United Kingdom
Acquired: 30 August 1799
Commissioned: 1799
Out of service: 1823
Reclassified:
Fate: Broken up in 1823
General characteristics in Dutch service
Class and type:
Length: 143 ft 0 in (43.6 m) (gundeck); in Amsterdam feet this equalled 154½
Beam: 39 ft 11 in (12.2 m); in Amsterdam feet this equalled 43
Depth of hold: 18 ft 6 in (5.6 m); in Amsterdam feet this equalled 20
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament: 50 guns of varying sizes
General characteristics in British service
Class and type:
Tons burthen: 1,047 ​87⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • 144 ft 7 in (44.1 m) (gundeck)
  • 118 ft 7 in (36.1 m) (keel)
Beam: 40 ft 10 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold: 16 ft 5 in (5.0 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament:
  • As originally fitted at Chatham
  • Lower gundeck: 22 × 24-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 24 × 12-pounder guns
  • Quarterdeck and forecastle: 8 × 6-pounder guns
  • After rearmament
  • 20 × 24-pounder guns
  • 20 × 18-pounder guns
  • Subsequently added
  • Quarterdeck: 6 × 6-pounder guns
  • Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Dutch career and capture

The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The ship was laid down on 8 September 1777, launched on 18 February 1779 and commissioned in 1780.[1] On 5 August 1781, Batavier took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank under Captain Wolter Jan Gerrit Bentinck. Batavier sailed in the middle of the Dutch line, between the ships Admiraal de Ruyter and Argo. She was engaged by three British ships, and became unmanageable after a fire broke out. The battle, while indecisive tactically, resulted in a strategic British victory and afterwards Batavier was towed to Texel. Bentinck later died wounds he received in the battle.[2]

In 1795, following the French occupation of the Netherlands during the French Revolutionary Wars, the ship was commissioned in the Batavian Navy.

On 11 October 1797 Batavier took part in the Battle of Camperdown under Captain Jan Jacob Souter. Early in the battle, the ship was under heavy fire, but soon she drifted off, and she eventually left the scene and fled to Texel.[3]

On 30 August 1799 the ship was surrendered to the British fleet under Vice-Admiral Andrew Mitchell during the Vlieter Incident, even though Batavier was the only ship of the Dutch fleet where no mutiny had broken out.[4]

Royal Navy career

Batavier was sailed to Britain and underwent refitting at Chatham Dockyard between 14 July 1800 and 15 July 1801 for use as a floating battery. She was officially established in February 1801. She was commissioned in June 1801 under Captain William Robert Broughton for service in the English Channel. Broughton was succeeded in April 1803 by Captain Patrick Tonyn, and in August 1804 she was laid up at Chatham. She was moved to Woolwich Dockyard in April 1809, where she functioned as a hospital ship under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Dorsett Birchall. This service lasted until January 1817, after which she was moved to Blackwall to receive distressed seamen. Her final service was to be fitted out at Woolwich as a prison ship. She was based at Sheerness from September 1817, and was finally broken up there in March 1823.[5][6]

Notes
  1. "Delpher Kranten - Noordhollandsche courant 05-07-1780". kb.nl. 5 July 1780.
  2. "Wolter Jan Gerrit Bentinck". regiocanons.nl.
  3. Martinus Stuart. Jaarboeken van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, deel 2 (Amsterdam: E. Maaskamp, 1797), 1373.
  4. L.C. Vonk. Geschiedenis van de landing van het Engelss-Russische leger in Noord-Holland (Haarlem: Francois Bohn, 1801), 58.
  5. Winfield. British Warships of the Age of Sail 1793–1817. p. 269.
  6. "Sailing Navies: Batavier, 54". sailingnavies.com.

References
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