English ship St Andrew (1622)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS St Andrew.

The Burning of the Andrew at the Battle of Scheveningen in 1653, by Willem van de Velde the younger
History
Royal Navy EnsignEngland
NameSt Andrew
BuilderBurrell, Deptford
Launched1622
Commissioned1623
FateDriven ashore and wrecked near Rye, East Sussex, September 1666
General characteristics [1]
Class and type42-gun great ship
Tons burthen587
Length110 ft (34 m) (keel)
Beam37 ft (11 m)
Depth of hold16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement280 (peacetime), 360 (active service)
ArmamentOriginally 42 guns of various weights of shot, increased to 66 in 1666

St Andrew, also known as Andrew, was a 42-gun great ship of the Royal Navy (subsequently second rate), built by Andrew Burrell at Deptford and launched in 1622.[1]

The ship first saw action as part of the expeditionary force to Cádiz in 1625, and was taken over by Parliament when the First English Civil War began in August 1642. Known as Andrew until the 1660 Stuart Restoration, most of her service during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms was spent supporting coastal operations. These included an attack on Pendennis Castle, one of the last Royalist holdouts in Cornwall; in a letter dated 30 June 1646, Sir William Batten, its Parliamentarian captain, wrote to his superior that

Sir, I believe the castle of Pendennis will not be long out of our hands; a dogger boat with four guns I have taken, whereof one Kedgwin of Penzant was captain, a notable active knave against the Parliament, and had the King's commission; and now would fain be a merchant man, and was balasted with salt and had divers letters in her for Pendennis castle...[2]

After taking part in the First Anglo-Dutch War and being severely damaged during the Second, she was refitted and her armament upgraded to 66 guns.[1] On 3 September 1666, she was driven ashore by a storm near Rye, East Sussex; it was decided repairs would be too expensive and two months later she was stripped of her fittings and broken up.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 158.
  2. ^ A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, by John Burke, esq, (1838), p. 288

References

  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.


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