HMS Charon (1778)
History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Charon |
Completed | 1778 |
In service | 1778 |
Out of service | 1781 |
Fate | Destroyed during the Siege of Yorktown |
Notes |
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General characteristics | |
Type | Fifth rate |
Tons burthen | 880 |
Length | 140 ft (42.7 m) |
Beam | 35 ft (10.7 m) |
Draft | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
Crew | 300 |
Armament |
|
HMS Charon was a 44-gun
Construction and career
Charon was laid down as a 44-gun Fifth-rate in 1778 in
In October 1779, Charon – in the company of
In 1780 Charon was present in Britain, where Captain
By mid-1781, Charon was serving on the East Coast of the United States in support of British General Cornwallis' invasion of the American South. When Cornwallis and his army withdrew into the town of Yorktown, Virginia, Charon became one of around 70 ships trapped in the York River by an overwhelmingly superior French fleet under the compte de Grasse.[1] Of the ships present with Cornwallis, Charon was the largest,[4] with some sources referring to the ship as a flagship.[1]
With her use as a warship limited in the York river, the besieged British garrison stripped Charon of her guns, leaving her tied up alongside smaller British ships.[4] On either 9[5] or 10 October,[4][6] the ship came under heavy French cannon fire (described as heated or hot shot). Eventually a French shot landed in Charon's sail locker, setting the ship on fire and causing her to burn to the waterline.[6][7] In flames, Charon drifted into several nearby ships, or at least the transport "Shipwright" and another transport, setting them on fire.[1][8]
In the days following the loss of Charon, the British defenders of Yorktown continued to grow more desperate, eventually surrendering to allied Franco-American army on 19 October. As the senior Royal Navy officer present, Captain Symonds was one of the signatories of the articles of capitulation.[9]
Wreck discovery
The wreck of Charon was discovered in the early 20th century, and in 1935 she was partially salvaged—though her identity was not known at the time. The still-unidentified wreck was examined by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) and Texas A&M in 1976, with INA returning to the site in 1980.[4] Dives on the wreck confirmed the ship's dimensions matched that of Charon and recovered parts of the ship's chain pump.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f A FIFTH-RATE SHIPWRECK NAMED CHARON. Institute of Naval Archaeology, VOL 7 NO.4. Winter 1980-81. URL: nauticalarch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/INAQ-1980-07-41.pdf
- ^ "No. 12040". The London Gazette. 14 December 1779. pp. 1–6.
- ^ a b Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ a b c d "ANTH318". nautarch.tamu.edu. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "Chronology of the Siege of Yorktown - Yorktown Battlefield Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Phillips, Donald T. (2006). On the Wing of Speed: George Washington and the Battle of Yorktown. iUniverse. p. 277.
- ^ "Ship Sunk During Revolutionary War Discovered in Virginia: 'We Kind of Stumbled Into it'". newsweek.com. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ Morrissey, Brendan (1997). Yorktown 1781: the World Turned Upside Down. London: Osprey. Pp. 73