Pirates & Privateers: David Hepper's Books

British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail 1649-1860
by David Hepper
Seaforth, 2024, ISBN 978-1-39904-449-3, US $59.95 / UK £30.00
Also available in other formats

Loss is inevitable in a time when wooden ships sail the seas. Charts aren’t always accurate, which results in ships running aground or foundering on unseen rocks or reefs. Weather plays a role sometimes, as happens in October 1744, when storm-tossed seas bring about the demise of HMS Victory and the deaths of Admiral Sir John Balchen and nearly 900 others. Additional causes stem from collisions, engagements with the enemy, and navigational errors. Fire is perhaps the most-feared danger, not only because there is nowhere to flee if a ship catches fire but also because the flames may eventually reach the powder magazine. The loss of Queen Charlotte in 1800 is just such an example. Another contributing factor is mutiny as happens aboard HMS Bounty and HMS Hermione.

Hepper’s goal is to provide a comprehensive compilation of vessels lost over a period of 211 years. He begins in 1649, which is the year when the last Royalist ships depart British waters and a new navy is established under the Protectorate. The list ends in 1860 with the launch of Warrior, a ship with an iron hull that is powered by steam.

A brief introduction precedes explanations of the various types of vessels and nautical terms readers will encounter. Entries are chronological and divided into specific time periods.

1649-1660: The Interregnum: Dutch Wars and Expansion
1660-1688: The Restoration: Wars against the Dutch and Barbary Corsairs
1689-1714: Invasion, War and Union
1715-1739: The Long Peace
1739-1748: The War of the Austrian Succession (‘The War of Jenkins’s Ear’)
1749-1754: A Brief Peace
1755-1763: The Seven Years War
1764-1771: Growing Tension in North America
1772-1783: American Independence
1783-1793: A Period of Peace and Political Agitation
1793-1802: Revolution and War
1803-1815: World War
1816-1859: Empire and Expansion

A bibliography and an index of lost ships are also provided.

Each chapter begins with a brief recap of the period as it pertains to history and the navy. Each entry provides the vessel’s name, as well as that of her commanding officer at the time of the disaster. Other pertinent details – ship classification, tonnage, launch place and date, origins, dimensions, and guns carried – are included prior to a summary of what happens to her. When the number of casualties is known, this is also given. The presence of women aboard is noted. If the commanding officer doesn’t survive, that is recorded, as is the main source of the information given in the entry.

All the information has been culled from years of sifting through primary documents, such as courts-martial records in The National Archives. Other material comes from contemporary sources, such as newspapers, Parliamentary journals, Steel’s Navy List, and notable histories such as Schomberg’s Naval Chronology, James’s Naval History, and Gold’s Naval Chronicle.

Entries include such notable losses as the grounding and burning of Gaspée in 1773 (a prelude to the American Revolution); the battle between HMS Serapis and USS Bonhomme Richard in which fifty-four men lose their lives and one captain is knighted for his bravery; HMS Guerrière’s duel with USS Constitution in 1812, and Boxer’s encounter with Enterprise the following year; and the mid-century losses of the ships participating in and searching for Sir John Franklin’s Arctic expedition.

Few readers will have heard of most disasters within these pages. For example, in 1695, the fourth-rate Nonsuch is escorting a convoy of merchant ships home to England when a French privateer attacks. The men on Nonsuch make repairs from the running battle during the night, but the fighting recommences the next day. After losing two masts and her captain, and unable to use her lower tier of guns, Nonsuch lowers her flag in surrender. At the ensuing court-martial, the deceased captain is partially blamed as is the lieutenant who fails to take command upon the death of Nonsuch’s captain. He is dismissed from the navy and serves six months in prison. Three others are cashiered for “ignorance and ill conduct” in surrendering the ship instead of continuing to fight.

With her hull leaking like a sieve and most of her crew dead from scurvy, HMS Gloucester is set afire in 1742. Her loss leaves one surviving ship from Commodore Anson’s squadron, which had set sail two years earlier. The dispatch cutter Cassandra encounters a squall in 1807. She rolls over but soon rights herself, only to heel over a second time. Thirteen drown, including a woman and a child. Eighteen years later, the remains of Lady Nelson are discovered on Babar Island, where Malay pirates attacked the brig tender and killed her crew. The losses even include HMS Diamond Rock, an island near Martinique and one of the navy’s first stone frigates used to harass the enemy.

Similar in scope and format to Jean Boudriet’s earlier book, which appeared in print three decades ago, Hepper retains that framework but has greatly revised, corrected, and added to it, making this volume more complete. Some entries are short paragraphs; others are considerably longer. The print is small, by necessity, to keep the book’s length manageable. Hepper also includes two sections of color and black-&-white plates. The artwork depicts damaged ships, shipwrecks, sinkings, and battles.

This book isn’t meant to be read cover to cover. It’s an invaluable and essentially new reference work that belongs in any collection on naval history. It can be used just for research purposes, or readers may enjoy random visits to learn about the hazards that men face daily during the Age of Sail.