HMS Cornwall (1761)

	Cornwall
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Cornwall
Ordered	13 December 1758
Builder	Wells, Deptford
Launched	19 May 1761
Fate	Burnt, 30 June 1780
General characteristics
Class and type	Arrogant-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,634 bm
Length	168 ft (51 m) (gundeck)
Beam	46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	74 guns:; Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs; Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs; Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs; Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs;

HMS Cornwall was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 May 1761 at Deptford.^[1]

The ship was named in honour of James Cornewall, who had been killed at the battle of Toulon in 1744, and was initially commanded by his cousin Frederick Cornewall who lost an arm in the same engagement.^[2]

She served in the English Channel until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. After service as a guard ship at Plymouth, she was sent to North America to serve in the American Revolutionary War. May, 1778 under command of Capt. Timothy Edwards.^[3] She arrived in New York on 30 July 1779 and just ten days later was in a confrontation with the French Navy. Later that year she was deployed to the West Indies where she was badly damaged in action off Grenada and again off Martinique in 1780. She was sent to St Lucia for repairs, but her damage was too extensive. Deemed unserviceable, she was destroying by burning on 30 June 1780.^[1]^[4]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 176.
^ Sylvanus, Urban, ed. (May 1761). "Historical Chronicle". Gentleman's Magazine. 31. London: 235–236.
^ "NAVAL DOCUMENTS OF The American Revolution" (PDF). history.navy.mil. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
^ Ships of the Old Navy, Cornwall.

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.
Michael Phillips. Cornwall (74) (1761). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 1 September 2008.