English ship Mary (1650)

Speaker was a 50-gun third-rate frigate and the name ship of the Speaker-class, built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Christopher Pett at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1650.[1] At the Restoration she was renamed HMS Mary.[1] By 1677 her armament had been increased to 62 guns.[1]

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Speaker and HMS Mary.

Portrait of Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont, commander of HMS Mary when she sunk, with the sinking Mary in the background
History
England
Name: Speaker
Builder: Christopher Pett, Woolwich Dockyard
Launched: 1650
Renamed: HMS Mary, 1660
Fate: Wrecked, 1703
General characteristics as built[1]
Class and type: Speaker-class frigate
Tons burthen: 727
Length: 116 ft (35.4 m) (keel)
Beam: 34 ft 8 in (10.6 m)
Depth of hold: 14 ft 6 in (4.4 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament:
  • 50 guns (at launch);
  • 62 guns (1677)
General characteristics after 1688 rebuild[2]
Class and type: 62-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 829
Length: 143 ft 3 in (43.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 36 ft 8 in (11.2 m)
Depth of hold: 14 ft 6 in (4.4 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament: 62 guns of various weights of shot
The Speaker an English second rate of 54 Guns built about the year 1640. NB This was the flag ship of Vice Admiral Penn in the engagement with the Dutch Fleet February the 18, 19, and 20 1652

In 1688 Mary was rebuilt by Thomas Shish at Woolwich Dockyard as a 62-gun third-rate ship of the line.[2] Mary was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands in the Great Storm of 1703.[2] Of her 275 crew, her captain and purser were ashore at the time of her loss; only one sailor survived.[3]

Wreck site

Local divers found the wreck site in 1980.[4] The initial designation was of 50 m around what is now known as the South Mound; the North Mound was discovered in 1999 and the area was amended under Statutory Instrument number 2004/2395 as a 300 m radius around 51° 15.6302' N, 01° 30.0262' E.[4]

It is believed that Mary lies under the South Mound and the North Mound is the third rate HMS Restoration wrecked in the same storm, but this is not known for certain.[4] The site lies 100 m to the west of the Goodwin Sands off Deal, between the wrecks of HMS Stirling Castle and HMS Northumberland, which also sank in the storm.[4]

The site was investigated by Wessex Archaeology on 25 June 2006.[4] The South Mound measures 28 m x 12 m but has not been studied in detail.[4]

Notes
  1. Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p159.
  2. Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p163.
  3. Larn, Richard (1977). Goodwin Sands Shipwrecks. Newton Abbot, London, North Pomfret: David & Charles. p. 56. ISBN 0 7153 7202 5.
  4. Wessex Archaeology (November 2006), RESTORATION, GOODWIN SANDS DESIGNATED SITE ASSESSMENT: ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT (PDF), English Heritage, retrieved 24 August 2009 Has many details of the history and the current state of the wreck site.

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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