HMS Nonsuch (1668)

HMS Nonsuch was a 36-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was an experimental fast-sailing design, built by the renowned shipwright Anthony Deane according to proposals by the Dutch naval officer Laurens van Heemskirk, who became her first captain. She was launched in December 1668, and commissioned the same day under van Heemskirk. In 1669 she was reclassed as a 42-gun Fourth rate, being commanded from 9 April by Captain Sir John Holmes. She was to spend most of her career in the Mediterranean. She was for a time based on Tangier, and was commanded by a succession of accomplished commanders who subsequently rose to flag rank in the Navy, including George Rooke from 1677 to 1680, then briefly under Cloudesley Shovell, and then Francis Wheler from 1680 to 1681. Under Wheler's command, she participated on 9 April 1681 in the capture of the Algerine 46-gun Golden Horse, along with the Fourth rate Adventure.[1]

History
England
Name:	HMS Nonsuch
Ordered:	13 June 1668
Builder:	Anthony Deane, at Portsmouth Dockyard
Launched:	22 December 1668
Commissioned:	22 December 1668
Captured:	On 4 January 1695 by a French privateer
General characteristics
Class and type:	36-gun fifth rate (as launched) Re-rated as 42-gun fourth rate in 1669 Re-rated as 36-gun fifth rate in 1691
Tons burthen:	359 ​^29⁄94 bm
Length:	97 ft 3.5 in (29.7 m)(gundeck) 88 ft 3 in (26.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	27 ft 8 in (8.4 m)
Draught:	12 ft 8 in (3.86 m)
Depth of hold:	10 ft 10 in (3.30 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	150 as Fifth Rate; 180 as Fourth Rate
Armament:	40 in 1685: 20 demi-culverins, 16 sakers and 4 x 3-pounder guns

She reverted to a 36-gun fifth rate in 1691, and was recommissioned under Captain Richard Short, for service off New England. Command passed in January 1693 to Captain Thomas Dobbin, then in November 1693 to Captain Thomas Taylor. She was captured off the Scilly Isles on 4 January 1695 by the French 48-gun privateer Le François; renamed Le Sans Pareil, she subsequently served in the French Navy until 1697.

Notes

1. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). "Benbow, John (1653-1702)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 208.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84832-040-6.