HMS Nassau (1785)

	Silhouette of the ship-of-the-line Nassau
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Nassau
Ordered	14 November 1782
Builder	Hilhouse, Bristol
Laid down	March 1783
Launched	28 September 1785
Fate	Wrecked 14 October 1799
General characteristics
Class and type	Ardent-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1384 (bm)
Length	160 ft (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam	44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	64 guns:; Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns; Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns; QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns; Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns;

HMS Nassau was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 September 1785 by Hilhouse in Bristol.^[1]

One of her first ship's surgeons is thought to be John Sylvester Hay. He died young but he was the father of the actress Harriett Litchfield.^[2]

During the Nore Mutiny she was commanded by Captain Edward O'Bryen. She was converted for use as a troopship in 1797.^[1]

Nassau was wrecked on the Kicks sandbar off Texel, the Netherlands, on 14 October 1799, there being 205 survivors and about 100 lives lost.^[3]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p181.
^ K. A. Crouch, ‘Litchfield , Harriett (1777–1854)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 1 Feb 2015
^ The Reading Mercury and Oxford Gazette, 11 November 1799

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.

v t e Ardent-class ships of the line
Ardent Raisonnable Agamemnon Belliqueux Stately Indefatigable Nassau
Preceded by:Exeter class Followed by:Intrepid class
List of ships of the line of the Royal Navy

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1799
Shipwrecks	2 Jan: Hired armed lugger Duke of York 7 Jan: HMS Apollo 11 Jan: Ganges 19 Jan: HMS Grampus 31 Jan: HMS Eagle 1 Feb: HMS Proserpine 23 Feb: Earl Fitzwilliam 22 Apr: Hired armed cutter Brave April (unknown date): Lord Mulgrave 23 May: HMS Deux Amis May (unknown date): Phoenix 28 Sep: HMS Blanche 9 Oct: HMS Lutine 14 Oct: HMS Nassau 18 Oct: HMS Impregnable 25 Oct: HMS Amaranthe 31 Oct: Charente 5 Nov: HMS Sceptre 12 Nov: Bhavani November (unknown date): HMS Orestes 19 Dec: Mildred 25 Dec: HMS Ethalion Unknown date: HMS Deux Freres
Other incidents	February (unknown date): HMS Musquito 11 Oct: Bordelais December (unknown date): Aurora Unknown date: Cicero
1798 1800

History
Silhouette of the ship-of-the-line Nassau
Great Britain
Name	HMS Nassau
Ordered	14 November 1782
Builder	Hilhouse, Bristol
Laid down	March 1783
Launched	28 September 1785
Fate	Wrecked 14 October 1799
General characteristics ^[1]
Class and type	Ardent-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1384 (bm)
Length	160 ft (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam	44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns