1706 - The Establishment

The British Admiralty establishes a standardisation and a specification of the general dimensions for the next vessels to be built.

¤ This year, the Treaty of Union has created Great Britain from England, Wales and Scotland. The navy is henceforth formally British.

Contrary to the previous specifications of dimensions that had been set within the 30-ship programme of 1677 and the 27-ship programme of 1691, this one has the ambition of being definitive, once for all, and imperative above all. The guns are standardised too : the heteroclite assortment of the previous century gives way to organised batteries. Another difference, crucial, is that the specifications are met, for which credit must go to Edmund Dummer, Surveyor from 1692 until 1699, who enforced a procedure of measurement to the dockyards in 1696 which made control possible and reliable.

¤ There is still a disorder in the batteries of the existing vessels. Guns are still of various weights and proportions depending on their maker and on their vintage. Well, but ships of the same class, supposed to carry the same battery, have also discrepancies of numbers and of calibres. The vessels are supposed to carry guns of three or four different calibres but some have up to seven ones.

¤ Actually the ships are all overgunned when new as everybody knows. When they get older, they cannot carry the initial battery any longer thus some guns are replaced by lighter ones or even unloaded – which aggravates the mess. For instance, in 1694, the Captain (1678), formerly of 70 guns, reduced to 68, carried twenty-two 32-pounders, four 18-pounders, twenty-four 12-pounders, fourteen 4-pounders and four 3-pounders, while the Cambridge (1668), formerly of 70 guns also, reduced to 68 too, carried twenty-six 32-pounders, twenty-six 18-pounders and sixteen 9-pounders, which may look fine from a gunnery perspective but turned to be terribly heavy and, by the way, she foundered that same year.

The Establishment is an initiative of the Lord High Admiral, George, Duke of Cumberland, Prince of Denmark, Queen Anne’s husband, 53 years old, often depicted as a simpleton, for his modesty perhaps. Yet two endeavours known from him, this one and the sponsorship of Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed for his works to a catalogue of stars, do not seem that fatuous…

Having been told that the Barfleur is a complete model of a 90-gun ship, he wondered if it would not be wise to replicate it to build the next 90s, and so on for the 80s, the 70s, the 60s, the 50s from the best ships in classes… He therefore ordered the Navy Board to consult naval officers about the most proper dimensions to give to next ships.

This is typically the good idea of a man who thinks that the best has already be done and has only to be recognised and established to gain a foothold.  This idea has met the views of a rather conservative board, for which progress and changes are dubious.

Therefore the 90s are decided to be cast on the dimensions of Harding’s Barfleur launched at Deptford in 1697, and the 80s to those of Winter’s Cornwall, launched at Southampton in 1692, but broadened as per its current rebuild by Burchett even if the outcome of which is still unknown... Ultimately, Admiral George Churchill, 52, Prince George’s second and famous Marlborough's brother, adds his two cents by slightly increasing the model breadths, just in case.

The original idea has been distorted by the implementers but its philosophy settles down. It will certainly produce efficiency if no brilliance. This new system aims at preventing the mistakes that might occur by ruling the Master Shipwrights through tight specifications. It also prevents them from any significant initiative that could improve the ships.

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LINKS WITH PREVIOUS CHRONICLES

1677 - The 30-ship Programme

1691 - Huge War Programmes

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IN RETROSPECT FROM TODAY

NOTE A - On the aftermath. A new Establishment will replace this one as early as 1719.

NOTE B - On the outcome of this Establishment.

The Establishment generates sixty-two ships :

• five 90-gun ships, specified at 1,551 tons, completed at 1,551/1,576 tons

• ten 80-gun ships, specified at 1,283 tons, completed at 1,283/1,314 tons

• twelve 70-gun ships, specified at 1,069 tons, completed at 1,095/1,137 tons

• eight 60-gun ships, specified at 914 tons, completed at 914/928 tons

• twenty-seven 50-gun ships, specified at 704 tons, completed at 703/722 tons

Apart from the 70-gunners, the narrow range of completed tonnages bears witness of an excellent control.

Comparatively, the French 70-gun Ferme (1699) gauges 1,290 tons and the 66-gun Assuré (1697), 1,100 tons. The French ships displayed a tonnage equivalent to the new English ones for the same armament in the 1680s.

The completions of the sixty-two ships of the line extend over fifteen years, from 1707 to 1722. Fifty-one are built by Royal dockyards, which proves an outstanding capacity for which credit must go again to Edmund Dummer for his general reform of dockyards and his development of Devonport and Portsmouth.

NOTE C - About the permanence of War Footing.

Construction of sixty-two ships is an astonishing implementation, even if Britain is at war ten years out of sixteen, until 1714 and again in 1717-18. Diplomacy also obliges Britain to hold a fleet on perpetual war footing. Times change.

NOTE D - About the French navy during the same period.

During the same 1707-22 period, the French build two 72-gun, four 74-gun and two 64-gun ships – eight vessels against sixty-two. They have also entered pre-standardisation : the fourth 74 mentioned here is the first of a series of four, the three other, not counted, being launched within a few months after the leading one – the French way consisting of building at the same place from the same design and layout.

The poor outcome of 8 constructions in fifteen years marks that, for the French navy, the end of King Louis XIV’s reign is a grim sunset.

NOTE E - About the Spaniards during the same period.

Spain surfaces in the same period through an amazing resurrection. It launches and purchases two 80-gun ships, two 70-gun ones, twenty-four 60-gun ones and five 50-gun ones – thirty-three vessels. Nine other are burnt on the stock during the war of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-19) which partly destroys this brand new fleet. From a British viewpoint, it is mandatory to eliminate an emerging rival.

NOTE F - About Flamsteed.

His Observations were published in 1704. His Atlas Coelestis, sponsored by Admiralty, will be published in 1729 posthumously.

Flamsteed has improved the Davis' backstaff by introducing a lens in lieu of the shadow vane. An issue with the previous model, solved by Flamsteed, was the difficulty of dealing with the dim shadow of the sun when the sky is overcast.

NOTE G - On Prince George.

He dies in 1708.

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SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brian Lavery – The Ship of the line – London, 1983

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CREDIT

Michael Dahl - Portrait of Prince George of Denmark, Duke of Cumberland - oil on canvas, 1705 - © National Portrait Gallery