HER MAJESTY'S SHIP " SAN JOSEPH." (From the Plymouth Times.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 330, 19 July 1849, Page 3 (Supplement)

HER MAJESTY'S SHIP " SAN JOSEPH." (From the Plymouth Times.)

Tjik fine old ship, of 112 guns, in the sixty-sixth year of her agf, a r ter fifty-two years si ruce ia the British Navy, is ut last ordered to be broken up. The cinurastance» of her capture in the battle of Cape St. Vincent, February 14th, 1 797. when Sir John Jervis wilb fifteen sail of the line dashed into tho grand fleet of Spain — Uenty-seveu ships, and capturrd four; and when Nelson in the Captain, a 74 of the smallest class, boai'dt <1 »nd carried, firnt the 80-gun ship San Nicolas, and then boarded the San Josef, from the prize, ar,3 known to every Englishman. The three other prizTa were never ng-iin scat to iea. TUc Sal-

vador del Mundo, 112, did duty as the guard-ihip fitf Plymouth till the close of the war. One of the twodeckers, when sold out of the service, wai bought by Mr. TreiFry, and broken up at Fowy. But the San Josef, one of the finest and fastest vends in the Navy, did duty as a sea-going thip to the close of the war» first in tho Channel Fleet, and afterwards in the Mediterranean. She was in Falmouth in 1805 with seven other thiee declers, under Earl Sr. Vincent, and took part in the biu-h with the French Fleet off Toulon vim der Sir Edward Pellew, Noveiubir <jUh, 1813. For many years past ihe has carried the flag of the RearAdrairal Superintendant at Devenport Dockyard, a duty now to be performed by the Impregnable, 101. The San Josef and her chss-maUs in the Spanish Navy were a force which, no o'her inarintime powee could at that time equal. The saying of Nelson is recorded — " these ahips are certainly the finest in the world. Thank God, the Spanards cannot build men !" At the commencement of the war in 1793, the largest ships in the British Navy wero the 18-pounder 100-gun ships, measuring 23.51) tons, of which we hnd two, the Queen Charlotte and Royal George. Of the smaller clais 100 gun-ihips, like the Victory, measuring 216*0 tons, and carrying 12-pound-eri on their upper deck, we had three. All the rest of our three-deckers, 19 in number, were the small 98s and 90s, of which none exceeded 1870 torn, a measure* ment now suri absed by a 50 gun frigate. At this time, the French, had five ships of 110 guns, of which, however, all but one were in a very indifferent state. Three of them took part in the battle of the Ist of June, two were wrecked in 1791:. the othec three formed part of the combined fleet of 4<o French, and Spanish sail-of-the-line, which in 1799 ciuiaedfor four months, and bad the good fortune to escape all their pursuer*. We do not meet with them again. Beside thesp, they had three ships of 120 guns, a new class, and at that time the only ones in existence, tlia Commerce de Marseilles, Cote dOr, and the Sans Culottes. Of the first, a memorable anecdote is re« lated. When the Great North Dock at Plymouth wan in the course of construction, King George 111. visited the Arsenal, and his attention was particularly directed |to the work in progress. Comparing the engineer's with the working plans, he found that the latter considerably exceeded the dimensions of the former and enquired the reason. He was informed that the dock had bren planned to receive the largest »bip in the navy, for which its original dimemions were sufficient, but that the French were then build 'ug so large a first-rate at Toulon that it wai necessaiy to tnlargeihe plan, or there would be no dock in England capable o£ receiving ker. The king was greatly amused at tbo idea of constructing a Dock at Plymouth to receive a •hip then building at Toulon, and called the queen's attention to the fact. Strange to sty, the Com-* meree de Marseilles, which wai the first ship docked there fell into our hands in 1793 at Toulon. She never went to sea, however, »s a man-of-war, hec frame being too slight for her las. Of the other ships, tho (. ote dOr, originally naaoed Etats de Bourgoyne* had her name changed ta Montagne, in compliment to the " Mountain," or Jacobin party when it was in ther aicendant. Under that name she carried the flag o£ the French commander-in-chief, Villaret Joyeuse, i« the battle of the Ist June, when she eicaped captur* only by the Queen Charlotte's misfortune in losing her fore-topmast in closing her enemy, which prevented her from gaiuing the position she sought on the Mon« tagne's bow. After the fall of the Jacobin party, the ship changed her name once more, and as the Ocean is sfloa at Breit to this day. She has never been at sea since 179*, except once, when she visited Portsmouth after t tho peace of 1814. On that occaiion it was said by her officers, tl-at she had lain so long at her moorings that at latt she grounded on the beef bones which ths crew threw overboaid after dinner. The third ship, the Sans Culottes formerly the Dauphin Royal, had her name changed to L'Orient, when the expedition under Buonaparte was fitted out;to Egypt and tho E.ist, end wiw destroyed at the battle of the Nile. Spain at the beginning of tho war had eleven ships of the San Josef's class, measuring 2400 to 24G0 ton«, and carrying 112 guns, except one, the Santifuima Tnnidada, which, after serving for about 25 years as 112-gun three-decker, had her quarter-deck and fore" castle formed' into a whole deck to mouut 14 additional guna, which, with four others on her poop, made her « flush four decker of 130 guns. Of these eleven ships, the San Josef has for mire than thirty years past been the sole survivor. She, and the Salvador del Mundo, wcie taken at the battle of Cape St. YinI cent. The Santiasima Trinidada struck in the same battle, but mide off before she could be secured, and escaped. She was taken at Trafalgar, and destroyed after the battle. The Conception, Conde de Regla, Mexicano, and Principe d'Asturias, fought at St. Yin- , cents and escaped. Tbey afterwards, with the Uegna Louisa of the same force, formed part of the grand fleet of France and Spain, 40 sail of the line, which cruised for four months in 1799, when two of the Spanish three-deckers, and levea 74's were dismasted in a gnle. The Principe d'Autturias, and the Santu Anna fought at Trafalgar, when the former escaped ; the latter was takeu by the Royal Sovereign, but in the gale which dispersed the fleet after the battle, sho ((rifted near Cadiz and was recovered by the enemy. All afterwards rotted in haroour. There remain two to be accounted for, the Heal Carlos and San Her* .menegild,o. These were burnt in a night action, July 12th, 1801, when Sir Richard Keats in the Superb, 74, went between them and ran on firing as he passed, to overtake a 74 a-head, which, he came up with and captured., The two tlirer-deckers, mistaking each other for enemies, continued to engage, and becoming entangled, both to.k fire, and perished witb their crews. It is a painful evidence of the imtability of greatness and power, that Spuin, which commenced the war with such a magnificent flaet, hss not now a single line<of»batile ship ; we know not that the hat even a hulk l The last ship of so fine a navy, herself one of tha first and proudest trophies of Nelson, claims a passing notice eie *he closes her existence. The only captured line-of-battle ship, remaining in the Service will now be theCanopui, B©, a trophy of the Nile, still a seagoing ship, and after fifty yeats' service, and all the improvements which have been made or attempted ducmg that time, still one of the finest of her class.

Kosciusko's Horse.— The ce'ebrated Polish geneml, Kosciusko, wuhed to send some bottlei of good J wive to a clergyman at Solothurn, and as he hesitate^ lo <.end them by a lervaiit lest a pait should he smug-" gled nwr.y, he guve the commission to a young man naned Zeltner, anddeairei nun to take a horse which he himself usually rode.— Young Zeltaer, on his return, said to Kosciusko, that tie would never ride his horse aa;ain unless he g<ivp him a purge at the same time.— The Getiezv.l asked wlmt he meant? He replied, "As soon ah I met a poor man on the road taking off his hat and asking for charity, the horse imnifdmtely stopped, and would not stir till something was given to the pe-. titioner ; and an I had no money about me 1 was obliged to make a motion as if I had given him alms, in, order to satisfy the horse." A higher eulougium could hardly be pionounced on the Polish hero, who uas not Itti celebrated far his benevolence than, for his inilttw? vahur,