NAMES OF BRITISH SHIPS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10604, 5 November 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

NAMES OF BRITISH SHIPS.

English ship names are full of charm. Many of them have come clown through the centuries. Among the royal names, for instance, the Queen has been in service almost 7UO years. The first Queen was launched in 1232 and the present ship of that" name is the seventh in tho line of succession.

This' line was broken for a rime, hut in 1900.. the name was revived in honor of "Queen" Victoria, whop however, died'' before tho ship could be laididown. At the' same time it was decided to revise the name Prince of Wales. The Prime became Edward VII. two months before ' the ship began T.o be built. The present ship with that title is the foiuth sinco 17(55.

The first ship of the Royal Navy, as constituted tupon its present basis, was named the lloyal Harry. That is to say, says a writer in the Queen, she wee tho first ship belonging to the nation. She "was also tho first ship with two decks or three masts. So late as 15*15 alio was the only ship of this description in tho Royal Navy. She is said to have been burned accidentally at Woolwich ■in 1553, where she had been built So years earlier, a long lite for a lighting ship. The writer continues: "lu the. Royal Sovereign we again have a ship name of ancient date, since the present" vessel is the tenth since 1455. We trace her family in the SbVeraigne-of-the-Seas, built at Woolwich in 1527. Also in her distinguished predecessor trie lloyal Sovereign which took part in the battle of Trafalgar, was Collingwood's flagship, and leading the lino ot the second division outdistanced the Victory and came iirst into action. "Tho Princess Marx, was the name oi the royal yacht that brought over to England William, I'rince ot Orange, in 1638. In Clarke Russell's interesting book "Clio Ship: Her Story' he relates that in February, 1827, the Betsy Cairns of Shields sailed from that port 'with a cargo to Hamburg. She was wrecked in a' gale, and so ended her existence. This ship had a curious history. She was,' so it was said, the Princess Mary oi former days, which later had become one of Queen Anne's royal yachts, being accounted a very fast sailer, and finally been metamorphosed into the Betsy Cairns. - "The Prince George, tbo fourth since 1703, was a name adopted at that data in honor of Prince George of Denmark, husband of-Queen Anne, and Lord High Admiral of England. The name was revived in honor of his Majesty, .our prc.sent King.

"It--was in 1652 that the name of Drake was adopted as a ship name; that is to'say, some 60 years after he had aroused'the hearts of his countrymen to enthusiasm" by his daring explores against the much-hated Spaniards alid the splendid part he took- in repelling the advance of the Armada in 1588. The present Drake is the tenth of tho name since the first ship was so named, in 1052.

''The -Blake, the third since 1808, is so named after the celebrated Admiral who took part in the naval'wars of tiio Commonwealth. . An interesting fact about this sailor is that he started by being a soldier. In tlioso days the combined profession of soldier and sailor was not uncommon. The St. Vincent, tli.p fourth ship since 1692, is called after a French ship, captured at that date and then added to; the British navy, this ship being christened after the saint of tho name in question. "The Benbow as a ship name is comparatively modern, the present Benbow being only tho second since 1813. The Admiral from whom the name is taken lived toward the end of the, eighteenth century and saw much active service. The eiid of his life was something of a tragedy. "11l the. West Indies, so often the. scene of conflicts between Franco and England for the ascendancy in the trade of that rich and fertile part of the world, Benbow kept up a running light with the French squadron for four days. In the end he was deserted by several of his captains and heroically sustained the fight almost alone until ho received on the fourth day the wound that was to prove fatal when he hauled off. "The Vernon,.well known as that of the great gunnery school at .Portsmouth, is christened after an Admiral celebrated in the earlier half of the eighteenth century, his most daring ex-ploit-being the capture of Porto Bello from the Sapniards with six ships of the line. This Admiral also iiitrochioed into the navy the watered rum known as grog; in this case an imwarliko enough- achievement unless connected with the courage known as Dutch. Tiio name grog was adopted from the grogram coat lie was in the habit of wearing. , "In the war of 1775, brought about by this country's war with her American colonies, the French, upholding ostensibly the cause of the Americans, in reality strove to strike, a lasting blow at Great Britain's influence in India and her commerce.in the West Indies. It was this last part of the world that witnessed some of the greatest naval actions in our country's history. "She stood alone; without friends, i without allies, she had to brave the outward warfare of two hostile countries —France and her ally, Spain-—and to disregard the jealousy and smouldering 'enmity of the great European Powers. In this crisis it was her .navy that saved her; her navy that brought her salvation. Rodney, Hood, Howe, Hawke, St. Vincent —such are some of the great names which at this periodlent lustre to an illustrious service, and ships bearing those names are in the service to-day. "The names of those great heroes who took part in the strife of a later period, ending, so far as tlio navy is concerned, to all intents and purposes with tiie j battle of Trafalgar, are as familiar and j as noteworthy. Great Nelson, Colling- I wood, 'Corriwallis, 'Camperdown arc

names revered by all who are moved by love, of their country. And so long as Qreat Britain has' a navy so lons will the name of .Trafalgar'thrill the hearts of all English people. "The first ship bearing tho name ;;f the great hero Lord 'Nelson was in 180!), since which time there have been thro* 1 vessels of that name. The first Ca:nperdown'wns named in 1797. She w.\i.*. so called after ii victory gained by ili-.» celebrated Lord 'Duncan' of Cainperdown over the Dutch off Camperdown. "In addition to ship names commemorating the memory of naval heroes, there are those given in memory of celebrated battles by land or sea. Thus we find the Blenheim and the Rnmillies —Marlborough's celebrated victories in the war of the.Spanish succession, the dates of each respectively- being 1704 and 1709. In every case a ship was so christened during tho year in which the battle, had been fought. There is also the Gibraltar, the eighth since 1711. This name commemorates the taking, some seven years previously, in 1704, of the 'Rock of Gibraltar by' Sir George Rooke during the war of'tho Spanish -

''The Nile, tilo fourth sinco 18(K), h named after the celebrated battle on August 1 and 2, 1798, when Nelson bv his masterly tactic* won his grant victory over tho .French fleet and secured for his.country the command of the Mediterranean. Tho Trafalgar is named after what may perhaps be called the. greatest of our naval victories,' in which tho great, perhaps tho most lovable of all our naval heroes, Nelson lost his .life. In this battle the English fleet bore down in two columns upon the enemy's lines, the Royal Sovereign, Collingwood's flagship, leading ono division, the Victory, Nelson's flagship, tho other.

''Among other rivers tho Indus, Ganges, Forth, Dee, Thames, Denvent, Ness, Dart—a ship of this name fighting against tho Spanish Armada—lvcnnett Clyde, Cherwell, and Shannon are. aH found, while tho number of countries, counties, towns, and places from which ships" have derived their names are legion. 'ln continents and great countries'we find.the Africa, the fourth since 1690, and the New /Zealand and Natal, both the first of the name, given respectively in 1903 and 1904. Among the many counties which have given names to' ships there are the Bedford-, Cornwall, Cumberland, Devonshire, Hampshire, and-Suffolk. Among the earlier names adopted in this class j would seem to be tho Hampshire and ] the Kent, the first Hampshire being ! that of 1653, .the first Kent in 1656. I Toward the end of the seventeenth cen- ! tury there appears to have been a ! fashion for giving ships county names, j for betweeu 1680-98 there were five thus christened—the Suffolk in 1688, the Devonshire in 1692, the Cornwall in 1692, the Cumberland in 1695, and tho Bedford in 1697, the number of ship's

thus mimed from u„, ( i,,, """ , up to tho present tmho ~* ""''"''"'"l four to six. '".miii; ,- ril||| "The toVns which have names to ships nie ~ls ' ....""'''H their eluding- that of ,„„• «",..„'"""'■"'is. „, tho London of Lord iTowv. l! ""' r "i'"ie ins "o little work ,„ t ] ]r y"' r i«d ,\„[ of that ditto. IViuhtoke a>-,"i'"'' ";r is one of those of lon*' ■ '*,!' v '.'l' inn,,,, present Pembroke hriaV ' t ,"' lll: :. i 1,,. since 1655. It was ( i-,,,,7 5 , ~u" ,''~'nt!i christened n ship after t |,'j s . "''"> ln\t did so to commemorate hi* " w "- He Pembroke Castle. '' ;! !>ius«• (l| "One of tho most rut-inns ;h; of tho class in (|iio.slinn j N ,| lr ' i,.' 1 "' i «;' l -. This name was introduce II into owing to tho descent ot '.,,'. !l:iv y squadron of four ships i,, |-, r l " !l 'ii Wales. _ A landing was t 10v,,,,!'.'. |'. | '"' !1 guard in Pembrokeshire, Inn '•'■■'• pulsed. On their honiowa;,' ' '* iK ivBrest two Knidish ships. t| v s '">' t.. ciiKO and the Nymph, encuuiH,' 1 ," i '" r " of the aforementioned I'Yoie-h .'in''.',, v '" the Resistance and tin* <',,':,,i'in','. '""■ captured them. One of the*.,'',| j' I '' " l!, 'l j Eesisinnco. was added to ;he hJ, '"■' ! ' lr ' ships, and in memory of ;!,,. |m,il' l|,lr effectually repulsed "sin* «.,,, ,'.j li !:". ,;; *" the Fishguard. This deeri,'..,-.,,^"' 11 *'! Fisguai'd, tho present 5|.,,,' i', '. i! ;'' third of tho nmno sinee l',:i; ■'' '-■