HMS Chichester (1753)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Chichester.

History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Chichester
Ordered	12 July 1750
Builder	Portsmouth Dockyard
Launched	4 June 1753
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate	Broken up, 1803
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	1750 amendments 70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	1401 (bm)
Length	160 ft (48.8 m) (gundeck)
Beam	44 ft 9 in (13.6 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft 6 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 26 ×  32-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 28 ×  18-pounder guns QD: 12 ×  9-pounder guns Fc: 4 ×  9-pounder guns

HMS Chichester was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Joseph Allin and built by Peirson Lock at Portsmouth Dockyard to the standard draught for 70-gun ships as specified in the 1745 Establishment amended in 1750, and launched on 4 June 1753.^[1]

In late 1757 or early 1758 Chichester, Captain William Saltern Willett, captured the French privateer snow Actiffe, of Dunkirk. Actiffe, of about 140 tons (bm), was pierced for 12 guns but had nine mounted, plus eight swivel guns. She was to be sold by the candle at Lloyd's Coffee House on 11 April 1758.^[2]

Because Chichester served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.^{[3][Note 1]}

Chichester served until 1803, when she was broken up.^[1]

Notes

1. A first-class share of the prize money awarded in April 1823 was worth £34 2s 4d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 3s 11½d. The amount was small as the total had to be shared between 79 vessels and the entire army contingent.^[4]

Citations

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 174.
2. General Evening Post 30 March 1758.
3. "No. 21077". The London Gazette. 15 March 1850. pp. 791–792.
4. "No. 17915". The London Gazette. 3 April 1823. p. 633.

References

• 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.