Seaford-class 6th rate 20 (3m)
L/B/D:
108 × 30.1 × 9.5 (32.9m × 9.2m × 2.9m). Tons:
430 tons Hull:
wood Comp:
160 Arm:
20 × 9pdr Built:
Hugh Blades, Hull, Eng.; 1757.
Bearing one of the most common names in the Royal Navy (first used as early as 1322), HMS Rose was one of a class of the Royal Navy's smallest-rated vessels. Built at the outset of the Seven Years' (French and Indian) War, Rose served on patrol along the coast of France and in the Caribbean. In 1768, the Board of the Admiralty considered the ship for Captain James Cook's first South Seas expedition, but as she could not be made ready in time, he sailed in
Endeavour instead. Later that year, Rose was dispatched to the coast of North America where she was active in impressing sailors from merchant ships for the Royal Navy. In 1774, Rose was dispatched to Narragansett Bay to suppress the very active and lucrative smuggling trade that had helped make Newport the fourth wealthiest city in the colonies. Captain James Wallace was so successful that the merchants of Newport were forced to appeal to Rhode Island's colonial legislature for the formation of a navy to combat the frigate, while they themselves fitted out the merchant sloop Katy—which they renamed
Providence—to patrol their waters. Rhode Island, in turn, asked the Continental Congress for the creation of a Continental Navy. In July of 1776, Rose took part in the British campaign to expel General George Washington's Continental Army from New York and saw action against shore batteries along the Hudson. Three years later Rose took part in the defense of Savannah, which the British had just captured and which was under threat of attack from a French fleet commanded by Comte Jean-Baptiste d'Estaing. On September 9, 1779, Rose was scuttled to prevent the French fleet from advancing upriver. The city remained in British hands until the end of the American Revolution in 1782, when the hulk was broken up so that regular commerce could be resumed.
In 1970, John Fitzhugh Millar built a replica of the ship in anticipation of the U.S. Bicentennial. At this writing, the ship is used as a sail-training vessel and dockside attraction, sailing to ports from the Great Lakes to Europe from her homeport of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Bailey, Manual for Sailing aboard the American Tall Ship "Rose." Lyon, Sailing Navy List.
