Name HMS Impregnable Laid down October 1781 Construction started October 1781 Builder Deptford Dockyard | Ordered 13 September 1780 Fate Wrecked, 1799 Launched 15 April 1786 | |
Notes Participated in
Glorious First of June Class and type London-class ship of the line | ||
HMS Impregnable was a Royal Navy 98-gun second rate. This ship of the line was launched on 15 April 1786 at Deptford Dockyard. She was wrecked in 1799 off Spithead.
Contents
Service
In 1794, Impregnable served as Rear-Admiral Benjamin Caldwell's flagship at the Glorious First of June.
Fate
Impregnable was lost off Chichester on 18 October 1799. She had escorted a convoy of 12 merchantmen from Lisbon to the Isle of Wight and her master, Michael Jenkins, was anxious to get into Spithead that night. The result was that she ended up on the Chichester Shoals. Captain Jonathan Faulknor ordered the ship be lightened by cutting away the masts, and an attempt was made to anchor for the night. At dawn the crew discovered that she had beaten a mile and a half over the shoals and now lay in mud flats near the entrance to Langstone Harbour. The following day she was found to have bilged.
Faulknor determined that the ship could not be saved. A small flotilla of vessels from Langstone and Spithead dockyards was put to sea to assist, and successfully removed the crew, the ship's guns and other valuables. Admiralty later sold Impregnable's remains to a Portsmouth merchant, A. Lindenegren.
The court martial on 30 October dismissed Master Jenkins from the service.