Name HMS Reserve Class and type Fourth-rate frigate Beam 31 ft 1 in (9.5 m) Launched 1650 | Fate Foundered, 1703 Length 100 ft (30.5 m) (keel) Depth of hold 12 ft 8 in (3.9 m) Builder Woodbridge | |
HMS Reserve was a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Peter Pett II at Woodbridge, and launched in 1650. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 48 guns.
In 1701 Reserve underwent a rebuild at Deptford, relaunching as a fourth-rate ship of the line of between 46 and 54 guns. She foundered off Yarmouth in 1703 and was lost, during the Great Storm of 1703. The captain and the purser were ashore, but Rear Admiral Beaumont and 268 other men were drowned. Only one man, whose name was Thomas Atkins, was saved. His escape was very remarkable - having first seen the rear admiral get onto a piece of her quarter-deck when the ship was breaking up, and then get washed off again, Atkins was tossed by a wave into the HMS Stirling Castle, which sank soon after. From the Stirling Castle he was swept into a boat by a wave, and was rescued.