The Merhonour[Note 2] was a ship of the Tudor navy of England. It was built in 1590 by Mathew Baker at Woolwich Dockyard, and was rebuilt by Phineas Pett I at Woolwich between 1612 and 1615, being re-launched on 6 March 1615 as a 40-gun Royal Ship (or First rate).[1] She was then laid up at Chatham, only briefly returning to service from 1635 to 1636 before being laid up again at Chatham. She was nevertheless considered at that time to be one of the fastest ships in the Navy. In 1638 she was considered to be cut down by a deck and rebuilt with "two decks and a half", but instead she remained laid up.[1]
The Merhonour was sold out of the navy in 1650 by the Commonwealth of England.[2]
Notes
- ^ Lavery's details are challenged by both Colledge, and Winfield. Both describe a 1590 build date at Woolwich, while Winfield describes in detail the armament and dimensions both as launched and after the 1615 rebuild.
- ^ The 'HMS' prefix was not used until after the middle of the eighteenth century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively back to 1660, the year in which the English Royal Navy was created.
Citations
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Lavery, Brian (1983) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
- Winfield, Rif (2009). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-040-6.
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