Dreadnought

Posted by Jon Miller on Sunday 19th of July 2026 05:20

Portsmouth, 27 June 1801: Captain Vashon, late of His Majesty’s ship Neptune, and not Captain Sir T B Thompson, as has been stated, is appointed to the Dreadnought. [Portsmouth Telegraph 29 June 1801]

Posted by Jon Miller on Friday 17th of July 2026 16:45

Portsmouth, 20 June 1801: At twelve o’clock on Saturday last, the fine ship the Dreadnought, which has been thirteen years upon the stocks, at this place was launched from the dockyard with all the naval splendour that could possibly be given to aid the grandeur and interest of the spectacle. She was decorated with an ensign, jack, union, and the imperial standard, and had the marine band playing the distinguished martial pieces of God save the King, Rule Britannia, &c &c. A prodigious concourse of persons, to the amount, as is supposed of at least 10,000 assembled, and were highly delighted by the magnificence of the ship and the manner in which she took the water. But what afforded great satisfaction was, that, in the passage of this immense fabric from the stocks, not a single accident happened. She was christened by commissioner Sir Charles Saxton, who, as usual, broke a bottle of wine over her stern. Her complement of guns is to be 98. She has the following significant emblem at her head, viz, a lion couchant on a scroll, containing t he imperial arms as emblazoned on the standard. After the launch, Sir Charles Saxton gave a cold collation to a number of nobility and officers of distinction in the navy and army. [Hampshire Chronicle, 22 June 1801]

Posted by Jon Miller on Thursday 16th of July 2026 05:44

Portsmouth, 16 May 1801: A number of shipwrights having been taken off from the Dreadnought of 98 guns, now building by order of the Navy Board, to forward the Bellerophon and Goliath, of 74 guns each; the former ship will, therefore, not be launched until the 14th of next month: on the same day, the Malta of 84 guns, Bellerophon and Goliath, of 74 guns each, will be undocked. [Hampshire Telegraph, 18 May 1801]

Posted by Jon Miller on Tuesday 14th of July 2026 20:36

Portsmouth, 2 May 1801: The Dreadnought, of 98 guns, building at this dock-yard, will be launched the 28th instant. [Hampshire Telegraph, 4 May 1801]

Posted by Tim Oakley on Thursday 23rd of February 2023 18:44

6.1801 Dreadnought98 at Portsmouth first commissioned by Captain James Vashon.
2 July 1802 Dreadnought98 Captain James Vashon at Portsmouth paid off

Posted by Richard McKinnon on Monday 30th of October 2017 07:14

Lieutennant James Balfour Robertson (1804) was a Midshipman and Masters Mate aboard Dreadnought under the command of James Vashon from 11th Sep 1801 to 10th Feb 1802. they were stationed in the Mediterranean in the Port of Cadiz.
Source: National Archives "Memorandum of the Services of Lieutenant James Balfour Robertson"