HMS Roebuck was a 44-gun fifth-rate warship of the Royal Navy which served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars. Designed in 1769 by Sir Thomas Slade to operate in the shallower waters of North America, she joined Lord Howe's squadron towards the end of 1775 and took part in operations against New York the following year. She engaged the American gun batteries at Red Hook during the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, and forced a passage up the Hudson River in October. On 25 August 1777, Roebuck escorted troopships to Turkey Point, Maryland, where an army was landed for an assault on Philadelphia. She was again called upon to accompany troopships in December 1779, this time for an attack on Charleston. When the ships-of-the-line, which were too large to enter the harbour, were sent back to New York, Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot made Roebuck his flagship. She was, therefore, at the front of the attack, leading the British squadron across the shoal to engage Fort Moultrie and the American ships beyond.
After the American Revolutionary War ended in October 1783, Roebuck underwent repairs at Sheerness and was refitted as a hospital ship. She served in this capacity during the French Revolutionary war and was with the British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis that captured Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Lucia in 1794. Recommissioned as a troopship in July 1799, during the War of the Second Coalition, Roebuck joined the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland and was part of the fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell, to which the Dutch surrendered in the Vlieter Incident. Following the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, Roebuck was paid off and laid up in ordinary at Woolwich Dockyard. When the War of the Third Coalition broke out in May 1803, she was brought back into service as a guardship at Leith, flying the flags of Vice-Admiral Richard Rodney Bligh and then Rear-Admiral James Vashon under whom she later transferred to Great Yarmouth. In March 1806, she became a receiving ship and in 1810 the flagship of Lord Gardner. Roebuck was broken up at Sheerness in July 1811.
Construction and armament
Roebuck was the prototype of the ships, two-deck, fifth-rate ships built to operate in the shallower waters of North America.Winfield (2007) p. 176 She was designed by renowned naval architect Sir Thomas Slade in 1769 as an improvement on his Phoenix model, and ordered by the Admiralty on 30 November. Her keel of was laid down in October the following year at Chatham Dockyard.
As built, Roebuck was long at the gundeck, with a beam of and a depth in the hold of . She measured 879 tons burthen. Launched on 24 April 1774 and completed by 4 August 1775, Roebuck cost £18,911.0.6d plus a further £1,749.5.5d for fitting.
Roebuck was built with two rows of windows in the stern, giving the illusion of an extra deck, but behind them was a single-level cabin. The design was eventually phased out for Roebuck-class ships completed after . Most of the remaining ships of the class had a traditional frigate-style stern.
On her lower gun deck, Roebuck carried twenty guns. Her upper deck originally had twenty-two guns but these were later upgraded to guns. There were two guns on the forecastle but the quarterdeck was devoid of armament. When fully manned, Roebuck had a complement of 280 officers and enlisted men. This was increased to 300 in 1783.
Service
American Revolutionary War First commissioned by Captain Andrew Snape Hamond in July 1775, Roebuck left for North America in September, joining Lord Howe's squadron and taking part in operations against New York the following year. On 25 March 1776, she was cruising alone off Cape Henlopen when she ran aground. She suffered no damage, enabling her crew to get her off and into deep water where she was anchored. The following day, a sail was sighted in the bay and Hamond sent two of the ship's boats to investigate. The craft turned out to be a small American schooner, which the crew abandoned on seeing the British boats approaching. The newly acquired prize and Roebucks tender then pursued and caught two sloops.Journal of HMS Roebuck, Captain Andrew Snape Hammond p. 596 On 28 March, Roebucks boats were again in action, taking another sloop. In the afternoon, her tender narrowly avoided capture by the American 10-gun sloop . On hearing of the encounter, Roebuck set off in pursuit of the American vessel but was unable to locate her.Journal of HMS Roebuck, Captain Andrew Snape Hammond pp. 596–598
Roebuck took part in the Battle of Long Island on 27 August 1776, attacking the American gun batteries at Red Hook.Lossing p. 809 On 9 October she was in action on the Hudson River, with HMS Phoenix and , where she destroyed two armed galleys and forced her way upstream, whilst engaging, on either side, the two forts of Washington and Lee.Clowes (Vol.III) p. 386 Between 10 March and 21 December 1776, Howe's squadron captured or destroyed 166 vessels, of which Roebuck claimed partial responsibility for at least twenty-three. In April 1777, she took two warships, the 14-gun Carolina State Navy Defence and the 10-gun .
In August 1777, the British were planning to land an army at the head of the Elk River with the object of securing Philadelphia. Because of Hamond's familiarity with the local waters, Roebuck, which had hitherto been involved in operations on the Delaware River, was withdrawn to mark out a channel through Chesapeake Bay for Howe's 267-strong flotilla. Roebuck, with the 32-gun Apollo and four smaller vessels, escorted the troopships up the river on 25 August and provided cover while the army disembarked about from Turkey Point.
Assault on Philadelphia Following the defeat of an American force at the Battle of Brandywine and its subsequent retreat to Philadelphia in September, Howe led Roebuck and a squadron of small vessels up the Delaware where the Americans had erected redoubts overlooking the river and sunk obstructions to prevent its navigation.Lossing pp. 291–292 At Billingsport, a large earthworks and gun battery protected a channel, blocked with a submerged cheval de frise. This impediment was constructed of large wooden frames, filled with stones and fronting iron-tipped spears. Stationed along the river were floating batteries and gunboats, and further upstream, another set of obstacles had been sunk between Fort Mifflin and Fort Mercer.
The British captured Philadelphia on 26 September but control of the river was crucial to keeping their forces there supplied. Hamond offered to force a channel at Billing's Point, if Howe could muster sufficient men to put the fort there out of action. Two regiments from Chester, Pennsylvania, crossed the river and chased off the American garrison while the men of Roebuck breached a opening for Roebuck, , two frigates, a sloop and a galley to sail through. After unsuccessful attempts to take the forts Mifflin and Mercer, the six British vessels were subjected to heavy fire when they engaged the American flotilla at the Battle of Red Bank. Augusta ran aground and caught fire, and the sloop, Merlin, blew up; Roebuck and the remaining force broke off the attack and returned to Billingsport.Lossing pp. 295–296
Still requiring a supply route to Philadelphia but unable to open up the Delaware while Fort Mifflin was occupied, Howe took possession of Province Island in November and began erecting gun batteries. Following a six-day bombardment, the Americans abandoned the fort. Two days later Fort Mercer also fell, leaving the British free to work their way upriver in pursuit of the enemy fleet which was later scuttled at Gloucester.Lossing pp. 296–299 By 18 May 1778, Roebuck was in Philadelphia where she took part in celebrations, held in honour of Howe and his brother William who was Commander-in-Chief of the British land forces.Lossing pp. 303–304
In July 1778, Roebuck was at Sandy Hook, near New York Bay, and in August she took part in an action against a French fleet. France had entered the war on the American side in February that year. On 29 July, the French fleet from Toulon, commanded by Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing, arrived in Narragansett Bay, and the next day they began raiding British positions on Conanicut and Goat Island.Clowes (Vol.III) pp. 402–403 On 8 August, 4,000 French soldiers and sailors were landed to reinforce the 10,000 American troops who had just crossed from the mainland to attack the British garrison on Rhode Island.Clowes (Vol.III) p. 403 Howe's fleet arrived off Point Judith on 9 August and, fearing the British might soon be reinforced, d'Estaing sailed out the next morning while he still had superior numbers and guns.Clowes (Vol.III) p. 405 Several days of manoeuvring, in which both parties sought the weather gage, were curtailed by a violent gale which scattered the fleets.Clowes (Vol.III) pp. 405–408 The storm abated on 13 August, leaving Roebuck, Apollo, , , , , and Phoenix within sight of each other. Apollo, then serving as Howe's flagship, had lost two masts during the previous night and Roebuck, also with a mast missing, was ordered to escort her to Sandy Hook. Howe moved his flag to Phoenix and, after searching for the French fleet, followed a few days later.
Roebuck captured an American privateer in February 1779, before setting sail for Woolwich where she underwent a refit and had her hull sheathed in copper. This took until April.
Operations against Charleston Roebuck returned to American waters by 5 December 1779, when she captured the American privateer, Lady Washington. Then, with five ships-of-the-line, the 50-gun , the 44-gun , four sixth-rate frigates and two 20-gun sloops, she accompanied transports, carrying 7,550 troops for an attack on Charleston. Under the command of Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot, the ships left New York on 26 December and in January 1780, in need of repairs, called in at Savannah, captured by the British the previous month.Clowes (Vol. IV) pp. 47–48 From there, the convoy proceeded to the North Edisto River where the army disembarked on 10 February. The troops marched the overland and occupied James Island, while the ships sailed to the entrance and effected a blockade of Charleston harbour.Clowes (Vol. IV) p. 48 Some of Roebucks company were among the 450 seamen and marines later sent to lay siege to the town. The 64-gun and 74-gun ships-of-the-line, being too large to be of any use in the shallow waters around the harbour, left for New York in March 1780, leaving Renown, Romulus, , , , , and Roebuck, to which Arbuthnot moved his flag. These ships were lightened while they awaited a high enough tide and favourable conditions to carry them over the sandbank which lay across the entrance to the harbour.