Dutch ship Batavier (1779)

Batavier (E) during the Battle of Dogger Bank on 5 August 1781.
History
Dutch Republic
Name	Batavier
Laid down	8 September 1777
Launched	18 February 1779
Commissioned	1780
Batavian Republic
Name	Batavier
Captured	By the Royal Navy in 1799
Great Britain
Acquired	30 August 1799
Commissioned	1799
Out of service	1823
Reclassified	Floating battery after 1801 Hospital ship between 1809 and 1817 Prison ship between 1817 and 1823
Fate	Broken up in 1823
General characteristics in Dutch service
Class and type	50-gun ship of the Third Charter ship of the line
Length	143 ft 0 in (43.6 m) (gundeck); in Amsterdam feet this equalled 154½
Beam	39 ft 11 in (12.2 m); in Amsterdam feet this equalled 43
Depth of hold	18 ft 6 in (5.6 m); in Amsterdam feet this equalled 20
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	50 guns of varying sizes
General characteristics in British service
Class and type	56-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,047 87⁄94 (bm)
Length	144 ft 7 in (44.1 m) (gundeck) 118 ft 7 in (36.1 m) (keel)
Beam	40 ft 10 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold	16 ft 5 in (5.0 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	As originally fitted at Chatham Lower gundeck: 22 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 24 × 12-pounder guns Quarterdeck and forecastle: 8 × 6-pounder guns After rearmament 20 × 24-pounder guns 20 × 18-pounder guns Subsequently added Quarterdeck: 6 × 6-pounder guns Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Batavier was a Dutch 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the navy of the Admiralty of Amsterdam (one of five provincial navies of the United Provinces of the Netherlands). In 1795 she became part of the Batavian Navy, and on 30 August 1799 was captured by the Royal Navy, who retained her in various subsidiary roles until she was broken up in 1823.

The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The ship was laid down on 8 September 1777, launched on 18 February 1779 and commissioned in 1780.^[1] On 5 August 1781, Batavier took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank under Captain Wolter Jan Gerrit Bentinck. Batavier sailed in the middle of the Dutch line, between the ships Admiraal de Ruyter and Argo. She was engaged by three British ships, and became unmanageable after a fire broke out. The battle, while indecisive tactically, resulted in a strategic British victory and afterwards Batavier was towed to Texel. Bentinck later died wounds he received in the battle.^[2]

In 1795, following the French occupation of the Netherlands during the French Revolutionary Wars, the ship was commissioned in the Batavian Navy.

On 11 October 1797 Batavier took part in the Battle of Camperdown under Captain Jan Jacob Souter. Early in the battle, the ship was under heavy fire, but soon she drifted off, and she eventually left the scene and fled to Texel.^[3]

On 30 August 1799 the ship was surrendered to the British fleet under Vice-Admiral Andrew Mitchell during the Vlieter Incident, even though Batavier was the only ship of the Dutch fleet where no mutiny had broken out.^[4]

Batavier was sailed to Britain and underwent refitting at Chatham Dockyard between 14 July 1800 and 15 July 1801 for use as a floating battery. She was officially established in February 1801. She was commissioned in June 1801 under Captain William Robert Broughton for service in the English Channel. Broughton was succeeded in April 1803 by Captain Patrick Tonyn, and in August 1804 she was laid up at Chatham. She was moved to Woolwich Dockyard in April 1809, where she functioned as a hospital ship under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Dorsett Birchall. This service lasted until January 1817, after which she was moved to Blackwall to receive distressed seamen. Her final service was to be fitted out at Woolwich as a prison ship. She was based at Sheerness from September 1817, and was finally broken up there in March 1823.^[5][6]

• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.