HMS Royal George ( 1756 ) HMS " Royal George " was a 100 - gun first - rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy , built at Woolwich Dockyard and launched on 18 February 1756 . The largest warship in the world at the time of launching , she saw service during the Seven Years ' War including being Admiral Sir Edward Hawke ' s flagship at the Battle of Quiberon Bay and later taking part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent . She sank undergoing routine maintenance work whilst anchored off Portsmouth on 29 August 1782 with the loss of more than 800 lives , one of the most serious maritime losses to occur in British waters . Service . Ordered on 29 August 1746 , she was laid down at Woolwich Dockyard in 1746 as " Royal Anne , " and built to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment . She was renamed " Royal George " during building and launched on 18 February 1756 . At the time of her launch in 1756 , she was the largest warship in the world . She served in the Seven Years ' War , commissioning under her first commander , Captain Richard Dorrill in October 1755 , and after being completed , joined the Western Squadron or Channel Fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke in May 1756 . Dorrill was succeeded by Captain John Campbell in July 1756 , who was in turn succeeded by Captain Matthew Buckle in early 1757 . " Royal George " was the flagship of Vice - Admiral Edward Boscawen at this time , and flew his flag in the Raid on Rochefort in September that year . Captain Piercy Brett took command in 1758 , during which time " Royal George " became the flagship of Admiral Lord George Anson . Brett was succeeded by Captain Alexander Hood in November 1758 , though " Royal George " s former captain , Richard Dorrill , was back in command the following year , until being invalided out of the ship in June . Dorrill ' s replacement was another former captain , John Campbell , who commanded her in the blockade of the French fleet at Brest . She became Sir Edward Hawke ' s flagship in early November of that year , when his previous flagship , , went into dock for repairs . Hawke commanded the fleet from " Royal George " at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759 , where she sank the French ship " Superbe " . " Royal George " was commanded by Captain William Bennett from March 1760 , and she was present at the fleet review at Spithead in July that year . John Campbell returned to command his old ship in August 1760 , though Bennett was captain again by December . " Royal George " joined Admiral Charles Hardy ’ s fleet in the Autumn of 1762 , and was then paid off on 18 December that year . She was laid up at the conclusion of the Seven Years ' War , undergoing a large repair at Plymouth between 1765 and 1768 . The outbreak of the American War of Independence generated a need for more ships and " Royal George " was fitted at Portsmouth for service in the Channel between May 1778 and April 1779 . She recommissioned under her first new commander , Captain Thomas Hallum , in July 1778 , with command passing to Captain John Colpoys in November that year . " Royal George " was at this time the flagship of Vice - Admiral Sir Robert Harland , with the Western Squadron . Harland struck his flag , and in his place Vice - Admiral George Darby briefly raised his in June 1779 , though from August 1779 until December 1781 she was the flagship of Rear - Admiral Sir John Lockhart Ross . Meanwhile Captain Colpoys was replaced by Captain John Bourmaster in December 1779 , and she joined Admiral Sir George Rodney ' s fleet in their mission to relieve Gibraltar . Under Bourmaster , and flying Ross ' s flag , " Royal George " took part in the attack on the Caracas convoy on 8 January 1780 , and the Battle of Cape St . Vincent on 16 January 1780 , before going on to successfully relieve Gibraltar three days later . " Royal George " returned to Britain with the rest of the fleet , and had her hull coppered in April 1780 . She returned to service that summer , serving with the Channel Fleet under Admiral Francis Geary , and then George Darby from the Autumn . Both captain and admiral changed in late 1781 , Bourmaster being replaced by Captain Henry Cromwell , and Ross striking his flag for " Royal George " to become the flagship of Rear - Admiral Richard Kempenfelt . She served as part of Samuel Barrington ' s squadron from April 1782 , with Cromwell replaced by Captain Martin Waghorn in May . " Royal George " then joined the fleet under Richard Howe . Loss . On 28 August 1782 " Royal George " was preparing to sail with Admiral Howe ' s fleet to relieve Gibraltar . The ships were anchored at Spithead to take on supplies . Most of her complement were aboard ship , as were a large number of workmen to speed the repairs . There were also an estimated 200 - 300 relatives visiting the officers and men , 100 - 200 ' ladies from the Point [ at Portsmouth ] , who , though seeking neither husbands or fathers , yet visit our newly arrived ships of war ' , and a number of merchants and traders come to sell their wares to the seamen . The exact number is unknown but is estimated to be around 1 , 200 . At seven o ’ clock on the morning of 29 August work on the hull was carried out and " Royal George " was heeled over by rolling the ship ' s guns on one side into the centreline of the ship . This caused the ship to tilt over in the water . The ship was heeled over too far , passing her centre of gravity . Realising that the ship was settling in the water , orders were given to move the guns back into position to restore the ship ' s balance . During these operations the lower deck gunports were not properly secured , causing an inrush of water . At the time of the sinking a lighter was alongside , loading barrels of rum in through the open lower gunports . The ship rolled on to her side , saved from sinking immediately by the presence of the lighter , which was pushed under the water by the weight of the " Royal George " s masts . " Royal George " quickly filled up with water and sank , taking with her around 900 people , including up to 300 women and 60 children who were visiting the ship in harbour . 255 people were saved , including eleven women and one child . Some escaped by running up the rigging while others were picked up by boats from other vessels . Kempenfelt was writing in his cabin when the ship sank ; the cabin doors had jammed because of the ship ' s heeling and he perished with the rest . Waghorn was injured and thrown into the water but he was rescued . Many of the victims were washed ashore at Ryde , Isle of Wight where they were buried in a mass grave that stretched along the beach . This land was reclaimed in the development of a Victorian esplanade and is now occupied by the streets and properties of Ryde Esplanade and The Strand . In April 2009 , Isle of Wight Council placed a new memorial plaque in the newly restored Ashley Gardens on Ryde Esplanade in memory of " Royal George " . It is a copy of the original plaque unveiled in 1965 by Earl Mountbatten of Burma which was moved in 2006 to the Royal George Memorial Garden , also on the Esplanade . A court - martial failed to attribute blame for the tragedy and acquitted the officers and crew ( many of whom had perished ) , blaming the accident on the ' general state of decay of her timbers ' and suggesting that the most likely cause of the sinking was that part of the frame of the ship gave way under the stress of the heel . One of the few survivors was the man perhaps most responsible for the loss , Lieutenant Philip Charles Durham , the officer of the watch at the time of the sinking . Naval historian Nicholas Tracy stated that Durham had allowed water to accumulate on the gundeck . The resulting free surface effect eventually compromised the ship ' s stability . Tracy concluded that an ' alert officer of the watch would have prevented the tragedy . . . ' Durham was one of the officers investigated at the court - martial , and was acquitted with the surviving officers in the verdict that decided that the cause of the accident was the state of the timbers . A fund was established by Lloyd ' s Coffee House to help the widows and children of the sailors lost in the sinking , which was the start of what eventually became the Lloyd ' s Patriotic Fund . The accident was commemorated in verse by the poet William Cowper : Salvage attempts . Initial attempts . Several attempts were made to raise the vessel , both for salvage and because it was a major hazard to navigation , lying as she did in a busy harbour at a depth of only . In 1782 , Charles Spalding recovered six iron 12 - pounder guns and nine brass 12 - pounders using a diving bell of his design . Deane brothers ( 1834 ) . After that no further work was carried out on the wreck until 1834 , when Charles Anthony Deane and his brother John , using the first air - pumped diving helmet which they themselves had invented , began work . From 1834 — 1836 they recovered 7 iron 42 - pounders , 18 brass 24 - pounders and 3 brass 12 - pounders for which he received salvage from the Board of Ordnance . The remaining guns were buried under mud of the timbers of the wreck and they were unable to reach them . It was during this operation that local fishermen asked the divers to investigate something on the seabed onto which their nets kept snagging . A dive by John Deane , 1 km north east of the " Royal George " , revealed timber and guns from the " Mary Rose " , the first time that its resting place had been located for several centuries . Pasley ( 1839 ) . In 1839 Major - General Charles Pasley , at the time a Colonel of the Royal Engineers , commenced operations . Pasley had previously destroyed some old wrecks in the Thames to clear a channel using gunpowder charges ; his plan was to break up the wreck of " Royal George " in a similar way and then salvage as much as possible using divers . The charges used were made from oak barrels filled with gunpowder and covered with lead . They were initially detonated using chemical fuses , but this was later changed to an electrical system using a resistance - heated platinum wire to detonate the gunpowder . Pasley ' s operation set many diving milestones , including the first recorded use of the buddy system in diving , when he ordered that his divers operate in pairs . In addition , a Corporal Jones made the first emergency swimming ascent after his air line became tangled and he had to cut it free . A less fortunate milestone was the first medical account of a diver squeeze suffered by a Private Williams : the early diving helmets used had no non - return valve s ; this meant that if a hose became severed , the high - pressure air around the diver ' s head rapidly evacuated the helmet causing tremendous negative pressure that caused extreme and sometimes life - threatening effects . At the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in 1842 , Sir John Richardson described the diving apparatus and treatment of diver Roderick Cameron following an injury that occurred on 14 October 1841 during the salvage operations . Pasley recovered 12 more guns in 1839 , 11 more in 1840 , and 6 in 1841 . In 1842 he recovered only one iron 12 - pounder because he ordered the divers to concentrate on removing the hull timbers rather than search for guns . Other items recovered , in 1840 , included the surgeon ' s brass instruments , silk garments of satin weave ' of which the silk was perfect ' , and pieces of leather ; but no woollen clothing . By 1843 the whole of the keel and the bottom timbers had been raised and the site was declared clear . Destruction . In 1840 , the broken wreckage was destroyed by the Royal Engineers in a huge controlled explosion that shattered windows as far away as Portsmouth and Gosport . Surviving timbers and guns . In the 1850s , timber from the ship was used to make the billiard table , still in use today for the North Wing of Burghley House . Timber salvaged from the " Royal George " was also used to make the coffin for the famous menagerie owner George Wombwell who died in 1850 . Several of the salvaged bronze cannon were melted down to form the base of Nelson ' s column in London ' s Trafalgar Square . A 24 pounder from the ship is part of the Royal Armouries collection and is on display at Southsea Castle . Notes . a . " Royal George " s usual complement was 867 . b . Durham ' s career was unaffected by the accident , he went on to become a distinguished frigate captain during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , and commanded a ship at Trafalgar . He died in 1845 a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath with the rank of Admiral . Additional reading . < div class = " references - small " style = " - moz - column - count : 1 ; column - count : 1 ; " >