by Victoria
Having as large collection as we do here at the Redoubt,
it’s often easy to overlook objects, even when they have been sat in the corner
of your eye for months! It can also be difficult when sorting through the
collections and hundreds of objects, to take the time to research and fully
appreciate their importance and the stories they have to tell.
One such object is a scale model of HMS Sovereign of the Seas. Having had to move the model from
display last summer (which I assure you was not easy!) I have been aware of the
ships presence for some time but since then it has been sat on a shelf in the
corner of our stores and it’s surprising how you come to ignore something
which is always there, and when other things are a priority. The model has been a part of our collection
since the 70's and was donated to us by the husband of the maker’s daughter. It is
an intricate and impressive scale replica. Recently, I took the time to stop
and look at it again, and decided to research the story of the Sovereign of the
Seas, and discover what made it important enough to warrant someone taking the
time to create such a delicate model.
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| The Sovereign of the Seas, hiding away in the corner of the store. |
The Sovereign of the
Seas was a warship built for the Royal Navy, ordered by Charles I of England in
1634, she was completed and launched on the 13th October 1637 from
Woolwich Dockyard. The ship was designed and built by Phineas and Peter Pett, who
were a famous ship building family, and whose descendants were also responsible
for some of the building of the later HMS
Victory. It was to be the largest, most powerful and grandest ship
certainly in the Navy to date, and possibly in the world at the time. There’s
no doubt she was a political statement on King Charles’ behalf, a new way to
show off to the rest of Europe and confirm the Navy’s and the English authority
in the seas. There was no subtlety here!
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| Charles I with his flagship boat, HMS Sovereign of the Seas |
With regards to its cost, it certainly wasn’t cheap either,
costing £65,586 to build - the equivalent of just under £10 million in today’s
money! The gilding alone, the gold decoration which earned her the rather
menacing nickname the ‘Golden Devil’, cost £6,691 or just over £1 million
today. At the time that figure alone was more like the average cost of a full ship
in the Royal Navy, so as you can see this was no average ship! In fact the cost
was so high that Charles I had to raise what was known as ‘Ship Money’, an
unpopular tax among his people that was needed to provide for the extravagant
ship and ultimately played a part in his downfall.
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| The intricate gold gilding shown on our model, that gave the ship the nickname 'Golden Devil'. |
In terms of her size, Charles and the Pett family tried
their best to get the most for their money. Having felled around 2500 oak trees
for her creation, Sovereign of the Seas measured around 130ft in length and
48 feet in width and weighed about 1500 tonnes, with 102 bronze cannon in place.
In another sign of Charles’ need for dominance and power, originally the
designs only stated 90 cannon to be used but the King demanded 102, so 102 is
what he got. In comparison to today’s warships, these numbers may seem insignificant,
but in the seventeenth century it was definitely impressive! It’s no surprise
then that it led to The Brethren of Trinity House, a private corporation
created by Henry VIII and governed under Royal Charter to help regulate and provide for navigational
aids and maritime resources, to say the following regarding the plans to
construct such a ship;
“There is no port in the kingdome that can harbour this
ship. The wild sea must bee her port, her anchors and cables her safety; if
either fayle, the ship must perish, the king lose his jewel, four or five
hundred man must die, and perhaps some great and noble peer.”
Thankfully, Sovereign of the Seas lasted longer than perhaps
expected; she was used in all the Commonwealth Wars against the United
Provinces and the French, including the three Anglo-Dutch Wars and the War of
Grand Alliance, or Nine Years War, against Louis XIV. Interestingly, it was
also present at the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690, a battle which
we too only discovered recently here at the Redoubt (as seen in Sarah’s latest
blog post here...)
Having been renamed in 1650 HMS Sovereign, partially re-built and renamed again in 1660, this time HMS Royal Sovereign, it was rebuilt one more time in 1685, before being laid up in Chatham dockyards where it finally and sadly, came to an end in January 1697 when the entire ship burnt to the water line. It is unknown how this came to be, but it was supposedly and most likely an accident, or carelessness which caused its destruction after 60 years of service.
Sovereign of the Seas was an important part in English naval history, the largest and most splendid ship of its time, it was present at several important maritime battles in English history and became the predecessor to HMS Victory, which has perhaps overshadowed it ever since and meant that it is far lesser known than Nelson’s flagship. Still, in Naval tradition, and to recognise the role it played, several ships since have been named in its honour. The second HMS Royal Sovereign, saw action at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and was the first vessel to open fire in the battle, living up to the name of its predecessor and playing a pivotal role in English naval history.
So, how did we end up with a model of it here at the Redoubt you may ask? ...Good question!
Whilst we cannot trace any direct link to Eastbourne, other than Sovereign of the Seas’ role in the Battle of Beachy Head, there are many associations with the name "Sovereign" in and around Eastbourne, as I’m sure many of you are aware. It was in 1875 that a light vessel was established on the Royal Sovereign shoals near Eastbourne and named The Royal Sovereign, this was later replaced by the Royal Sovereign Light Tower in 1971, both having been given the prestigious Sovereign name to align them with the likes of the Sovereign of the Seas and the Royal Sovereign before them, a good omen for their role in protecting the South Coast.
Today we can also see Sovereign Harbour and the Sovereign Centre among others, all whose names may well have been inspired by this first, important and impressive Sovereign of the Seas, who sits quietly in her model form, in the corner of our stores ready to impress again when her time comes.
It goes to show that every object tells a story, and with the vast number that we have it would be near impossible to know them all! We can however attempt to discover them one by one, and make a small dent in all the interesting information which they have to share with us. I hope you've enjoyed discovering the story of Sovereign of the Seas as much as I did.
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| This image by Theodor Gubin, and used in Sarah's blog post, depicts the Battle of Beachy Head. I believe the large ship in the centre could be Sovereign of the Seas, as the scale and design is similar to our model! |
Having been renamed in 1650 HMS Sovereign, partially re-built and renamed again in 1660, this time HMS Royal Sovereign, it was rebuilt one more time in 1685, before being laid up in Chatham dockyards where it finally and sadly, came to an end in January 1697 when the entire ship burnt to the water line. It is unknown how this came to be, but it was supposedly and most likely an accident, or carelessness which caused its destruction after 60 years of service.
Sovereign of the Seas was an important part in English naval history, the largest and most splendid ship of its time, it was present at several important maritime battles in English history and became the predecessor to HMS Victory, which has perhaps overshadowed it ever since and meant that it is far lesser known than Nelson’s flagship. Still, in Naval tradition, and to recognise the role it played, several ships since have been named in its honour. The second HMS Royal Sovereign, saw action at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and was the first vessel to open fire in the battle, living up to the name of its predecessor and playing a pivotal role in English naval history.
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| A photo in our collection, of HMS Sovereign (5), a namesake of our ship, active through the First and Second World Wars. |
So, how did we end up with a model of it here at the Redoubt you may ask? ...Good question!
Whilst we cannot trace any direct link to Eastbourne, other than Sovereign of the Seas’ role in the Battle of Beachy Head, there are many associations with the name "Sovereign" in and around Eastbourne, as I’m sure many of you are aware. It was in 1875 that a light vessel was established on the Royal Sovereign shoals near Eastbourne and named The Royal Sovereign, this was later replaced by the Royal Sovereign Light Tower in 1971, both having been given the prestigious Sovereign name to align them with the likes of the Sovereign of the Seas and the Royal Sovereign before them, a good omen for their role in protecting the South Coast.
Today we can also see Sovereign Harbour and the Sovereign Centre among others, all whose names may well have been inspired by this first, important and impressive Sovereign of the Seas, who sits quietly in her model form, in the corner of our stores ready to impress again when her time comes.
It goes to show that every object tells a story, and with the vast number that we have it would be near impossible to know them all! We can however attempt to discover them one by one, and make a small dent in all the interesting information which they have to share with us. I hope you've enjoyed discovering the story of Sovereign of the Seas as much as I did.
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