Prince
Wood Location
Ipswich, SUFFOLK
Ship Information
Ship Commander - Capt Richard Grindall
Guns - 98
Constructed at - Woolwich
Killed in the battle - 0
Injured in the battle - 0
Wood Information
Size - 10 acres
Owner - Greenwich Hospital
To be planted - November 2005
Several captains involved in the Battle of Trafalgar, went on to become Captains of Greenwich Hospital.
The site is owned by Greenwich Hospital at the Royal Hospital School in the village of Holbrook in Suffolk. Greenwich Hospital owns and maintains the Royal Hospital School as part of its charitable support to seafarers and their dependants. Priority is given to the children and grandchildren of seafaring families - namely children who have parents who are serving or have served in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Merchant Navy.
This is a 10 acre site which is currently land which is set aside and is bordered by two other areas of existing woodland, the site is predominately flat but does have a slight slope to the north west section of the site. The children at the school are holding a competition to decide the design of this wood which will comprise of mixed native broadleaf species including a large area of oak.
Events in Prince Wood A week long schools planting programme will take place in November 2005 for local schools to take part in.
A cadet planting day will take place in November 2005. More details to follow.
More information
Richard Grindall
Was born 1750 and entered the Navy at a very early age. He was captain of the Prince at Trafalgar 1805 – gold medal, the thanks of Parliament, and sword of honour from the Patriotic Fund. He was promoted Rear-Admiral, 1805, Vice-Admiral, 1810, and created a KCB in 1815. He died in 1820.
HMS Prince
HMS Prince was built at Woolwich dockyard and launched in 1788. Like others of her class she was a poor sailor and in 1796 during a refit, Prince was cut in half and lengthened by 17 ft. though without any improvement in her sailing qualities. She was said ‘to sail like a haystack’.
Prince served in the Channel Fleet and for a short time in 1804 served as Admiral Collingwood’s flagship. At Trafalgar she fell behind the rest of the fleet on the night before the battle, and was ordered ‘to take station as convenient’ to make the best of what wind was available. At first she formed the rearmost ship in Collingwood’s column, but her efforts enabled Prince to join Nelson’s line although she was still the last British ship to join the battle at 2.50 p.m. She engaged the French Achilles (74 guns) and the Spanish Principe de Asturias (112 guns), and shortly afterwards the Achilles was observed to be on fire in one of the mast tops, probably from the discharge of the muskets of the sharpshooters stationed on the top. When the foremast was brought down the fire spread to the hull of the Achilles, and before Grindell realised the seriousness of the situation two more broadsides had brought down the other masts along the centre line smashing the ship’s boats and pumps. The British then ceased fire and drew away but sent their boats to rescue the crew of the Achilles. The Achilles blew up and sank at 5.30 p.m. with her ensign still flying, but only 250 of her crew of 700 could be saved. The Prince meanwhile boarded and took the surrender of the Spanish Santissima Trinidad (140 guns) and then took her in tow to try to reach Gibraltar. Severely damaged, the Santissima Trinidad sank in the storm that followed the battle and Prince had to rescue the crew in appalling weather conditions.
Prince was broken up at Portsmouth in 1837.
Many thanks to Alan Aberg at the Society for Nautical Research for providing us with information on the ships and their commanders.
