| Summary : 1667 wreck of English Third Rate Ship of the Line which was scuttled as a blockship at Woolwich on 13th June during the Raid on the Medway (1584349), towards the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, when it was feared that the Dutch would penetrate up the Thames as far as Woolwich. She had been captured from the Dutch in September 1665, having been hired later that year. She was recovered for breaking up two months later, although the place where she was broken up is not known, possibly also at Woolwich or Deptford. The location assigned to this wreck is therefore arbitrary and for representative purposes only, since both the position where she was sunk and the location where she was broken up are unknown. Built of wood, she was a sailing vessel. |
More information : Indexed as the GOLDEN PHOENIX. A Dutch East Indiaman, taken as a prize, deliberately sunk as a block ship at Woolwich in company with other vessels. (1)(3)
Indexed as the PHOENIX. (2)
Indexed as the GOLDEN PHOENIX, ex. VERGULDE FENIX, prize 1665, sunk to block Thames 1667. Dimensions 113ft x 36ft, 779 tons. (4)
13-JUN-1667. GOLDEN PHOENIX Third Rate, VERGULDE PHOENIX prize 1665, 779 tons, sunk in the Thames at Woolwich, raised in August 1667, and broken up, along with the HOUSE DE SWYTE (1433145), FORTUNE (896207), and HORSEMAN (1198351). The WELCOME was also part of this group, but was raised and re-entered service. (5)
VERGULDE PHOENIX, hired 1665 by the Dutch, captured 3rd September that year by the English to become the GOLDEN PHOENIX. (6) Under that name she was purchased for service in November 1665, scuttled as a blockship on 13 June 1667, and raised and broken up in August 1667. (7)
Prince Rupert blocked the channels leading to Woolwich and Blackwall by sinking the GOLDEN PHOENIX and HOUSE OF SWEEDS, the WELCOME and the LEICESTER, an unnecessary expenditure of ships since the Dutch did not proceed any further than Gravesend. (9)
NB: Not listed under any permutation of (GOUDEN/VERGULDE)FENIX/PHOENIX in standard Dutch East India Company sources such as www.vocsite.nl and The Dutch East India Company's Shipping between the Netherlands and Asia 1595-1795, http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/das/search, thus suggesting that her origin, although mercantile, was not in Dutch East India service.
Note also that the standard named location of 'Woolwich' has been used for representative purposes only, given that neither the location of sinking nor the location of her breaking up is known, possibly at Woolwich or Deptford. (8)
Where Built: Netherlands [all sources]
Captured: 1665 (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
Armament: 60 guns (5); 70 (1)(3)(4)
Owner: Royal Navy (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in source (7):
John Charnock, Biographia Navalis, Vol. I. |