HMS Indignant

HMS Indignant
Rating: 5th rate (frigate)

Class: Hercules-class sleek frigate

Date of Commission: October, 1720

Guns: 44 guns

Crew: 305 men and boys

Captain & Officers
Captain: James Maddox

1st Lieutenant: William Hatchet

2nd Lieutenant: Peter Strike

3rd Lieutenant: Piers Pemrose

Sailing Master: Seymour Rose

Warrant Officers: 8

Young Gentlemen: 6 midshipmen, 2 master's mates

Able Seamen: 99

Ordinary Seamen: 134 Landsmen:72

Ships Named Indignant

 * Monitor-class brig - launched 1642, wrecked 1670
 * Defiant-class frigate - launched 1699, refit in 1720
 * Mordaunt-class 4th rate - rechristened 1719, broken up 1719
 * Gallant-class frigate - refit of Defiant model, finished in 1720
 * Dauntless-class frigate - launched, November 30, 1720
 * Hercules-class sleek frigate - launched June, 1721

Ship History
Indignant I - The Monitor-class galleon was one of the first classes of vessels developed to counter the Spanish galleon armada. Light and well armed, they defended the waters of England. Indignant I was commanded capably by Sir Robert of April, until its destruction in a storm off the coast of Ireland.

Indignant II - Indignant II was one of the first of the Defiant-class frigates to roll off the line at Spithead in 1699. It saw much wartime action against the Spanish, French, and Dutch, specifically under the command of Captain Horrace Bluster. It was also the vessel which James Maddox first served as a midshipman. Having grown too old and brittle for battle, Indignant was retired in 1719.

A close childhood friend of Maddox's, Lord Harvey Pemrose, flag lieutenant to the Admiral of the White, purchased the retired Indignant II, as a gift for Maddox. It was in such shoddy condition, however, that it saddened Maddox more than gladdened him. Maddox spent a considerable amount of his own money refitting it to the newer, more effective Gallant-class naval frigate. Despite its refit, Indignant proved too weak to accomplish the missions set out for it. A combination of age and design was endangering its crew. Maddox commissioned the building of a new Dauntless-class frigate to replace his boyhood ship. When it was ready to launch, Maddox re-christened the old Indignant the HMS Horrace Bluster, named for his old captain, and assigned it to chasing duty, running down the enemy, and holding it until aid could arrive.

Indignant III - During the fearsome final days of the Beta War, James Maddox was given temporary command of a slapdash fourth-rate Mordaunt-class vessel, salvaged from the dockyard. To honor the ship, Lieutenant James Maddox renamed her Indignant. The 4th rate was retired and broken up after the Beta War.

Indignant IV - A new Defiant-class frigate, James Maddox sailed her through several battles and maneuvers. She met her end during a violent ship-to-ship engagement with the much larger and more heavily armed French ship Soleil Royal. She was sacrificed in effort to keep Soleil Royal from joining her fleet during the Attack to Retake Turtling Bay. She succeeded in that goal, but heavy structural damage sent her to the bottom of the sea, while her crew boarded the enemy.

Indignant V - A sleek Hercules-class ship captured just before the Attack to Retake Turtling Bay, Maddox instantly traded his ship for a much more powerful one. At the very moment the maintop of Indignant IV sunk beneath the waves, the flag was raised over the Bourbon emblem, and Maddox rechristened her Indignant with the French captain's own stock of champagne.

Notable Battles

 * Fought bravely, but defeated, October 29, 1721, by pirates off coast of Charlestown.
 * Assisted in claiming Maricaibo from the Dons on July 176, 1721.