HMS Guardian

Overview
Rating: 6th rate

Class: Postillionen-class sixth-rate frigate

Shipyard: Deptford DY

Launched: March 29th, 1712

Status: In Active Service

Armament
Total Guns: 20

Gundeck: 20 x 8-lbs

Broadside Weight: 40lbs

Crew: 120

Dimensions
Gundeck Length: 94' 3" or 28.73 m

Breadth: 26' 3" or 8 m

Depth in Hold: 11' 6" or 3.51 m

Commanders
Current Captain: -

Previous Captains:

June 28th, 1721 - August 10th, 1721: Captain Mandrake

May 10th, 1721 - June 20th, 1721: Captain Wallenstein

February 4th, 1720 - May 9th, 1721: Captain Robert Harward

December 12th, 1719 - February 3rd, 1720: Captain Collister

November 24th, 1719 - December 4th, 1719: Captain Thomas Howard

April 9th, 1719 - November 23rd, 1719: Captain Edward Gregory

June 14th, 1716 - March 2nd, 1719: Captain William Rowley

March 29th, 1712 - June 13th, 1716: Captain Robert Harward

Notable Actions
January, 1720: Led a squadron of 6 British ships into combat with a squadron of 6 French vessels from the Navy Flotte Caraibe, off the coast of Bartica. After a long combat, the French attempted to retreat. The Guardian excelled and succeeded in chasing down one of the fleeing French vessels, captained by Xavier Escandre. After a fine display of gunnery the French ship (Raa-class) sustained heavy damage to sails and rigging. The French ship refused to strike her colours and was consequently sunk.

May 11th, 1721: Successfully defended Turtling Bay as part of a formidable Squadron.

Ship History
The Guardian was already a renowned ship when she reached the command of Captain Collister. She had engaged many pirate vessels in numerous actions and did this well. She is a quick and nimble sixth-rate frigate with a broadside weight of 80lbs, though she was originally launched with an armament of twenty six-pounders and hence an original broadside weight of only 60lbs.

Launched March 29th, 1712, she was one of the five sixth-rate frigates commissioned that year and was sent under Captain Robert Harward to Port Royal (the Jamaica Station). There she served under the same commander for a little over four years, engaging pirates and protecting merchant shipping in the Caribbean; a mission she would return to later in her career. She fulfilled this purpose admirably and excelled at chasing down the smaller pirate vessels.

In June, 1716 she was given to William Rowley and sailed for Morocco. There she was stationed off Salee and protected merchant shipping in the area, engaging the numerous corsairs of the region. Again, the Guardian proved her worth, admirably engaging and destroying several enemy vessels. Having served off Salee for the better part of three years she was sent back to her home yard for a refitting in which she, amongst other things, exchanged her six-pounders for the eight-pounders she now carries.

Having completed her refit at Deptford DY, she was relaunched on April 9th, 1719, and given to Captain Edward Gregory with orders to proceed to the Jamaica Station and once again protect British shipping from the pirates of those waters. The Guardian did so and once again made a name for herself as one of the finest sixth-rates on the station in the few months she served there under Captain Edward Gregory.

For Captain Edward Gregory took ill in October, 1719, and passed away on the night of November 23rd. She was taken back to Port Royal by Thomas Howard (her first lieutenant), keenly convinced that he was to recieve the command of her due to the relative lack of uncommissioned officers on the station. However, the Guardian arrived in Port Royal on December 4th, a mere three days before the arrival of HMS Camilla under Captain Collister. The Admiralty had intended on ordering Collister to accompany the Guardian on her mission of defending British shipping in the Caribbean.

However, having recieved word of the famous victory at Cape Passaro, and Captain Collister's part in taking the Aguila, not long before, they saw fit to give Collister the Guardian. This they did, as well as elevating him to the rank of Post-Captain, and it was here Captain Collister's career truly began.

He found himself commanding a fine sixth-rate frigate (with a full complement of 120 men including two lieutenants and four midshipmen) and with a free hand to engage pirate vessels in the Caribbean. Captain Collister was in his true element and in it he excelled. For a couple of successful months he harassed all enemy shipping he came accross; burning, sinking or taking them a prize. Port Royal was filled with prizes; mainly sloops, ketches, snows, hoys, galeases and other unrated vessels, but sometimes the Guardian would enter Port Royal harbour with a brig or sixth-rate in tow.

Under his command the Guardian even partook in an action against a French fleet off Bartica and was responsible for chasing down and disabling a French fifth-rate. That was the Guardian's most famous action up to that day and for it Captain Collister was soon rewarded with the command of more powerful ships on the station. When this happened and he left his dear Guardian, she was given back to Captain Robert Harward, who commanded the ship for a little over a year continuing her service to the Crown. In May, 1721, Captain Harward was given a fifth-rate and orders to sail Europe.

The Guardian was then given to Captain Wallenstein of the St. George Squadron; the second Captain of the Squadron to command her. Under his rather short command the Guardian was part of several open sea encounters like the successful defence of Turtling Bay against France early May 1721. Despite her being neither the biggest nor toughest ship of His Majesty's Royal Navy, her excellent sailing abilities prevented herself and her crew from taking heavy damage more than once. This characteristic made her one of Captain Wallenstein's most favourited ships.

June 20th, 1721, the Guardian put in to Port Royal to spend a week undergoing minor repairs and victualling. At the same time Captain Wallenstein moved on to other commands. That same day Nathan Mandrake enlisted in St. George Squadron and a week later, on June 28th, fully repaired and ready for sea, the Guardian was given to him. Captain Mandrake thus became the third Captain of the Squadron to sail command her. He commanded her for a couple of weeks before moving on to heavier ships.