HMS Falmouth was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for Royal Navy in the 1690s. She was the first of a batch of seven ships ordered during 1692 to the "123-ft" specification (the others being the Portland, Anglesea, Dartmouth, Rochester, Southampton and a replacement Norwich). The ship participated in several battles during the Nine Years' War of 1688–97 and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1715), including the action of August 1702. She was captured by the French in 1704.
Falmouth had a length at the gundeck of 124feet and 101feet at the keel. She had a beam of 33feet, and a depth of hold of 13feet. The ship's tonnage was 610 tons burthen. Records of Falmouths original armament have not survived, but most of her sister ships were armed with 20 twelve-pounder guns, 22 eight-pounder guns and 8 minions (4-pounders) in 1696. When re-armed in accordance with the 1703 Establishment of Guns, her armament consisted of 22 twelve-pounder guns on the lower gundeck and 22 six-pounder guns on the upper deck. On the quarterdeck were 8 six-pounder guns with another pair on the forecastle. The ship had a crew of 160–230 officers and ratings.[1]
Falmouth was the second ship in the Royal Navy to be named in honour of Viscount Falmouth (George Fitzroy), rather than the eponymous port.[2] The ship was ordered on 1 January 1693 and contracted out to Edward Snelgrove in Limehouse. She was launched on 25 June 1693 and commissioned that same year.[3]
The ship took part in the action of August 1702 and on the fourth and fifth days of the battle supported Admiral John Benbow's attacks when other members of the squadron failed to do so.[4] On 4 August 1704 she was attacked by two French privateers of Rene Duguay-Trouin's squadron off the Isles of Scilly. There was a vigorous exchange of fire during which Falmouths captain, Thomas Kenney, was killed. Falmouth was then surrendered to the French.[5] The French sold her for merchant service at Brest in January 1706; she grounded near Buenos Aires in September 1706 with nearly all of her crew dead of illness and privation, and was burnt in February 1707.[6]