HMS Seaford (1697)

History
England
Name	HMS Seaford
Ordered	24 December 1696
Builder	Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth
Launched	15 October 1697
Commissioned	28 October 1697
Out of service	August 1722
Reclassified	Bomb vessel 1727 20-gun sixth rate 1728
Reinstated	1727
Fate	Broken at Woolwich April to June 1740
General characteristics
Type	24-gun sixth rate
Tons burthen	248+5⁄94 bm
Length	93 ft 2 in (28.4 m) gundeck 77 ft 2 in (23.5 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	24 ft 7 in (7.5 m) for tonnage
Depth of hold	10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Armament	initially as ordered 20 × sakers on wooden trucks (UD) 4 × 3-pdr on wooden trucks (QD) 1703 Establishment 20 × 6-pdrs on wooden trucks (UD) 4 × 4-pdr on wooden trucks (QD)
General characteristics As Rebuilt 1727
Class and type	20-gun, Sixth Rate
Tons burthen	37580/94 bm
Length	106 ft 0 in (32.31 m) gundeck 87 ft 6 in (26.67 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	28 ft 5.5 in (8.674 m) maximum
Depth of hold	9 ft 2 in (2.79 m)
Sail plan	ship-rigged
Armament	20 × 6-pdrs on upper deck

HMS Seaford was a member of the standardized 20-gun sixth rates built at the end of the 17th century. After she was commissioned she had a very varied career, starting in the Mediterranean then the Irish Sea, then to Newfoundland, the North Sea followed by a great repair then to the Leeward Islands. She was dismantled in 1722 and rebuilt as a bomb vessel in 1727 than a 20-gun sixth rate in 1728. She served in the West Indies, America and the Mediterranean. She was finally broken in 1740.^[1]

Seaford was the second ship to bear this name since it was used for a 24-gun sixth rate purchased from Richard Herring of Bursledon on 27 December 1695 and captured by the French off the Scilly Islands on 5 May 1697 and burnt.^[2]