Chatham Dockyard: The Timbers of HMS Namur

These timbers were uncovered under the floor of the wheelwrights workshop at Chatham Dockyard in 1995. After extensive research they were identified in 2003 to have belonged to the Namur. The timbers amount to about 10% of the Namur.
Namur was built at Chatham Dockyard as a 90 gun second rate ship of the line to the draught specified by the 1745 establishment as amended in 1750. She cost a total of £57,284 11s 2d.
She was launched on 3rd March 1756. Her battle honours which surpass those of the more famous HMS Victory include:
Siege of Louisbourg 1758 of which she was the flagship for Vice Admiral Edward Boscawen
Battle of Havana 1762 of which she was the flagship of Admiral Sir George Pocock
Battle of Cape St Vincent 1797 under the command of Captain James Hawkins-Whitshed
Battle of Lagos
Affair of Fielding and Bylandt
Battle of Saintes
In 1805 Namur was razed to a 74 gun ship to trial Robert Seppings, who had became master shipwright at Chatham radical new approach to ship design. She took part in the Battle of Cape Ortegal on 4th March 1805. Remnants of the French and Spanish fleet from the Battle of Trafalgar were engaged by the Lord Strachans squadron of the British Royal Navy. Namur took on and captured the French warship Formidable.
By 1807 Namur was placed on harbour service, a role in which she stayed until 1833 when she was broken up. Her hill timbers finding their way under the floor of the wheelwrights shop and her upper timbers sent to Woolwich to patch up a storehouse.
Photos can be found here: www.kentexplorehistory.com/po...