HMS Breda (1679)

History
England
Name:	HMS Breda
Builder:	Betts, Harwich
Launched:	1679
Fate:	Gunpowder Explosion, 12 October 1690
Status:	sunk location 51 49 32N 08 16 48W
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,055 long tons (1,071.9 t)
Length:	150 ft 6 in (45.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	39 ft 10 in (12.1 m)
Depth of hold:	16 ft 9 in (5.1 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	70 guns of various weights of shot

HMS Breda was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Harwich in 1679.^[1]

Breda was destroyed by an accidental fire in 1690.^[1]

She was anchored at Spike Island.Co. Cork with a full compliment of 400 aboard, including troops and 160 Jacobite prisoners, when a gunpowder explosion occurred. She took fire and blew up. Col. John Barrett, who escaped, was considered to have caused the explosion maliciously. There were 9 other survivors. Following the Siege of Cork Barrett was taken prisoner by Marlborough and placed upon the Breda where he was to be delivered to England. During his transfer there was an accidental lighting of a powder magazine sinking the vessel. He and a number of other prisoners escaped to shore. After the Treaty of Limerick he traveled to France where he served as Colonel in the Irish "Gardes du Roi Jaques" and fought at the Battle of Landen. There he led his regiment as the first corps to force an opening in the Williamite entrenchment but was killed in battle.[2]

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