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Jamaica Station (Royal Navy)

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Jamaica Station
Ships at Port Royal c. 1820
Active1655–1830
CountryUnited Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
TypeFleet
Part ofRoyal Navy
Garrison/HQPort Royal

The Jamaica Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at Port Royal in Jamaica from 1655 to 1830.

History

Remains of the Naval Hospital, rebuilt 1818 by Edward Holl.

The station was formed, following the capture of Jamaica, by assembing about a dozen frigates in 1655.[1] The first "Admiral and General-at-Sea" was Sir William Penn.[2] Its main objectives in the early years were to defend Jamaica and to harass Spanish ports and shipping.[3] In the late 1720s three successive commanders of the station lost their lives to tropical diseases while undertaking a Blockade of Porto Bello during the Anglo-Spanish War.[4] The general ill-health associated with the station continued throughout the century. An assessment of Navy strength at the Jamaica station in 1742 found around 3,000 men were fit to serve out of a total Navy complement of 6,620.[5] A Navy hospital was constructed in 1745 but its location was poor and many patients brought in for shipboard diseases developed additional tropical illnesses while in the hospital itself. A report to Admiralty in 1749 found that the Hospital was "rather a hurt to the [Navy] Service than a Relief."[6]

The station merged with the North American Station to form the North America and West Indies Station in 1830.[2]

Commanders

Commanders included:[2]
Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station

The barque Woodmansterne calling for a pilot at Port Royal

Commander-in-Chief, West Indies

References

  1. ^ Bradley, p. 192
  2. ^ a b c Cundall, p. xx
  3. ^ Bradley, p. 198
  4. ^ Bradley, p. 204
  5. ^ Baugh 1965, p. 217
  6. ^ Admiralty papers 1/234, 15 January 1749. Cited in Baugh 1965, p. 218

Sources

  • Baugh, Daniel A. (1965). British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole. Princeton University Press. OCLC 610026758.
  • Bradley, Peter (2000). British Maritime Enterprise in the New World: From the Late Fifteenth to the Mid-eighteenth Century. Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0773478664.
  • Cundall, Frank (1915). Historic Jamaica. West India Committee.
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