HMS Henry
1656 second-rate ship of the line
The Dunbar was a 64-gun second rate ship of the line of the Commonwealth of England, originally built at Deptford, and launched in 1656. Taken into the English Royal Navy and renamed HMS Henry in 1660, she served until 1682, when she was lost in an accidental fire.
Description
The full-rigged ship as built was 123 ft (37.5 m) long on the keel, with a beam of 40 ft 0 in (12.2 m) and a depth of 17 ft (5.2 m), resulting in a burthen measurement of 1,04676⁄94 BM tons. She was later re-measured was 124 ft (37.8 m) long, with a beam of 40 ft 6 in (12.3 m) and a depth of 17 ft (5.2 m); her builder's old measurement was then 1,08181⁄94 tons. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 82 guns.
Service
The Dunbar was one of four Second rates ordered by the Council of State on 3 July 1654 as part of the 1654 Construction Programme; she was built by Master Shipwright Manley Callis at Deptford Dockyard, Kent and launched in about May 1656 for the Navy of the Commonwealth of England. She had 13 pairs of gunports on the lower deck (one pair unused), 12 pairs on the middle deck, and 10 pairs on the upper deck (3 pairs forward and 7 pairs aft of the waist, where she lacked gunports); she also eventually had 5 more pairs on the quarterdeck, including one pair abaft the quarter-gallery. She was first fitted with 64 guns, comprising 12 demi-cannon and 12 culverins on the lower deck, 12 culverins and 12 demi-culverins on the middle deck, and 16 more demi-culverins on the upper deck (which was only partially armed in the waist at that date); later additional guns were added on what became a fully-armed upper deck, and more additional guns on the quarterdeck. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, she was renamed HMS Henry.
In 1661/1662 HMS Henry was the flagship of Admiral John Mennes taking the Earl of Peterborough and the first troops of the new Garrison to occupy English Tangier, returning to England accompanying the Earl of Sandwich and the new Queen Catherine of Braganza.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “HMS Henry” is 1656 second-rate ship of the line. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Henry, second-rate and ship, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1656 second-rate ship of the line” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5632756. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1656, 1660, 1682 and 1677.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “HMS Henry”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow HMS Henry primary sources, HMS Henry archive and Henry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “HMS Henry”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “HMS Henry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.