Thomas Durell

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Thomas Durell, Captain RN


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Detail from an engraving of the Monamy painting of the Princesa's losing battle. As can be seen from the original painting below, the engraving is inverted


Jerseyman Thomas Durell was captain of one of three Royal Navy ships which defeated and captured the pride of the Spanish Navy in 1740

The battle between the Spanish vessel Princesa and HMS Oxford, Lennox and Kent

Thomas Durell was born in St Helier in 1685, the son of Jurat and Lieut-Bailiff Jean Durell and Anne, nee Dumaresq, daughter of Elie, seigneur of Augres. He joined the Navy and rose to the rank of Captain. He was the uncle of one of the country's most distinguished Navy officers, Vice-Admiral Philip Durell.

From 1716 to 1718 he commanded the 14-gun sloop HMS Swift and the following year he was given command of the 20-gun HMS Seahorse, which he held for five years. In 1726 he was promoted to Post-Captain and commanded the 24-gun Solebay, followed by the 70-gun HMS Kent in 1727 and 60-gun HMS Exeter in 1731.

HMS Scarborough

While in command of the much smaller 24-gun HMS Scarborough in 1733, he was escorting a convoy of 36 merchant ships when it was attacked by two large Spanish vessels off Barbados. Scarborough fought the Spaniards for hours and enabled all but four of the merchant vessels to escape. In 1738 he commanded the larger 60-gun HMS Strafford before returning to the Kent and participating in Admiral Vernon's capture of Porto Bello in Panama. His nephew Philip was also involved in this battle.

While still in command of the Kent in 1740, Thomas Durell fought a famous battle with the giant Spanish vessel Princesa, one of the largest ships then afloat. George Balleine's biography of Durell in his Biographical Dictionary of Jersey presents what is probably a somewhat fanciful picture of the Kent's role in this battle. He writes that the Kent's "two consorts", HMS Oxford and HMS Lennox were damaged and had to withdraw, and despite the Princesa towering over his vessel, Durell forced her to submit and he towed her triumphantly into Plymouth. Other reports suggest that all three Royal Navy vessels engaged the Princesa simultaneously and speak of her valiant but vain fight against such overwhelming odds.

The Princesa later became part of the Royal Navy as HMS Princess and led to a change in Admiralty policy over the size of ships built for the Navy.

Monamy's painting of the capture of the Princesa, part of the National Maritime Museum collection

The Princesa

From a 2015 Jersey Evening Post article by Mike Sunier

One of the greatest warships of the Spanish navy in the mid-18th century was the Princesa, and a Jersey naval captain helped to capture her for the nation.

Furthermore, the friendship of the Jersey mariner with England's greatest marine painter of the day helped to ensure that the taking of the Princesa would be immortalised on canvas.

Captain Durell was in command of HMS Kent, one of three Royal Navy warships that tackled the Spanish giant on the high seas in a momentous battle that lasted from morning to evening.

The battle began at 9 am on 8 April 1740. The Princesa, described in one account as the Spanish navy's finest ship, was said to have a hull of such thickness that cannonballs could not penetrate it. With a crew of more than 650, she stood tall in the ocean with guns mounted on two levels, making her a formidable fighting machine.

Unfortunately for the crew of the Princesa, she was spotted by a squadron of Royal Navy warships as she sailed near Finisterre, south-west of the Lizard off the Cornwall coast. The commanders decided that they were in range and could take her on.

One of those commanders was Thomas Durell, who had followed in the footsteps of many of his family and joined the ranks of the Royal Navy after leaving school. By the age of 31 he was in command of his own ship.

Chase and attack

When the Kent spotted the Princesa while sailing with HMS Lenox and Oxford they gave chase. It was many miles before they were in firing range. They manoeuvred to that they could fire their cannons at her immense hull.

Although they outnumbered here, the battle was not an easy and one and the story of who was ultimately responsible for her capture varies from one report to another. Jersey historian George Balleine wrote that Thomas Durell led the capture in the Kent because of damage to the two other ships. Buyt according to the ship's log, the Lenox, captained by Covill Mayne, struck the most important blow in hitting Princesa's main and mizzen masts, and it was the Oxford, commanded by Lord Fitzroy, which led her into Portsmouth harbour when the Princesa finally lowered her colours, signifying that she was beaten.

When she was brought into harbour there was collective admiration from the people on the dockside of her size and how well she had defended herself when outnumbered. The Royal Navy was influenced to make modifications to its fleet and build larger ships in future.

The capture of the Princesa ensured adulation for all three captains. It also warranted, as did many such sea battles at the time, a permanent recording in the form of a painting. It was Peter Monamy, the greatest maritime painter of the day, who set about the task, having a personal interest in the commission since he was a friend of Capt Durell.

Durell was among the injured in the battle, which claimed 33 Spanish lives and up to 17 on the British ships. He lost three fingers from his left hand, but dismissed the injury as 'a small hurt by a splinter in my left hand, not worth mentioning as it's almost well again'.

He died the following year while his ship, the Kent was still undergoing repairs at Spithead.

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