HMS Hastings (1698)
HMS Hastings was a 32-gun fifth rate built by Isaac Betts of Woodbridge in 1696/98. She was employed in convoy service, trade protection and counter piracy patrols. She was wrecked off Greater Yarmouth in February 1707.
She was the second vessel to bear the name Hastings since it was used for a 32-gun fifth rate built by Thomas Ellis of Shoreham on 5 February 1695 then wrecked 1697 off Waterford.
Construction and specifications
She was ordered on 1696 to be built under contract by Isaac Betts of Woodbridge. She was launched on 17 May 1698. Her dimensions were a gundeck of with a keel of for tonnage calculation with a breadth of and a depth of hold of. Her builder's measure tonnage was calculated as 381 tons.The gun armament initially was four demi-culverins on the lower deck with two pair of guns per side. The upper deck battery would consist of between twenty and twenty-two 6-pounder guns with ten or eleven guns per side. The gun battery would be completed by four 4-pounder guns on the quarterdeck with two to three guns per side.