HMS Captain: Technological Triumph to Tragedy

Explore the story of HMS Captain alongside naval historians, descendants of its designer and crew and other VIPs in this special lecture held at the Royal Geographical Society.

The Captain (1869) was a revolutionary warship, embodying the technological innovation of Victorian Britain with rotating armoured turrets, wrought iron armour and steam propulsion as well as sails. At first appearance the ship was formidable, intended to cross oceans with its powerful guns and present a stout defence of British interests.

Tragically, only five months after its commission, on 7 September 1870 HMS Captain capsized off Cape Finisterre in a severe gale. Nearly 500 officers and men, including Captain Hugh Burgoyne VC and the ship’s designer Captain Cowper Phipps Coles CB, drowned. Only 18 survivors managed to reach the rocky Spanish coast, relaying the horrifying news.

Since 2021, the University of Wolverhampton’s ‘Find the Captain’ project has led an international effort to discover the wreck of this largely forgotten ironclad man-o-war. Its location has recently been discovered, allowing further investigation into what happened between design, execution and launch that resulted in the ship being so overweight and unstable, and for a freak storm to turn a uniquely British triumph into tragedy.

The event at the Royal Geographical Society features historians Professor Andrew Lambert (Professor of Naval History at King’s College, London), Dr Howard Fuller (Reader in War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton) and Dan Snow (broadcaster and founder of History Hit). Hear more from the panel about this revolutionary warship, explore the part it played in changing the face of naval warfare, and follow the continuing extraordinary story of HMS Captain.

Main image: The foundering of HMS Captain © Geoff Hunt PRSMA, used with permission