HMS Ruby was a 40-gun fourth rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Peter Pett at Deptford, and was launched on 15 March 1652.
She took part in numerous actions during all three of the Anglo-Dutch Wars of 1652-54, 1665–67 and 1672-74. She later served in the West Indies, and in 1687, the notorious English pirate Joseph Bannister was hanged aboard her while she was at Port Royal. She was rebuilt in 1687 at Sir Henry Johnson's shipyard at Blackwall.
She served in the War of the Spanish Succession, and commanded by Captain George Walton, took part in the Action of August 1702 as part of a fleet under Admiral John Benbow. She was one of the only ships to support the Admiral in HMS Breda in that engagement, and so escaped censure after the unsatisfactory conclusion of the action.
HMS Ruby was rebuilt at Deptford in 1706 as a fourth rate ship of the line carrying between 46 and 54 guns, but was captured by the Mars the following year during the Battle at The Lizard, 21-10-1707 (NS).
Brought back to Brest, she was renamed Ruby and recommissioned in the French Navy. She took part in a campaign to the Levant, and was decommissioned the next year to be broken up.
Famous quotes containing the word ruby:
“Thy great leaves enfold
The ancient beards, the helms of ruby and gold
Of the crowned Magi; and the king whose eyes
Saw the Pierced Hands and Rood of elder rise
In Druid vapour and make the torches dim....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)