Command of the Oceans is a major new project for The Historic Dockyard Chatham that will:

- Create Command of the Oceans – a major new gallery telling the story of Chatham Dockyard during the Age of Sail;

- Preserve and interpret this unique archaeological assemblage of ships’ timbers – 25% of the hull frame of the 2nd Rate NAMUR described by archaeologists as “the single most important warship discovery in Northern Europe since that of the Mary Rose”;

- Deliver a new visitor entrance and a sense of arrival to the Historic Dockyard including a new initial orientation Discovery Centre for the dockyard and Chatham’s wider world-class naval and military heritage.

Command of the Oceans will cost £8.5m and take three years to deliver.  Initial support for a £4.5m Heritage Lottery Fund bid has been secured – we need your help to secure the remainder.

We have now launched a major fundraising campaign that aims to raise this amount of money from Trusts and Foundations, Companies and Individuals.  An element of this fundraising is our public fundraising campaign.

In 1756, the NAMUR cost £57,284 11s 2d to build.  We have calculated this to be the equivalent of £95.8m in the current economy.

As part of our fundraising campaign to raise an additional £4m to support Command of the Oceans, we aim to raise £57,284 from public support to preserve the ships timbers and this is where we need your help.

The NAMUR - The Ship Beneath the Floor

Archaeological and archival research has identified the ship beneath the floor as being the NAMUR, a 2nd Rate ship of the line built at Chatham and launched in 1756.  The NAMUR served Britain through active service in the Royal Navy for 47 years – from the Seven Years War (1756–1763) to the aftermath of the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).

In this time, the NAMUR was engaged in nine fleet actions – an outstanding number for any single ship – including seven that were instrumental in enabling the Royal Navy to secure and maintain worldwide command of the oceans and which laid the foundations of the British Empire and Britain’s global position today. 

The NAMUR was broken up at Chatham in 1833 and part of her hull timbers and planking were used to make a new floor in this building the following year. More timbers seem to have been used than were necessary, suggesting some intention to preserve her… but we don’t know why.

However the Dockyard Captain Superintendent at the time had seen action aboard her at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797…...

Major Fleet Actions

Seven Years War (1756–1763)

26 July 1758..................... Capture of Fort Louisburg

18 August 1759................ Battle of Lagos

20 November 1759.......... Battle of Quiberon Bay

13 August 1762................ Capture of Havana

American War of Independence (1775–1782)

31 December 1779.......... Van Bylandt’s Convoy

4 April 1781...................... 2nd Relief of Gibraltar

12 April 1782.................... Battle of the Saintes

Great French Wars (1793–1815)

14 February 1797............. Battle of Cape St Vincent

4 November 1805............ Strachan’s action after Trafalgar