The Sovereign of the Seas, launched in 1637 for Charles I, was the most heavily armed warship afloat at the time and cost the Crown roughly £65,000 — a sum so politically inflammatory that the ship tax levied to fund it became one of the proximate grievances leading to the English Civil War. She burned at her moorings in 1696, an accident attributed to a candle left unattended.
The Sovereign of the Seas, launched in 1637 for Charles I, was the most heavily armed warship afloat at the time and cost the Crown roughly £65,000 — a sum so politically inflammatory that the ship tax levied to fund it became one of the proximate grievances leading to the English Civil War. She burned at her moorings in 1696, an accident attributed to a candle left unattended.