HMS Hermes (1803)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameMajestic
BuilderWhitby
Launched1801
FateSold July 1803
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHermes
AcquiredJuly 1803 by purchase
FateSold 24 March 1810
General characteristics
Tons burthen339 [1] (bm)
Length
  • Overall:107 ft 0 in (32.6 m)
  • Keel:84 ft 3 in (25.7 m)
Beam:27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Depth of hold:12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Propulsion Sails
Complement100
Armament
  • Upper Deck:14 × 24-pounder carronades
  • Fc:2 × 6-pounder chase guns

HMS Hermes was launched as the mercantile Majestic at Whitby in 1801. The British Royal Navy purchased Majestic in 1803. She had an uneventful career and the Navy sold her in 1810.

Contents

Career

Absent original research, there are no records that provide any further details about Majestic's origins or career prior to her sale to the Navy. She does not appear in the most complete list of vessels built at Whitby. [2] She is not Majestic, which also was launched at Whitby in 1801.

After the Admiralty purchased Majestic in July 1803, she underwent fitting at Woolwich between July and October. Commander John Astley Bennett commissioned her in August for the North Sea. [1]

In May 1804 Commander John Davie transferred from his position with the Sea Fencibles at Harwich to replace Bennett. He transferred to Favorite in December. In January 1805 Commander Joseph Westbeach took command. [1] Hermes underwent fitting at Sheerness between September and November. Commander Peter Rye recommissioned her in October 1806. In November Commander Edward Reynolds Sibly (or Sibley) replaced Rye. [1]

On 9 March 1807 Hermes sailed for the Cape of Good Hope. In 1808 she participated in the British operations in the River Plate. [1]

Commander Silby transferred to Sheerwater in May 1809 while Hermes was at Deptford between April and June being fitted as a storeship. She was recommissioned in April. [1]

Fate

The "Principal Officeres and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered Hermes, lying at Deptford, for sale on 24 March 1810. [3] She sold there on that date. [1]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Winfield (2008), p. 271.
  2. Weatherill (1908).
  3. "No. 16351". The London Gazette . 13 March 1810. p. 389.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Britannia</i> (1762) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Britannia, also known as Old Ironsides, was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.

Clorinde was a 44-gun Uranie-class frigate of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1803 and took her into service as HMS Clorinde. She was sold in 1817.

HMS Incendiary was an 8-gun fireship of the Royal Navy. She was present at a number of major battles during the French Revolutionary Wars, and captured, or participated in the capture, of several armed vessels. In January 1801 she was in the Gulf of Cadiz where she encountered Admiral Ganteume's squadron. The 80-gun French Navy ship of the line Indivisible received the credit for the actual capture.

HMS Scourge was the former merchant sloop Herald, launched in 1799, that the Admiralty purchased in 1803 for service as a convoy escort. The Admiralty had her laid up in 1805, and sold in 1816. Subsequent owners returned her to mercantile service and she sailed until 1835 when she was lost.

HMS <i>Hyaena</i> (1778)

HMS Hyaena was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post-ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1778. The French captured her in 1793, took her into service as Hyène, and then sold her. She became a privateer that the British captured in 1797. The Royal Navy took her back into service as Hyaena and she continued to serve until the Navy sold her in 1802. The shipowner Daniel Bennett purchased her and renamed her Recovery. She made seven voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery and was broken up 1813.

HMY <i>William & Mary</i> (1694)

HM Yacht William and Mary was a royal yacht of the Kingdom of Great Britain, named after the joint monarchs who ruled between 1689 and 1694. She was launched in 1694 and completely rebuilt in 1765. In all, she remained in service for over a century before being sold in 1801.

HMS Flirt was launched in 1782 but was completed too late to see any significant service in the American War of Independence. She then spent most of the years of peace in British waters. She sailed to Jamaica in 1791, but was laid up in Deptford in November 1792, and did not return to service before being sold in 1795. Daniel Bennett purchased her, had her almost rebuilt, and then employed her as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. A French privateer captured her in 1803 as Flirt was returning to Britain from a whaling voyage.

HMS Alonzo was a ship launched at Shields in 1800 that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1801. During the Napoleonic Wars she served in the Channel and the Baltic. At the end of the war she served as a hulk in various capacities prior to being scuttled off Leith in 1842.

Six ships of the Royal Navy were named Lucifer:-

HMS Utile was the mercantile Volunteer, launched at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1803, that the Admiralty purchased for the Royal Navy. She had an undistinguished 10-year naval career before Admiralty sold her in 1814. She resumed the name Volunteer and after a voyage to Martinique she traded between London and Bordeaux. She was last listed in 1822.

HMS Eugenie was launched at Ipswich in 1800 as the mercantile Friends. She sailed as a West Indiaman between London and Jamaica until the British Royal Navy purchased her in 1804. By 1807 the Navy had withdrawn her from service, and in 1810 it sold her. She then returned to mercantile service having resumed the name Friends. She was last listed in 1830.

Lord Mulgrave was launched at Whitby in 1783. She had a mercantile career until 1793 when the Admiralty hired her to serve as an armed ship protecting convoys. She was wrecked in 1799.

Minerva was launched in 1787 at Veere for the navy of the Dutch Republic. In 1799 the Royal Navy captured her. She became HMS Braak, but the Navy sold her with the arrival of the Peace of Amiens. Daniel Bennet purchased her and she became the whaler Africaine or African or Africa. She made two whaling voyages. After 1805 she was still listed in Lloyd's Register for some years but there is no record of further whaling or other voyages.

HMS Inspector was launched in 1801 at Mistley as the mercantile Amity. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1803 and named her HMS Inspector. The Navy laid her up in 1808 before selling her in 1810. She then returned to mercantile service. Between 1818 and 1825 she made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She returned to mercantile service and was last listed in 1833 as being at Falmouth.

HMS Autumn was launched at Shields in 1800 as a merchantman. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1801. The Navy sold her in 1815 and she returned to mercantile service. She was lost in 1818.

HMS Vulture was launched in 1801 at South Shields as Warrior. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1803 as a sloop and renamed her. From 1808 through 1813 she was a floating battery at Jersey,. The Navy sold her in 1814 and she returned to mercantile service as Warrior. She was last listed in 1820, but does not seem to have sailed again after returning from east of the Cape in 1817.

HMS Hermes was the mercantile Hermes launched at Shields in 1797. The British Royal Navy purchased her in 1798 and sold her in 1802 after the Treaty of Amiens. She then returned to mercantile service as a West Indiaman. The French captured her in 1805.

Majestic was launched at Whitby in 1801. She was London-based transport, though she also sailed to the Baltic. She was sold to the government in 1810.

Several ships have been named Majestic:

HMS Camel was the mercantile Yorkshire, which the Royal Navy purchased for use as a sixth-rate frigate. She captured a few merchant vessels in the West Indies, but spent most of her service escorting convoys across the Atlantic. She was converted to an armed transport in 1782–83. The Navy sold her in 1784.

References