![]() Pigmy | |
History | |
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Name | HMS Pigmy |
Ordered | 2 October 1809 |
Builder | John King, Upnor |
Laid down | November 1809 |
Launched | 24 February 1810 |
Commissioned | 25 June 1810 |
Fate | Sold at Plymouth on 21 May 1823 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Pigmy-class 10-gun schooner |
Tons burthen | 196 73⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 22 ft 11 in (7.0 m) |
Depth of hold | 10 ft 1 in (3.1 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Complement | 60 |
Armament | 10 × 12-pounder carronades |
HMS Pigmy was a Pigmy-class 10-gun schooner of the Royal Navy. She was launched in February 1810. She served on the North Sea and North American stations before she was sold in 1823.
Pigmy was commissioned in April 1810 under Lieutenant Edward Moore. [1] On 26 July, the cutters Pygmy and Decoy ran on shore and destroyed a French privateer lugger between Gravelines and Dunkirk. [2] Later in 1811 she was converted from a cutter to a schooner. [1]
During 1812, Lieutenant William Hutchinson commanded Pygmy, which served in the Downs. In the following year, she served in the Baltic. [1]
War of 1812: In 1814 Pygmy came under the command of Lieutenant Richard Crossman [1] and served in North America. She participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne. [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2] After the Battle of Lake Borgne, Nymphe, Thistle, Herald and Pigmy with two bomb vessels, went up the Mississippi River to create a diversion. [4] These latter five ships were to take part in the Siege of Fort St. Philip (1815). [5]
She was reconverted to a cutter in 1817. She was sold at Plymouth on 21 May 1823. [1]
Nautilus was a schooner launched in 1799. The United States Navy purchased her in May 1803 and commissioned her USS Nautilus; she thus became the first ship to bear that name. She served in the First Barbary War. She was altered to a brigantine. The British captured Nautilus early in the War of 1812 and renamed her HMS Emulous. After her service with the Royal Navy, the Admiralty sold her in 1817.
HMS Aetna was the mercantile Success launched in 1803 at Littlehampton. The Admiralty purchased her in 1803 for conversion into a Royal Navy bomb vessel. Aetna participated in the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809. Later, she participated in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore and the bombardment of Fort Washington, Maryland in 1814, during the War of 1812. The Navy sold her in 1816 and she returned to mercantile service under her original name. She sailed to Calcutta, to Rio de Janeiro, and more locally until she was wrecked in 1823.
HMS Heron was originally the merchant vessel Jason, launched at Newcastle in 1803, that the Admiralty purchased in 1804 for the Royal Navy for use as 16-gun ship-sloop under the name HMS Heron. During the Napoleonic Wars she served as a convoy escort on the Leeward Islands station. Then in 1810 the Admiralty had her converted into a bomb vessel and renamed her HMS Volcano. As Volcano she served during the War of 1812, and in particular participated in the Battle of Baltimore. The Admiralty sold her in 1816. New owners returned her to mercantile service under her original name of Jason. She was wrecked in 1821.
HMS Starr was a 16-gun Merlin-class ship sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built by Tanner, of Dartmouth, to plans by Sir William Rule, and launched in July 1805. As a sloop she served on convoy duty, though she also participated in the invasion of Martinique in early 1809. She was rebuilt as a bomb vessel in May 1812 and renamed Meteor. As Meteor she served in the Baltic and then off the United States, participating in attacks on up the Potomac and on Baltimore and New Orleans. She was sold in October 1816.
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HMS Herald was an 18-gun ship-sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Littlehampton. In 1810 she was reclassed as a 20-gun sixth rate ship, and again re-rated as 24 guns in 1817, just before she was broken up.
Armide was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, and launched in 1804 at Rochefort. She served briefly in the French Navy before the Royal Navy captured her in 1806. She went on to serve in the Royal Navy until 1815 when she was broken up.
During the period of the Napoleonic Wars, two vessels have served the British Royal Navy as His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Idas, named for Idas, a figure from Greek mythology.
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HMS Borer was a 14-gun Bold-class gun-brig built by Tyson & Blake at Bursledon. She was launched in 1812 and sold off in 1815.
HMS Calliope was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1808. She operated primarily in the North Sea where she captured numerous small merchant vessels and one French privateer. She also was present at the battle of Lake Borgne, near New Orleans. She was broken up in 1829.
HMS Thistle was a 12-gun Bold-class gun-brig built by Mary Ross at Rochester, Kent. She was launched in 1812 and broken up at Portsmouth in July 1823.
HMS Grecian was the former Revenue cutter Dolphin, launched at Cowes in 1799, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1821 and renamed. She captured a pirate schooner in 1823. The Royal Navy sold Grecian in 1828.
HMS Thrasher was launched in 1804 at Brightlingsea, or Colchester as the merchant vessel Adamant. The British Royal Navy purchased her in June 1804, renamed her, and fitted her out as a gunbrig. She captured numerous small merchant vessels, most of them Dutch or Danish. After the Navy sold her in 1814, she returned to mercantile service under her original name of Adamant. She made a voyage to Malta in 1815 and was wrecked as she was returning to London.
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