HMS Pouncer

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History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameDavid
Launched1785, Leith [1]
FateSold 1797
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svgGreat Britain
NameGB No.38
Acquired1797 by purchase
RenamedHMS Pouncer
FateSold 1802
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameDavid
Acquired1802
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen162, or 165, or 174, [3] or 180 [1] (bm)
Length
  • Overall: 76 ft 10 in (23.4 m)
  • Keel: 63 ft 8 in (19.4 m)
Beam22 ft 1+3⁄4 in (6.8 m)
Depth of hold8 ft 9+1⁄2 in (2.7 m)
Complement50
Armament
  • Pouncer: 2 × 18-pounder guns + 10 × 18-pounder carronades
  • David (1809): 8 × 6-pounder + 2 × 9-pounder guns
  • David (1813): 8 × 9-pounder + 2 × 12-pounder guns

HMS Pouncer was the mercantile David, launched in 1785 at Leith, that the Admiralty purchased and armed in 1797 as GB No.38. David originally sailed to the Baltic and then to the Mediterranean. From 1793 or so till her sale to the Admiralty she sailed as a transport under contract to the Transport Board. The Navy renamed GB No.38 HMS Pouncer, and she was the only naval vessel ever to bear that name. The Navy sold Pouncer in 1802 following the Peace of Amiens. She then returned to mercantile service as the West Indiaman David. Under several masters and owners she traded more widely. In 1816 she sank, but was recovered.

Contents

David

David first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1786, the volume for 1785 not being available online. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1786J.BridgesJ.ScougalPetersburg–LeithLR
1787J.BridgesJ.ScougalLeghorn–LeithLR
1790J.Briggs
J.Wilson		J.ScougalLeghorn–LeithLR
1791J.WilsonJ.ScougalLeghorn–LeithLR
1797J.WilsonJ.ScougalLeith transportLR

Her owners sold David to the Admiralty in March 1797 at Leith.[ citation needed ]

HMS Pouncer

The Navy took David in as GB No.38 and she underwent fitting at Leith between March and 20 August 1797.

Lieutenant George B. Smith commissioned GB No.38 in May 1797, for the North Sea. She became Pouncer on 7 August 1797. [2]

On 9 December 1800, the French privateer Victoire, of 14 guns and 60 men, sailing out of Dunkirk, captured the sloop Lamb, of Boston in Lancashire, off Flamborough Head. Pouncer recaptured Lamb the same day and sent her into Leith. The privateer had also captured two light colliers. [4]

In May 1801 Lieutenant John Clements replaced Smith in Yarmouth roads. Smith returned to command of Pouncer in December 1801. [2]

Disposal: The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the "Pouncer Gun-Vessel, 165 tons,...lying at Sheerness", for sale on 9 September 1802. [5]

David

David, of 170 tons (bm), built in Leith in 1785, reappeared in the Register of Shipping (RS), in 1805. She was sailing as a West Indiaman, after having been raised and having received a new deck in 1803. Her master was R. Graves, and her owner was Robertson. [3]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1806R.Graves
H.M'Askell		RobertsonLondon–Trinidad
London–Demerara		RS; raised and new deck 1803
1809LambertRobertsonLondon–DemeraraRS; raised and new deck 1803
1810ThorpOxnamFalmouth–West Indies
/London–Grenada		RS; good repair 1809
1811Thorp
J.Taylor		OxnamLondon–Grenada
London–Rio de Janeiro		RS; good repair 1809

On 4 May 1812, David, Taylor, master, put into Grenada leaky. She had been on her way from Berbice to London. Part of her cargo had been unloaded, which enabled the leak to be stopped. It was expected that she would sail in a few days. [6] She arrived at Gravesend, Kent on 10 August.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1813J.Taylor
Quariton		Oxnam
J.Spence		London–Rio de Janeiro
London–Africa		RS; good repair 1809
1814Quariton
H.Colborn		J.SpenceLondon–Africa
London–Hamburg		RS; good repair 1809

In November 1816, Lloyd's List reported that as David, Colburn, master, was coming into Calais while on a voyage from Memel, Prussia to Cowes, she struck on the bar. She unshipped her rudder, and having received considerable damage, sank. [7] David was recovered and repaired.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1819H.ColburnClapp & Co.Teignmouth–LivrepoolLR; raised 1802, & some repairs 1818

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 "Lloyd's register of shipping". 1786. p. 75. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Winfield (2008), pp. 333–334.
  3. 1 2 RS (1805), Seq.no.D50.
  4. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4112. 19 December 1800. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105233092.
  5. ↑ "No. 15511". The London Gazette . 31 August 1802. p. 935.
  6. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4683. 10 July 1812. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735025.
  7. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 5127. 19 November 1816. hdl:2027/mdp.39015005778165.

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References

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