History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Rover |
Builder | Nathaniel Tynes, Bermuda |
Launched | 1796 |
Fate | Wrecked 23 June 1798 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Type | Sloop-of-war |
Tons burthen | 356 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 26 ft 1 in (8.0 m) |
Depth of hold | 16 ft 0+1⁄4 in (4.9 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement | 80 |
Armament | 16 × 24-pounder carronades |
Notes | 3 masts |
HMS Rover was a 16-gun sloop-of-war that the Royal Navy purchased in 1796, commissioned in 1798, and that was wrecked in early 1798. In her brief career she captured one French privateer.
Rover was designed by Goodrich & Co., and Captain Francis Pender contracted her building in October 1795. [1] She was initially planned as a brig, but during construction she was lengthened and given a full ship rig. An Admiralty Order of 10 November 1795 agreed the purchase, and she was added to the establishment by a second Admiralty Order dated 1 January 1796. [1] She was purchased on the stocks and launched in 1796.
Rover was rated as a sloop and she was commissioned as such in April 1798 under Commander George Irwin. [1]
On 16 May 1798 Rover was sailing towards Bermuda when she captured and sent in the French privateer sloop Jean Bart. [2] Jean Bart was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 57 men. She was last in Porto Rico and had captured three American ships: [3]
Rover was wrecked in the Gulf of St Lawrence on 23 June 1798, but her crew were saved. She was convoying the transport Elizabeth to Quebec when she entered a fog. [4] The pilot got a brief sight of land that he believed was Scaterie Island. As a result, he was comfortable continuing to maintain course. When lookouts spotted breakers ahead early in the evening it was too late to turn her and she struck rocks on Cape Breton Island. Eventually a seaman was able to swim to shore with a line that the crew then used to leave Rover, which was by then filling rapidly with water. All the men reached the shore and the crew finally abandoned her on 26 June, at which time they sailed her boats to Sydney, Nova Scotia. The court martial attributed the loss of Rover to a very strong current. [4]
HMS Astraea was a 32-gun fifth rate Active-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Fabian at E. Cowes launched her in 1781, and she saw action in the American War of Independence as well as during the Napoleonic Wars. She is best known for her capture of the larger French frigate Gloire in a battle on 10 April 1795, while under the command of Captain Lord Henry Paulet. She was wrecked on 23 March 1808 off the coast of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.
HMS Hannibal was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1786, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal. She is best known for having taken part in the Algeciras Campaign, and for having run aground during the First Battle of Algeciras on 5 July 1801, which resulted in her capture. She then served in the French Navy until she was broken up in 1824.
HMS Babet was a 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the British Royal Navy. She had previously been a corvette of the French Navy under the name Babet, until her capture in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars. She served with the British, capturing several privateers and other vessels, and was at the Battle of Groix. She disappeared in the Caribbean in 1800, presumably having foundered.
HMS Lively was a 32-gun fifth-rate Alcmene-class frigate of the British Royal Navy launched on 23 October 1794 at Northam. She took part in three actions – one a single-ship action, one a major battle, and one a cutting-out boat expedition – that would in 1847 qualify her crews for the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal. Lively was wrecked in 1798.
HMS Fly was a Swan-class ship sloop of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 September 1776. She performed mainly convoy escort duties during the French Revolutionary Wars, though she did capture three privateers. She foundered and was lost with all hands early in 1802.
Vénus was a corvette of the French Navy that the British captured in 1800. Renamed HMS Scout, she served briefly in the Channel before being wrecked in 1801, a few days after taking a major prize.
Fourteen ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Merlin, after Merlin, the wizard in Arthurian legend :
Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Viper, or HMS Vipere, after the members of the Viperidae family:
HMS Santa Margarita was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built for service with the Spanish Navy, but was captured after five years in service, eventually spending nearly 60 years with the British.
HMS Cormorant was a 16-gun ship sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe. She captured four French privateers before an accidental fire destroyed her in 1796.
Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Laurel. Another was planned but never completed. The first British ship of the name served in the Commonwealth navy. All were named after the plant family Lauraceae.
HMS Arab was the French 20-gun corvette Jean Bart, launched in 1793. The British captured her in 1795 and the Royal Navy took her into service. She was wrecked in 1796.
HMS Fulminante was a cutter belonging to the French Navy that the British captured in 1798, the French recaptured in 1800, and the British re-recaptured three months later. She was wrecked early in 1801.
Two vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Fleche, after the French for "arrow":
Etna was a French naval Etna-class ship-sloop launched in 1795 that the Royal Navy captured in November 1796. She was taken into service as HMS Aetna and renamed to HMS Cormorant the next year. She captured several merchant vessels and privateers before she was wrecked in 1800 off the coast of Egypt.
HMS Spencer was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, formerly the civilian Sir Charles Grey. The Admiralty purchased her in 1795, after having hired her in 1793-94, and renamed her HMS Lilly in 1800. The French privateer Dame Ambert captured her in 1804 and Lilly became the French privateer Général Ernouf. She blew up in 1805 while in an engagement with HMS Renard.
HMS Hound was a brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She had a short history. After her launch in 1796 she captured two privateers and destroyed a third before she was lost in 1800.
The French brig Amarante, was launched in 1793 at Honfleur for the French Navy. The British Royal Navy captured her at the end of 1796 and took her into service as HMS Amaranthe. She captured one French vessel in a single-ship action before she was wrecked near Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1799.
HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.
HMS Requin was the French Navy cutter Requin, launched at Boulogne in 1794. HMS Thalia captured Requin in 1795. Requin captured one small French privateer and participated in the capture of Suriname before wrecking in 1801.