HMS Viper (1779)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Viper.

History
South Carolina
Name	Rutledge
Captured	4 November 1779
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Viper
Acquired	4 November 1779 by capture
Fate	Broken up in 1785
General characteristics [1]
Type	Galley
Tons burthen	113 (bm; British), est. from measurements below
Length	est. 65 ft (20 m) (between perpendiculars)
Beam	est. 20 ft (6.1 m)
Propulsion	oars and sails
Complement	39 (including 20 black oarsmen)
Armament	2 × 24-pounder guns in the bow + 4 × 6-pounder guns amidships at capture; possibly swivel guns as well
Notes	Rutledge had been converted to a galley from a large flat boat. [1]

HMS Viper was a 6-gun galley, the former South Carolina Navy 's Rutledge, which the British captured on 4 November 1779 at Tybee. She was broken up in 1785.

Capture

Captain Henry, of Fowey, and his squadron captured Rutledge and recaptured their victualing ship Myrtle, which the French had captured and turned into a water ship. ^[2] Myrtle and Rutledge had been blown out to sea a few days earlier. They returned to Tybee, not realising that it was now in British hands, and were captured. Henry renamed RutledgeViper, and gave her a crew under the command of Mr. John Steel (or Steele), Master's Mate of Rose. ^[2]

Service

Curiously, a number of sources list the galley Viper among the vessels under the command of Captain John Henry when the French fleet under the Comte d'Estaing besieged Savannah in September–October 1779. ^[3]

The Royal Navy commissioned Viper on 18 November 1779 under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wroughton. ^[4]

"HM Armed Galley Viper", Acting Lieutenant Thomas Chambers, was among the vessels at the Siege of Charleston, 28 March to 12 May 1780. She then was listed in 1781 as being with Admiral Parker at Jamaica and under the command of W. Bowman. ^[5] For the next two years she is listed as being under the command of W.R. Dunlop and part of the North America squadron under Rear-Admiral of the Red Robert Rigby. ^[6]

Fate

Viper was paid-off in May 1784. She was broken up in 1785. ^[4]

Citations

1. Sayen (1986).
2. "No. 12041". The London Gazette . 18 December 1779. p. 2.
3. Schomberg (1802), Vol. 4, p.348.
4. Winfield (2007), p. 335.
5. Schomberg (1802), Vol. 4, p.384.
6. Schomberg (1802), Vol. 4, pp.394 and 420.

References

• Sayen, John J. Jr. (October 1986). "Oared Fighting Ships of the South Carolina Navy, 1776-1780". South Carolina Historical Magazine. Vol. 87, no. 4. pp. 213–237.
• Schomberg, Isaac (1802) Naval chronology: or, An historical summary of naval & maritime events, from the time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, 1802. (Printed for T. Egerton by C. Roworth).
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN   978-1844157006.