HMS Boreas (1774)

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

History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Boreas
Ordered	25 December 1770
Builder	Hugh Blaydes & Mr Hodgson, Hull
Laid down	May 1771
Launched	23 August 1774
Completed	23 October 1775 at Chatham Dockyard
Commissioned	August 1775
Fate	Sold to break up at Sheerness in May 1802
General characteristics
Class and type	Modified Mermaid-class frigate
Tons burthen	626 48⁄94 (bm)
Length	124 ft 6 in (37.95 m) (gundeck) 103 ft 11 in (31.67 m) (keel)
Beam	33 ft 8 in (10.26 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	200 officers and men
Armament	Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder guns QD: 4 × 3-pounder guns 12 swivel guns

HMS Boreas was a modified Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in August 1775 under Captain Charles Thompson. She was built at Blaydes Yard in Hull to a design by Sir Thomas Slade at a cost of £10,000. She was fitted out at Chatham Docks.^[1]

On an unknown date, probably between 4-20 November, 1776, she captured "Williamsburg Packet". On 13 December she captured schooner "Ipswich". On 15 December, 1776 she captured schooners "Polly" and "John". On 20 December she captured schooner "Theo and Ann". On 25 December she captured sloop "Polly". Sometime between late December, 1776 and early March, 1777 she captured sloops "Will" and "Hope". On 16 March she captured schooners "Cannon", "Farmer", "Juliet", and "Happy-Return". On 20 March she captured schooner "Mary" and probably sloop "Betsy". She captured an unknown sloop and brig probably between 14-19 May, 1777, and an unknown schooner on 22 May. She captured brig "Dublin" between 22 May and 27 June.^[2]

In 1778 she underwent a refit in Plymouth having a copper bottom fitted at a cost of £5500.

In July 1779 she saw action in the Battle of Grenada under command of Captain Thompson.

On 31 August 1779 Boreas, still under Captain Thompson, captured the French corvette Compas, of eighteen 6-pounder guns, which was carrying a cargo of sugar.^{[3][Note 1]} Compas, which was armed en flute, put up resistance for about 20 minutes, with the result that she suffered nine men killed and wounded before she struck.^[5] Boreas was part of a squadron under the command of Rear Admiral of the Red Hyde Parker on the Jamaica station.

Horatio Nelson was Senior Naval Officer of the Leeward Islands from 1784 to 1787 in Boreas.

Boreas was used as a slop ship from 1797 until her sale in 1802.

Footnotes

Notes

1. Compas had been launched on 12 September 1776. She had originally been intended as a training corvette for 40 students at the École de la Marine at Havre, but it closed in March, before she was launched. The Royal Navy did not take her into service. French sources report that she was armed with eighteen 8-pounder guns.^[4]

Citations

1. "Hugh Blaydes (1686-?)".
2. "Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 11 European THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 American: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
3. Clowes et al., (1897-1903), Vol. 4, p. 31.
4. Demerliac (1996), p. 107, #742
5. "No. 12050". The London Gazette. 18 January 1780. p. 1.

References

• *Clowes, W. Laird, et al. (1897-1903) The royal navy: a history from the earliest times to the present. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co.; London: S. Low, Marston and Co.).
• Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3
• Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9.
• David Lyon, The Sailing Navy List, Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. ISBN 0-85177-617-5.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
• Winfield, Rif (2014). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817–1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-169-4.