HMS Maria (1805)

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

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Maria (or Marie)
Acquired	By capture 21 June 1805
Commissioned	1806
Fate	Foundered October 1807
General characteristics [1]
Type	Schooner
Tons burthen	130 bm
Length	72 ft 0 in (21.95 m) (overall) c.60 ft 6 in (18.4 m) (keel)
Beam	20 ft 1 in (6.12 m)
Depth of hold	8 ft 4 in (2.54 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Schooner
Complement	46
Armament	12 × 12-pounder carronades

HMS Maria (or Marie) was the French privateer schooner Constance (or Constanza) that the Royal Navy captured in 1805 and that foundered in 1807. During her brief career in the Leeward Islands she participated in the capture of five small prizes.

Capture

On 21 June 1805, Circe captured the privateer Constance in the Leeward Islands. Constance was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 75 men.^[2] She was just out of Guadeloupe. However, she may have been the same Constance that Circe had earlier captured off the coast of Spain.^[3]

Service

The Admiralty registered her on 10 November and purchased her on 2 December.^[1] The Admiralty named her Maria and she was commissioned under Lieutenant John Henderson.^[1][4]

On 9 June 1806 Maria was in company with a small squadron that also included Galatea, Africaine, Circe, Hippomenes, and Amelia when they captured the brig Hiram.^[5] At the time, Maria was under the command of Lieutenant James Fitzpatrick, apparently temporarily.^[a] On 6 August, Maria was in company with Jason, Hart, and the schooner Tobago when they captured Hercules.^[7]

Cleopatra, the sloop Pert, and Maria shared in the capture of Jane, Collins, master, on 25 June 1807.^[b]

On 26 July 1807, His Majesty's schooners Maria, under Henderson's command, and Grouper captured the schooner Atlantic.^[9][c] On 2 August, Maria was in company with Pert when they captured the schooner Governor M'Kean.^[11] Then on 4 October, Maria was in company with Jason, Hart, and Pert when they captured the schooner Rebecca.^[12][d] However the prize money for these vessels arrived in 1809, too late to be of much use to Maria's crew.

Fate

Maria was under Henderson's command when she foundered during a hurricane among the Leeward Islands on 16 October 1807. There were no survivors.^[14] On the same day a storm wrecked Pert on the coast of present-day Venezuela.

Notes

1. A petty officer's share of the prize money was £1 11s 2¼d; a seaman's share was 6s 7¾d.^[6]
2. The share of a seaman in the prize money was 14s 8½d.^[8]
3. Each ordinary seaman's share of the prize money was 15s 9¾d, or a little over two weeks' wages.^[10]
4. A seaman's share of the prize money amounted to 17s 11¾d.^[13]

Citations

1. Winfield (2008), p. 365.
2. "No. 15896". The London Gazette. 4 March 1806. p. 293.
3. "No. 15862". The London Gazette. 12 November 1805. p. 1412.
4. "No. 15862". The London Gazette. 12 November 1805. p. 1412.
5. "No. 16265". The London Gazette. 10 June 1809. p. 855.
6. "No. 16269". The London Gazette. 24 June 1809. p. 946.
7. "No. 16395". The London Gazette. 11 August 1810. p. 1211.
8. "No. 16482". The London Gazette. 4 May 1811. p. 834.
9. "No. 16292". The London Gazette. 26 August 1809. p. 1372.
10. "No. 16297". The London Gazette. 12 September 1809. p. 362.
11. "No. 16238". The London Gazette. 18 March 1809. p. 1481.
12. "No. 16292". The London Gazette. 26 August 1809. p. 1372.
13. "No. 16399". The London Gazette. 25 August 1810. p. 1290.
14. Hepper (1994), p. 120.

References

• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.