HMS Orpheus (1809)

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

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Orpheus
Ordered	27 February 1808
Builder	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down	August 1808
Launched	12 August 1809
Completed	By 21 September 1809
Fate	Broken up in August 1819
General characteristics
Class and type	Apollo-class frigate
Tons burthen	94728⁄94 (bm)
Length	145 ft (44.2 m) (gundeck); 121 ft 8+3⁄4 in (37.1 m) (keel)
Beam	38 ft 3 in (11.7 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 4 in (4.1 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	264
Armament	Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 4 × 32-pounder carronades

Plan of an Apollo-class frigate dated 1803

HMS Orpheus was a 36-gun Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1809 from Deptford Dockyard. She was broken up in 1819.

Construction

Ordered on 27 February 1807 and laid down in August 1808 at Deptford Dockyard. Launched on 12 August 1809 and completed on 21 September 1809.

Service

Holkar under attack from HMS Orpheus

Pigot was the ship's captain, in which he spent the next four years stationed in the West Indies and at Halifax. In her, during the War of 1812 against the United States, he destroyed the 8-gun letter of marque Wampoe on 28 April 1813, and the 20-gun privateer Holkar on 11 May 1813. On 20 April 1814 he captured the USS Frolic, of twenty 32-pounder carronades, two long 18-pounder guns, and 171 men. From the end of 1814 he commanded the 50-gun Diomede, and then the frigate Nymphe,^[1] on the coast of North America, before returning to England in August 1815.^[2]

Orpheus also saw service in the War of 1812. While in Long Island Sound, she chased the American privateer Holkar and ran her aground, before destroying Holkar by cannon fire.^[3]

Orpheus was part of the British patrolling squadron in Long Island Sound. When the British fleet encountered an American fleet, commanded by Stephen Decatur it chased them to New London where the American fleet escaped. The British squadron there formed a blockade, confining the American fleet until the end of the war.^[4]

On 27 April Orpheus chased the American ship Whampoa on shore near Newport, Rhode Island. Whampoa had been sailing from Lorient. The British took possession of Whampoa but then abandoned her due to fire from the shore.^[5]

On 20 April 1814 the schooner HMS Shelburne (1813), with the frigate Orpheus closing, captured the US sloop Frolic.^[6]

During May 1814, accompanied by the schooner Shelburne, the Orpheus was moored off Spanish Florida. It hosted a meeting of the Chiefs of the Creek Nation, who were being courted by the British as allies in the War of 1812. Subsequent to this meeting, weapons and other gifts were provided by the British.^[7]

As of 5 July 1814, she arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with her prize, the late US ship Frolic. On 20 September 1814, she arrived in Portsmouth, having departed from Halifax on 22 August 1814. She was reported to have moored in Plymouth and Portsmouth on 5 December 1814.^[8]

Fate

She was broken up at Chatham Dockyard in August 1819.

Citations

1. Letter dated 9 October 1814 within ADM 1/2347 - Letters from Captains, Surnames P: 1814 stating 'the Commander in Chief has already appointed Captain Hugh Pigot to the command of that ship. [Nymphe]'
2. O'Byrne (1849), p. 905–906.
3. Maclay, p.441-442.
4. Tucker, 2012 pp.293-304
5. Lloyd's List №4778.
6. James 1902, p. 290.
7. Hughes & Brodine 2023, pp. 822–832.
8. Benyon, Paul. "Orpheus, 5th rate of 36 guns". Retrieved 18 July 2024 – via RootsWeb.

References

• O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Pigot, Hugh" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Gardiner, Robert; The Heavy Frigate, Conway Maritime Press, London 1994.
• Hughes, Christine F.; Brodine, Charles E., eds. (2023). The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. Washington: Naval Historical Center (GPO). ISBN 978-1-943604-36-4.
• James, William (1902) [1837]. The naval history of Great Britain (1813–1827). Vol. 6 (New six volume ed.). London: Macmillan.
• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif; The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815–1889, Chatham Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.
• Maclay, Edgar Stanton, 1863-1919 (1924), A history of American privateers / by Edgar Stanton Maclay, Appleton
• Tucker, Spencer C. (2012). The Encyclopedia Of the War of 1812. ABC-CLIO. p. 1034. ISBN 9781851099573.
• Winfield, Rif; British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates, 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.