HMS Basilisk (1801)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
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| Name: | HMS Basilisk |
| Ordered: | 7 January 1801 |
| Builder: | John Randall & Co., Rotherhithe |
| Laid down: | January 1801 |
| Launched: | 2 April 1801 (already coppered) |
| Completed: | 3 April to 19 April 1801 at Deptford |
| Struck: | sold 14 December 1815 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 12-gun Bloodhound-class gun-brig |
| Tons burthen: | 185 83⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 23 ft 1 in (7.0 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 8 ft 6 in (2.6 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig |
| Complement: | 50, including a detachment of 14 Royal Marines |
| Armament: |
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HMS Basilisk was a Bloodhound-class gun-brig built by Randall in Rotherhithe and launched in 1801. She served briefly at the end of the French Revolutionary Wars, with most of her service occurring during the Napoleonic Wars protecting convoys from privateers, conducting close-inshore surveillance and taking enemy coastal shipping. She was sold for breaking in 1815.
In 1801 Basilisk was commissioned under Lieutenant Samuel Gooch (or Gooche), in the Channel. She served under Captain Cunningham in the frigate Clyde, who was senior officer between Le Havre and the Île de Batz.
On 16 August Basilisk and Bloodhound were at anchor, on station, between Barfleur and Marcou when they sighted two brigs and 17 gunvessels coming round Cape Barfleur. Gooch signaled to Captain Ross Donnelly of Maidstone, who was closer and who proceeded in pursuit. The enemy ran into a bay west of the cape. There they anchored close to the beach where a battery and some field guns could fire in support of them. Basilisk and Bloodhound followed them and anchored in two fathoms. The two British vessels were within 18-pounder range and started firing. Maidstone, however, could not approach within range of her 12-pounder guns and so signaled Basilisk and Bloodhound to withdraw. Later, when the tide came in, the enemy rowed round the lighthouse and disappeared, while the wind and tide conditions prevented the three British vessels from following. When the British could find the enemy neither in Isigny nor within La Hogue, Cunningham surmised that they might have returned to Cherbourg and sailed there, where he found a number of French vessels and a convoy.
On 4 September Basilisk was in company with Maidstone when they captured the Jonge Jan Schoon.
In February 1803 Basilisk came under the command of Lieutenant William Shepheard, previously commander of Pigmy.On 24 June Basilisk, the sloop Ranger and the hired armed cutter Sheerness captured five French fishing vessels, which Basilisk sent into Dover. By July Basilisk had assumed her station off Dunkirk in company with Lynx and Milbrook.
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Wikipedia