HMS Cockatrice (1781)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Cockatrice |
| Namesake: | The Cockatrice |
| Ordered: | 11 April 1780 |
| Builder: | Thomas King, Dover |
| Laid down: | c.May 1780 |
| Launched: | 3 July 1781 |
| Out of service: | April 1793 |
| Fate: | Sold 1802 |
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United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMhb Cockatrice |
| Acquired: | August 1804 by contract |
| Fate: | Returned to owners 1808 |
 Great Britain
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| Name: | Cockatrice |
| Owner: |
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| Fate: | Condemned at Lisbon c.May 1816 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | |
| Tons burthen: |
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| Length: | 69 ft 4 in (21.1 m) (overall); 52 ft 0 in (15.8 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 25 ft 7 in (7.8 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 10 ft 9 in (3.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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HMS Cockatrice was the fourth of the Alert-class class of British Royal Navy cutters. She was launched in 1781 and had an uneventful career until the Navy sold her in 1802. Private interests purchased her, lengthened her, and changed her rig to that of a brig. They hired her out to the Navy and she was in service as a hired armed brig from 1806 to 1808. She then returned to mercantile service until she was condemned at Lisbon in May 1816 as not worth repairing.
The Navy commissioned Cockatrice for home waters in August 1781. In August 1782 she was under the command of Lieutenant C. Bartholomew, in home waters. She was paid off in 1782 or 1783. She was then recommissioned in May 1783 under the command of Lieutenant William Reynolds off the Isle of Wight. She was paid off in 1786 but in October she was recommissioned under the command of Lieutenant C. Hummer. She was again paid off in 1789.
From 1790 to 1793, Lieutenant Walter Locke commanded Cockatrice in the Channel. On 28 May 1790 she arrived at Portsmouth with 90 impressed men.
In February 1793 Lieutenant John Clements took command. On 9 March Cockatrice sent a Dutch hoy, of about 200 tons, into Poole. The hoy had been sailing from Genoa to Havre. Cockatrice also sent into Portsmouth a French brig carrying wine and salt.
Disposal
The Navy paid her off in April 1793 and placed her in ordinary at Portsmouth. She sat there until she sank at her moorings in 1801. The Navy refloated her. Then the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "Cockatrice Cutter, 181 Tons, Copper-bottomed, lying at Portsmouth", for sale on 9 September 1802.
Private interests purchased her, increased her burthen from 181 to 195 tons by cutting her in half and lengthening her, and changed her rig to that of a brig. The Admiralty hired her and she commenced service as His Majesty's hired brig (HMhb) Cockatrice on 6 August 1804.
In 1804 she was under the command of Lieutenant Nicholas Kemp (or Kempe) when on 18 June she came into Portsmouth with a convoy from the Downs, and on 22 June sailed with a convoy for the westward. Later, on 10 January 1805, Cockatrice recaptured the brig Padgey.Padgey had been sailing from Cardiff to London when a privateer captured her near Land's End. Cockatrice sent her into Penzance.
On 20 February Kempe and Cockatrice detained Flora.Flora, Klyn, master, had been sailing from Bilboa to Embden when Cockatrice intercepted her and sent her into the Motherbank.
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Wikipedia