HMS Erebus (1807)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Erebus |
| Ordered: | 1 October 1805 |
| Builder: | Thomas Owen, Topsham |
| Laid down: | January 1806 |
| Launched: | 20 August 1807 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "The Potomac 17 Augt. 1814" |
| Fate: | Broken up 22 July 1819 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Thais-class fireship |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 29 ft 8 in (9.0 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 9 ft 0 in (2.7 m) |
| Sail plan: | Sloop |
| Complement: | 121 |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Erebus was originally built as a Royal Navy fireship, but served as a sloop and was re-rated as such in March 1808. She served in the Baltic during the Gunboat and Anglo-Russian Wars, where in 1809 she was briefly converted to a fireship, and then served in the War of 1812. In 1814 she was converted to a rocket vessel to fire Congreve rockets. While serving off America, Erebus participated in the sack of Alexandria, Virginia, and launched the rockets that bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore on 13 September 1814. In March 1815, off Georgia, she fired the second-to-the-last-shot of the war. She was laid up in 1816 and sold for breaking up in 1819.
Commander William Autridge commissioned Erebus in January 1808, and she sailed for the Baltic in April.
In July, Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez and his British fleet were blockading Rager Vik (Ragerswik or Rogerswick or Russian: Baltiyskiy) where the Russian fleet was sheltering after the British 74-gun third rates Implacable and Centaur had destroyed the Russian 74-gun ship of the line Vsevolod.
Saumarez wanted to attack the fleet and ordered that Erebus and Baltic be prepared as fireships. However, when the British discovered that the Russians had stretched a defensive chain across the entrance to the harbour, precluding an attack by fireships, Saumarez abandoned the plan and the two vessels returned to normal duties.
...
Wikipedia