HMS Fawn (1807)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
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| Name: | HMS Fawn |
| Ordered: | 19 October 1805 |
| Builder: | Thomas Owen, Topsham, Devon |
| Laid down: | December 1805 |
| Launched: | 22 April 1807 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sold 20 August 1818 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Fawn |
| Owner: |
|
| Acquired: | By purchase |
| Fate: | Broken up 1844 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Cormorant-class |
| Tons burthen: |
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| Beam: | 29 ft 7 in (9.02 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) |
| Sail plan: | Sloop |
| Complement: | 121 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Fawn was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1807. Before she was sold in 1818 she captured one privateer and destroyed another, and participated in three campaigns. In all, her crew qualified for three clasps to the Naval General Service medal (NGSM). After the Royal Navy sold her in 1818 she became a whaler. She then made seven whaling voyages to the Pacific, and especially to the waters off New Zealand, between 1820 and 1844. she was broken up on her return from her last voyage.
Fawn was commissioned in May 1807 under Commander Fasham Roby, who sailed her for the Leeward Islands on 11 November. On 15 December 1807 she arrived at Barbados with the news of war with Denmark. Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane had been in readiness since 2 September and immediately set sail for the Danish West Indies in his flagship, HMS Belleisle, bringing with him a squadron of warships, including Fawn, and troops under the overall army commander, General Henry Boyer. The British captured St Thomas and Santa Cruz; the Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.
Commander Roby died in April 1808, a year after his wife had died in England. Commander Nevinson de Courcy replaced Roby on 15 April. Some time after Astraea wrecked on a reef off Anegada on 23 March, the two 32-gun frigates Jason and Galatea, and Fawn arrived and engaged in salvage attempts. The British abandoned the wreck on 24 June.
Around this time, Commander the Honourable George Albert Crofton, late of Observateur, replaced de Courcy.
On 28 (or 20) May Lieutenant James Robertson (Acting), took two of Fawn's boats on a cutting out expedition to capture Spanish privateer schooner and three merchant vessels anchored under the protection of two batteries at the NE end of Porto Rico. The crew of the schooner ran her ashore and abandoned her. To get her off Robertson had to nail sheet lead over holes in her bows. As she pulled away he had the prize crew fire her guns at the privateersmen who were firing small arms from the shore. Suddenly the magazine on the prize exploded, throwing all but Robertson and two seamen into the water. The explosion killed one man, and injured four others. Still, that evening Robertson was able to rejoin Fawn with the schooner and the three merchant vessels. Unfortunately a squall the next day sank the captured schooner, killing five men.
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Wikipedia