HMS Fly (1776)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
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| Name: | HMS Fly |
| Ordered: | 1 August 1775 |
| Builder: | George White, Sheerness Dockyard |
| Cost: | £8,694 8s 4d |
| Laid down: | January 1776 |
| Launched: | 14 September 1776 |
| Commissioned: | July 1776 |
| In service: | 1776-1802 |
| Fate: | Foundered off Newfoundland, January 1802 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Swan class ship sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 302 38⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 96 ft 7 in (29.4 m) (gundeck); 78 ft 11 1⁄2 in (24.1 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 26 ft 10 in (8.2 m) |
| Draught: | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) (unladen); 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m) (laden) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m) |
| Complement: | 125 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Fly was a Swan class ship sloop of the Royal Navy and was launched on 14 September 1776. She performed mainly convoy escort duties during the French Revolutionary Wars, though she did capture three privateers. She foundered and was lost with all hands early in 1802.
Between 1766 and 1780 the Admiralty had 25 vessels of her class built to a design by Sir John Williams. On 1 August 1775 the Admiralty ordered her built at Sheerness Dockyard, and she was the sixth one ordered. Her keel was laid in January 1776, she was launched on 14 September, and completed on 19 October.
The Swan class sloops were unusually attractive for the class of vessel. Not only did they have sleek hull lines but they also carried an unusual amount of decoration for their size. They were built just before the Admiralty issued orders that all vessels (especially lesser rates and unrated vessels) have minimal decoration and carvings to save on costs, due to the seemingly ever-continuing war with France and other nations.
Fly was commissioned under Commander Edward Garner in July 1776 and he remained in command until 1778. In December 1776 she sailed for the Leeward Islands, though by 1779 she was in the North Sea. In October 1779 Commander Billy Douglas took command for the North Sea. His replacement, c. August 1781, was Timothy Kelly.
On 6 September 1782 Fly encountered and captured L'Escamoteur, a 14-gun French privateer. The privateer was accompanied by two vessels that she had taken as prizes, a merchant brig and a sloop. Fly seized these too led all three into Yarmouth Harbour where the Admiralty took possession of them.
Fly was paid off in May 1783.
In June 1794, five days after the capture of Port-au-Prince, she came under the command of Richard Hussey Moubray, previously first lieutenant of Magicienne, who had assisted in the landing of troops. Moubray then took Captain Rowley and Lieutenant Colonel Whitelocke, who were carrying the dispatches, to England.
In December 1794 Fly escorted the Duke of York from Helvoetsluys to Harwich. Later, she took part in the seizure of Dutch ships in Plymouth Sound: two line-of-battle ships, one frigate, two sloops-of-war, nine East Indiamen and about sixty other vessels. Afterwards, Fly escorted merchant vessels in the Channel and between Britain and Gibraltar.
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Wikipedia