HMS Flying Fish (1806)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
|
| Name: | Revenge |
| Acquired: | 1806 by purchase |
| Renamed: | HMS Flying Fish |
| Fate: | Wrecked 15 December 1808 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Schooner |
| Tonnage: | 151 (bm) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Armament: | 12 guns |
HMS Flying Fish was the schooner Revenge, purchased in the West Indies in 1806 for the Royal Navy. She participated in a notable cutting out expedition and in the second of the British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1807 before she was wrecked in 1808.
Flying Fish was purchased in the West Indies and no record of the vessel or the transaction reached the Admiralty in London. Unusually, the acquirers gave her the same name as that of another vessel in the area, HMS Flying Fish (1803). The pre-existing Flying Fish received a name change to Firefly in 1807, but was wrecked that same year. The new Flying Fish may have been commissioned under Lieutenant H.G. Massie, but if so, command quickly transferred to Lieutenant James Glassford Gooding.
Admiral James R. Dacres, commander-in-chief of the Jamaica station, formed a small squadron on 25 August 1806 under the command of Captain George Le Geyt of the 18-gun Stork. The other three vessels in the squadron were Flying Fish under Gooding, Superieure (1803), and the 4-gun schooner Pike. Dacres ordered Le Geyt to bring out or destroy privateers based at Batabano in Cuba.
On 30 August the squadron approached the Isle of Pines. There they sighted a Spanish schooner at anchor. Le Geyt reinforced Pike with a lieutenant and eight seamen and sent her to engage the Spanish vessel. After a short chase and two broadsides from Pike's 12-pounder carronades, the Spaniard surrendered. She turned out to be a guarda costa of 10 guns, with a crew of 45 men. Pike took possession of her and took her back to the squadron.
Le Geyt then discovered that Stork drew too much water to permit her to enter the Gulf of Batabanó. He therefore transferred to the other three vessels his boats and men and sent in the cutting-out expedition under the command of Lieutenant Edward Rushworth, captain of Superieure.
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