HMS Griper (1813)
The Crews of HMS Hecla & Griper Cutting into Winter Harbour, Sept. 26th, 1819, from the 1821 journal of the Arctic expedition
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Griper |
| Ordered: | 2 November 1812 |
| Builder: | Richards & Davidson, Hythe, Hampshire |
| Launched: | 14 July 1813 |
| Fate: | Broken up November 1868 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Bold-class gun-brig |
| Tons burthen: | 181 60/94 bm |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 22 ft 1 in (6.73 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft 0 1⁄4 in (3.359 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig |
| Complement: | 60 |
| Armament: | 10 x 18-pounder carronades + 2 x 6-pounder bow chasers |
HMS Griper was a Bold-class gun-brig of the British Royal Navy, built in 1813 by Mark Williams and John Davidson at Hythe. She participated in the 1819 expedition to the Arctic led by William Parry, made a voyage to Greenland and Norway in 1823, and took part in Parry's third expedition in 1824 as a support ship. Her crew in 1819, 1823, or 1824, qualified for the "Arctic Medal", which the Admiralty issued in 1857. She was eventually broken up in 1868.
Griper was commissioned in July 1813 under Commander Charles Mitchell. In February 1814 Commander Arthur M'Meekan replaced Mitchell. In 1817, Griper was at Chatham. She then underwent fitting as an exploration ship at Portsmouth between December 1818 and May 1819.
Lieutenant Matthew Liddon recommissioned Griper in January 1819. She then sailed with William Edward Parry from London on 11 May 1819. Parry commanded two 3-masted sailing ships: the 375 ton HMS Hecla and the 182 ton Griper. Their destination was the Northwest Passage.
Griper was by far the inferior of the two ships, being described as "one of these paltry Gunbrigs.....utterly unfit for this service!" (A.Parry; Parry of the Arctic ). Their departure had previously been delayed as the condition of the Griper was described as being "so crank as to cause apprehensions to be entertained for the safety of the officers and crew". She was so slow that she had to be towed by the Hecla part of the way across the Atlantic. However, they successfully traveled further West along the Northwest Passage than any European had previously achieved. After wintering at Melville Island they returned to London in November 1820, and Griper was paid off in December.
Griper was refitted at Deptford between February and May 1823. Under the command of Captain Douglas Clavering, she conducted a voyage to Greenland and Spitzbergen, conveying astronomer Edward Sabine who took observations on behalf of the Board of Longitude. A further note to this voyage occurred on an island later named Clavering Island, where, in August, the expedition made the first and only European contact with the now extinct North Greenland Inuit.
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