HMS Hussar (1763)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
|
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| Name: | HMS Hussar |
| Ordered: | 30 January 1762 |
| Builder: | Thomas Inwood, Rotherhithe, England |
| Laid down: | 1 April 1762 |
| Launched: | 26 August 1763 |
| Completed: | 7 November 1763 at Deptford Dockyard |
| Commissioned: | August 1763 |
| Fate: | Ran aground in New York, 23 November 1780 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Mermaid-class frigate |
| Tonnage: | 627 64⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 33 ft 10 3⁄8 in (10.3 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 200 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Hussar was a sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, built in England in 1761-63. She was a 28-gun ship of the Mermaid class, designed by Sir Thomas Slade. She was wrecked at New York in 1780.
In early 2013, a cannon from Hussar was discovered stored in a building in New York's Central Park still loaded with live gunpowder and shot.
Hussar was commissioned in August 1763 under Captain James Smith, and sent for her commission cruising in the vicinity of Cape Clear. By 1767 she was commanded by Captain Hyde Parker. She continued to serve off North America between 1768 and 1771, before paying off into ordinary in March 1771. After being repaired and refitted at Woolwich from 1774 to 1777, she recommissioned in July 1777 under Captain Elliott Salter. In later life, she was part of the British fleet in North America. During the American Revolution, Hussar carried on the North American station.
Hussar captured the Spanish ship of the line Nuestra Señora del Buen Confeso (armed en flute), on 20 November 1779.
By mid-1780, the British position in New York was precarious as a French army had joined forces with General George Washington's troops north of the city.
When Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney took his twenty ships of the line south in November, it was decided that the army's payroll be moved to the anchorage at Gardiners Bay on eastern Long Island. On 23 November 1780, against his pilot's better judgment, Hussar's captain, Charles Pole, decided to sail from the East River through the treacherous waters of Hell Gate between Manhattan Island and Long Island. Just before reaching Long Island Sound, Hussar was swept onto Pot Rock and began sinking. Pole was unable to run her aground and she sank in 16 fathoms (29 m) of water.
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Wikipedia