HMS Kingfisher (1804)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
|
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| Name: | HMS Kingfisher |
| Namesake: | Alcedo atthis, the common kingfisher |
| Ordered: | 27 November 1802 |
| Builder: | Thomas King of Dover |
| Laid down: | March 1803 |
| Launched: | 10 March 1804 |
| Commissioned: | 3 May 1804 at Sheerness |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo" |
| Fate: | Broken up October 1816 at Portsmouth |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ship sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 365 32⁄94 bm |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 121 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher) was a Royal Navy 18-gun ship sloop, built by John King and launched in 1804 at Dover. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, first in the Caribbean and then in the Mediterranean before being broken up in 1816.
Kingfisher was commissioned under Commander Richard William Cribb in April 1804. He sailed her to the Leeward Islands and initially she operated from Barbados.
In January King's Fisher captured the French privateer schooner Deux Amis. She was pierced for eight guns but only had two on board at the time of her capture, having thrown the others overboard as she tried to escape her pursuers. She had a crew of 39 men, under the command of Francis Dutrique. She was ten days out of Guadeloupe and had captured nothing. Cribb credited His Majesty's schooner Grenada with having chased Deux Amis into his hands. Furthermore, when Grenada's commander saw that Kingfisher would capture Deux Amis, he chased and recaptured the sloop Hero.
On 11 April 1805, her boats cut out the Spanish privateer Damas from an anchorage under Cape St. Juan. She was pierced for four guns but only mounted one 8-pounder. She also carried 40 muskets for her crew of 57 men. Damas had left Cumaná, Venezuela, ten days earlier for a cruise off Demerara on what was her first cruise, but had captured nothing. She put up a little resistance and there was fire from the shore, but Kingsfisher suffered no casualties. In April 1826 head money for the capture of the Deux Amis and the Damas was finally paid.
On 27 June, when about 180 miles to north-east of Barbuda, Kingfisher, Captain Richard William Cribb, and Osprey, Captain Timothy Clinch, found themselves being chased by French frigates. While making sail to escape, the two sloops hoisted signals and fired guns, as if signaling to a fleet ahead. Their pursuers immediately gave up the chase, which gave Kingfisher and Osprey the opportunity to catch up with a group of 15 French merchant vessels with cargoes of rum, sugar and coffee. The two British sloops left all 15 merchantmen in flames.
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Wikipedia