HMS Meleager (1806)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Meleager |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard (M/Shipwright Robert Seppings) |
| Launched: | 25 November 1806 |
| Fate: | Wrecked on 30 July 1808 off Jamaica |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Fifth-rate Perseverance-class 36-gun frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 874 58⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 137 ft 0 in (41.8 m) (gundeck); 113 ft 1 1⁄2 in (34.5 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 38 ft 1 1⁄2 in (11.6 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 5 in (4.1 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 260 men |
| Armament: |
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HMS Meleager was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806 and wrecked on 30 July 1808 off Jamaica. During her brief career she captured two armed vessels and two merchantmen on the Jamaica station. She was named after Meleager, who could have been a Macedonian officer of distinction in the service of Alexander the Great, or a Meleager a character from Greek mythology.
In November 1806 Meleager was commissioned under Captain John Broughton for the North Sea. In mid-1807 Meleager accompanied HMS Shannon above 80 degrees latitude in a mission to protect the Greenland whaling fleet. They found neither whalers nor threats and so on 23 August they were back in Leith Roads, seeking replenishment, having spent three months above the Arctic Circle. They then sailed for the Shetland Islands where they cruised for about another month.
Meleager, under Captain J. Broughton, was in company with Quebec, Vestal and Forester when they captured the Fischia on 14 April 1807. Then on 5 September 1807, Meleager captured the Jonge Lars.
On 16 November 1807 Meleager sailed with a convoy to the West Indies. On 8 February 1808, Meleager was off Santiago de Cuba when she sent her boats, with 41 men, to capture the French felucca-rigged privateer Renard. She was armed with one long 6-pounder gun and many muskets, and had a crew of 47 men. The boat party took her without loss even though she was perfectly prepared and expecting to be attacked by the boats, given that Meleager had chased her. At the approach of the boats, 18 men jumped overboard. Renard had been cruising for 27 days but had not taken anything.
Eleven days later, Meleager captured the Antelope, a Spanish schooner Letter of Marque. Antelope was pierced for 14 guns but only carried five, an 18-pounder midships and four 6-pounders; the 6-pounders she threw overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 62 men and was sailing from Cadiz to Vera Cruz with a cargo of dry goods, brandy and wine.
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