HMS Mercury (1779)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
|
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| Name: | HMS Mercury |
| Ordered: | 22 January 1778 |
| Builder: | Peter Mestaer, King and Queen Shipyard, Rotherhithe |
| Laid down: | 25 March 1778 |
| Launched: | 9 December 1779 |
| Completed: | By 24 February 1780 |
| Fate: | Broken up in January 1814 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 605 12⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 33 ft 9 in (10.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft 0 1⁄2 in (3.366 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 200 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Mercury was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict. She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary and most of the Napoleonic Wars, until being broken up in 1814.
Mercury was ordered from Peter Mestaer, at the King and Queen Shipyard, Rotherhithe on the River Thames on 22 January 1778 and was laid down there on 25 March. She was launched on 9 December 1779 and was completed by 24 February 1780 after being fitted out at Deptford Dockyard. £6,805 7s 0d was paid to her builder for her construction, with the total including fitting and coppering subsequently rising to £13,603 8s 0d.Mercury entered service in 1780, having been commissioned in October 1779 under Captain Isaac Prescott.
Prescott sailed Mercury to Newfoundland in April 1780. On 23 July she returned from a cruise, having, on the 19th, retaken the ship Elizabeth, which the 32-gun American privateer Dean had taken a few days earlier.Elizabeth was of 240 tons burthen, armed with 14 guns but with only 10 crewmen. When first taken she had been sailing from London to Newfoundland with a cargo of salt.
Mercury joined George Johnstone's squadron the following year. Captain William Carlyon took command in May 1781 and sailed Mercury to Hudson Bay. There, on 17 May, he recaptured the cutter HMS Sprightly. On 30 September, Mercury, Rattlesnake and Jupiter captured the French ship Philippine. The prize money was remitted from Jamaica, suggesting the capture took place in the Caribbean. French records have the capture occurring in the Antilles.
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