HMS Merlin (1796)

HMS Merlin on a stamp of 1949, celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of St. George's Caye
History
UK
Name:	HMS Merlin
Ordered:	24 January 1795
Builder:	John Dudman, Deptford
Laid down:	June 1795
Launched:	1 June 1796
Fate:	Broken up January 1803
General characteristics
Class and type:	Merlin-class
Type:	sloop
Tonnage:	370  65⁄94 (bm)
Length:	106 ft 2 in (32.4 m) (overall) 87 ft 7 in (26.7 m) (keel)
Beam:	28 ft 2 1⁄2 in (8.6 m)
Draught:	Unladen: 7 ft 5 in (2.3 m) Laden: 11 ft 5 in (3.5 m)
Depth of hold:	13 ft 10 in (4.2 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Complement:	121
Armament:	Initially Upperdeck (UD): 16 x 6-pounder guns QD: 4 x 12-pounder carronades Fc: 2 x 12-pounder carronades Later UD: 14 x 32-pounder carronades QD: 4 x 24-pounder carronades Fc: 2 x 9-pounder bow chasers

HMS Merlin was one of the two original Merlin-class sloops that served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. She was launched in 1796 and was broken up in 1803. Her greatest accomplishment was her role as the leading vessel in a motley flotilla of local vessels that defeated a Spanish attack on the British colonists in Honduras at the Battle of St. George's Caye. She later captured a number of small merchant vessels in the West Indies before returning to Britain, where she was broken up.

Commander Thomas Dundas commissioned Merlin in April 1796. She was among the 13 vessels that shared in the prize money for the capture of the Augustine and the recapture of Nelly on 20 August.

Dundas then sailed Merlin for Jamaica in August, and on to Honduras in December, where he delivered arms to prepare the colony for an attack by the Spanish coming down from Yucatan. Dundas received promotion to post-captain on 9 July 1798, and Commander John Ralph Moss replaced him on Merlin in August 1798.

Moss took command of a motley locally acquired, fitted, and armed flotilla of three sloops — Mermaid, Towzer and Tickler, two schooners — Swinger and Teazer, and eight gun flats (row boats with a gun in the bow). Except for the crew of Merlin, and the crews of Towser and Tickler, who were merchant seamen, the rest of the crews consisted of 354 volunteers from the "Colonial Troops".

The British flotilla under Moss repulsed the Spanish expedition at the Battle of St. George's Caye in September 1798. There were no British casualties in the several days of maneuvering and fighting.

In the period between 11 February 1799 and 30 March, Merlin captured one merchant vessel.

In August 1799 Commander William Robinson replaced Moss. Between October 1799 and February 1800, Merlin captured, detained, or recaptured a number of merchant vessels: