HMS Orestes (1781)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
|
|
| Name: | HMS Orestes |
| Builder: | Amsterdam |
| Launched: | 1781 |
| Acquired: | 3 December 1781 |
| Renamed: | Launched as the Dutch Mars |
| Fate: | Foundered on 5 November 1799 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 18-gun brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 396 40⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 30 ft 4 in (9.2 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 1 in (3.68 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | brig-sloop |
| Complement: | 125 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Orestes was an 18-gun Dutch-built brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was originally built as the privateer Mars, and was captured by the British in 1781. She went on to serve during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the French Revolutionary Wars.
The privateer was one of two captured in the North Sea in November 1781, both of which were taken into the Navy. Orestes became an effective anti-privateer vessel, taking several enemy vessels while serving off the British coast. She divided her time between a number of the Royal Navy's stations, serving in the West Indies and departing for the East Indies after time spent on the French coast. Her career in the Indian Ocean was short-lived, as she disappeared at sea in 1799, and is presumed to have foundered in a hurricane with the loss of her entire crew.
Mars was built at Amsterdam in 1781, to prey on British shipping during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. On 30 November she sailed from the Texel with another large privateer, the Hercules. The vessels were commanded by a father and son team, by the name of Hogeboom; the father had been active as a privateer operating out of Flushing during the Seven Years' War under the alias John Hardapple. The two vessels were estimated to have cost upwards of 20,000 l. Their career as privateers was short-lived, and they managed to capture only a single British fishing smack before the 40-gun frigate HMS Artois, under the command of Captain John MacBride sighted them off Flamborough Head at 10 o'clock in the morning on 3 December.
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