HMS Pactolus (1813)
Drawing of the profile of the Pactolus, from the archives of the Royal Museums Greenwich
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| History | |
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 UK
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| Name: | HMS Pactolus |
| Ordered: | 16 November 1812 |
| Builder: | Mrs Frances Barnard, Deptford |
| Laid down: | January 1813 |
| Launched: | 14 August 1813 |
| Completed: | By 30 October 1813 |
| Fate: | Sold to be broken up in January 1818 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Cydnus-class fifth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 1,06588⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 39 ft 11 1⁄2 in (12.2 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 9 1⁄2 in (3.9 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 315 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Pactolus was one of eight 38-gun Cydnus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy, that served in the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812. She was one of the warships that bombarded Stonington, Connecticut from 9 to 12 August 1814. Pactolus was paid off in August 1817 and sold in 1818.
Cydnus-class frigates such as Pactolus were actually Leda-class frigates, but built of red fir (pine). Pine was cheaper and more abundant than oak and permitted noticeably faster construction, but at a cost of a reduced lifespan. The motive for the use of red pine – an inferior material for shipbuilding – was speed of construction. It was much quicker to build a ship with this material than one of oak; the drawback was that these fir-built ships were less durable than oak-built ships.
Like all the 38-gun British frigates of the late Napoleonic wars period, she carried twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on the upper deck, fourteen 32-pounder carronades on the quarter deck, and two 9-pounder guns and another two 32-pounder carronades on the forecastle. Under the re-classifications in February 1817, this resulted in her being re-classed from 38 guns to 46 guns.
Pactolus was commissioned in September 1813 under Captain Frederick William Aylmer. He would remain her captain to the end of 1815. On 24 March Pactolus recaptured the Swedish ship Maria Christina while in company with Seahorse and another warship.
On 8 August 1814 Pactolus was part of a small squadron made up of herself, the brig Dispatch and the bomb vessel Terror, all under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Hardy in Ramillies, Together, the vessels attacked Stonington, Connecticut. Stonington was known for preparing and harbouring "torpedos", that is naval mines, and for supporting American attempts to destroy British warships off New London.
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Wikipedia