HMS Porcupine (1777)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
|
|
| Name: | HMS Porcupine |
| Ordered: | 21 June 1776 |
| Awarded: | 25 June 1776 |
| Builder: | Edward Greaves, Limehouse |
| Laid down: | July 1776 |
| Launched: | 17 December 1777 |
| Completed: | 14 February 1778 |
| Commissioned: | December 1777 |
| Fate: | Broken up at Woolwich in April 1805 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship |
| Tons burthen: | 519 59⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 32 ft 2 1⁄2 in (9.817 m) |
| Draught: |
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| Depth of hold: | 10 ft 3 in (3.12 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 160 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Porcupine was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1777 and broken up in 1805. During her career she saw service in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.
Porcupine cost £5,443.0.11d to build, plus £4,604.13.8d for fitting and coppering. She was commissioned under her first captain, William Finch, in December 1777.
On 29 September 1778, Porcupine, Captain William Clement Finch, captured the French East Indiaman Modeste in the Bay of Biscay. Modeste, of 1000 tons, 26 guns and 95 men, was returning from China and richly laden. Her cargo was valued at £300,000, half of which was insured with English underwriters. Modeste became the East Indiaman Locko, which later made three voyages for the British East India Company.
On 15 March 1779, the British warships Apollo, Porcupine, and Milford captured the French privateer cutter Tapageur. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.
She came under the command of Captain Sir Charles Knowles around February 1780 and fought an action against two 36-gun xebecs off Valencia on 22 July 1781. On 30 July 1780 she and the xebec HMS Minorca engaged the French frigate Montréal, the former British frigate HMS Montreal, off the Barbary coast. The two-hour engagement was indecisive and the British broke off the engagement.
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Wikipedia