HMS Pylades (1781)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Dutch Republic
|
|
| Name: | Hercules |
| Builder: | Amsterdam |
| Launched: | 1781 |
| Captured: | December 1781 |
 Great Britain
|
|
| Name: | HMS Pylades |
| Acquired: | 3 December 1781 |
| Fate: | Broken up by 23 March 1790 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 18-gun brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 399 12⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 30 ft 4 in (9.2 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft (3.66 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig |
| Complement: | 125 |
| Armament: | 18 x short 9-pounder guns + 12 x ½pdr swivel guns |
HMS Pylades was an 18-gun Dutch-built brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1781. She was originally built as the privateer Hercules, which in November the British captured. She went on to serve during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the subsequent years of peace.
The privateer was one of two captured in the North Sea at the same time, both of which the Royal Navy took into service. Pylades went on to serve under several commanders, spending most of her career sailing in the English Channel. She did not survive to see service in the French Revolutionary Wars, having been sold for breaking up in March 1790.
Hercules 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 Mars. The vessels were commanded by a father and son team, by the name of Hogenboome; 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. 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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