HMS Sandfly (1794)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Sandfly |
| Ordered: | 3 February 1794 |
| Builder: | Wells & Co, Deptford |
| Laid down: | 1794 |
| Launched: | 1794 |
| Completed: | By 28 March 1795 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Isle St. Marcou" |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1803 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Musquito-class floating battery |
| Tons burthen: | 306 3⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 32 ft 1 1⁄4 in (9.8 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 7 ft 11⁄2 in (2.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Topsail schooner |
| Complement: | 50 |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Sandfly was a Musquito-class floating battery of the Royal Navy. The two-vessel class was intended to defend the Îles Saint-Marcouf (Marcou) situated off the Normandy coast. During her brief career Sandfly shared in the capture of one privateer and participated in a battle that would earn her crew the Naval General Service Medal. The Peace of Amiens returned the islets to France in May 1802; Sandfly was paid off in June 1802 and broken up in 1803.
HMS Sandfly was one of two ships designed by Sir William Sidney Smith, the other being HMS Musquito, for deployment with his coastal squadron especially for the defence of the Îles Saint-Marcouf.
During her time in service, Sandfly was designated a sloop of 18 guns in order to increase her establishment. HMS Sandfly acted as the "vessel of convenience" for mustering the marines and other troops on the East Island of St. Marcouf; HMS Badger acted in the same capacity for the West Island.
Sandfly was commissioned in February 1795 under Lieutenant John Chilcott; the British occupied the islands in July 1795. On 7 September the French mounted an attack with 17 large boats filled with men. They retreated in confusion after coming under fire from the redoubts the British had erected on East Island and from the gunvessels, among them the hoys Badger, Serpent, Shark, and Hawke. Lieutenant Richard Bourne replaced Chilcott on 12 February 1796. A year or so earlier he had served on both Musquito and Sandfly as a midshipman.
On 21 February 1797, Badger, Sandfly, and the hired armed cutters Champion and Fly captured the 16-gun chasse maree Souris. Unlike her sister-ship Eclair, which the British had captured in 1795, the Royal Navy did not take Souris into service.
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Wikipedia