HMS York (1796)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS York |
| Builder: | Barnard, Deptford |
| Launched: | 24 March 1796 |
| Fate: | Wrecked, 1804 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 64-gun third rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1433 30⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 43 ft 2 1⁄2 in (13.2 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 19 ft 7 1⁄2 in (6.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: | |
HMS York was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 24 March 1796. She served briefly in the West Indies where she captured numerous small vessels. She was wrecked in 1804.
She had originally been laid down at Barnard's Deptford yard as an East Indiaman named Royal Admiral. The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars resulted in a shortage of warships, which led the Navy Board to purchase five ships being built or serviced in commercial dockyards along the River Thames and to complete them as warships. Alongside Royal Admiral, the Navy acquired the merchantmen Belmont, Princess Royal, Earl Talbot and Pigot; they became HMS Monmouth, HMS Ardent, HMS Agincourt and HMS Lancaster respectively. As a 64-gun ship, York was a small third rate; this combined with her unusual build resulting from her conversion from a mercantile craft to a warship to make her a slightly ungainly and awkward ship.
Captain John Ferrier commissioned York in April 1796. He then sailed her for the Leeward Islands on 4 January 1797.
She spent much of her early career in the Caribbean Sea.
On 8 February 1798, she captured the small American schooner Fancy near St Thomas. York had to fire 15 shots before the schooner hove to, and when the boarding party from York arrived, they found 12 French passengers aboard, who were in the act of throwing five bags of money overboard. York brought Fancy into Môle-Saint-Nicolas where she was condemned as a prize. Apparently she had also been carrying 25,000 dollars of gold hidden on board but that most of it had been smuggled ashore.
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