HMS Apollo (1794)
History | |
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UK | |
Name | HMS Apollo |
Ordered | 28 March 1793 |
Builder | Perry & Hankey, Blackwall |
Laid down | March 1793 |
Launched | 18 March 1794 |
Completed | 23 September 1794 at Woolwich Dockyard |
Commissioned | August 1794 |
Fate | Wrecked on 7 January 1799 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate |
Tons burthen | 994 12⁄94 (bm) |
Length | list error: <br /> list (help) 146 ft 3 in (44.6 m) (overall) 121 ft 10 in (37.1 m) (keel) |
Beam | 39 ft 2 in (11.9 m) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Full rigged ship |
Complement | 270 |
Armament |
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HMS Apollo, the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars, but her career came to an end after just four years in service when she was wrecked on the Haak sands off the Dutch coast.
Construction
Apollo was ordered on 28 March 1793 and was laid down that month at the yards of John Perry & Hanket, at Blackwall.[1] She was launched on 18 March 1794 and was completed at Woolwich Dockyard on 23 September 1794.[1][2] She cost £13,577 to build; this rising to a total of £20,779 when the cost of fitting her for service was included.[1] The Apollo was commissioned in August 1794 under her first commander, Captain John Manley.[1]
Career
In June 1796, she and Doris captured a French ship - the Légère of 22 guns - which was taken into service by the Navy as Legere. Then in December, Apollo and Polyphemus were off the Irish coast when they captured the 14-gun French privateer schooner Deux Amis, of 100 tons bm and 80 men.[3] The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.
In 1798 Captain Peter Halkett was appointed to the command of Apollo.
Fate
On 7 January 1799 Apollo was wrecked on the Haak Sands, off the coast of Holland, whilst chasing a Dutch vessel. In a subsequent court martial, the pilot was found guilty of negligence and Captain Halkett exonerated; he was appointed to a newly completing 36-gun frigate, which was also named Apollo.[4]
References
- Citations
- ^ a b c d Winfield. British Warships in the Age of Sail. p. 135.
- ^ Colledge. Ships of the Royal Navy. p. 178.
- ^ "No. 13970". The London Gazette. 10 January 1797.
- ^ "Apollo (38), 1794". Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
- Bibliography
- Clowes, William Laird (1997) [1900]. The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume IV. Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-013-2.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Gardiner, Robert (2006). Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-292-5.
- Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1794–1817 : Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.