HMS ''Myrmidon'' was a 20-gun
''Hermes''-class sixth-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works and ...
post ship built for the
Royal Navy during the 1810s. She was
commissioned in 1813 and was in the Mediterranean four years later. The ship was on the
Africa Station
The Commander-in-Chief, Africa was the last title of a Royal Navy's formation commander located in South Africa from 1795 to 1939. Under varying titles, it was one of the longest-lived formations of the Royal Navy. It was also often known as the C ...
in 1819 and was
paid off three years later. ''Myrmidon'' was
broken up in 1823.
Description and construction
''Myrmidon'' had a length at the
gundeck
The term gun deck used to refer to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. The term is generally applied to decks enclosed under a roof; smaller and unrated vessels carried their guns on ...
of and at the
keel. She had a
beam of , a
draught of and a depth of
hold of . The ship's
tonnage was 509
tons
burthen
Burden or burthen may refer to:
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* Burden, Luxembourg
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* ''T ...
. ''Myrmidon'' was armed with eighteen 32-pounder
carronade
A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...
s and a pair of 9-pounder cannon as
chase gun
A chase gun (or chaser), usually distinguished as bow chaser and stern chaser, was a cannon mounted in the bow (aiming forward) or stern (aiming backward) of a sailing ship. They were used to attempt to slow down an enemy ship either chasing ( ...
s. The ship had a crew of 135 officers and
ratings.
[Winfield, p. 114]
''Myrmidon'', the second ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,
[Colledge, p. 237] was ordered on 2 August 1811,
laid down on July 1812 in
Milford Dockyard Milford may refer to:
Place names Canada
* Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia
* Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
* Milford, Ontario
England
* Milford, Derbyshire
* Milford, Devon, a place in Devon
* Milford on Sea, Hampshire
* Milford, Shro ...
,
Wales, and
launched on 18 June 1813. She was completed at
Plymouth Dockyard on 6 February 1814.
[
]
Service
The ship's first commission began in August 1813 under the command of Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Valentine Gardner while she was still fitting out. He was relieved by Captain Henry Bourchier in October and then Captain William Patterson in 1814. Captain Robert Gambier assumed command on 25 April 1815; ''Myrmidon'' was paid off in October, but she was recommissioned with Gambier still in command. The ship was reclassified in February 1817 as a 20-gun sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
and was in the Mediterranean that year before paying off on 19 November 1818. She was recommissioned on 26 March 1818, under the command of Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
Henry John Leeke, for service on the Africa Station and was decommissioned at its end in October 1822. Myrmidon's demolition was completed on 10 January 1823 at Portsmouth Dockyard.[Winfield 2014, pp. 750–51]
Notes
References
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myrmidon (1811)
Hermes-class post ships
1813 ships