HMS Orpheus (1780)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Orpheus.

History

UK
Name:	HMS Orpheus
Ordered:	2 October 1778
Builder:	Adams & Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	7 July 1779
Launched:	3 June 1780
Completed:	By 15 July 1780
Fate:	Wrecked on 23 January 1807
General characteristics
Class & type:	32–gun Amazon-class fifth-rate
Tons burthen:	688 ⁶⁶⁄₉₄ (bm)
Length:	126 ft 4 in (38.5 m) (overall) 104 ft 8 in (31.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	35 ft 2 ¹⁄₄ in (10.7 m)
Depth of hold:	12 ft (3.66 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	220
Armament:	Upper deck: 26 x 12-pounder guns Quarter deck: 4 x 6-pounder guns + 4 x 18-pounder carronades Forecastle: 2 x 6-pounder guns + 2 x 18-pounder carronades

HMS Orpheus was a 32–gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1780, and served for more than a quarter of a century, before she was wrecked in 1807.^[1]^[2]

On 5 May 1794, Orpheus captured the French frigate Duguay Trouin, the former East Indiaman Princess Royal, which the French had captured on 27 September 1793.

On 22 June 1796 Orpheus was in the Straits of Banca, where she captured the Dutch brig Harlingen. The British took Harlingen into service as HMS Amboyna.

August 1797. Ship reported as being in Madras and Captain W. Hill is appointed commander. (4)

Fate

Orpheus, under the command of Captain Thomas Briggs, arrived off Jamaica from England in the evening of 22 January 1807. Being short of water, Briggs decided to try to sail her into Port Royal, rather than wait for a pilot. Around midnight Orpheus grounded on a reef that was not accurately marked on her charts. Efforts to lighten her failed and she took on water. When the water reached her main deck, the crew took to the boats, abandoning her.^[3]

Notes

↑ Winfield. British Warships in the Age of Sail. p. 203.
↑ Colledge. Ships of the Royal Navy. p. 252.
↑ Hepper (1994), p. 116.

(4) Life of George Buckley - Halifax page 30

References

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. OCLC 67375475.
Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-295-X.

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