USS Frolic (1813)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Frolic |
| Namesake | HMS Frolic, a prize taken in the early part of the War of 1812[citation needed] |
| Builder | Charlestown, Massachusetts |
| Cost | $72,095 |
| Launched | 11 September 1813 |
| Fate | Captured 20 April 1814 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Florida |
| Acquired | By capture 20 April 1814 |
| Fate | Broken up May 1819 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Sloop-of-war |
| Tonnage | 509 tons |
| Tons burthen | 53911⁄94 (bm) |
| Length | 119 ft 6 in (36.42 m) |
| Beam | 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) |
| Depth | 14 ft 2 in (4.32 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
USS Frolic was a sloop-of-war that served in the United States Navy in 1814. The British captured her later that year and she served in the Royal Navy in the Channel and the North Sea until she was broken up in 1819.
Construction
Frolic was one of a class of three heavy flush-decked sloops of war, designed by
United States service
Frolic first put to sea on 18 February 1814 with
On 29 March 1814 she destroyed a British merchant ship, and later on the same day she sank an unnamed Spanish-American privateer, sailing from Cartagena in present-day Colombia. Frolic prevailed in a brief action in which nearly 100 of the privateer's crew drowned.[1][2] (Privateers from several countries seeking independence from Spain were preying on ships of all nations in the Caribbean.)
Frolic sank another British merchant ship on 3 April 1814. (This may have been Little Fox.[3])
While in the
British service
After her capture, the Admiralty purchased Frolic for £8,211 1
In April 1816 she sailed for the North Sea under Captain Charles S. J. Hawtayne, where she was employed in searching for and catching smugglers. In February 1818 she was re-rated as a 22-gun sloop.[5]
On 11 May she captured St Thomas, a galley out of Calais with a crew of 12 men. In making the capture, Florida's master's mate, Mr. Kieth Stewart shot and killed one of the smugglers in self-defense.[7][Note 2]
Fate
She was broken up at Chatham in May 1819.[5]
Notes
Citations
- ^ Roosevelt, p.172
- ^ Forester, p.169
- ^ a b "No. 16916". The London Gazette. 12 July 1814. p. 1415.
- ^ "No. 17141". The London Gazette. 1 June 1816. p. 1050.
- ^ a b c d Winfield (2008), p. 243.
- ^ Rea (1981), pp.201-2.
- ^ Chatterton (1912), pp.276-83.
- ^ "No. 17531". The London Gazette. 2 November 1819. p. 1945.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Chatterton, E. Kemble (1912) King's cutters and smugglers, 1700-1855. (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co.; London: G. Allen & Co.).
- Colledge, J.J. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy From the Fifteenth Century to the Present. Naval Institute Press: Annapolis, Maryland, 1987. ISBN 0-87021-652-X.
- ISBN 0-939218-06-2.
- Rea, Robert R. (Oct., 1981) "Florida and the Royal Navy's Floridas". Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 186–203.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
- ISBN 0-375-75419-9.