HMS Active (1799)
| Career (United Kingdom) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Active |
| Ordered: | 27 April 1796 |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard (M/Shipwright Edward sison) |
| Laid down: | July 1798 |
| Launched: | 14 December 1799 |
| Renamed: | HMS Argo on 15 November 1833 |
| Reclassified: | On harbour service from February 1826 |
| Fate: | Broken up in October 1860 |
| General characteristics as built | |
| Class and type: | 38-gun fifth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 1,058 long tons (1,075.0 t) |
| Length: | 150 ft (45.7 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 41 ft (12.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 284 (later 315) |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Active was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate launched on 14 December 1799 at Chatham Dockyard. Sir John Henslow designed her as an improvement on the Artois-class frigates. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous enemy vessels. She returned to service after the wars and finally was broken up in 1860.
French Revolutionary Wars
Active was commissioned under Captain Charles Davers in December 1799 and convoyed East Indiamen in 1800.[1] Then she began operating in the English Channel as part of the Channel Fleet. She later sailed with a convoy for the Mediterranean. In September 1800 she was under the temporary command of Captain John Giffard.[1] On 26 January 1801 she captured the 14-gun privateer Quinola, of 48 men, after a two-hour chase. Giffard then removed to the third rate Magnificent on 23 February. Then from October Active came under Commander Thomas Shortland, also temporary.[1] In 1802 Active sailed to Egypt and back with specie. Later she sailed to the West Indies and then the waters off Ireland.
Napoleonic Wars
In August 1804, Active was under the command of Captain Richard Mowbray, for the blockade of Toulon, in the Mediterranean.[1] (Captain Davers had resigned his command due to ill-health caused by yellow fever, which he had caught on the Leeward Islands station. He died in 1805.)
In 1807, Active returned to the Mediterranean to participate in Thomas Louis's squadron in the Dardanelles Operation. On 27 April she took the four-gun privateer Les Amis. Almost a year later, on 26 March, she and the 64-gun HMS Standard captured the Italian brig Friedland. In 1809 Active returned to Britain and was paid off.
Recommissioned later in 1809, Active, under Captain James Alexander Gordon, sailed for the Adriatic. In 1810 she participated in a raid on Grao near Trieste. Together with HMS Cerberus and HMS Amphion she seized coastal convoy of tabaccolos and other vessels.
In 1811 Active raided Pescara and Ortona and in later in the year participated in the Battle of Lissa, where she lost four men killed and 24 wounded but captured the French frigate Corona. Later in the year Active's boats attacked a grain convoy near Rogoznica on the Dalmatian coast; in November she participated in the destruction of a French convoy at the Action of 29 November 1811.
In 1812 Active returned to Britain.
Post-war service
In 1815 Active came under Captain William King, and then in October Captain Phillip Carteret.[1] She was fitted for sea from November 1815 to April 1816 and then was on the Jamaica station in 1817. In 1819 she was fitted with man-powered paddles, an experiment a design by Lieutenant Burton.
In January 1819 she was recommissioned under Captain Sir James Gordon on the Halifax station.[1] In December 1821 she was under Captain Richard King "on particular service".[1] In September 1824 she was on the Lisbon station under Captain Robert Rodney.[1]
Fate
Active was fitted as a receiving ship at Plymouth between October 1825 and February 1826.[1] She was renamed Argo on 15 November 1833.[1] Her breaking up was completed on 21 October 1860 at Plymouth.[1]
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. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1794–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
- Ships of the Old Navy
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
