HMS Barracouta (1804)
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Barracouta |
| Ordered: | 23 June 1803 |
| Builder: | Goodrich & Co. (prime contractor), Bermuda |
| Laid down: | 1803 |
| Launched: | 1804 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 3 October 1805 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ballahoo-class schooner |
| Tonnage: | 70 41/94 bm |
| Length: |
55 ft 2 in (16.81 m) (overall) 40 ft 10.5 in (12.5 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 18 ft 0 in (5.49 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Complement: | 20 |
| Armament: | 4 x 12-pounder Carronades |
HMS Barracouta (1804) was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of 4 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1804.[1] Like many of her class and the related Cuckoo-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.
She was commissioned under Lieut. Joel Orchard and was wrecked on 3 October 1805.[1] Because of bad weather and strong currents, and despite having kept a good lookout with soundings, she struck a reef of rocks during the night. Dawn found her on a ridge running north-south and about three miles from Padro Kay near the Jardines (Cuba).[2]
All her crew were saved and set sail in one of her boats, which they had previously taken from the Spanish. They came across a Spanish schooner that they captured.[2] Unfortunately, two privateers that had set out from Trinidad against them captured them in turn.[2] The crew were made prisoners of war; one, a sub-lieutenant, died during captivity.[3]
References
- Gossett, William Patrick (1986) The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. (London:Mansell).ISBN 0-7201-1816-6
- Grocott, Terrence (1997) Shipwrecks of the revolutionary & Napoleonic eras. (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole).
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
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