HMS Ferret (1806)

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

HMS Ferret (1806) was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop built by Benjamin Tanner at Dartmouth and launched in 1806, 19 months late. She served on the Jamaica, Halifax, and Leith (North Sea) stations during which time she took two privateers as prizes before she was wrecked in 1813.

Service

She was commissioned in March 1806 under Cmdr. George Cadogan. On 2 June he sailed for the Leeward Islands. In 1807 Cmdr. George Gustavus Lennock took command in Jamaica. On 23 August, Ferret, in the company of the Lark, captured the French privateer schooner Mosquito, out of Santo Domingo. She had eight guns and a crew of 58 men.

Cmdr. Samuel John Pechell took command of Ferret on 23 March 1808 on the Jamaica station. In April he sailed her for the Halfax station. On 16 June 1808 he received a promotion to Post-captain.

From June 1808 she was under Cmdr. Richard Walter Wales. On 26 October Ferret chased the French privateer schooner Becune for four hours before Ferret was able to take her. Becune was armed with one long 9-pounder amidships and two carronades and carried a crew of 38 men. She was ten days out of Martinique, provisioned for a three month cruise and had made one capture.

Between November 1811 and February 1812 Ferret underwent repairs at Portsmouth, with Cmdr. Francis Alexander Halliday assuming command in December 1811.

Fate

On 31 December 1812 Ferret left Portsmouth and bilged near Newbiggin-by-the-Sea (Northumberland), on 7 January 1813 due to the inattention and ignorance of her pilot. Her crew was saved and ten days later she was abandoned as a wreck.

References

• Gossett, William Patrick (1986) The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. (London:Mansell). ISBN 0-7201-1816-6
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.