HMS Widgeon (1806)
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Widgeon |
| Ordered: | 11 December 1805 |
| Builder: | William Wheaton, Brixham |
| Laid down: | March 1806 |
| Launched: | 19 June 1806 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 20 April 1808 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Cuckoo-class schooner |
| Tonnage: | 75 35/94 bm |
| Length: |
56 ft 3 in (17.15 m) (overall) 42 ft 4.25 in (12.9 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) |
| Draught: |
|
| Depth of hold: | 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Complement: | 20 |
| Armament: | 4 x 12-pounder carronades |
HMS Widgeon (1806) was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner of 4 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. She was built by William Wheaton at Brixham and launched in 1806.[1] Like many of her class and the related Ballahoo-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.
She was commissioned in 1807 under Lieut. William Morgan for the North Sea. In 1808 she was under the command of Lieut. George Elliot.[1]
During a heavy snowstorm on 20 April 1808, at 2:30am she ran into a reef two miles to the northwest of Banff on the Scottish coast.[2] Her crew threw shot overboard and fired guns of distress. However, there was a heavy swell and she filled with water within 10 minutes. Although she soon was bilged her crew was saved,[2] though it is not clear how.[3]
References
- Gossett, William Patrick (1986) The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. (London:Mansell). ISBN 0-7201-1816-6
- Grocott, Terence (1997) Shipwrecks of the revolutionary & Napoleonic eras (Chatham). ISBN 1-86176-030-2
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
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