HMS Orpheus (1809)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Orpheus
Ordered	27 February 1808
Builder	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down	August 1808
Launched	12 August 1809
Completed	By 21 September 1809
Fate	Broken up in August 1819
General characteristics
Class and type	Apollo-class frigate
Tons burthen	94728⁄94 (bm)
Length	145 ft (44.2 m) (gundeck); 121 ft 8+3⁄4 in (37.1 m) (keel)
Beam	38 ft 3 in (11.7 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 4 in (4.1 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	264
Armament	Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 4 × 32-pounder carronades

Plan of an Apollo-class frigate dated 1803

HMS Orpheus was a 36-gun Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1809 from Deptford Dockyard. She was broken up in 1819.

Construction[]

Ordered on 27 February 1807 and laid down in August 1808 at Deptford Dockyard. Launched on 12 August 1809 and completed on 21 September 1809.

Service[]

Orpheus also saw service in the War of 1812. While in Long Island Sound, she chased the American privateer Holkar and ran her aground, before destroying Holkar by cannon fire.^[1]

Orpheus was part of the British patrolling squadron in Long Island Sound. When the British fleet encountered an American fleet, commanded by Stephen Decatur it chased them to New London where the American fleet escaped. The British squadron there formed a blockade, confining the American fleet until the end of the war.^[2]

On 27 April Orpheus chased the American ship Whampoa on shore near Newport, Rhode Island. Whampoa had been sailing from Lorient. The British took possession of Whampoa but then abandoned her due to fire from the shore.^[3]

Fate[]

She was broken up at Chatham Dockyard in August 1819.

Citations and references[]

Citations

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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Gardiner, Robert; The Heavy Frigate, Conway Maritime Press, London 1994.
• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif; The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815–1889, Chatham Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.
• Maclay, Edgar Stanton, 1863-1919 (1924), A history of American privateers / by Edgar Stanton Maclay, AppletonCS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Tucker, Spencer C. (2012). The Encyclopedia Of the War of 1812. ABC-CLIO. p. 1034. ISBN 9781851099573.
• Winfield, Rif; British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates, 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.