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HMS Fox (1780)

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History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Fox
Ordered10 December 1778
BuilderGeorge Parsons, Bursledon, Hampshire
Laid downFebruary 1779
Launched2 June 1780
CompletedBy 27 July 1780
Honours and
awards
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"[1]
FateBroken up in April 1816
General characteristics
Class and type32-gun Active-class fifth rate frigate
Tons burthen6968594 bm
Length
  • 126 ft 2+14 in (38.462 m) (gundeck)
  • 104 ft 1 in (31.72 m) (keel)
Beam35 ft 5+34 in (10.814 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 2 in (3.71 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Crew250
Armament
  • Upper deck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 24-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 24-pounder carronades

HMS Fox was a 32-gun Active-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 2 June 1780 at Bursledon, Hampshire by George Parsons.

Early career

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Fox was sent to the Caribbean in late 1781 and in January the following year under Captain Thomas Windsor captured two Spanish frigates.[2] In March 1783 under Captain George Stoney captured the Spanish frigate Santa Catalina.[3]

Fox was at Plymouth on 20 January 1795 and so shared in the proceeds of the detention of the Dutch naval vessels, East Indiamen, and other merchant vessels that were in port on the outbreak of war between Britain and the Netherlands.[4]

In March 1797, near Visakhapatnam, Fox captured the French privateer Modeste, under Jean-Marie Dutertre.[5]

Took part in the bloodless Raid on Manila in January 1798.

Given that Fox served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March and 2 September 1801, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

Napoleonic Wars

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On 12 May 1809, Fox, Commander Henry Hart, brought into Madras, her prize Caravan, Aikin, master. Caravan was the former Cartier, Aikin, master, that the privateer French brig Adèle had captured in October 1807. Caravan had been carrying stones for building forts, arrack, coffee, and several carriages and bandies.[6]

War of 1812

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From April to June 1812 Fox was at Woolwich Dockyard being refitted as a 16 gun troopship.[7] In September 1814 Fox was in a squadron, with Bedford as flagship, that carried the advance guard of Major General Keane's army, which was moving to attack New Orleans.[8] Under the rules of prize-money, the troopship Fox shared in the proceeds of the capture of the American vessels in the Battle of Lake Borgne on 14 December 1814.[a]

Fate

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Fox was broken up in April 1816.

Notes

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  1. ^ 'Notice is hereby given to the officers and companies of His Majesty's ships Aetna, Alceste, Anaconda, Armide, Asia, Bedford, Belle Poule, Borer, Bucephalus, Calliope, Carron, Cydnus, Dictator, Diomede, Dover, Fox, Gorgon, Herald, Hydra, Meteor, Norge, Nymphe, Pigmy, Ramillies, Royal Oak, Seahorse, Shelburne, Sophie, Thames, Thistle, Tonnant, Trave, Volcano, and Weser, that they will be paid their respective proportions of prize money.' [9]

Citations

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  1. ^ "No. 21077". The London Gazette. 15 March 1850. pp. 791–792.
  2. ^ Southey, Thomas (1827). Chronological History of the West Indies: In Three Volumes, Volume 2. Longman. p. 540.
  3. ^ Beatson. Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain. p. 533.
  4. ^ "No. 15407". The London Gazette. 15 September 1801. p. 1145.
  5. ^ Demerliac, p. 308, no 2898
  6. ^ The Asiatic Annual Register Or a View of the History of Hindustan ..., Volume 11 (June 1809), p.103.
  7. ^ Winfield, (2008)
  8. ^ Surtees (2005), p. 324.
  9. ^ "No. 17730". The London Gazette. 28 July 1821. p. 1561.

References

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