HMS Doris (1808)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Doris.
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Doris
Ordered: 5 June 1803
Builder: Bombay Dockyard
Laid down: 25 April 1806
Launched: 24 March 1807
Renamed:
  • Launched as Salsette
  • Renamed Pitt on 26 August 1807
  • Renamed HMS Doris on 3 April 1808
Fate: Sold in April 1829.
General characteristics
Class and type: 36-gun fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 870 (bm)
Length: 137 ft (42 m)
Beam: 38 ft (12 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 260
Armament:
  • Original
  • Upper gundeck (UD): 26 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 8 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns
  • By 1815
  • UD: 26 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 x 32-pounder carronades

HMS Doris was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served between 1808 and 1829. She was the second ship of the Royal Navy to be named after the mythical Greek sea nymphe Doris.

Doris was built for the Royal Navy in the East India Company Dockyard in Bombay in 1807. She was launched as Salsette, and was renamed locally as Pitt later that year. However because the Royal Navy already had an HMS Pitt in service, the Admiralty renamed her again as HMS Doris.

HMS Doris initially saw service in the Malacca Straits and the South China Sea. Doris and Psyche captured in the China Sea an American ship named Rebecca. They brought her into Bombay where the new Vice admiralty court condemned her. Her cargo of 4,000 bags of Batavian sugar and 13,710 pieces of sapan-wood were auctioned on 7 March 1810. Then on 10 March Rebecca, of 600 tons burthen, teak-built at Pegu, too was auctioned off.[1]

Towards the end of 1810 Doris was involved in the Mauritius campaign.

In 1811 she participated in the invasion of Java.[Note 1]

Put in reserve in 1815, she was recommissioned in 1821 and served two tours of duty on the South America station during the Chilean and Brazilian wars of independence and the Brazil-Argentine war 1826-8.[4]

During her 21 years in the Royal Navy she had eight captains. One of them was Barrington Reynolds, who commanded her for a short period in 1812, between his commands of HMS Sir Francis Drake and HMS Bucephalus. Another was Thomas Graham, who died en route to Chile in 1822, with his wife, the travel writer Maria Graham, on board.

By the late 1820s, decayed timbers in her bow made her unfit for further service, and she was sold at Valparaiso in April 1829.[5]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes
  1. The Admiral's share of the prize money for the capture of Île de France was £2650 5s 2d. A first-class share was worth £278 19sd; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £3 7s 6¼d.[2] A fourth and final payment was made in July 1828. A first-class share was worth £29 19s 5¼d; a sixth-class share was worth 8s 2½d. This time, Bertie received £314 14s 3½d.[3]
Citations
  1. Robert Houghton: A Peoples' History 1793 – 1844 from the newspapers: Prize-taking. Accessed 16 October 2016.
  2. The London Gazette: no. 16938. p. 1923. 24 September 1814.
  3. The London Gazette: no. 18487. pp. 1376–1377. 15 July 1828.
  4. Vale, Brian, (2001) A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-war. (I B Tauris). ISBN
  5. Vale, Brian, (2001) A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-war. (I B Tauris). ISBN
References

External links

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