HMS ''Dolphin'' was a 44-gun

fifth rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal N ...

ship of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

launched in 1781. Designed by Sir

Thomas Slade Sir Thomas Slade (1703/4 – 1771) was an English naval architect best known for designing the Royal Navy warship HMS Victory, HMS ''Victory'', which served as Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalg ...

, she carried her armament on two decks and had a main battery of 18-pound long guns. She made an appearance at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1781. The rest of her 36-year career was uneventful, much of it being spent as a transport or hospital ship, armed only with twenty or twenty-four, 9-pounders. She was broken up at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in 1817.

Construction and armament

''Dolphin'' was one of the nineteen ''Roebuck-class''

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal N ...

s built for the

between 1776 and 1783. A requirement for a two-deck ship capable of operating in the shallower waters of North America, led to the resurrection of a design by renowned naval architect, Sir

Winfield p. 176 Ordered by

The Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of its h ...

on 8 January 1777, ''Dolphin'' was the only one of her class not built under contract, and her keel of , was laid down on 1 May at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

. As built, she was long at the gundeck, had a beam of , and a depth in the hold of . She measured 880

tons burthen Builder's Old Measurement (BOM, bm, OM, and o.m.) is the method used in England from approximately 1650 to 1849 for calculating the cargo capacity of a ship. It is a volumetric measurement of cubic capacity. It estimated the tonnage of a ship b ...

.Winfield p. 178 ''Dolphin'' was armed with 20 × 18-pounder guns on her lower deck, 22 × 9-pounder guns on her upper deck and 2 × 6-pounder guns on her forecastle. She did not carry guns on her quarterdeck. She served a number of times as a transport or hospital ship, when she was armed with between twenty and twenty-four 9-pounders on her upper decks.

Service

''Dolphin'' was commissioned for the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

in March 1781, under Captain William Blair, and was present at the Battle of Dogger Bank that summer.

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

had declared war on the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

the previous December, in retaliation for the latter's support of the American war effort. ''Dolphin'' was part of Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker's squadron, which was escorting a convoy from the Baltic, when on 5 August it discovered a fleet of Dutch warships and merchant vessels near

Dogger Bank Dogger Bank ( Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age, the bank was part of a large landmass ...

. Each of the forces selected seven ships to do battle. ''Dolphin'' stood second in the British line behind , with HMS Buffalo, , , and . While the British supply ships continued their journey to England, the Dutch line of battle, comprising the 54-gun ''Erfprins'', the 74-gun ''Admiraal Generaal'', the 40-gun ''Argo'', the 54-gun ''Batavier'', the 68-gun ''Admiraal de Ruijter'', the 54-gun ''Admiraal Piet Hein'' and the 68-gun ''Hollandia'', positioned itself between its convoy and the enemy. After a general chase, the British, occupying the windward position, bore down on the Dutch, line abreast, at 06:10. At 08:00 a close action ensued, which continued until mid-morning when the Dutch warships sought to disengage and return to

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

with their convoy. By this time neither side was in a condition to continue the fight and although the British tried to reform their line, they were unable to pursue. Under her new captain, Robert Manners Sutton, ''Dolphin'' sailed for Jamaica on 31 January 1782. When war with the colonies ended in September 1783, ''Dolphin'' returned to England, where, between March and June 1784, £5,936.6.8d was spent on repairs at Chatham dockyard. She was then laid up

in ordinary ''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household and public officials more generally, it indicates that a position is a permanent one (in contrast to positions that are extraordinary). In naval matt ...

. During the

Nootka Crisis The Nootka Crisis, also known as the Spanish Armament, was an international incident and political dispute between Spain and Great Britain triggered by a series of events revolving around sovereignty claims and rights of navigation and trade. It ...

in the summer 1789, the Royal Navy began to prepare for war with Spain. In October 1790, work began converting ''Dolphin'' to a hospital ship. Costing £3,189, the conversion took until February 1791 by which time the conflict had all but been resolved and ''Dolphin'' was taken to

, where she was laid up once more. Recommissioned as a store ship in January 1793, ''Dolphin'' was despatched to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

when Britain entered the

French Revolutionary War The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries ...

in February. In January 1797, ''Dolphin'' was part of Horatio Nelson's squadron, sent to evacuate

Porto Ferrajo Portoferraio () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba. It is the island's largest town. Because of its terrain, many of its buildings are situated on the slopes of a tiny h ...

. The commander of the garrison there, General Ulysses de Burgh, refused to leave however and after salvaging what it could in the way of stores and equipment, the squadron left for

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

two days later, on 29 January.Blackmore p. 173 ''Dolphin'' was at the capture of Minorca in 1798. The squadron to which she was attached, arrived off the island on 7 November, troops were landed the following day, and by 15 November, the whole island had capitulated.Clowes (Vol.IV) p. 377James (Vol.II) p. 195 ''Dolphin'' was then taken to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, where she served as a hospital ship. In January 1800, ''Dolphin'' underwent a £9,042 conversion to a troop ship at

Deptford Dockyard Deptford Dockyard was an important Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and man ...

. The refit took until April, during which time she had her lower guns removed, leaving her with twenty 9-pounders on her upper deck. And in this form, she served in the navy's Egyptian campaign. She was brought back home in January 1802 and paid off in March. Towards the end of 1804, work began turning her into a storeship. She was recommissioned in January the following year for the transport of supplies to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. ''Dolphin'' was taken to the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

in October 1805 but returned to Deptford, two years later, for repairs and another refit. The work was completed in November 1808, then early in 1809, under a new command, she went back to the Leeward Islands. Between February and April 1811, ''Dolphin'' was in Portsmouth undergoing another large repair and refit. She was later broken up there in July 1817.

Citations

References

* * * * * *Winfield, R. ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714−1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. Seaforth Publishing, 2007.

External links

* http://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=3941 * http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/D/01412.html * http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=18359.0 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolphin (1781) 1781 ships Frigates of the Royal Navy