HMS ''Flying Fish'' was the American-built schooner ''Flying Fish'', launched in 1801. She became the French privateer schooner ''Poisson Volant'', which the British captured in 1803 in the West Indies and took into 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 ...
. She captured a privateer and recaptured some small merchant vessels. She was renamed ''Firefly'' in 1807, but was lost with all hands when she foundered later that year.
Origins
''Poissant Volant'' was the American schooner ''Flying Fish'', built at Baltimore in 1801. She was then bought by the French.
[Footner (1998), p.194.]
Capture
In mid-1803, the squadron under Captain
Henry William Bayntun
Admiral Sir Henry William Bayntun GCB (1766 – 16 December 1840) was a senior officer in the Royal Navy, whose distinguished career in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was a catalogue of the highest and lowest points of the Navy dur ...
, consisting of , , , , and captured ''Poisson Volant'' and
''Supérieure''. The Royal Navy purchased her on 15 October 1803.
[Winfield (2008), p.364.] The British commissioned her as ''Flying Fish'' under Lieutenant Clement Ives in June 1804.
Service
On 29 June captured the Dutch schooner ''Nimrod'', three miles south of "Saint Cruz (Corosoa)". Captain Zacharia Mudge reported that ''Nimrod'', of four guns, was one of two schooners that had engaged ''Flying Fish''.
By at least July, ''Flying Fish'' was under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Price. On 14 July she recaptured the ''Content'', which the French privateer ''Republic'' (''Republique'') had captured the evening before off
Black River. From the prisoners Price learned where he might intercept the privateer. The next day he encountered her and captured her after a five-hour chase. ''Republic'' was armed with one long gun and small arms, and had left
St. Jago
Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and British capital of Jamaica from 1534 until 1872. The town is home to ...
with a crew of 51 men. On her cruise she had taken three prizes. Another account reports that the privateer that ''Flying Fish'' captured had 37 men aboard her, and that ''Flying Fish'' succeeded in recapturing two of the privateer's prizes.
Between 1 March and 1 June 1805, ''Flying Fish'' recaptured the British ship ''Mary'', which was carrying cargo of island produce.
Loss
In 1807 ''Flying Fish'' was renamed ''Firefly''. On 17 November she struck a submerged rock off
Curacao. Lieutenant Price and all his crew were lost.
[Hepper (1994), p.120.]
Notes
Citations
References
*Footner, Geoffrey M. (1998) ''Tidewater Triumph: The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner''. (Naval Institute Press).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Fish (1803)
Captured ships
Privateer ships of France
Schooners of the Royal Navy
1801 ships
Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea