HMS ''Halifax'' was a
ship-rigged
A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three seg ...
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...
of the ''Merlin'' class built in 1806 for the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
at the
Naval Yard in
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...
. Built to fill a pressing need for coastal patrol sloops on the North American Station, ''Halifax'' was one of the few warships built at Halifax Naval Yard in the Age of Sail as the yard's primary function was supply and refit.
Service
''Halifax'' was commissioned under Commander John Nairne, for the
Halifax Station.
In November 1806 Commander
Lord James Townshend assumed command.
[ A deserter from HMS ''Halifax'', Jenkin Ratford, was one of the men seized from USS ''Chesapeake'' in 1807 during the controversial Chesapeake-Leopard Affair. Ratford was hanged from the yardarm of ''Halifax'' on 31 August 1807.
''Halifax'' arrived in Plymouth on 16 January 1808 to make good defects.][ Townshend was promoted to ]post-captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...
on 2 January 1809. On 2 March, ''Halifax'', still under Townshend's command, captured a fast, new French schooner, ''Caroline'',[
]
Fate
''Halifax'' was laid up in ordinary
''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household, it indicates that a position is a permanent one. In naval matters, vessels "in ordinary" (from the 17th century) are those out of service for repair ...
at Portsmouth from 1812 to 1814. She was broken up in January 1814.
Footnotes
References
* , p. 251.
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Halifax (1806)
Sloops of the Royal Navy
Maritime history of Canada
Ships built in Nova Scotia
1806 ships