HMS ''Minorca'' was a

xebec A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...

-rigged vessel that 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 ...

had built at

Port Mahon Dockyard Port Mahon Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located at Port Mahon, Menorca, Spain. It was opened in 1708 and in 1802 the port was ceded back to Spain. However a resident commissioner of the Royal Navy was still appointed as late as 1814. The d ...

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

(historically called "Minorca" by the British) in 1779. She participated in one major engagement in 1780. The Navy scuttled her in 1781.

Career

''Minorca'' was built with a sloop hull, but broader. She was rigged as a

, with square-rigged and lateen sails. The Navy classified her as a

ship-sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

. Commander the Honourable Charles S. Conway commissioned her in June 1778. On 4 March 1779, Patrick Leslie was promoted to Commander into ''Minorca'', replacing Conway. Leslie received promotion 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 26 January 1780. His replacement was Commander Charles Knowles, who received a promotion to post captain and command of on 4 February. Knowles' replacement was Lieutenant, later Commander, Hugh Lawson. On 30 July 1780 ''Minorca'' and ''Porcupine'' engaged the French frigate off the Barbary coast. The two-hour engagement was indecisive. ''Porcupine'' and ''Minorca'' withdrew because even if ''Montreal'' had struck, they could not have taken her off. Also, three other ships had appeared on the horizon. The French lost four killed, including their captain. The English had five killed and two wounded; two of the dead were on ''Minorca''.

Fate

The Royal Navy sank ''Minorca'' on 21 August 1781 to block the entrance to the harbour at Port Mahon.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Minorca (1779) 1779 ships Ships of the Royal Navy