HMS ''Orpheus'' was a 36-gun ''Apollo''-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 ...

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

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 1809 from

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 ...

. She was broken up in 1819.

Construction

Ordered on 27 February 1807 and laid down in August 1808 at Deptford Dockyard. Launched on 12 August 1809 and completed on 21 September 1809.

Service

Pigot was the ship's captain, in which he spent the next four years stationed in the West Indies and at Halifax. In her, during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

against the United States, he destroyed the 8-gun

letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...

''Wampoe'' on 28 April 1813, and the 20-gun

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

Holkar The Holkars (pronunciation: �o(ː)ɭkəɾ were the ruling house of the Indore State of the Maratha Confederacy, and earlier held the rank of Subahdar under Peshwa Baji Rao I of the Maratha Empire. When the Maratha Confederacy began to we ...

'' on 11 May 1813. On 20 April 1814 he captured the , of twenty 32-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...

s, two long 18-pounder guns, and 171 men. From the end of 1814 he commanded the 50-gun , and then the frigate , on the coast of North America, before returning to England in August 1815. ''Orpheus'' also saw service in the

. While in

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

, she chased the American privateer ''Holkar'' and ran her aground, before destroying ''Holkar'' by cannon fire. ''Orpheus'' was part of the British patrolling squadron in Long Island Sound. When the British fleet encountered an American fleet, commanded by

Stephen Decatur Commodore (United States), Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. (; January 5, 1779 – March 22, 1820) was a United States Navy officer. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County. His father, Ste ...

it chased them to New London where the American fleet escaped. The British squadron there formed a blockade, confining the American fleet until the end of the war. On 27 April ''Orpheus'' chased the American ship ''Whampoa'' on shore near Newport, Rhode Island. ''Whampoa'' had been sailing from

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. The British took possession of ''Whampoa'' but then abandoned her due to fire from the shore.''

Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and i ...

'
№4778.
/ref> On 20 April 1814 the schooner HMS Shelburne (1813), with the frigate Orpheus closing, captured the US sloop Frolic. During May 1814, accompanied by the schooner Shelburne, the Orpheus was moored off

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...

. It hosted a meeting of the Chiefs of the Creek Nation, who were being courted by the British as allies in the War of 1812. Subsequent to this meeting, weapons and other gifts were provided by the British. As of 5 July 1814, she arrived in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, with her prize, the late US ship Frolic. On 20 September 1814, she arrived in Portsmouth, having departed from Halifax on 22 August 1814. She was reported to have moored in Plymouth and Portsmouth on 5 December 1814.

Fate

She was broken up 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 ...

in August 1819.

Citations

References

* * * Gardiner, Robert; ''The Heavy Frigate'', Conway Maritime Press, London 1994. * * * Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif; ''The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815–1889'', Chatham Publishing, 2004. . * * * Winfield, Rif; ''British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates'', 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Orpheus (1809) 1809 ships Ships built in Deptford Apollo-class frigates Frigates of the Royal Navy War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom