HMS Quail (1806)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Quail.

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Quail
Ordered11 December 1805
BuilderCustance & Stone, Great Yarmouth
Laid downFebruary 1806
Launched26 April 1806
FateSold 1816
United Kingdom
NameQuail
Acquired1816 by purchase
FateLast listed 1826
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeCuckoo-class schooner
Tons burthen751⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 56 ft 2 in (17.1 m) (overall)
  • 42 ft 4+1⁄8 in (12.9 m) (keel)
Beam18 ft 3 in (5.6 m)
Depth of hold8 ft 6 in (2.6 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planSchooner
Complement20
Armament4 × 12-pounder carronades

HMS Quail was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. Custance & Stone built her at Great Yarmouth and launched her in 1806. Her decade-long career appears to have been relatively uneventful. She was sold in 1816 into mercantile service, possibly to serve as a whaler, though she ended up trading in the South Atlantic until late in 1819. She was last listed in 1826.

Service

Quail was commissioned in June 1806 under Lieutenant Patrick Lowe for the Channel.[1] In 1807 she was under Lieutenant Isaac Charles Smith Collett for the North Sea.[a] On 6 July Quail captured Drie Gebroders.[2]

She also was at the surrender of the Danish Fleet after the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September.[b] Quail shared, with many other ships in the British fleet at Copenhagen, in the prize money for several captures in August: Hans and Jacob (17 August), Die Twee Gebroders (21 August), and Aurora, Paulina, and Ceres (30 and 31 August).[5]

On 16 November Leeds, of London, was returning to London from Petersburg when she was on shore on the Middle Ground. Quail and boats from Vanguard were able to get Leeds off after she had been stuck for 36 hours.[6]

In 1809 Lieutenant John Osborn took command. On 19 May 1809 he captured Jonge Jacob, P. Hansen, master.[7] On 25 July Quail was in company Strenuous and the hired armed cutter Albion when Albion captured Maria Catherina.[8] Osborn sailed Quail for the Mediterranean on 11 September 1811.

In April 1814 Quail was under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Stewart. On 10 August 1815 Quail arrived at Plymouth with dispatches from the Mediterranean. She had left Gibraltar on 16 July.[9]

Disposal: Quail was paid off into ordinary in October 1815, and put up for sale at Plymouth on 14 December.[10] She was sold at Plymouth, or Yarmouth on 11 January 1816 for £260.[1]

Mercantile service

Quail appeared in the Register of Shipping (RS) volume for 1818.[11]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1818 J.Britten Captain & Co. London–Southern Fishery RS

The designation of her trade being "Southern Fishery" would normally signal employment as a whaler. Quail did sail to the South Atlantic, but there is no indication that she engaged in whaling or sealing. In 1817 and 1818 she appeared in Lloyd's List(('))s ship arrival and departure (SAD) data sailing to and from Buenos Aires, Montevideo, the Cape of Good Hope, Rio de Janeiro, and Maldonado under a succession of masters, Britten (or Briton), Tulloch, Hern, and Hunter. There was no mention of Quail arriving or leaving anywhere after 1819.

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1826 J.Britten Captain & Co. London–Southern Fishery LR

Fate

Quail was last listed in Lloyd's Register (LR) and the RS in the 1826 volumes.

Notes

  1. ^ In February 1807 Collett had been captain of Quail's sister ship, Woodcock when she had wrecked.
  2. ^ The prize money amounted to £3 8s for an ordinary seaman, or slightly over two months' wages.[3]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Winfield (2008), p. 361.
  2. ^ "No. 16187". The London Gazette. 27 September 1808. p. 1341.
  3. ^ "No. 16275". The London Gazette. 11 July 1809. p. 1103.
  4. ^ "No. 16728". The London Gazette. 11 May 1813. p. 924.
  5. ^ The share of the prize money for an ordinary seaman for all five together was 7s 10d, or about a week's wages.[4]
  6. ^ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4269. 8 December 1807. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735023. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  7. ^ "No. 16364". The London Gazette. 24 April 1810. p. 617.
  8. ^ "No. 16385". The London Gazette. 7 July 1810. p. 1009.
  9. ^ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4996. 10 August 1815. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735027. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  10. ^ "No. 17088". The London Gazette. 5 December 1815. p. 2430.
  11. ^ RS (1818), Seq.No.Q1.

References

  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.