Seagull-class brig-sloop

Drawing showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with midship framing and scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for the Seagull-class ships
Class overview
NameSeagull-class brig-sloop
Operators Royal Navy
In service1805–1819
Completed13
General characteristics
TypeBrig-sloop
Tons burthen282 36⁄94 bm
Length
  • 93 ft (28.3 m) (gundeck)
  • 76 ft (23.2 m) (keel)
Beam26 ft 5 in (8.1 m)
Depth of hold12 ft (3.7 m)
Sail planBrig-rigged
Complement95
Armament
  • As built:
  • 2 × 6-pounder guns as chase guns
  • 14 × 24-pounder carronades
  • Later:
  • 2 × 6-pounder guns as bow chasers
  • 16 × 24-pounder carronades

The Seagull class were built as a class of thirteen 16-gun brig-sloops for the Royal Navy, although an extra 2 carronades were added soon after completion. The class was designed by one of the Surveyors of the Navy - Sir William Rule - and approved on 4 January 1805. Five vessels to this design were ordered in December 1804; eight more were ordered in the summer of 1805.

Armament

Unlike the larger Cruizer-class brig-sloops, whose main battery was composed of 32-pounder carronades, the Seagull class (and the similar Fly-class brig-sloops designed by Rule's co-surveyor - Sir John Henslow) were armed with a main battery of 24-pounder slide-mounted carronades.

Ships

Name Builder Ordered Laid down Launched Fate
Seagull John King, Dover 12 December 1804 February 1805 1 July 1805 Captured 1808; decommissioned from Norwegian navy 1817
Oberon James Shepheard, Hull 12 December 1804 March 1805 13 August 1805 Broken up May 1816
Imogen Jabez Bailey, Ipswich 12 December 1804 April 1805 11 July 1805 Sold for breaking on 3 April 1817
Nightingale John King, Dover 12 December 1804 April 1805 29 July 1805 Sold 23 November 1815; mercantile service to c.1829
Savage Robert Adams, Chapel
(Southampton) 		12 December 1804 April 1805 30 July 1805 Sold for breaking 6 March 1819
Skylark William Row, Newcastle 19 June 1805 November 1805 February 1806 Grounded 3 May 1812 west of Boulogne; burnt to avoid capture.
Paulina Robert Guillaume, Northam
(Southampton) 		11 July 1805 August 1805 7 December 1805 Sold for breaking 30 May 1816
Delight Richard Thorne, Fremington
(near Barnstaple) 		12 July 1805 September 1805 June 1806 Captured 31 January 1808 while stranded on the coast of Calabria.
Orestes Jabez Bailey, Ipswich 16 July 1805 August 1805 23 October 1805 Sold for breaking 6 March 1817
Electra James Betts, Mistleythorn
(near Manningtree) 		19 July 1805 August 1805 21 January 1806 Wrecked 1808; salved but broken up later that year at Malta
Julia Jabez Bailey, Ipswich 30 July 1805 October 1805 4 February 1806 Wrecked at Tristan de Cunha 2 October 1817
Satellite Thomas Hills, Sandwich 7 August 1805 September 1805 March 1806 Foundered 19/20 December 1810
Sheldrake Mark Richards, Hythe 30 August 1805 October 1805 21 March 1806 Sold for breaking 6 March 1816

References

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