HMS Kingfisher ( 1675 ) Kingfisher was a 46 - gun fourth - rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy , built by Phineas Pett III at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1675 . She was specially designed to counter the attacks of Algerine corsairs , or pirates , in the Mediterranean by masquerading as a merchantman , which she achieved by hiding her armament behind false bulkheads . She also was provided with various means of changing her appearance . Active service . In 1679 , Commander Morgan Kempthorne , the 21 - year old son of John Kempthorne , took command of " Kingfisher " , sailing her to the Mediterranean with a convoy . Battle with seven Algerines . On May 22 , 1681 , soon after leaving Naples , the " Kingfisher " encountered seven Algerine men - of - war and a settee . The Algerines tried to deceive the English by changing their colours ; first they had French , then Dutch and then some of them Algiers colours . One hoisted an English jack and a Turkish or Algerine flag at the main topmasthead . After a long fight , the Algerines gave up , though Kempthorne was killed during the action . Including her captain , " Kingfisher " lost eight dead and 38 wounded in a fight that had lasted 12 hours . " Kingfisher " was repaired at Livorno and Kempthorne was buried there . The battle is the subject of several works of art . James II , at the time Duke of York , commissioned an oil painting from Willem van de Velde the Elder depicting the moment when the leading Algerine ship entered the battle and engaged with " Kingfisher " . There also exists a mezzotint by Elisha Kirkall of the battle , previously thought to depict a similar battle by John Kempthorne , Morgan ' s father ; the original is either a painting by Willem van de Velde the Younger , or a copy by someone such as Cornelius van de Velde of a lost painting by the Younger . Kirkall ' s mezzotint is the likely basis for a 1734 painting by Peter Monamy in the National Maritime Museum ( BHC0297 ) . Although it bears the inscription " " Cap Kempthorne ' s Action in the Mary Rose a small Frigate with seven Algerines in the Mediterranean in 1669 " " , this inscription was probably added in the late eighteenth century , according to Geoffrey Callender and Michael S . Robinson , and is erroneous ; there is no correspondence between this image and Hollar ' s eyewitness version , but in the centre of the painting is a small enemy boat that corresponds directly to one referred to in an account of the 1681 action in the " Kingfisher " . The painting had previously been attributed to Willem van de Velde the Younger , or speculated to be by van de Velde the Elder , before Monamy ' s signature and the date of 1734 were found when it was catalogued in the early 1930s . The inscription also contains a couple of lines recounting , with some exaggeration , the action : After Kempthorne . Three months later , Francis Wheler , formerly captain of the , took command of " Kingfisher " from her lieutenant , Ralph Wrenn , who took command of " Nonsuch " . In October , " Kingfisher " fought and captured a large Sallee pirate , which however sank shortly after striking . In 1685 , during the rebellion of Archibald Campbell , 9th Earl of Argyll , against King James , " Kingfisher " bombarded Carrick Castle , badly damaging the keep , which lost its roof . Fate . The " Kingfisher " was rebuilt at Woolwich in 1699 , as a Fourth Rate of 46 - 54 guns . She was hulked in 1706 , and was broken up in 1728 .