HMS Mercury ( 1779 ) HMS " Mercury " was a 28 - gun " Enterprise " - class sixth - rate frigate of the Royal Navy . She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict . She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary and most of the Napoleonic Wars , until being broken up in 1814 . Construction and commissioning . " Mercury " was ordered from Peter Mestaer , at the King and Queen Shipyard , Rotherhithe on the River Thames on 22 January 1778 and was laid down there on 25 March . She was launched on 9 December 1779 and was completed by 24 February 1780 after being fitted out at Deptford Dockyard . £6 , 805 7s 0d was paid to her builder for her construction , with the total including fitting and coppering subsequently rising to £13 , 603 8s 0d . " Mercury " entered service in 1780 , having been commissioned in October 1779 under Captain Isaac Prescott . American War of Independence and the interwar years . Prescott sailed " Mercury " to Newfoundland in April 1780 . On 23 July she returned from a cruise , having , on the 19th , retaken the ship " Elizabeth " , which the 32 - gun American privateer " Dean " had taken a few days earlier . " Elizabeth " was of 240 tons burthen , armed with 14 guns but with only 10 crewmen . When first taken she had been sailing from London to Newfoundland with a cargo of salt . " Mercury " joined George Johnstone ' s squadron the following year . Captain William Carlyon took command in May 1781 and sailed " Mercury " to Hudson Bay . There , on 17 May , he recaptured the cutter . On 30 September , " Mercury " , and captured the French ship " Philippine " . The prize money was remitted from Jamaica , suggesting the capture took place in the Caribbean . French records have the capture occurring in the Antilles . In March 1782 , " Mercury " and " Jupiter " captured the French privateer " Bologne " . Captain Henry Edwyn Stanhope succeeded Carlyon in September 1782 , and paid " Mercury " off later that year . She was recommissioned under Stanhope in April the following year , and went out to Nova Scotia in June . Commodore Herbert Sawyer took command of the North American Station ' s base at Halifax in June 1785 , and authorized " Mercury " to escort a merchant vessel to the American port of Boston to collect a shipment of cattle . This marked the first free visit of a British warship to the port since March 1776 . " Mercury " was again paid off in July 1786 and spent the period between August 1787 and January 1788 undergoing a small repair at Woolwich . After being fitted out there she was recommissioned in May 1788 under Captain Augustus Montgomery , and sailed to the Mediterranean . She returned to Britain and was paid off in 1790 . French Revolutionary Wars . " Mercury " was not immediately returned to service following the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France , but after being fitted at Portsmouth , re - entered service in early 1796 , under the command of Captain George Byng . After time spent at Newfoundland command passed to Captain Thomas Rogers in April 1797 . Rogers captured three privateer s while serving on the Lisbon station , the " Benjamin " on 5 January 1798 , the 16 - gun " Trois Soeurs " on 15 January 1798 , and the 12 - gun " Constance " on 25 January 1798 . " Benjamin " was 20 leagues off the Rock of Lisbon when " Mercury " finally captured her after a chase of 36 hours . " Benjamin " was pierced for 20 guns , but carried sixteen 4 and 6 - pounders , ten of which she threw overboard during the chase . She had a crew of 132 men . , and joined the chase and shared in the capture . " Benjamin " was a new vessel on her first cruise , during which she had captured the English brig " Governor Bruce " , on her way to Faro , and a Portuguese schooner . However , a British letter of marque had driven " Benjamin " off . Next , Rogers was some 40 leagues off Cape Finisterre when he spotted two armed vessels and gave chase . As " Mercury " got close they separated and he was only able to capture one of them and that after a chase of eight hours . The quarry fired a few shots and then struck . She was the French privateer brig " Trois Soeurs " . She was pierced for 18 guns but carried sixteen 6 - pounders . She was five days out of port on her first cruise . Lastly , " Mercury " encountered the " Constance " some 42 leagues off the Burlings . " Mercury " captured her after a chase of five hours . " Constance " was pierced for 18 guns but carried only twelve 6 and 9 - pounders , and had a crew of 96 men . She was ten days out off Nantes on a cruise of the Western Islands . Rodgers then took " Mercury " to Newfoundland in June 1798 . After returning to Portsmouth for a refit in early 1799 , she went back there in 1799 . On 6 October she captured the " San Joce " . On 16 December 1799 she captured the " Hosprung " . On 24 January 1800 , " Mercury " was 28 leagues off Scilly when she recaptured the ship " Aimwell " . " Aimwell " , of Whitby , had been sailing from Quebec to London when the French privateer " Arriege " , of Bordeaux , had captured her on 9 January . On 29 March , " Mercury " was among the ships that shared in the capture of the " Courageux " . The other captors were , , , " Haerlem " , , and " Salamine " . " Mercury " captured the French privateer brig " Egyptienne " on 5 February 1800 off the Isle of Wight . " Egyptienne " mounted 15 brass guns and had a crew of 66 men . She had sailed from Cherbourg the evening before and had not yet taken any prizes . As she was striking her colours her crew suddenly discharged a volley of small arms fire that slightly wounded one man on " Mercury " . Apparently was in company or perhaps in sight at the time . After spending a period in the English Channel , " Mercury " then sailed for the Mediterranean in May 1800 . She was briefly part of Sir John Borlase Warren ' s squadron off Cadiz , after which she went on to Alexandria , arriving there on 31 July 1800 . On 5 January 1801 , " Mercury " captured a French tartan , of unknown name , sailing from Marseilles to Cette in ballast . Then the next day , " Mercury " had much great luck when with her boats she captured 15 vessels of a convoy of 20 vessels . The captures included two ships , four brigs , three bombards , two settees , and four tartans . The convoy was sailing from Cette to Marseilles when " Mercury " captured three quarters of it off Minorca . The gunboats escorting the convoy fled as " Mercury " approached , so she suffered no casualties . The vessels included the : On 20 January 1801 , the day after Rogers had safely delivered his prizes to Port Mahon , he was some 40 leagues off Sardinia when " Mercury " captured the " Sans Pareille " after a chase of nine hours . She was a French navy corvette under the command of Citoyen Gabriel Renault , Lieutenant de Vaisseau . She carried 18 long brass 9 - pounders and two howitzers . The reason she did not resist was that she had a crew of only 15 men . She had sailed from Toulon the day before and was carrying a cargo of shot , arms , medicines , and all manner of other supplies for the French army at Alexandria , Egypt . The Admiralty took " Sans Pareille " into service as . On 17 February 1801 , " Mercury " detained the Swedish brig " Hoppet " , which was sailing in ballast from Tunis to Marseilles , in violation of the British blockaded of France . The next day , " Mercury " , in company with , captured the ship " Esperance " , which had sailed from Tunis with a cargo of silk , cotton , and other merchandise . Then on 15 May , " Mercury " and captured the French ship " Francois " . " Mercury " then made an attempt to recapture the 18 - gun bomb vessel at Ancona on 25 May 1801 . The cutting out party was able to get " Bulldog " out of the harbour , but then the winds died down just as enemy boats started to arrive . The cutting out party were too few in numbers both to guard the captured prisoners and resist the approaching enemy , and were tired from the row in to board " Bulldog " . " Mercury " had drifted too far away to come to the rescue either . The cutting out party therefore abandoned " Bulldog " . " Mercury " lost two men killed and four wounded in the attempt ; Rogers estimated that the enemy had lost some 20 men killed , wounded and drowned . On 23 June 1801 boats from " Mercury " and also destroyed a pirate tartan , the " Tigre " , of eight 6 and 12 - pounder guns and a crew of 60 French and Italians , in the Tremiti Islands . The Royal Marines landed and captured some of the pirates , who had mounted a 4 - pounder gun on a hill . Meanwhile , the cutting out party brought out the " Tigre " , together with bales of cotton and other goods that she had taken from vessels she had robbed . Though the first attempt to capture " Bulldog " had failed , a second effort on 16 September 1801 , carried out in company with and , succeeded in retaking the vessel . Rogers had received intelligence that " Bulldog " had left Ancona and was escorting four trabaccolo s and a tartan that were carrying cannons , ammunition and supplies to Egypt . He set out with " Champion " and they discovered " Santa Dorothea " already in chase . The British chased the convoy , which took refuge under the guns of batteries at Gallipoli , Apulia . Even so , " Champion " was able to get close to " Bulldog " , which struck after enduring several broadsides . " Champion " was then able to extricate her from under the batteries . In the meantime , " Mercury " captured one of the trabaccolos , which was carrying brass mortars , field pieces , and the like . In the engagement , " Champion " suffered one man killed . Napoleonic Wars . " Mercury " was fitted out as a floating battery at Deptford in May 1803 , under the command of Captain Duncombe Pleydell - Bouverie . She went on to operate against Spanish shipping in the Eastern Atlantic and captured the " Fuerte de Gibraltar " on 4 February 1805 . " Fuerte de Gibraltar " was a Spanish lateen - rigged gun - vessel armed with two long 12 - pounders , two 16 - pound carronade s , several swivel gun s and a large quantity of small arms and cutlasses . She and her crew of 59 men were under the command of Signor Don Ramon Eutate , " Lieutenant de fregate " , and had sailed the morning before from Cadiz bound for Algeciras . Captain Charles Pelly succeeded Bouverie in August 1805 and " Mercury " returned to Newfoundland in May 1806 . On 3 January 1806 recaptured the ships " Argo " and " Adventure " , and shared in the recapture of the " Good Intent " . " Starr " was off Villa de Conde , Portugal , when she intercepted the vessels , which had been taken from a convoy that " Mercury " had been escorting from Newfoundland to Portugal , and both of which had been carrying cargoes of fish . " Starr " sighted " Good Intent " and signaled " Mercury " , which recaptured her too . On 5 February , captured the " Baltidore " , which was the privateer that had captured " Good Intent " . In June 1807 James Alexander Gordon took command and sailed " Mercury " into the Mediterranean to operate off the Southern Spanish coast . In the Action of 4 April 1808 , " Mercury " , in company with and , attacked a Spanish convoy off Rota , destroying two of the escorts and driving many of the merchant vessels ashore . They captured seven more vessels subsequently , which the marines and sailors of the British ships sailed back out to sea . In November 1808 , command passed to Henry Duncan , who took her into the Adriatic Sea to participate in the Adriatic campaign of 1804 – 1814 . On 30 December , " Mercury " and captured the " Hereux " and the " Spirito Santo " . " Mercury " was in action with and at Pesaro on 23 April and at Cesenatico on 2 May . In the attack on Pesaro , which the British bombarded after the commandant refused to surrender , the British captured 13 small coasting vessels . Due to the lack of resistance the British suffered no casualties . One civilian died by accident . " Mercury " grounded during the attack on Cesenatico but in a position where she could bring her guns to bear on the town . She was floated off without injury . In the attack the British captured and spiked the two 24 - pounder guns of a battery that had fired on them and captured 12 vessels , all without suffering any casualties . In June " Mercury " sent in her boats to destroy a number of trabaccolo s and other vessels on the beach at Rotti , near Manfredonia . On 7 September " Mercury " cut out the French schooner - of - war " Pugliese " from Barletta . " Piugliese " was armed with seven guns and had a crew of 37 men . The boats , under the command of Lieutenant Pall , accomplished this despite the schooner being under the protection not only of her own armament but also two armed felucca s , a castle , and small arms fire ; the British suffered no casualties . This was " Mercury " s last action before she was paid off in early 1810 . " Mercury " was fitted out as a troopship at Woolwich in mid - 1810 and commissioned in May that year as a 16 - gun troopship under Lieutenant William Webb . Commander John Tancock succeeded Webb in mid - 1810 and " Mercury " spent most of 1811 on the Lisbon station . Commander Clement Milward took over in November 1811 and went out to the Leeward Islands . " Mercury " s last commanding officer was Commander Sir John Charles Richardson , who took over while she was still in the Leewards . On 29 July 1813 , " Mercury " was among the British vessels that shared in the capture of the American ship " Fame " . ( was another . ) " Fame " , under the command of Captain Job Coffin , had been out since August 1811 and was on her return from whaling in the Pacific when captured . She had a cargo of 1200 barrels of sperm oil . Fate . " Mercury " was finally broken up at Woolwich in January 1814 .