HMS Lark (1762)

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

History
Great Britain
NameHMS Lark
Ordered24 March 1761
BuilderElias Bird, Rotherhithe
Laid down5 May 1761
Launched10 May 1762
Completed9 July 1762 at Deptford Dockyard
CommissionedMay 1762
FateBurnt to avoid capture at Newport, Rhode Island, 5 August 1778
General characteristics
Class and typeRichmond-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen680 61⁄94 bm
Length
  • 127 ft 2 in (38.76 m) (gundeck)
  • 108 ft 0+3⁄8 in (32.928 m) (keel)
Beam34 ft 5 in (10.49 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 0+1⁄2 in (3.670 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement210 officers and men
Armament
  • Upperdeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns
  • Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns
Lark and Cerberus wreck map

HMS Lark was a 32-gun Richmond-class frigate fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1762[1] and destroyed in Narragansett Bay in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War.[2]

On 11 January 1778, under command of Captain Richard Smith, she chased ashore a vessel, probably schooner Sally, near the Providence River and burned it.[3] Between 29 May and 18 July, the British captured a number of vessels: the sloops Sally and Fancy, snow Baron D'Ozell, Olive Branch, sloop Betsey, and schooner Sally. Lark shared the prize money with Kingfisher, Hope, Sphinx, and the Pigot galley.[4]

French Admiral d'Estaing's squadron arrived in Narragansett Bay on 29 July 1778 to support the American army under General George Washington during the battle of Rhode Island. On 30 July, four French ships of the line entered Narrangansett Bay and positioned themselves north of Conanicut Island to support the American and French forces in the battle of Rhode Island.[5] The arrival of the French vessels trapped several British vessels, Lark among them. On 5 August 1778, as Lark lay off Newport, Captain Richard Smith had her set on fire and her cables cut. She then drifted on to shore.[6] The Royal Navy ended up having to destroy ten of their own vessels in all.[6]

The remains of Lark are now part of a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the "Wreck Sites of HMS Cerberus and HMS Lark."

  1. ^ "Archaeological Sites Under Investigation at AUVfest 2008". Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
  2. ^ Marx, Robert F. (1987). Shipwrecks in the Americas. Dover Publications. p. 152. ISBN 0-486-25514-X.
  3. ^ "Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 11 AMERICAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 EUROPEAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  4. ^ "No. 12460". The London Gazette. 22 July 1783. p. 4.
  5. ^ "No. 11921". The London Gazette. 24 October 1778. p. 1.
  6. ^ a b Hepper (1994), p. 52.