Belisarius (1781 ship)

For other ships with the same name, see Belisarius (ship).

History
Naval Ensign of MassachusettsMassachusetts
NameBelisarius
NamesakeBelisarius
OwnerWilliam & John Shatttuck, Boston[1]
Launched1781
Captured7 August 1781
Great Britain
NameHMS Bellisarius
Acquired26 August 1781 by purchase of a prize
FateSold 2 December 1783
Great Britain
NameBellisarius
Acquired1783 by purchase
FateWrecked 2 September 1787
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen440,[3] or 48726⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • Overall: 118 ft 9 in (36.2 m)
  • Keel: 100 ft 8 in (30.7 m)
Beam30 ft 2 in (9.2 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 0 in (4.6 m)
Complement
  • Privateer: 147
  • Royal Navy: 140
Armament
  • Privateer: 20 × 9-pounder guns
  • Royal Navy: 20 × 9-pounder guns + 4 smaller

Belisarius was launched in Massachusetts in 1781. The British Royal Navy captured later that year and took her into service as HMS Bellisarius. She captured several American privateers, including one in a single ship action, before the Navy sold her in 1783. Her new owners sailed her as a merchantman between London and British Honduras. In 1787 she carried emigrants to Sierra Leone for the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, before returning to trading with Honduras. She was wrecked in September 1787.

  1. ^ Lincoln (1906).
  2. ^ Winfield (2007), 15660.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference LR1784 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).