Active (right) engaging the Spanish frigate Hermione (centre) in 1762: sketch by Richard Wright
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History | |
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Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Active |
Ordered | 6 May 1757 |
Builder | Thomas Stanton, Rotherhithe |
Laid down | 13 June 1757 |
Launched | 11 January 1758 |
Completed | 2 March 1758 at Deptford Dockyard |
Commissioned | January 1758 |
Fate | Taken by the French off San Domingo 1 September 1778 |
France | |
Name | Active |
Acquired | 1778 by capture |
Fate | Broken up 1795 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate |
Displacement | 850 tons (French) |
Tons burthen | 594 87⁄94 bm |
Length |
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Beam | 33 ft 10+1⁄2 in (10.3 m) |
Depth of hold | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement |
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Armament |
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HMS Active was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1758. She was one of the captors of the Spanish ship Hermione. After Hermione surrendered, her captors found that she carried a large cargo of gold and silver that would lead to the greatest single amount of prize money awarded to the crew of a British warship.
On 1 September 1778 the French frigates Charmante and Dédaigneuse[2] captured Active after a storm had dismasted her. The French Navy took Active into service under her existing name. She was broken up in 1795.