HMS Briton (1812)

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

HMS Briton off Rio de Janeiro
History
RN EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Briton
OwnerRoyal Navy
Ordered28 September 1808
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Laid downFebruary 1810
Launched11 April 1812
FateBroken up 18 September 1860
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeLeda class Fifth-rate 44 gun frigate
Tons burthen1,07981⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • Overall; 149 ft 11 in (45.7 m)
  • Keel: 125 ft 3+3⁄4 in (38.2 m)
Beam40 ft 3 in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 8+1⁄2 in (3.9 m)
PropulsionSail
Sail planFully rigged
Complement284
Armament
  • Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns.
  • QD: 8 × 9-pounder guns + 6 × 32-pounder carronades.
  • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades.

HMS Briton was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy's Leda class. She was ordered on 28 September 1808 and her keel laid down at Chatham Dockyard in February 1810. Navy veteran Sir Thomas Staines was appointed her first captain on 7 May 1812 but did not join the ship until 17 June 1813 owing to his being at sea aboard HMS Hamadryad.[2] After a period of cruising in the Bay of Biscay, the vessel set sail for South America where during the course of several missions she unexpectedly encountered the last member of the crew that had seized HMS Bounty from its captain Lieutenant William Bligh during the 1789 mutiny aboard the ship. With the coming of the Pax Britannica in 1815, Briton undertook various voyages before she was broken up in 1860.

  1. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 166.
  2. ^ The Annual Biography and Obituary for the Year ..., Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1831, Volume 15 "Chapter X Sir Thomas Staines" pp. 348–374