HMS Castor (1785)

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

Print by Thomas Whitcombe depicting HMS Carysfort retaking Castor from the French on 29 May 1794
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Castor
Ordered30 January 1782
BuilderJoseph Graham, Harwich
Laid downJanuary 1783
Launched26 May 1785
Completed11 July 1786
FateSold on 22 July 1819
General characteristics
Class and type32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen680 (bm)
Length
  • 126 ft (38.4 m) (overall)
  • 104 ft (31.7 m) (keel)
Beam35 ft 1 in (10.7 m)
Draught9 ft (2.74 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 2 in (3.71 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement220
Armament
  • As built:
  • UD: 26 × 12-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 18-pounder carronades
  • After 1809:
  • UD: 22 × 32-pounder carronades
  • QD: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

HMS Castor was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The French briefly captured her during the Atlantic Campaign of May 1794 but she spent just 20 days in French hands as a British ship retook her before her prize crew could reach a French port. Castor eventually saw service in many of the theatres of the wars, spending time in the waters off the British Isles, in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, as well as the Caribbean.