HMS Euphrates (1813)

Plan of the Scamander-class frigates
History
United Kingdom
NameEuphrates
NamesakeEuphrates
Ordered12 October 1812
BuilderJohn King, Upnor
Laid downJanuary 1813
Launched8 November 1813
Completed24 September 1814
CommissionedAugust 1814
Out of service1817
FateSold 29 January 1818
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeFifth-rate Scamander-class frigate
Tons burthen943 (bm)
Length
  • 143 ft 3+12 in (43.7 m) (upper deck)
  • 120 ft 2+14 in (36.6 m) (keel)
Beam38 ft 5 in (11.7 m)
Draught
  • 8 ft 5 in (2.6 m) (forward)
  • 12 ft 8 in (3.9 m) (aft)
Depth of hold12 ft 4 in (3.8 m)
PropulsionSails
Complement284
Armament

HMS Euphrates was a 36-gun Scamander-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Constructed in response to the start of the War of 1812, Euphrates was commissioned in August 1814 under Captain Robert Foulis Preston. The frigate spent her wartime service in the English Channel and unsuccessfully hunting for American privateers off the Azores. Kept on in the post-Napoleonic Wars peace, the ship was sent to serve in the Mediterranean Fleet.

Euphrates was stationed at Corfu with orders to combat pirates, until Admiral Lord Exmouth arrived in the Mediterranean for operations against Algiers. Taken off her regular duties for this, Euphrates missed the Bombardment of Algiers when Preston chose not to pass on the despatch announcing Exmouth's arrival to his commanding officer, Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Penrose. Early in the following year the frigate was ordered home. Preston, whose mental health had been deteriorating, slit his throat after Euphrates had departed from Gibraltar, and died rabidly insane three days later. The frigate saw no more service after returning to England, and was sold in 1818.

  1. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 174.