HMS Hussar (1799)

Painting of Hussar's sister ship HMS Amazon
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Hussar
Ordered15 February 1797
BuilderWoolwich Dockyard
Cost£29,884
Laid downAugust 1798
Launched1 June 1799
Completed11 November 1799
CommissionedNovember 1799
FateWrecked 8 February 1804
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeFifth-rate Amazon-class frigate
Tons burthen1,0428894 (bm)
Length
  • 150 ft 3 in (45.8 m) (upper deck)
  • 125 ft 8 in (38.3 m) (keel)
Beam39 ft 6 in (12 m)
Draught
  • 18 ft 1 in (5.5 m) (forward)
  • 19 ft 8 in (6 m) (aft)
Depth of hold13 ft (4 m)
PropulsionSails
Complement284 (later 300)
Armament
  • UD: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 12 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

HMS Hussar was a 38-gun fifth-rate Amazon-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched at the end of 1799, the entirety of the frigate's career was spent serving in the English Channel and off the coast of Spain. Hussar primarily served as a convoy escort and cruiser, in which occupation the frigate took several prizes, including the French privateer Le General Bessieres. Towards the end of 1803 Hussar was sent to serve in Sir Edward Pellew's Ferrol squadron. On 8 February 1804 Hussar was returning to England with dispatches when the ship was wrecked off the coast of Île de Sein. The crew attempted to sail for home in a fleet of commandeered boats, but the majority were forced to go into Brest to avoid sinking in bad weather, where they were made prisoners of war.

  1. ^ Winfield (2008), pp. 362–363.