HMS Pomona (1778)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Pomona and HMS Amphitrite.

Dismasting of Pomona and Ulysses in the Great Hurricane 6 October 1780
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Pomona
Ordered7 March 1777
BuilderThomas Raymond, Chapel, Southampton
Laid down8 May 1777
Launched22 September 1778
Completed17 December 1778 (at Portsmouth Dockyard)
CommissionedSeptember 1778
RenamedAmphitrite in 1795[1]
FateTaken to pieces at Portsmouth August 1811
General characteristics
Class and type28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate
Tons burthen59389⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 120 ft 8 in (36.78 m) (overall)
  • 99 ft 6 in (30.33 m) (keel)
Beam33 ft 6 in (10.2 m)
Depth of hold11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement200 officers and men
Armament
  • Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Also: 12 × swivel guns

HMS Pomona was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Pomona was first commissioned in September 1778 under the command of Captain William Waldegrave.

On 17 October 1779, Pomona, together with Lowestoffe, Charon, and Porcupine participated in the successful British attack on the Fort of San Fernandino de Omoa.[2] As a result of the battle the British ships captured two Spanish prizes with a cargo of bullion worth in excess of $3,000,000.[3] Pomona and Lowestoffe also shared in the prize money for the St. Domingo and her cargo, which included 124 serons (crates) of indigo.[4]

Then on 15 June 1780, Pomona, Phoenix and Lowestoffe captured the brig Delaware, William Collins, Master. She was of 120 tons, armed with guns and had a crew of 53 men. She was sailing from Philadelphia to Port au Prince, with a cargo of flour and fish.[5] More importantly, they also captured the French navy cutter Sans Pareil, of 16 guns and 100 men, as she was sailing from Martinique to Cap-Français. She was the former British privateer Non Such.[6]

In 1795 Pomona was renamed Amphitrite[1] after the previous Amphitrite was wrecked after striking an uncharted submerged rock whilst entering Leghorn harbour on 30 January 1794.

Sometime apx. early December, 1798 Amphitrite captured 2 French privateers, sending them into Barbados, and sank one.[7]

  1. ^ a b J. J. Colledge; Ben Warlow (2010). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy. Casemate Publishers. p. 312. ISBN 978-1-935149-07-1.
  2. ^ "No. 12040". The London Gazette. 14 December 1779. pp. 1–6.
  3. ^ Goodwin. Nelson's Ships. p. 60.
  4. ^ "No. 12314". The London Gazette. 16 July 1782. p. 3.
  5. ^ "No. 12199". The London Gazette. 16 June 1781. pp. 2–4.
  6. ^ Dermeiliac (1996), p.89, #591.
  7. ^ "Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France Volume 2 Part 1 of 3 Naval Operations November 1798 to March 1799" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 2 March 2024.