HMS Racer (1833)

Racer's sister ship HMS Sappho
History
United Kingdom
NameRacer
Ordered10 July 1832
BuilderPortsmouth Dockyard
Laid downSeptember 1832
Launched18 July 1833
Completed5 September 1833
Commissioned13 July 1833
Out of service8 March 1852
FateSold 17 September 1852
General characteristics
Class and typeRacer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen430 6394 (bm)
Length
  • 100 ft 8 in (30.7 m) (gundeck)
  • 78 ft 9+18 in (24 m) (keel)
Beam32 ft 4+34 in (9.9 m)
Draught
  • 7 ft 10 in (2.4 m) (forwards)
  • 12 ft 3 in (3.7 m) (aft)
Depth of hold14 ft 10+12 in (4.5 m)
Sail planBrig-sloop
Complement110
Armament2 × 12-pdr cannon; 14 × 32-pdr carronades

HMS Racer was a 16-gun Racer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1833 she served on the North America and West Indies Station where she was badly damaged by what became known as Racer's hurricane in 1837. After repair at Havana she returned to England where she was paid off. Racer was recommissioned later in 1838 and returned to North America where, in 1840, her commanding officer was drowned in an accident. She was refitted in 1842 and served on the South America Station and on anti-slavery patrols off West Africa. An 1848 refit reduced her to 12 guns and she afterwards served as a tender to HMS Caledonia and in the Mediterranean Sea. Racer was sold out of service in 1852.