&sq=&lang=&file=File:The_Argo_with_a_Russian_ship_passing_through_the_straits.jpg) Serapis' sister ship HMS Argo
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | HMS Serapis |
| Ordered | 13 July 1780 |
| Builder | James Martin Hillhouse |
| Cost | £21,746.9.3d |
| Laid down | May 1781 |
| Launched | 7 November 1782 |
| Completed | December 1782 |
| Fate | Sold |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Roebuck class Fifth-rate |
| Tons burthen | 886 46⁄94 (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 38 feet 0 inches (11.6 m) |
| Depth of hold | 16 feet 4+1⁄2 inches (5 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Fully-rigged ship |
| Complement | 300 |
| Armament |
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HMS Serapis was a fifth-rate ship of the Roebuck class designed by Sir Thomas Slade for use in the shallow coastal waters around North America. She was ordered for the Royal Navy in 1780, during the American Revolutionary War, and was 886 46⁄94 tons (bm) as built. When fully armed, she would have a battery of 20 × 18-pounder (8.2 kg) long guns on the lower deck and 22 × 12-pounder (5.4 kg) guns on the upper deck, but much of her service was as a transport or storeship, carrying only the 12-pounder guns on her upper deck.
Her first commission was brief, lasting from December 1782 to April 1783, and she did not serve again until the French Revolutionary War, when she was fitted as a storeship and sent to the West Indies. Following a spell in the Mediterranean, Serpais returned home with sick and injured on 24 May 1797, where she was immediately caught up in the fleet mutiny at the Nore. Unwilling participants, the crew slipped the anchor and drifted away undercover of darkness on 5 June.
In March 1804, Serapis was part of the invasion force that captured the Dutch colony of Surinam. In 1807, Serapis was in the Mediterranean. She sailed for the Cape in April 1808 but by 1809, she was back in the North Sea, and took part in the Walcheren expedition between 30 July and 16 August that year. Serapis made further trips to the Mediterranean and West Indies, serving as a convalescent ship in Jamaica and a prison hospital in Bermuda. She was sold in July 1826.