HMS Speedy (1782)

HMS Speedy falling in with the wreck of HMS Queen Charlotte, 21 March 1800
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Speedy
Ordered23 March 1781
BuilderThomas King, Dover, Kent
Cost£4,200.7s.3d
Laid downJune 1781
Launched29 June 1782
CompletedBy 25 October 1782
CapturedBy the French on 9 June 1794
France
NameSpeedy
Acquired9 June 1794
Captured25 March 1795, by the Royal Navy
Great Britain
NameHMS Speedy
AcquiredRetaken on 25 March 1795
CapturedBy the French on 3 July 1801
France
NameSaint Paul
Acquired3 July 1801
Out of serviceDonated to the Papal Navy in December 1802
Papal States
NameSan Paolo
AcquiredDecember 1802
FateStruck c.1806
General characteristics
Class and type14-gun Speedy-class brig
Tons burthen2072194 (bm)
Length
  • 78 ft 3 in (23.9 m) (overall)
  • 59 ft 0+12 in (18.0 m) (keel)
Beam25 ft 9 in (7.8 m)
Depth of hold10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planbrig
Complement90
Armament14 × 4-pounder guns + 12 × 12-pounder swivel guns

HMS Speedy was a 14-gun Speedy-class brig of the British Royal Navy. Built during the last years of the American War of Independence, she served with distinction during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Built at Dover, Kent, Speedy spent most of the interwar years serving off the British coast. Transferred to the Mediterranean after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, she spent the rest of her career there under a number of notable commanders, winning fame for herself in various engagements and often against heavy odds. Her first commander in the Mediterranean, Charles Cunningham, served with distinction with several squadrons, assisting in the capture of several war prizes, such as the French frigates Modeste and Impérieuse. His successor, George Cockburn, impressed his superiors with his dogged devotion to duty. Speedy's next commander, George Eyre, had the misfortune to lose her to a superior French force on 9 June 1794.

She was soon retaken, and re-entered service under Hugh Downman, who captured a number of privateers between 1795 and 1799 and fought off an attack by the large French privateer Papillon on 3 February 1798. His successor, Jahleel Brenton, fought a number of actions against Spanish forces off Gibraltar. Her last captain, Lord Cochrane, forced the surrender of the much larger Spanish frigate El Gamo. A powerful French squadron captured her again in 1801 and Napoleon donated her to the Papal Navy the following year. She spent five years with the Papal Navy under the name San Paolo; she was struck around 1806.