HMS Sealark (1806)

HMS Sealark was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. She was built by William Wheaton at Brixham and launched in 1806.[1] Like many of her class and the related Ballahoo-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.

History
UK
Name:	HMS Sealark
Ordered:	11 December 1805
Builder:	William Wheaton, Brixham
Laid down:	February 1806
Launched:	1 August 1806
Fate:	Foundered 18 June 1809
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	Cuckoo-class schooner
Tonnage:	75 ​^68⁄94 (bm)
Length:	56 ft 4 in (17.2 m) (overall) 42 ft 4 ^1⁄4 in (12.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	18 ft 4 in (5.6 m)
Draught:	Unladen: 3 ft 10 in (1.2 m) Laden: 7 ft 8 in (2.3 m)
Depth of hold:	8 ft 6 in (2.6 m)
Sail plan:	Schooner
Complement:	20
Armament:	4 × 12-pounder carronades

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Sealark.

Service

She was commissioned in October 1806 under Lieutenant Thomas Banks for the North Sea. Sealark was at the surrender of the Danish Fleet after the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September. The prize money amounted to £3 8s for an ordinary seaman, or slightly over two months wages.[2] In 1809 she came under the command of Lieutenant James Procter.[1]

Fate

On 18 June 1809 she was sailing in company with Blake in the North Sea.[3] A heavy sea swamped her and she sank immediately. Only one member of her crew survived.[4] On 29 June 1809 The Times printed the following: "The Sealark schooner has been upset on the coast of Holland and all hands on board, excepting one man, unfortunately perished."[5]

Citations

1. Winfield (2008), p.361.
2. "No. 16275". The London Gazette. 11 July 1809. p. 1103.
3. Gossett (1986), p.72.
4. Hepper (1994), p.129.
5. Grocott (1997), p.279.

References

• Gossett, William Patrick (1986) The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. (London:Mansell). ISBN 0-7201-1816-6
• Grocott, Terence (1997) Shipwrecks of the revolutionary & Napoleonic eras (Chatham). ISBN 1-86176-030-2
• Hepper, David J. (1994) British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. (Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot). ISBN 0-948864-30-3
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.