HMS Wagtail (1806)

HMS Wagtail was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner launched in 1806 by James Lovewell at Great Yarmouth.[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 Wagtail
Ordered:	11 December 1805
Builder:	James Lovewell, Great Yarmouth
Laid down:	February 1806
Launched:	12 April 1806
Fate:	Wrecked 13 February 1807
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	Cuckoo-class schooner
Tonnage:	75​^1⁄94 (bm)
Length:	56 ft 4 in (17.2 m) (overall) 42 ft 4 ^1⁄8 in (12.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	18 ft 3 in (5.6 m)
Draught:	Unladen: 5 ft 1 ^1⁄2 in (1.6 m) Laden: 7 ft 6 ^1⁄2 in (2.3 m)
Depth of hold:	8 ft 5 in (2.6 m)
Sail plan:	Schooner
Complement:	20
Armament:	4 x 12-pounder carronades

She was commissioned in 1806 under Lieutenant William Cullis.[1] She was wrecked on 13 February 1807 at Vila Franca do Campo, São Miguel in the Azores, three hours after her sister ship Woodcock was wrecked, and near Woodcock's water-logged remains.[2] Both vessels had been anchored in the shelter of an islet off the town when a gale came up. Because of the storm they were unable to clear the land.[2]

Wagtail's cables held until 8pm. Then her cables parted, and with waves breaking over her, Cullis ran her ashore. One man of the 18 men in her crew drowned.[3]

Citations and references

Citations

1. Winfield (2008), p. 361.
2. Gosset (1986), pp. 56-7.
3. Hepper (1994), p. 117.

References

• Gosset, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. Mansell. ISBN 0-7201-1816-6.
• 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.