View source for HMS Thames (1805)

{{Short description|Frigate of the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
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|Ship country=[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Thames''
|Ship ordered=1 May 1804
|Ship builder=[[Chatham Dockyard]] (Shipwright Robert Seppings)
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down=July 1804
|Ship launched=24 October 1805
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|Ship commissioned=November 1805
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|Ship in service=
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|Ship fate=Broken up October 1816
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption={{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=213}}
|Ship class=32-gun [[fifth rate]] {{sclass|Thames|frigate}}
|Ship tons burthen=661{{small|{{frac|27|94}}}} [[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]]
|Ship length=*{{convert|127|ft|1|in|m|abbr=on}} (overall)
* {{convert|107|ft|m|abbr=on}} (keel)
|Ship beam={{convert|34|ft|1|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship hold depth={{convert|11|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship complement=220
|Ship armament=*Upper deck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
* [[Quarterdeck|QD]]: 8 × 24-pounder [[carronade]]s
* [[Forecastle|Fc]]: 4 × 24-pounder carronades
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''HMS ''Thames''''' was a 32-gun [[fifth-rate]] {{sclass|Thames|frigate}} of the [[Royal Navy]], launched in 1805 at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]].

A wartime lack of building materials meant that ''Minerva'' and her class were built to the outdated 50-year-old design of the {{sclass|Richmond|frigate|4}}, and were thus smaller than many contemporary frigates.{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}}

==Service history==
''Thames'' was expected to be commissioned by Captain [[John Loring (Royal Navy officer, died 1808)|John Loring]] but a delay in such meant that ''Thames''{{'}}s first captain was actually Captain Bridges Taylor, who commissioned ''Thames'' in November 1805.<ref name="SoN Thames">Phillips, [http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=2222 ''Thames'' (32) (1805)]. Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 4 June 2021.</ref>{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}} On 9 July 1806, ''Thames'', ''Phoebe'' and ''Blanche''were directed towards Shetland to intercept French frigates that were menacing the fishing vessels.{{sfn|James|1902d|p=160}} ''Thames'' initially served on the [[Downs Station]] before briefly serving on the [[Jamaica Station (Royal Navy)|Jamaica Station]] and in the Mediterranean from 3 March 1807.{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}} In April 1808 ''Thames'' returned to Portsmouth where Captain [[Granville Waldegrave, 2nd Baron Radstock|George Waldegrave]] assumed command and then sailed again for the Mediterranean.<ref name="SoN Thames"/> On 27 July 1810 ''Thames'' was serving alongside the [[sloop]]s ''Pilot'' and [[HMS Weazel (1805)|HMS ''Weazel'']]; together they drove an enemy convoy ashore at [[Amantea]] and took six [[gunboat]]s, two large [[galley]]s, and twenty-eight transports with their subsequent landing parties.{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}}<ref name="SoN Thames"/> The destruction of the convoy halted [[Joachim Murat]]'s planned invasion of [[Sicily]].<ref name="SoN Thames"/> From June 1810 ''Thames'' served with the sloop ''Cephalus''; on 16 June a convoy the ships had been following was found beached at [[Cetraro]] and a landing party of 180 men burned the entire convoy.<ref name="SoN Thames"/> After this command of ''Thames'' transferred to Captain [[Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer)|Charles Napier]].{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}}

On 20 July 1811 ''Thames'' and ''Cephalus'' attacked and captured the fort at [[Marina di Camerota|Porto del Infrischi]] and in turn captured eleven gunboats, an armed [[felucca]], and fourteen merchant vessels.<ref name="SoN Thames"/> In September ''Thames'' came under the orders of Captain [[Henry Duncan (Royal Navy officer, born 1786)|Henry Duncan]] in [[HMS Imperieuse (1805)|HMS ''Imperieuse'']] and together they captured ten [[Naples|Neapolitan]] gunboats at [[Palinuro]] on 2 November.{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}} In the spring of 1812 Napier became the senior naval officer on the coast of [[Calabria]] and as such ''Thames'' and ''Pilot'' captured [[Sapri]] on 14 May after a two-hour bombardment, capturing twenty-nine merchant vessels.<ref name="SoN Thames"/> In February 1813 it was found that the island of [[Ponza]] was a hub for enemy privateers and so on 16 February ''Thames'' and the frigate [[HMS Furieuse (1809)|HMS ''Furieuse'']] embarked two battalions of soldiers and landed them under fire at Ponza on 26 February.<ref name="SoN Thames"/>{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}} With support from the frigates the soldiers took the heights of the island, inducing its governor to surrender.<ref name="SoN Thames"/>

In April Captain [[John Purvis (Royal Navy officer)|John Purvis]] replaced Napier in command, taking ''Thames'' to [[Sheerness Dockyard|Sheerness]] where she was refitted as a [[troopship]] between August 1813 and January 1814 to serve on the [[North America and West Indies Station|North America Station]] under the command of Commander [[Kenelm Somerville, 17th Lord Somerville|Kenelm Somerville]].{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}}<ref name="SoN Thames"/> In August 1814 ''Thames'', now under Commander [[Charles Leonard Irby]], participated in the expedition up the [[Patuxent River]] to attack the [[Chesapeake Bay Flotilla]], which resulted in the [[burning of Washington]].{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}}<ref name="SoN Thames"/> Under the rules of prize-money, ''Thames'' shared in the proceeds of the capture of the American vessels in the [[Battle of Lake Borgne]] on 14 December 1814.{{efn|A first-class share of the prize money was worth [[£sd|£]]34 12[[Shilling|s]] {{frac|9|1|4}}[[pence|d]]; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 7s {{frac|10|3|4}}d.<ref>{{London Gazette|page=1561|issue=17730|date=28 July 1821}}</ref>}}{{efn|'Notice is hereby given to the officers and companies of His Majesty's ships {{HMS |Aetna|1803|2}}, {{HMS |Alceste |1806|2}}, {{HMS |Anaconda |1813|2}}, [[French frigate Armide (1804)|''Armide'']], {{HMS |Asia |1811|2}}, {{HMS |Bedford |1775|2}}, {{HMS |Belle Poule |1806|2}}, {{HMS |Borer |1812|2}}, {{HMS|Bucephalus|1808|2}}, {{HMS |Calliope |1808|2}}, {{HMS |Carron |1813|2}}, {{HMS |Cydnus|1813|2}}, 
{{HMS |Dictator |1783|2}}, {{HMS|Diomede|1798|2}}, {{HMS |Dover |1811|2}}, {{HMS |Fox |1780|2}}, 
{{HMS |Gorgon |1785|2}}, ''Herald'', {{HMS |Hydra |1797|2}}, [[HMS Starr (1805)|''Meteor'']], {{HMS|Norge |1807 |2}}, {{HMS|Nymphe |1812|2}}, {{HMS|Pigmy |1810|2}}, {{HMS |Ramillies  |1785|2}}, 
{{HMS |Royal Oak |1809|2}}, {{HMS |Seahorse |1794 |2}}, {{HMS |Shelburne |1813|2}}, {{HMS |Sophie |1809|2}}, {{HMS|Thames|1805|2}}, {{HMS |Thistle |1812|2}}, {{HMS |Tonnant |1798|2}}, [[French frigate Trave (1812)|''Trave'']], {{HMS |Volcano |1804|2}}, and [[French frigate Weser (1812)|''Weser'']], that they will be paid their respective proportions of prize money.'
}} In May 1815 ''Thames'' returned to England under the command of Commander William Walpole and was [[Ship breaking|broken up]] at Plymouth in October 1816.{{sfn|Winfield|2008|p=212}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book|last=James |first=William |year=1902d |orig-year=1837  |title=The naval history of Great Britain (1805–1809) |edition=New six volume  |volume=4 |location=London |publisher=Macmillan  |url=https://archive.org/details/navalhistoryofgr04jameuoft/page/n7/mode/2up}} 
* {{cite book|ref=none|last=James |first=William |year=1902 |orig-year=1837 |title=The naval history of Great Britain (1809–1813) |edition=New six volume  |volume=5 |location=London |publisher=Macmillan  |url=https://archive.org/details/navalhistoryofgr05jameuoft/page/n7/mode/2up}} 
* {{cite book|ref=none|last=James |first=William |year=1902 |orig-year=1837 |title=The naval history of Great Britain (1813–1827) |edition=New six volume  |volume=6 |location=London |publisher=Macmillan  |url=https://archive.org/details/navalhistoryofgr06jameuoft/page/n7/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |first=Rif|last=Winfield|title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|location=Barnsley |publisher=Seaforth Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84415-717-4}}

==External links==
* [http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~pbtyc/genealogy/18-1900/T/04636.html Compilation of newspaper entries for HMS Thames by the late Paul Benyon]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thames (1805)}}
[[Category:Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:1805 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in England]]
[[Category:War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom]]