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HMS Vestal (1779)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Vestal.
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Vestal
Ordered18 March 1778
BuilderRobert & John Batson, Limehouse
Laid down1 May 1778
Launched24 December 1779
Completed25 February 1780 (at Deptford Dockyard)
CommissionedNovember 1779
Honours and
awards		 Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"[1]
FateSold February 1816
General characteristics
Class and type28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate
Tons burthen601 35⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 120 ft 6 in (36.73 m) (overall)
  • 99 ft 6 in (30.33 m) (keel)
Beam33 ft 8+1⁄2 in (10.3 m)*
Depth of hold11 ft 0.5 in (3.366 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement200 officers and men
Armament
  • Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 18-pounder carronades
  • 12 × swivel guns

HMS Vestal was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

American Revolutionary War

Vestal was first commissioned in November 1779 under the command of Captain George Keppel.

On 3 September 1780, she captured the Mercury which was transporting Henry Laurens, the United States' minister to Holland.[2]

French Revolutionary Wars

She took part in the Action of 22 August 1795 between British and Dutch frigate squadrons off the Norwegian coast.

On 14 April 1797, Vestal, under the command of Captain White, captured the French privateer schooner Voltiguer, formerly the lugger Venguer, some seven leagues off Flamborough Head. Voltiguer was armed with eight 3-pounder guns and eight swivel guns, and had a crew of 40 men, 14 of whom were away on prizes. She was 12 days out of Calais and had captured a brig and two sloops. White took Voltiguer into the Humber.[3]

Because Vestal served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.[Note 1]

Notes and citations

Notes
  1. ^ A first-class share of the prize money awarded in April 1823 was worth £34 2s 4d; a fifth-class share, that of an able seaman, was worth 3s 11½d. The amount was small as the total had to be shared between 79 vessels and the entire army contingent.[4]
Citations
  1. ^ "No. 21077". The London Gazette. 15 March 1850.
  2. ^ Tuchman, Barbara. First Salute: A View of the American Revolution. Random House LLC.
  3. ^ "No. 14001". The London Gazette. 11 April 1797.
  4. ^ "No. 17915". The London Gazette. 3 April 1823.

References

  • Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9.
  • David Lyon, The Sailing Navy List, Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. ISBN 0-85177-617-5.
  • Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 to 1792, Seaforth Publishing, London 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.
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