HMS Emerald (1795)

HMS Emerald (1795)

HMS Emerald was a 36-gun, 18-pound, Amazon-class frigate built to William Rule’s design in 1794. She and her sister ship, Amazon, were ordered on 24 May 1794 and were built to the same dimensions. Emerald was one of several vessels sent to hunt down and capture the crippled Santisima Trinidad, which had escaped from the British at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. She served in the Caribbean throughout 1803 in Samuel Hood’s fleet, then took part in the invasion of St Lucia in July, and of Surinam the following spring. In April 1811, she began a long-running blockade of the Spanish port of Havana.

About HMS Emerald (1795) in brief

Summary HMS Emerald (1795)HMS Emerald was a 36-gun, 18-pound, Amazon-class frigate built to William Rule’s design in 1794. She and her sister ship, Amazon, were ordered on 24 May 1794 and were built to the same dimensions. Emerald was one of several vessels sent to hunt down and capture the crippled Santisima Trinidad, which had escaped from the British at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. She served in the Caribbean throughout 1803 in Samuel Hood’s fleet, then took part in the invasion of St Lucia in July, and of Surinam the following spring. In 1811 she sailed to Portsmouth where she was laid up in ordinary. Fitted out as a receiving ship in 1822, she was eventually broken up in January 1836. She was first commissioned in August 1795, under Captain Velters Cornewall Berkeley and in January 1797, she sailed for the Mediterranean. In May 1798 a storm separated her from Horatio Nelson’s squadron and she arrived in Aboukir Bay nine days too late. She later joined a fleet under Admiral James Gambier in 1809, and taking part inThe Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1800 off Cádiz. In April 1811, she began a long-running blockade of the Spanish port of Havana. On 26 April, while cruising in the company of the 74-gun Irresistible, Emerald helped to capture a 34-gun Spanish ship and destroy another Spanish vessel. Sent to investigate the previous night, she discovered the ships were the Santa Elena and Ninfa—the Spanish ships had been carrying silver cargo from Havana to Cá diz.

The ships were transferred to a fishing boat that had transferred their cargo to a previous night to a different port, but were close to a British vessel. The next day, the Spanish ships sailed from sight and eventually the British pursued the remainder of the fleet to the coast of Cádiza. The Battle of Cá diz was fought on 7 April 1800, when the British forced the Spanish to abandon their ships and abandon their cargo. The British were forced to abandon the attack and abandon the fleet. The Spanish ships were later found to have been carrying a cargo of silver and had been transferred to the fishing boat Ir resistible, which they had transferred to their previous fishing vessel, the Irresistibles. In the aftermath of the battle, the British were able to take back control of the port and blockade the Spanish coast. The battle was won by the British and they pursued the Spanish until the end of the war, when they were finally forced to retreat to the Cape St Vincent. In 1797 the British fleet and its prizes entered the bay to search for the disabled flagship, Santisima Trinidad. The frigates Emerald, Minerve and Niger, of 40 and 32 guns, respectively—to search for the disabled flagship. On 16 February, they anchored in nearby Lagos Bay with other vessels. They measured 933 ​67⁄94 tons burthen.