Cormorant-class ship-sloop


The Cormorant class were built as a class of 16-gun ship sloops for the Royal Navy, although they were re-rated as 18-gun ships soon after completion.

Design

The two Surveyors of the Navy – Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow – jointly designed the class. A notation on the back of the plans held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, states that the designers based their plan on the lines of the captured French sloop Amazon, captured in 1745.
The Admiralty ordered six vessels to this design in February 1793; it ordered a seventh vessel in the following year. These ships were initially armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns, later supplemented with eight 12-pounder carronades. The 6-pounder guns were eventually replaced by 24-pounder carronades.
Twenty-four more were ordered to the same design in 1805 – 1806, although in this new batch 32-pounder carronades were fitted instead of the 6-pounder guns originally mounted in the earlier batch; the 12-pounder carronades were replaced by 18-pounders, and some ships also received two 6-pounders as chase guns on the forecastle.
Of this second batch one ship was cancelled and another completed to a slightly lengthened variant of the design.

Ships

Batch 1 (with 6-pounder guns)

NameOrderedBuilderLaunchedFate
18 February 1793Randall & Brent, Rotherhithe2 January 1794Blew up by accident on 24 December 1796
18 February 1793Randall & Brent, Rotherhithe1 February 1794Captured by the French 6 January 1806; retaken 27 January 1807 and renamed Goree; broken up in 1817,
18 February 1793Marmaduke Stalkart, Rotherhithe3 February 1794Sold on 30 October 1817

18 February 1793William Cleverly, Gravesend14 February 1794Sold on 28 April 1813
18 February 1793Thomas Pitcher, Northfleet15 February 1794Foundered on 3 August 1809
18 February 1793Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury3 March 1794Sold on 30 October 1817
6 November 1794Deptford Royal Dockyard29 November 1794Sold on 30 May 1816

NameOrderedBuilderLaunchedFate
12 July 1805John Preston, Great Yarmouth30 August 1806Broken up in December 1820
12 July 1805Robert Adams, Chapel, Southampton1 September 1806Sold on 18 April 1816
12 July 1805Carver & Corney, Littlehampton27 December 1806Broken up in September 1817
12 July 1805Plymouth Royal Dockyard
1 May 1813Foundered with all hands on 28 February 1814
4 October 1805Simon Temple, South Shields27 January 1807Sold on 14 December 1815
19 October 1805Thomas Owen, Topsham22 April 1806Sold on 20 August 1818
19 October 1805Richard Chapman, Bideford2 October 1807Broken up in June 1818
19 October 1805George Crocker, Bideford30 October 1807Broken up in May 1819
19 October 1805John Preston, Great Yarmouth30 March 1808Convict prison ship in 1819; sold in August 1838
19 October 1805John Cock, Dartmouth
21 April 1810Sold 6 March 1817
19 October 1805John Cock, Dartmouth
3 July 1809Sold 8 July 1817
19 November 1805John King, Dover27 December 1806Sold on 13 January 1820
19 November 1805Nicholas Bools & William Good, Bridport25 March 1807Sold 6 March 1817
19 November 1805James Betts, Mistleythorn29 September 1806Sold 6 March 1817; became a whaling ship and then merchantman on the North Atlantic before her crew abandoned her in October 1827 as she was in a sinking state.
19 November 1805Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury11 November 1806Sold 18 April 1822
19 November 1805Robert Guillaume, Northam, Southampton10 December 1806Broken up in August 1848
19 November 1805John Avery, Dartmouth15 July 1809Broken up in September 1816
19 November 1805Nicholas Bools & William Good, Bridport31 October 1807Receiving ship at Devonport from 1825; broken up 1864
30 November 1805Jabez Bayley, Ipswich13 September 1806Broken up in February 1821
30 November 1805Thomas Iremonger, Littlehampton10 January 1807Wrecked off Newfoundland 5 November 1813

30 November 1805Richard Thorne, Fremington, Barnstaple5 September 1807Broken up in February 1814.
15 January 1806Plymouth Royal Dockyard13 July 1809Sold 8 March 1819
Serpent15 January 1806Sheerness Royal Dockyardnot laid downCancelled 8 September 1810
25 March 1806Deptford Royal Dockyard20 December 1808Sold for breaking on 27 January 1825