HMS Pyramus (1810)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Pyramus.

HMS Pyramus was a fifth-rate 36-gun frigate launched at Portsmouth in 1810. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured some small privateers. She was hulked in 1832–1833 at Halifax, Nova Scotia. The vessel was sold and broken up in 1879.

HMS Pyramus at Portsmouth Dockyard on 6 September 1825, drawn by John Christian Schetky
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Pyramus
Ordered	Initially:29 June 1805 Re-order:May 1808
Builder	Charles Greenword and Thomas Kidwell, Itchenor Re-order:Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down	Initially:April 1806 Re-order:November 1808
Launched	22 January 1810
Fate	Sold for breaking up in September 1879
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen	92020⁄94 (bm)
Length	Gundeck: 141 ft 1 in (43.00 m) Keel: 117 ft 2+5⁄8 in (35.728 m)
Beam	38 ft 5 in (11.71 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 0 in (3.66 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	264
Armament	Upper deck:26 × 18-pounder guns QD:2 × 9-pounder gun + 10 × 32-pounder carronades Fc:2 × 9-pounder gun + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

Origin

Pyramus was the sole member of her class and was built on the lines of the French frigate Belle Poule, which the Royal Navy captured in 1780. She was ordered in 1805 and laid down the next year, but in 1807 the builder failed. The Admiralty transferred the frame to the Portsmouth Dockyard. The Admiralty reordered her and she was launched in 1810.^[1]

Career

On 26 October 1813, Hotspur and Pyramus captured the 225 ton (bm) American letter of marque Chesapeake off Nantes. Captain Joseph Richardson had sailed her from America to France and she left Nantes on 18 October 1813.^[2][a]

On 29 November Pyramus captured the American vessel Zephyr, Jedediah Olcott, master, of four guns and 20 men. Zephyr had been sailing from Lorient to Charlestown.^[4]

Pyramus was laid up in 1829. Between November 1832 and July 1833 she underwent fitting for a convict and receiving ship for Halifax, Nova Scotia. From 1834 to 1875 she was at Halifax.^[1] She served as a hospital ship during the Chorea Epidemic.^[5]

Fate

On 10 November 1879 she was sold for £1,600 for breaking up.^[1]

Notes

1. She had been commissioned at Baltimore on 7 July 1813. She had a crew of 33 and was armed with one 18-pounder gun and four 12-pounder carronades.^[3]