Crocus-class brig-sloop

Class overview
Name:	Crocus-class brig-sloop
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1808 - 1825
Completed:	10
General characteristics
Type:	Brig-sloop
Tons burthen:	251 ^41⁄94 bm
Length:	92 ft (28.0 m) (gundeck) 72 ft 8 in (22.1 m) (keel)
Beam:	25 ft 6 in (7.8 m)
Depth of hold:	12 ft 8 in (3.9 m)
Sail plan:	Brig rigged
Complement:	86
Armament:	2 × 6-pounder bow chasers 12 × 24-pounder carronades

The Crocus-class brig-sloops were a class of sloop-of-war built for the Royal Navy, and were the only Royal Navy brig-sloops ever designed rated for 14 guns. The class was designed by the Surveyors of the Navy (Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow) jointly, and approved on 28 March 1807. Unlike the vast majority of other British brig-sloops built for the Royal Navy in this wartime period, which were built by contractors, construction of the Crocus class was confined to the Admiralty's own dockyards. One vessel was ordered from each of the Royal Dockyards (except Sheerness) on 30 March; four more were ordered in 1808 and a final unit in 1810. All the ships of the class survived the Napoleonic Wars and were broken up between 1815 and 1815.

Vessels

In the following table, the Crocus-class brig-sloops are listed in the order in which they were ordered.

Name	Builder	Launched	Fate
Podargus	Portsmouth Dockyard	26 May 1808	Sold for breaking 7 August 1833[1]
Crocus	Plymouth Dockyard	10 June 1808	Sold for breaking 31 August 1815[1]
Merope	Chatham Dockyard	25 June 1808	Sold for breaking 23 November 1815[1]
Apelles	Woolwich Dockyard	10 August 1808	Sold for breaking 15 February 1816[1]
Portia	Deptford Dockyard	30 August 1810	Sold for breaking 6 March 1817[1]
Prospero	Woolwich Dockyard	9 November 1809	Sold for breaking 30 May 1816[1]
Muros	Chatham Dockyard	23 October 1809	Sold for breaking 18 April 1822[1]
Zephyr	Portsmouth Dockyard	29 April 1809	Sold for breaking 29 January 1818[1]
Banterer	Woolwich Dockyard	2 June 1810	Sold for breaking 6 March 1817[1]
Wolf	Woolwich Dockyard	16 September 1814	Sold 27 January 1825.[1] Worked as a whaler in the Pacific Ocean, hit Wolf Rock and sank on 6 August 1837 off Lord Howe Island.[2]

References

1. Winfield (2004), p.73.
2. "The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 16 September 1837, p.2.". Retrieved 26 August 2010.

• British Warships in the Age of Sail, Rif Winfield, Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4
• Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.