HMS Doris (1808)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Doris
Ordered:	5 June 1803
Builder:	Bombay Dockyard
Laid down:	25 April 1806
Launched:	24 March 1807
Renamed:	Launched as Salsette Renamed Pitt on 26 August 1807 Renamed HMS Doris on 3 April 1808
Fate:	Sold in April 1829.
General characteristics
Class and type:	36-gun fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen:	870 (bm)
Length:	137 ft (42 m)
Beam:	38 ft (12 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	260
Armament:	Original Upper gundeck (UD): 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 8 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns By 1815 UD: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 x 32-pounder carronades

HMS Doris was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served between 1808 and 1829. She was the second ship of the Royal Navy to be named after the mythical Greek sea nymphe Doris.

Doris was built for the Royal Navy in the East India Company Dockyard in Bombay in 1807. She was launched as Salsette, and was renamed locally as Pitt later that year. However because the Royal Navy already had an HMS Pitt in service, the Admiralty renamed her again as HMS ''Doris''.

HMS Doris initially saw service in the Malacca Straits and the South China Sea, and was involved in the Mauritius campaign of 1810, and the invasion of Java in 1811.^{[Note 1]}

Put in reserve in 1815, she was recommissioned in 1821 and served two tours of duty on the South America station during the Chilean and Brazilian wars of independence and the Brazil-Argentine war 1826-8.^[3]

During her 21 years in the Royal Navy she had eight captains. One of them was Barrington Reynolds, who commanded her for a short period in 1812, between his commands of HMS Sir Francis Drake and HMS Bucephalus. Another was Thomas Graham, who died en route to Chile in 1822, with his wife, the travel writer Maria Graham, on board.

By the late 1820s, decayed timbers in her bow made her unfit for further service, and she was sold at Valparaiso in April 1829.^[4]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

1. The Admiral's share of the prize money for the capture of Île de France was £2650 5s 2d. A first-class share was worth £278 19s 5¾d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £3 7s 6¼d.^[1] A fourth and final payment was made in July 1828. A first-class share was worth £29 19s 5¼d; a sixth-class share was worth 8s 2½d. This time, Bertie received £314 14s 3½d.^[2]

Citations

1. The London Gazette: no. 16938. p. 1923. 24 September 1814.
2. The London Gazette: no. 18487. pp. 1376–1377. 15 July 1828.
3. Vale, Brian, (2001) A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-war. (I B Tauris). ISBN
4. Vale, Brian, (2001) A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-war. (I B Tauris). ISBN

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif (2004) The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. (Chatham). ISBN 1-86176-032-9

External links

• Ships of the Old Navy