HMS Adonis (1806)

HMS Adonis was the name vessel of her class of schooners of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. She was built at Bermuda using Bermudan cedar and completed in 1806. She had a relatively uneventful career, primarily on the Newfoundland station, before the Admiralty sold her in 1814.

Career
Adonis was commissioned in March 1806 under the command of Lieutenant John Manton. Her only capture occurred early in her career while she was in port at Portsmouth.

On 26 October 1806 Tsar Alexander I of Russia declared war on Great Britain. The official news did not arrive in the United Kingdom until 2 December, at which time the British declared an embargo on all Russian vessels in British ports. Adonis was one of some 70 vessels that shared in the seizure of the 44-gun Russian frigate Speshnoy, then in Portsmouth harbour. The British seized the Russian storeship Wilhelmina at the same time.

In 1807 Adonis was commissioned at Newfoundland under the command of Sub-Lieutenant J. White. Between 30 November 1807 and 30 January 1808 she was at Portsmouth undergoing conversion to a schooner. In November 1807 Lieutenant John M'Killop was in command. His replacement in March 1808 was Lieutenant William Gibbons. He sailed her for Newfoundland on 16 June and again in April 1809.

In 1810 her captain was Lieutenant David Buchan. In autumn 1810 he conducted an expedition to the River of Exploits. From there he and his men marched inland for 130 miles to establish contact with the dwindling native Beothuk population, one of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in the region. Unfortunately, the expedition resulted in the death and decapitation of two marines at their hands.

In 1813 Adonis and the frigate HMS Rosamond (1807) escorted the Newfoundland fishing fleet back to Britain. The voyage was stormy and the vessels separated near the English Channel. Adonis regained the convoy but as they approached the Scilly Islands they encountered a French fleet. Adonis was too small meaningfully to defend the convoy and in fact only escaped by jettisoning all her guns.

Fate
Adonis was placed in Ordinary at Portsmouth in 1814. (Buchan transferred to HMS Pike (1813) on 26 March 1814.) In September 1814 the Admiralty put Adonis up for sale at Portsmouth. She was sold there for £400 on 1 September 1814.