HMS Pilchard (1805)

HMS Pilchard was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Samuel Crew in May 1804, launched in 1805, and completed at Plymouth in 1806. Although Pilchard was often near naval engagements, she seems not to have had to fire her cannons before she was laid up in 1812. Entries in Lloyd's Register indicate that she continued in mercantile trade from at least 1817 until 1833, under a variety of owners and masters, and as far afield as Africa and Valparaiso.

Service
Pilchard arrived in Plymouth in November 1805. She had left Newfoundland on 26 September with a fleet for Portugal. On 18 November she had left 18 merchantmen off Oporto, two of which sailed on to Viana. On 16 July 1806 she was in Sir Samuel Hood's squadron off Rochefort when the boats from that squadron captured the 16-gun brig Caesar.

She was apparently still part of the squadron at the Action of 25 September 1806 though she took no part in the engagement. The action resulted in the capture of four French frigates, Armide, Gloire, Infatigable and Minerve.

On 26 October Pilchard was in sight of the gun brig Rapid as she captured the brig Conductor.

In 1807 Lieutenant Clement Ives took command, only to be replaced the next year by the returning Lieutenant Crew. Pilchard was in the North Sea in 1809. Lieutenant William R. Dore took command that year. On 23 March Dore and Pilchard captured the chasse maree Fannie. In March or April, Pilchard captured the Fame, which had sailed from Rochefort carrying wine, and sent her into Plymouth.

Pilchard and her sister schooner Porgey and half-sister schooner Cuckoo were at the unsuccessful Walcheren Expedition, which took place between 30 July and 9 August 1809.

Lieutenant William Hewitt (or Hewett) replaced Dore in 1810.

From 1812 Pilchard was in ordinary at Sheerness. She was sold there on 23 February 1813. The sale may have fallen through though as the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy advertised her for sale at Sheerness on 3 February 1814. She was eventually sold though.

Mercantile service
Pilchard, Williams, master, was condemned at Sierra Leone on 6 January 1817 for having 200 barrels of gunpowder on board. However, entries in Lloyd's Register for the Bermuda-built schooner Pilchard, 79 tons (bm) indicate that she continued to trade until 1833, under a variety of owners and masters, and as far afield as Africa and Valparaiso.