HMS Eclipse (1807)

HMS Eclipse was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1807. She served off Portugal and then in the Indian Ocean at the capture of the Île de France. Shortly thereafter she captured Tamatave. She was sold for mercantile service in 1815.

Service
Eclipse entered service in September 1807 under Commander John Douglas. In December Captain George A. Creyke took command immediately sailed her for the Portuguese coast on 2 January 1808,. There Eclipse observed the seizure of Oporto by the French and the subsequent uprising that led to the First Battle of Oporto. Creyke rescued several of the French administrators from death at the hands of the populace by taking the administrators prisoner. He also mounted cannon on a Brazilian ship in the harbour to create a floating battery, under a British officer, to defend a bridge, should the French advance.

On 26 February 1808 Eclipse was in company with HMS Blossom (1806) when they captured the Sally and Hetty, William Fleming, Master. Then on 3 March Eclipse sailed for the Leeward Islands. On 7 March HMS Nymphe (1780), with Eclipse and Blossom in company, captured the Hetty.

On 29 May 1808 she captured the American ship Romeo. It is not clear on what grounds she seized the American vessel, but prize money was awarded.

On 6 February 1810 she recaptured Unanimity. That same day, she and HMS Dryad (1795) also recaptured Dobridge and Hercules.

Command then passed to George Henderson who sailed Eclipse to the Indian Ocean, leaving on 16 June. There she joined the squadron that successfully prepared and launched the Invasion of Île de France in December 1810. Henderson was subsequently promoted to command the frigate Nereide, and Eclipse remained in the Indian Ocean. From December on she was under the command of Commander Henry Lynne.

On 18 February 1811 Eclipse, with a detachment of British troops of the 22nd Regiment and Bourbon rifle corps, took first Tamatave and then Foule Point, the last French settlements on the east coast of Madagascar. Somewhere around this time she reportedly captured a French letter of marque brig with dispatches. In 1811 she also captured the Maria Louisa, and recaptured the Donna Emilia, with HMS Racehorse (1806) in company.

By March Eclipse was under the command of Commander W. Steed. By agreement, Eclipse and Nisus shared in the prize money for the capture of the Renommée on 20 May 1811 at the Battle of Tamatave, and one week later of the Néréide.

On 5 January 1812 Eclipse, again with Racehorse in company, took the lugger Eliza with 145 slaves, which she sent to the Cape of Good Hope.

On 9 September 1812 Eclipse arrived in Portsmouth from the Cape of Good Hope. She sailed for the Leeward Islands on 6 February 1813.

Eclipse was in company with HMS Swaggerer (1809) when, on 13 March 1814, they captured the brigantine Admiral Martin, which they sent in to Antigua.

Fate
In 1815 Eclipse was laid up at Woolwich. On 24 January the Admiralty offered her for sale and on 31 August she was sold there for ₤1,400 for mercantile use.