HMS Electra (1806)

HMS Electra was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in 1806. She wrecked off Port Augusta, Sicily, on 25 March 1808. The Navy was able to salve her, but then had her broken up at Malta later that year.

Career
Commander George Trollope commissioned Electra in March 1806, for the North Sea. He then sailed her for the Mediterranean on on 15 November 1807.

On 17 February 1808, Major General J.C. Sherbrooke ordered the evacuation of the British troops at the castle of Scylla (Scilla, Calabria). Trollope commanded the boats that brought out the troops. British casualties were light.

Fate
Electra was returning to Port Augusta with payroll for the troops on Sicily. As she was working her way into the bay at 8a.m. she hit the outer edge of a reef. By mid-afternoon all efforts to save her had failed and she was awash. The decision was made to abandon her. The subsequent court martial faulted Trollope for having tried to enter an unfamiliar port without calling for a pilot and for failing to use a lead. The court martial ordered that Trollope be put at the bottom of the list of Commanders. The court martial also reprimanded Lieutenant Richard Connelly for having left the deck while Electra was on the reef.