HMS Oberon (1805)

HMS Oberon (1805)
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Oberon
Ordered:	12 December 1804
Builder:	James Shepherd Shipyard, Kingston upon Hull
Laid down:	March 1805
Launched:	13 August 1805
Commissioned:	September 1805
Decommissioned:	1814
Fate:	Broken up, May 1816
General characteristics
Class & type:	16-gun brig-sloop
Tons burthen:	282 64⁄94 bm
Length:	93 ft 2 in (28.40 m) (overall) 75 ft 11 in (23.14 m) (keel)
Beam:	26 ft 5 1⁄2 in (8.065 m)
Depth of hold:	11 ft 11 1⁄2 in (3.645 m)
Armament:	14 × 24-pounder carronades (2 more added later) 2 × 6-pounder bow chasers

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Oberon.

HMS Oberon was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class built at Kingston upon Hull and launched in 1805. She was constructed at the James Shepheard Shipyard, Sutton.

Service

She was commissioned in September 1805 under her first commander, John Bushby. However from January 1806 she was under Commander George Manners Sutton off the Downs, in the North Sea. On 6 June 1806 she was in company with Earnest when they captured the Yonge Heinrick H.H. Berg, master.

On 13 November 1807 she gave chase to the French privateer lugger Ratifia, capturing her after four hours, some 30 miles east of Lowestoft. The Ratifia commanded by Lieutenant Gilbert Laforeste, had been carrying 14 guns, but at the time had only two mounted for action, the rest being in the hold. She had sailed on 9 November from Delfzijl, on the Ems but had not made any captures before being taken by the Oberon. Captain Sutton sailed her to the Yarmouth Roads and landed 38 prisoners. On 5 December 1808 Oberon recaptured the Prince of Wales. Sutton removed to Derwent in April 1810, and by May 1810 the Oberon was off the Downs again, commanded by John Murray. On 4 May Oberon was in company with the gun-brig Furious when she recaptured the Galen.

Oberon moved to Leith in 1812. On 23 October, Oberon, Clio and Chanticleer detained the Jonge Henrick. The next day, Clio and Oberon captured the Danish privateer Wegonsende. The same vessels were also involved in the capture of the privateer Stafeten on 24 December. Prize money for Wegonsende was paid in August 1816.

On 18 March 1813 Oberon sailed to search for two American schooners, suspected to be privateers, cruising between Shetland and Norway in the hope of intercepting British whalers returning from Greenland waters. Oberon met the Whitby whaler Esk on 20 March, but the Esk reported that she had not seen any suspicious vessels. Oberon continued cruising until Saturday 3 April, before entering the Sound at Lerwick at 10pm, where she again met the Esk, which was sheltering from storms and adverse winds.

In 1814 Oberon sailed to the Baltic.

Fate

Oberon paid off from service into ordinary in 1814 at Sheerness. She was first offered for sale on 9 February 1815, and then broken up there in May 1816.

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. 
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461. 
• HMS Oberon's career