HMS Capelin was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 Ballahoo-class schooner

Ballahoo class schooner

The Ballahoo class was a Royal Navy class of eighteen 4-gun schooners built under contract in Bermuda during the Napoleonic War. The class was an attempt by the Admiralty to harness the expertise of Bermudian shipbuilders who were renowned for their fast-sailing craft...

 of 4 12-pounder carronade

Carronade

The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, and she was launched in 1804. Like many of her class and the related Cuckoo-class schooner

Cuckoo class schooner

The Cuckoo class was a class of twelve 4-gun schooners of the Royal Navy, built by contract in English shipyards during the Napoleonic War. They followed the design of the Bermuda-designed and built Ballahoo-class schooners, and more particularly, that of Haddock. The Admiralty ordered all twelve...

s, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.

Career

In May 1804 she was commissioned under Lieutenant Archibald McDonald (or M'Donald; acting) for the Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

 station. On 20 December 1806 he faced a court martial for his conduct after Capelin had run aground while under his command. The court decided that the charge was partly proven and so reprimanded him. It also ruled that he forfeit all seniority on the lieutenants' list. Still, McDonald was promoted to lieutenant on 22 December 1806 and commanded Capelin until February 1807. At some point, possibly in 1806, Lieutenant J. Beckett may have commanded her for a short period.

In 1807 Capelin was off Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

 and under Lieutenant Thomas Delafons. Lieutenant Josias Bray replaced him and took command on 13 January 1808.

Fate

On 25 January Capelin was in company with Champion and Sybille when Sybille captured the Grand Argus. Capellin was reconnoitering the harbour at Brest, France

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 when she hit the sunken Parquette Rock at 7am on 30 June. , the hired armed

Hired armed vessels

right|thumb|250px|Armed cutter, etching in the [[National Maritime Museum]], [[Greenwich]]During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy made use of a considerable number of hired armed vessels...

 cutter Adrian and the cutter all tried to get her off. However, no sooner had Entreprenante succeeded than water gushed in, causing Capelin to sink quickly, stern first. The vessels in attendance saved her crew. The subsequent court martial for the loss of Capelin reprimanded Bray for not being on deck when she approached the harbour. The court martial board also reprimanded Gunner's Mate Thomas Cole, who had been in charge of the watch, for not calling Bray when the haze had caused him to lose sight of the light at Pointe de Sainte Matthieu

Pointe Saint-Mathieu

The pointe Saint-Mathieu is a headland located near Le Conquet in the territory of the commune of Plougonvelin in France, flanked by 20m high cliffs.-Village:...

.