HMS Circe was a 28-gun Enterprise-class

Enterprise class frigate

The Enterprise-class frigates were the final class of 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth-rate to be produced for the Royal Navy. These twenty-seven vessels were designed in 1770 by John Williams. A first batch of five ships were ordered as part of the programme sparked by the Falklands Islands...

 sixth-rate

Sixth-rate

Sixth rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for small warships mounting between 20 and 24 nine-pounder guns on a single deck, sometimes with guns on the upper works and sometimes without.-Rating:...

 frigate of the 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...

. She was launched in 1785 but not completed or commissioned until 1790. She then served in the English Channel on the blockade of French ports before she was wrecked in 1803.

Career

The Circe was first commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 in September 1790 under the command of Captain George Oakes

George Oakes

George Washington Ochs Oakes was an American journalist. Born George Washington Ochs, he legally added the surname "Oakes" in 1915 out of outrage at the sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat.-Journalism career:Ochs was born to German-Jewish immigrants, Julius and Bertha Levy Ochs, in...

.

Joseph Sydney Yorke

Joseph Sydney Yorke

Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American Revolutionary, the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral.-Family and early life:...

 was promoted to post-captain

Post-Captain

Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...

 on 4 February 1793 and given command of Circe, then part of a squadron under Admiral Richard Howe

Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe

Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...

. He patrolled off the French port of Brest

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...

, and with captured the corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

 L'Espiegle. was pierced for 16 guns, and was manned with 100 men under the command of Mons. Pierre Biller, Enseign de Vaisseau. The Royal Navy took Espiegle into service under her existing name.

On 26 June 1799 Circe and 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 Courier

Hired armed cutter Courier

The Hired armed cutter Courier appears twice in the records of the Royal Navy. The size and armament suggests that both contracts may represent the same vessel...

 captured the Twee Gesisters. Then on 10 July Circe was a part of a small squadron consisting of , Espiegle, Courier and the hired armed cutter Nancy, all under the command of Captain R. Winthrop of Circe. The boats of the squadron rowed for 15 or 16 hours into the Watt at the back of Ameland

Ameland

Ameland is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes. It is the third major island of the West Frisians. It neighbours islands Terschelling to the West and Schiermonnikoog to the East...

. There they captured three merchant vessels carrying sugar, wine and brandy, and destroyed a galliot loaded with ordnance and stores.

Between 18 July and 1 August, Circe, Pylades, Espiegle, Courier, and Nancy captured Marguerita Sophia, Twee Gesister, Twee Gebroders, Twee Gebroders, Jussrow Maria Christina, Vrow Henterje Marguaritha, Stadt Oldenburg, Vrow Antje, Vrow Gesina, Endraght, and the Frederick.

Fate

On 16 November 1803, Circe, under Captain Charles Fielding, was sailing to return to her station on the blockade of France after gales had driven her into the North Sea. At 3pm she struck the Lemon and Ower sandback. Although she was able to get over the bank, she lost her rudder and her hull started to let in water. By 2am on 17 November she was able to anchor and daylight revealed that she was off the coast of Norfolk. Several fishing vessels came out of Yarmouth to help. She took the captains of two of them on board as pilots, and towing their boats, sailed for the port. However, the weather had not improved and, despite her crew's efforts at the pumps, the water in her kept rising. Fielding decided to abandon ship and at 7pm her crew transferred to the fishing vessels. The subsequent court martial blamed inaccuracies in Circes navigation charts for her loss.