HMS Elk was a Cruizer-class

Cruizer class brig-sloop

The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging...

 brig-sloop launched in 1804 and broken up in 1812. She served on the Jamaica station where she captured a number of privateers.

Service

Elk was commissioned in September 1804 under Commander William Woolridge. Then in November Commander Randall McDonnell took over command and sailed her for Jamaica on 20 January 1805.

In October Commander James Dacres assumed command until he was made 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:...

 in Bachante on 14 January 1806. His replacement was his cousin, Commander William Furlong Wise in January 1806.

On 5 May Elk captured a privateer rowboat armed with a swivel gun

Swivel gun

The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...

 and small arms. The privateer was five days out of Santiago and had taken two doggers

Dogger (boat)

The dogger was a form of fishing boat, developed during the seventeenth century, that commonly operated in the North Sea. The dogger takes its name from the Dutch word dogger, meaning a fishing vessel operating a trawl...

. Elk caught up the privateer off Cape Cruz, Cuba, captured her and retook the doggers. The privateer was the Cubana, with a 14 man crew.

Wise was promoted to post-captain and appointed to Mediator on 14 May. His replacement was Commander John Langdale Smith.

In August 1806 Commander George Morris took command. On 1 October Elk destroyed the five-gun privateer Alliance. Elephant

HMS Elephant (1786)

HMS Elephant was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by George Parsons in Bursledon, Hampshire, and launched on 24 August 1786....

 had sent Elk to investigate a schooner. After chasing his quarry for nine hours, Elk eventually caught up with and boarded her. Her commander was M. Alexander St. Helme and she was armed with one long 12-pounder, two sixes and two 12-pounder carronades, and carried a crew of 75 men. In her five days out of Guadeloupe, she had taken three prizes, two American schooners and the British brig Neptune, which had been on a voyage from Jamaica to Exuma. In capturing Alliance, Elk had so damaged her that Morris had to take her crew on board Elk and she sank shortly thereafter.

In November Elk captured the Spanish 4-gun privateer Coccila. Commander William Summer Hall succeeded Morris, and was himself succeeded in August 1807 by Commander Jeremiah Coghlan. Coghlan commanded Elk for nearly four years and during this time was also senior officer of a light squadron that protected the Bahamas.

On 12 February 1808 Elk captured the French schooner privateer Harlequin, under the command of Petre Andia. She was armed with two carriage guns and small arms and carried a crew of 54 men. She was in the Caicos Passage

Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...

 having left Baracoa

Baracoa

Baracoa is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in 1511...

 10 days earlier. Harlequin had captured an American ship (under Swedish colours) sailing from Cape François, St. Domingo

Saint-Domingue

The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...

, (present day Cap-Haïtien

Cap-Haïtien

Cap-Haïtien is a city of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Department of Nord...

) to Philadelphia with a cargo of coffee and sugar.

On 7 November Coghlan captured the one-gun Posta de Caracas. She was sailing from Campeche

Campeche

Campeche is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in Southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the states of Yucatán to the north east, Quintana Roo to the east, and Tabasco to the south west...

 in Yucatan, Mexico, to Havana with a cargo of leather and rope and twenty-four thousand dollars in specie

Bullion coin

A bullion coin is a coin struck from precious metal and kept as a store of value or an investment, rather than used in day-to-day commerce. Investment coins are generally coins that have been minted after 1800, have a purity of not less than 900 thousandths and are or have been a legal tender in...

.

Coghlan promotion 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:...

 was dated 27 November 1810 but he remained in Elk for more than five months. On his departure he received letters of approbation from officials in the Bahamas, including the governor.

Fate

Elk returned to England on 26 September 1811. She was in company with Sparrow as the two vessels had escorted a convoy of merchantmen from Negril

Negril

Negril is a small but widely dispersed beach resort town located across parts of two Jamaican parishes of Westmoreland and Hanover. Westmoreland is the westernmost parish in Jamaica, located on the south side of the island...

. Elk was broken up at Chatham in October 1812.