HMS Pickle
Encyclopedia
Eight ships of the Royal Navy
have been named HMS Pickle:
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...
have been named HMS Pickle:
- The first PickleHMS Pickle (1800)HMS Pickle was a topsail schooner of the Royal Navy. She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting. of six guns, that Lord Hugh Seymour purchased to use as an armed tender on the Jamaica Station...
was a 10-gun topsail schooner purchased in 1800, originally named Sting, and renamed in 1802. She was present at the Battle of TrafalgarBattle of TrafalgarThe Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805 (but too small to play a part in the battle itself), under the command of John Richards LapenotiereJohn Richards LapenotièreCaptain John Richards Lapenotière was a British Royal Navy officer who, as a lieutenant commanding the tiny topsail schooner HMS Pickle, observed the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21 October 1805, participated in the rescue operations which followed it and then carried the dispatches of the victory...
, who was entrusted with conveying the message about the victory and the death of Lord Nelson to England. She landed in FalmouthFalmouth, CornwallFalmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, setting Lapenotiere on his historic 36-hour journey by post chaise to the AdmiraltyAdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The route he took was inaugurated as The Trafalgar WayTrafalgar WayThe Trafalgar Way is the name given to the historic route used to carry dispatches with the news of the Battle of Trafalgar overland from Falmouth to the Admiralty in London. The first messenger in November 1805 was Lieutenant Lapenotiere, of HMS Pickle, who reached Falmouth on 4 November after a...
in 2005. She was wrecked in 1808 off CádizCádizCadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. - The second PickleHMS Eclair (1801)HMS Eclair was a French schooner captured in 1801. The British took her into service under her French name and armed her with twelve 12-pounder carronades. In 1804 she engaged in a noteworthy, albeit indecisive single ship action with the 22-gun French privateer Grande Decide. In 1809 she was...
was the 12-gun schoonerSchoonerA schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Eclair, originally French, that HMS Garland captured in 1801. Eclair was renamed Pickle in 1809 and sold in 1818. - The third Pickle was a schoonerSchoonerA schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
of 5 guns, launched in 1827. She was involved in the suppression of the slave trade, and achieved fame for capturing the armed slave shipSlave shipSlave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....
Voladora off the coast of CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
on 5 June 1829. She was broken up in 1847. - The fourth Pickle was originally the slave-trading brig Eolo, captured in 1852 by HMS Orestes.
- The fifth Pickle was a mortarMortar (weapon)A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
vessel launched in 1855 and broken up in 1865. - The sixth Pickle was an Albacore-class wooden screw gunboatGunboatA gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
launched in 1856 and broken up in 1864. - The seventh Pickle was an Ant-classAnt class gunboatThe Ant-class gunboat was a class of twenty-four Royal Navy flat-iron gunboats mounting a single 10-inch gun, built between 1870 and 1880. They carried no masts or sails, being among the first Royal Navy vessels not to do so. The last four vessels were ordered separately and are sometimes known as...
iron screw gunboat launched in 1872. - The eighth Pickle was an Algerine-classAlgerine class minesweeperThe Algerine-class was a class of minesweepers of the Royal Navy and the Commonwealth. 110 ships of the class were launched between 1942 and 1944 and served in World War II....
minesweeperMinesweeper (ship)A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
launched in 1943. She was transferred to the navy of Ceylon in 1959 and renamed Parakarama.