HMS Porgey 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 four 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.

Service

She was commissioned in 1807 under Lieutenant Elmes Steele. In June of that year she was in the Bay of Fundy

Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...

. While there she pursued smugglers and impressed sailors in Passamaquoddy Bay

Passamaquoddy Bay

Passamaquoddy Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its western shore bounded by Washington County, Maine. The southernmost point is formed by...

 on the border between the United States and the British province of New Brunswick in what is now Canada. Porgeys commander, (acting) Lieutenant James (or John) Flintoph, seems to have landed himself in considerable legal trouble as a result and soon after left the service.Flintoph's spelling was variable. He described his vessel as "His majesty's armed schooner Pogge". In June at Passamaquoddy

Passamaquoddy

The Passamaquoddy are the First Nations people who live in northeastern North America, primarily in Maine and New Brunswick....

, Maine, he fired on the town, endangering children playing on the green, searched shipping in the harbour, impressed some sailors, and shot away the rigging of a schooner at anchor.

In 1809 Porgey was in the North Sea and came under the command of Lieutenant Hugh Gould. Porgey and her sister schooners Cuckoo and Pilchard were at the unsuccessful Walcheren Expedition, which took place between 30 July and 9 August 1809. Between December 1809 and March 1810 she was in Sheerness undergoing repairs.

Fate

On 4 June 1810 Porgey grounded under enemy fire in the Scheldt

Scheldt

The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...

 estuary while going to the assistance of the hired armed cutter Idas

Hired armed cutter Idas

During the period of the Napoleonic Wars, two vessels have served the Royal Navy as the Hired armed cutter Idas. The name Idas comes from Idas, a figure from Greek mythology.-The first Idas:...

. Lieutenant Gould had Porgeys crew take to her boats and then set fire to her before he left.Porgey did not, as is sometimes recorded, founder in the West Indies in 1812.