HMS Tamar (1814)

History
United Kingdom
Name	Tamar
Namesake	River Tamar
Ordered	18 January 1813
Builder	Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury
Laid down	May 1813
Launched	23 March 1814
Completed	5 November 1814
Fate	Sold in 1837
General characteristics [1]
Type	Sixth-rate post ship
Tons burthen	45083⁄94 (bm)
Length	108 ft 0+1⁄2 in (32.9 m) (gundeck) 89 ft 7+3⁄4 in (27.3 m) (keel)
Beam	30 ft 9 in (9.4 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	155
Armament	20 guns (from 1817, 28 guns): Upper Deck: 18 × 32-pounder carronades QD: 6 × 12-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 12-pounder carronades and 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Tamar was a 26-gun Conway-class post-ship launched in 1814, converted into a coal hulk in 1831 at Plymouth, and sold in 1837.

Josiah & Thomas Brindley launched Tamar at Frindsbury in 1814. She arrived in Halifax, after 75 men died of fever, including Captain Arthur Stowe. She was driven ashore on the coast of Labrador, British North America, in early August 1819, but later was refloated.^[2] Under the command of Captain George Richard Pechell, she captured a large pirate brig near San Domingo in 1820. She was part of the failed settlement on Melville Island at Fort Dundas in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

On 3 March 1821 Tamar came into Kingston, Jamaica, with the brigantine Jupiter. Tamar had detained Jupiter in the Mona Passage on 23 May after a long chase. Jupiter, of eight guns and 190 men, was flying the Buenos Ayrean flag and did not surrender until Tamar had fired several shots into her that killed one man and wounded another, and that severely damaged her rigging. A few days later Tamar sailed for Savanilla with Jupiter.^[3]

Tamar was converted to a coal hulk in 1831, based at Plymouth. Tamar was sold in 1837.^[1]

• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.