- USS Cyane (1806)
"Cyane" was a
Royal Navy sailingfrigate built in1806 atPlymouth ,England . She was ordered in January 1805 as HMS "Columbine" and was renamed "Cyane" in December of that year. She was captured with HMS "Levant"20 February 1815 by "Constitution", after a 40-minute night engagement offMadeira . With "Constitution's" second lieutenant Hoffman asprize master , she successfully escaped recapture by a pursuing British squadron12 March and arrived in America10 April . She was adjudicated by aprize court and purchased by the Navy and renamed USS "Cyane"."Cyane" cruised off the west coast of
Africa from1819 -1820 and in theWest Indies from1820 -1821 protecting theLiberia n colony and suppressing piracy and the slave trade. In this regard she was a predecessor to theAfrica Squadron . She cruised in theMediterranean 1824 -1825 , and on theBrazil Station 1826 -1827 . Laid up atPhiladelphia Navy Yard , she sank in1835 and was raised and broken up the following year.In the April/May 1983 issue of "American Heritage" magazine is a short article "What it was like to be Shot up by Old Ironsides" concerning the discovery of 3 pages of the HMS "Cyane" logbook from February 13, 1815 to February 20 1815 with a transcription of the Feb 20, 1815 battle.
References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c16/cyane-i.htm
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