HMS Oberon (1805)

HMS "Oberon" was a 16-gun sixth rate brig-sloop of the "Seagull" class built at Kingston upon Hull and launched in 1805. She was constructed at the James Shepheard Shipyard, Sutton.

She was commissioned in September 1805 under her first commander, John Bushby. However from January 1806 she was under Commander George Manners Sutton off the Downs, in the North Sea. On 13 November 1807 she gave chase to the French privateer lugger "Ratifia", capturing her after four hours, some 30 miles east of Lowestoft. The "Ratifia" commanded by Lieutenant Gilbert Laforeste, had been carrying 14 guns, but at the time had only two mounted for action, the rest being in the hold. She had sailed on 9 November from Delfzijl, on the Ems but had not made any captures before being taken by the "Oberon". Captain Sutton sailed her to the Yarmouth Roads and landed 38 prisoners. Sutton was then moved to HMS "Derwent" in April 1810, and by May 1810 the "Oberon" was off the Downs again, commanded by John Murray.

She moved to Leith in 1812 and on 18 March 1813 she sailed to search for two American schooners, suspected to be privateers, cruising between Shetland and Norway in the hope of intercepting British whalers returning from Greenland waters. "Oberon" met the Whitby whaler "Esk" on 20 March, but the "Esk" reported that she had not seen any suspicious vessels. "Oberon" continued cruising until Saturday 3 April, before entering the Sound at Lerwick at 10pm, where she again met the "Esk", which was sheltering from storms and adverse winds. "Oberon" paid off from service into Ordinary (Reserve) in 1814 at Sheerness, and was broken up in May 1816. [Jackson, Hull in the Eighteenth Century, Appendix: 'Ships Built in Hull for the Royal Navy., 1690-1810'p.427]

References

*Colledge
* [http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=1626 HMS Oberon's career]