HMS Emerald (1757)

HMS Emerald was a 28-gun frigate of the Royal Navy which saw active service during the Seven Years' War.

History
France
Name:	L'Emeraude
Laid down:	February 1744 at Le Havre
Launched:	August 1744
In service:	1744–1757
Captured:	1757
Fate:	Captured by Royal Navy, 21 September 1757
History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Emerald
Completed:	8 July 1758 at Portsmouth Dockyard
Acquired:	21 September 1757
Commissioned:	April 1758
In service:	1758–1761
Captured:	Broken up, Portsmouth Dockyard, November 1761
General characteristics
Class and type:	28-gun frigate
Tons burthen:	571 ​^26⁄94 bm
Length:	115 ft 4 in (35.2 m) (gundeck) 93 ft 2 in (28.4 m) (keel)
Beam:	33 ft 11.5 in (10.4 m)
Depth of hold:	9 ft 4 in (2.8 m)
Complement:	180
Armament:	24 × 9-pdrs (gundeck) 4 x 4-pdrs (forecastle and quarterdeck)

Launched in 1744 as the French naval vessel L'Emeraude, she was captured by HMS Southampton on 21 September 1757 and brought into Portsmouth Dockyard where she was refitted from British service. She was renamed Emerald in December 1757 and commissioned into the Royal Navy in April 1758 under the command of Captain Thomas Cornwall.[1]

Emerald was assigned to patrol and convoy duties in the British Leeward Islands from January 1759, securing three victories over French privateers in the following two years. In July 1760 command was transferred to Captain Charles Middleton, who remained with Emerald for the rest o her Caribbean service. The frigate returned to England in September 1761 and was decommissioned at Portsmouth Dockyard in October. She was declared surplus to Navy requirements on 7 October and broken up at Portsmouth Dockyard in November 1761.[1]

References

1. Winfield 2007, p. 232

Bibliography

• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 9781844157006.