HMS Bermuda (1805)

Bermuda
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Bermuda
Ordered	1803
Launched	1805
Commissioned	October 1805
Fate	Wrecked on 22 April 1808
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Bermuda-class sloop
Tons burthen	399 (bm)
Length	107 ft (32.6 m)
Beam	29 ft 11 in (9.12 m)
Draught	14 ft 8 in (4.47 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Complement	121
Armament	16 × 24-pounder carronades + 2 ×  9-pounder bow chasers

HMS Bermuda was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy.

Bermuda was built in Bermuda of Bermuda cedar in 1805, as the lead ship of her class. The Bermudas were modified versions of the Dasher-class sloop of 1797, and eventually consisted of six ships. She was launched in 1805, and commissioned in October that year under the command of William Henry Byam, who transferred from Busy, which was then on the North America Station.^[2] Bermuda only spent three years in service before being wrecked on Memory Rock in the area known as Little Bahamas Bank, Bahamas on 22 April 1808.

Bermuda was searching for a rich Portuguese ship when she hit a reef during the night. Next morning Byam sighted a ship aground about five miles away. She proved to be Concepcion, the vessel they were looking for Bermuda could not be freed from the reef, but Conception could be. Byam and his crew captured the Portuguese ship, which they sailed on 26 April to New Providence, arriving on 4 May. Before they sailed they left a lieutenant, a midshipman, and six seamen to guard the stores. (Five men also took the opportunity to desert in Bermuda's jolly boat.) Rescuers returned to the wreck, salvaging what they could, before abandoning the wreck on 3 June. The court martial attributed the loss to an excessively strong current.^[3]

Captain Byam went on to command HMS Opossum.^[2]

• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
• Marshall, John (1828). "Byam, William Henry" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. supp part 2. London: Longman and company. pp. 311–313.
• 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.