HMS Rattler (1783)

History
UK
Name:	HMS Rattler
Ordered:	28 December 1781
Builder:	Francis S. Willson, Sandgate[1]
Laid down:	March 1782
Launched:	22 March 1783
Completed:	By 21 July 1783 at Chatham
Commissioned:	April 1784
Reinstated:	October 1789
Fate:	Sold out of service 1792
General characteristics
Class and type:	16-gun Echo-class sloop
Tons burthen:	341 48/94 bm
Length:	101 ft 4 in (30.9 m) (overall) 83 ft 4.5 in (25.4 m) (keel)
Depth of hold:	12 ft 10 in (3.9 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	ship-rigged
Complement:	125
Armament:	Upper deck: 16 x 6pdrs Quarter deck: 4 x 12pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 x 12pdr carronades.

HMS Rattler was a 16-gun Echo-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Launched in March 1783, she saw service in the Leeward Islands and Novia Scotia before being paid off in 1792 and sold to whaling company Samuel Enderby & Sons.

Construction

Rattler was one of six Echo-class sloops constructed in the early 1780s, principally for service in the imperial colonies. She was ordered in December 1781, to be constructed at Sandgate by shipwright Francis C. Willson, and launched on 22 March 1783. Her dimensions were in keeping with other vessels of her class, with an overall length of 101 ft 4 in (30.9 m), a beam of 12 ft 10 in (3.9 m) and 341 48/94 tonnes burthen. Capable of carrying 22 guns, she was fitted with 20 at her construction and designated a crew of 125.^[1]

Construction costs were £7,211, comprising £3,572 in builder's fees, £3,182 for fittings and £457 in dockyard expenses.^{[1][lower-alpha 1]}

The Rattler was built to the same technical drawings as the five other Echo Class ships, namely 'Brisk' (1784), 'Calypso' (1783), 'Echo' (1782), 'Nautilus' (1784), and Scorpion' (1785).

The class was designed to be 16-gun ship sloops with quarterdecks and forecastles.^[3]

All the Echo class use the same plans for frame,^[4] inboard profile,^[5] lines,^[6] stern,^[7] and upper and lower decks

Caribbean service

Rattler was commissioned in April 1783 for service in the British Leeward Islands under Commander Wilfred Collingwood, assisting in enforcement of Great Britain's Navigation Acts against American trading vessels. On arrival in the Caribbean, Rattler joined the British fleet under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson, and including HMS Mediator which was captained by Wilfred Collingwood's brother Cuthbert.^[8]

In 1787 she was laid up to remove her copper bottom and replace it with wooden sheathing, despite the weaker protection this offered against infestation by shipworm.^[1] While the ship was being refitted Commander Collingwood was taken ill, and died en route to a Grenada hospital on 21 April 1787.^[9] Rattler returned to sea later in April under Lieutenant James Wallis.^[1] After six months service she was paid off from Caribbean service and returned to Britain for further refit and repair.^[1]

Notes

1. This equates to a historic opportunity cost of £815,300 in 2014 terms.^[2]

References

1. Winfield 2007, p.287.
2. "Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1264 to Present". MeasuringWorth. 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
3. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck
4. Frame plan
5. Inboard profile plan
6. Lines plan
7. Stern plan
8. Tracy 2006, p.90.
9. Letter from Captain Horatio Nelson to Captain Cuthbert Collingwood, 3 May 1787, cited in Newnham Collingwood 1828, p. 12.

Bibliography

• Newnham Collingwood, G. L. (1828). A Selection from the Public and Private Correspondence of Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood, interspersed with Memoirs of His Life. James Ridgway, London. OCLC 831418866.
• Tracy, Nicholas (2006). Who's Who in Nelson's Navy: 200 Naval Heroes. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-244-5.
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 9781844157006.