HMS Electra (1808)
Introduction '''HMS ''Electra''''' was a 16-gun brig-sloop. She was built by the Enterprise Ethéart, Saint-Malo, as the French ''Curieux''-class brig ''Espiègle'' and launched in 1804.She was armed in 1807 at Saint Servan. The British frigate ''Sybille'' captured her on 16 August 1808.There was already an  in the Royal Navy so the Navy took the vessel they had just captured into service as HMS ''Electra'', her predecessor  having been wrecked in March. ''Electra'' captured one American privateer before she was sold in 1816.
French service She sailed from Lorient on 15 August 1808 under the command of ''Lieutenant de vaisseau'' Maujouan, and in the company of  and . The three ships were sailing across the Bay of Biscay en route to Martinique to deliver supplies when they encountered , under Captain Cuthbert Featherstone Daly, on 17 August. ''Comet'' soon captured ''Sylphe'' but the other two escaped. The next day Captain Clotworthy Upton in ''Sybille'' captured ''Espiègle''. ''Diligente'', though, escaped.
British service ''Electra'' was only commissioned in February 1812 under Commander William Gregory and spent most of her brief career escorting convoys to and from Newfoundland. She sailed for Newfoundland both on 27 April 1812 and on 17 March 1813.She did make one capture.On 7 July 1813 ''Electra'' captured a U.S. privateer near Newfoundland after a six-hour chase. She was the schooner ''Growler'', pierced for 14 guns but carrying only one long 24-pounder gun and four 18-pounder guns. She had a crew of 60 men. ''Growler'', under Captain N. Lindsey, had had a relatively successful cruise having taken the ship ''Arabella'', a brig, the schooner ''Prince of Wales'', and the brig ''Ann''.Commander Thomas Walbeoff Cecil took command in June 1814, but died of yellow fever in October in the West Indies. (On  28 April 1814, then Lieutenant Cecil of  had killed Captain Hassard Stackpole, of , in a duel. Earlier, Cecil had served under Stackpole in , and the duel grew out of that experience.) Cecil died of yellow fever at Port Royal on 24 October 1814.
Fate Cecil's replacement, Commander Richard Lewin, paid ''Electra'' off in 1815.On 17 June 1816 the Commissioners of the Navy offered her for sale at Deptford. She was sold there for £800 on 11 July 1816.
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References *** *  *
External links * Phillips, Michael:  Ships of the Old Navy - HMS ''Electra''