HMS Pearl (1762)

HMS Pearl battles the Santa Monica off the Azores in 1779.
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Pearl
Ordered	24 March 1761
Cost	£16,573.5.4d
Laid down	6 May 1761
Launched	27 March 1762
Completed	14 May 1762
Commissioned	April 1762
Renamed	Protheé (March 1825)
Fate	Sold 1832
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Niger-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	683 16⁄94 (bm)
Length	125 feet 0+1⁄2 inch (38.1 m) (gun deck) 103 feet 4+3⁄8 inches (31.5 m) (keel)
Beam	35 feet 3 inches (10.7 m)
Depth of hold	12 feet (3.7 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	220
Armament	Gundeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 4 × 6-pounder guns Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Pearl was a fifth-rate, 32-gun British Royal Navy frigate of the Niger-class. Launched at Chatham Dockyard in 1762, she served in British North America until January 1773, when she sailed to England for repairs. Returning to North America in March 1776, to fight in the American Revolutionary War, Pearl escorted the transports which landed troops in Kip's Bay that September. Much of the following year was spent on the Delaware River where she took part in the Battle of Red Bank in October. Towards the end of 1777, Pearl joined Vice-Admiral Richard Howe's fleet in Narragansett Bay and was still there when the French fleet arrived and began an attack on British positions. Both fleets were forced to retire due to bad weather and the action was inconclusive. Pearl was then despatched to keep an eye on the French fleet, which had been driven into Boston.

Pearl was part of the British fleet that captured the island of St Lucia from the French in December 1778, and was chosen to carry news of the victory to England, capturing the 28-gun Spanish frigate Santa Monica off the Azores on her return journey. She joined Vice-Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot's squadron in July 1780, capturing the 28-gun French frigate Esperance while stationed off Bermuda in September; the following March she took part in the First Battle of Virginia Capes, where she had responsibility for relaying signals. Pearl returned to England in 1783, where she underwent extensive repairs and did not serve again until 1786, when she was recommissioned for the Mediterranean.

Taken out of service in 1792, she was recalled in February 1793, when hostilities resumed between Britain and France. On her return to the American continent, she narrowly escaped capture by a French squadron anchored between the Îles de Los and was forced to put into Sierra Leone for repairs following the engagement. In 1799, Pearl joined Vice-Admiral George Elphinstone's fleet in the Mediterranean where she took part in the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. In 1802, she sailed to Portsmouth where she served as a storeship for sailors' clothes and then a receiving ship. She was renamed Protheé in March 1825 and eventually sold in 1832.