HMS Speedy (1782)

HMS Speedy falling in with the wreck of HMS Queen Charlotte, 21 March 1800
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Speedy
Ordered	23 March 1781
Builder	Thomas King, Dover, Kent
Cost	£4,200.7s.3d
Laid down	June 1781
Launched	29 June 1782
Completed	By 25 October 1782
Captured	By the French on 9 June 1794
France
Name	Speedy
Acquired	9 June 1794
Captured	25 March 1795, by the Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name	HMS Speedy
Acquired	Retaken on 25 March 1795
Captured	By the French on 3 July 1801
France
Name	Saint Paul
Acquired	3 July 1801
Out of service	Donated to the Papal Navy in December 1802
Papal States
Name	San Paolo
Acquired	December 1802
Fate	Struck c.1806
General characteristics
Class and type	14-gun Speedy-class brig
Tons burthen	20721⁄94 (bm)
Length	78 ft 3 in (23.9 m) (overall) 59 ft 0+1⁄2 in (18.0 m) (keel)
Beam	25 ft 9 in (7.8 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	brig
Complement	90
Armament	14 × 4-pounder guns + 12 × 1⁄2-pounder swivel guns

HMS Speedy was a 14-gun Speedy-class brig of the British Royal Navy. Built during the last years of the American War of Independence, she served with distinction during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Built at Dover, Kent, Speedy spent most of the interwar years serving off the British coast. Transferred to the Mediterranean after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, she spent the rest of her career there under a number of notable commanders, winning fame for herself in various engagements and often against heavy odds. Her first commander in the Mediterranean, Charles Cunningham, served with distinction with several squadrons, assisting in the capture of several war prizes, such as the French frigates Modeste and Impérieuse. His successor, George Cockburn, impressed his superiors with his dogged devotion to duty. Speedy's next commander, George Eyre, had the misfortune to lose her to a superior French force on 9 June 1794.

She was soon retaken, and re-entered service under Hugh Downman, who captured a number of privateers between 1795 and 1799 and fought off an attack by the large French privateer Papillon on 3 February 1798. His successor, Jahleel Brenton, fought a number of actions against Spanish forces off Gibraltar. Her last captain, Lord Cochrane, forced the surrender of the much larger Spanish frigate El Gamo. A powerful French squadron captured her again in 1801 and Napoleon donated her to the Papal Navy the following year. She spent five years with the Papal Navy under the name San Paolo; she was struck around 1806.