HMS Pilchard (1805)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Pilchard
Ordered	23 June 1803
Builder	Goodrich & Co. (prime contractor), Bermuda
Laid down	1803
Launched	1805
Fate	Sold 23 February 1813
United Kingdom
Name	Pilchard
Owner	Various
Acquired	c. 1814 by purchase
Fate	Leaves lists c.1833
General characteristics [1]
Type	Ballahoo-class schooner
Tons burthen	70 41⁄94 (bm)
Length	55 ft 2 in (16.81 m) (overall) 40 ft 10+1⁄2 in (12.5 m) (keel)
Beam	18 ft 0 in (5.49 m)
Depth of hold	9 ft 0 in (2.74 m)
Sail plan	Schooner
Complement	20
Armament	4 × 12-pounder carronades

HMS Pilchard was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Samuel Crew in May 1804, launched in 1805, and completed at Plymouth in 1806.^[1] Although Pilchard was often near naval engagements, she seems not to have had to fire her cannons before she was laid up in 1812. Entries in Lloyd's Register indicate that she continued in mercantile trade from at least 1817 until 1833, under a variety of owners and masters, and as far afield as Africa and Valparaiso.