Fowey (1798 ship)

History
Great Britain
Name	Fowey
Launched	1798
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen	221,[2] or 22188⁄94, or 22192⁄94[3] (bm)
Length	67 ft 3 in (20.5 m)
Beam	21 ft 9 in (6.6 m)
Depth of hold	8 ft 6 in (2.6 m)
Complement	1800: 65[2] 1803: 55[2]
Armament	1798: 10 × 12-pounder carronades 1800: 14 × 12-pounder carronades[2] 1803: 12 × 12-pounder carronades[2]

Fowey was launched in 1798. She spent a little more than a year-and-a-half as a hired armed cutter for the British Royal Navy. She was sold in 1800 and became a privateer. Her fate after 1804 is currently obscure.

His Majesty's hired armed cutter Fowey served under contract from 10 November 1798 until 20 June 1800.^[1] During this period she captured, alone or with others, a number of merchant vessels.

On 8 July 1799 the Portuguese schooner Teijo, of Lisbon, came into Plymouth. She had been sailing from Bristol to Lisbon when the French privateer Vengeance had captured her on 1 July. Fowey, Lieutenant Derby, recaptured Teijo on 3 July.^[4] Fowey, Lieutenant John Darby, had recaptured Friends on 17 June, and Teijo on 2 July.^[5] On 17 July the Bristol underwriters and shippers on Tejo wrote a letter of appreciation for Lieutenant Derby's initiative in her recapture.^[6]

On 12 July the sloop Goodwill came into Cork. She had been sailing from Waterford to Lisbon when she was taken.Fowey had recaptured her.^[7]

On 23 July Juno, of Stettin, Joachim Frederick Rogerson, came into Plymouth. She had been sailing from Dantzig to Nantes with a cargo of time when Fowey, Lieutenant Darby, detained her.^[8][9] The capture took place off the Eddystone.

On 12 October Two Friends, J. Schmid, master, came into Plymouth. She had been sailing from Havana to Altona when Fowey captured her.^[10] Two Friends had been carrying a cargo of cotton, sugar, and coffee. The vessel was Danish, but the cargo was suspected of being Spanish.^[11]

Fowey was one of the seven Royal Navy vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of a French sloop on 25 November, and a French brig on 28 November.^[12]

Fowey was offered for sale at Plymouth on 12 July 1800. The advertisement noted that she was less than two years old, had been a hired armed cutter, and that she would make a good privateer.

Captain Christopher Parnall acquired a letter of marque on 24 February 1801.^[2]

On 8 June 1803, Captain John Rowe acquired a letter of marque. By this time she had been converted to a brig.^[2]

In August 1803, Lloyd's List reported that the Fowey privateer had taken Amité, which had been sailing from Newfoundland to Bordeaux, and sent her into Guernsey.^[13]

In November, the Fowey privateer, of Guernsey, recaptured Flying Fish and sent her into Guernsey. Flying Fish, of Cork, had been sailing from Gibraltar to Cork when a French privateer had captured her.^[14]

• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.