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Lot Essay
The 14-gun sloop-of-war Kingfisher, the fifth vessel of this name to serve in the Royal Navy, was built at Chatham and launched on 13th July 1770. Laid down in January 1769, she was only the second of the twenty-five sloops of the 'Swan' class begun in 1766 to a design by Surveyor Williams. Measured at 302 tons and 96½ feet in length, she carried a main armament of 14-6pdrs. (later increased to 16) in addition to 14 swivel guns of smaller calibre.
First commissioned on 25th September 1770 with a crew of 110 men, she left home waters on 1st August 1771 and although there is no record of her destination, it can be presumed to have been the North American station since her entire service life after 1774 was spent off the eastern seaboard of the United States, then still British colonies. The earliest reference to her activites is dated 28th November 1774 when she arrived in New York from Rhodes (Sic) Island to replace her sister H.M.S. Swan which had been sent to Boston to reinforce Admiral Graves' command. The political situation in the 'Thirteen Colonies' was deteriorating rapidly; unrest in some areas, particularly New York, Rhodes Island and Boston, was rife and Kingfisher found herself at the centre of events as the likelihood of open rebellion by the American colonists became a certainty. Once the war began in earnest in April 1775, Kingfisher's role changed dramatically and she was in action almost continuously, albeit on a small scale. The winter of 1777-78 saw a lull in naval activity but this was soon restarted when France declared war on England in the spring of 1778 and a French fleet was sent into American waters. Arriving in Delaware Bay on 8th July 1778, the French began to prepare an assault on Rhode Island which took place on 8th August. Finding himself trapped there by the approaching enemy, Kingfisher's commander Lieutenant Graeme decided to burn his ship sooner than risk capture by the French. Accordingly, he ran Kingfisher ashore on Rhode Island on 7th August 1778 and she was burnt where she lay.
An exhaustive account of Kingfisher's career during the American War of Independence is included in this lot.
First commissioned on 25th September 1770 with a crew of 110 men, she left home waters on 1st August 1771 and although there is no record of her destination, it can be presumed to have been the North American station since her entire service life after 1774 was spent off the eastern seaboard of the United States, then still British colonies. The earliest reference to her activites is dated 28th November 1774 when she arrived in New York from Rhodes (Sic) Island to replace her sister H.M.S. Swan which had been sent to Boston to reinforce Admiral Graves' command. The political situation in the 'Thirteen Colonies' was deteriorating rapidly; unrest in some areas, particularly New York, Rhodes Island and Boston, was rife and Kingfisher found herself at the centre of events as the likelihood of open rebellion by the American colonists became a certainty. Once the war began in earnest in April 1775, Kingfisher's role changed dramatically and she was in action almost continuously, albeit on a small scale. The winter of 1777-78 saw a lull in naval activity but this was soon restarted when France declared war on England in the spring of 1778 and a French fleet was sent into American waters. Arriving in Delaware Bay on 8th July 1778, the French began to prepare an assault on Rhode Island which took place on 8th August. Finding himself trapped there by the approaching enemy, Kingfisher's commander Lieutenant Graeme decided to burn his ship sooner than risk capture by the French. Accordingly, he ran Kingfisher ashore on Rhode Island on 7th August 1778 and she was burnt where she lay.
An exhaustive account of Kingfisher's career during the American War of Independence is included in this lot.