Fourteen ships and one
shore establishment of the
Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Merlin, after
Merlin, the wizard in
Arthurian legend (the shore establishment RNAS Donibristle, like the other Naval Air Stations in Scotland, was named after the sea bird):
HMS Merlin (1652) was a 14-gun
yacht launched in 1652 and captured by a Dutch squadron off Cadiz in 1665 while she was convoying victualing ships to Tangier; her resistance restricted the Dutch to capturing only four of her charges.[1]
HMS Merlin (1666) was an 8-gun yacht launched in 1666 and sold in 1698.
HMS Merlin (1756) was a 10-gun sloop launched in 1756. She was captured by a French privateer in 1757, but recaptured later that year and renamed HMS Zephyr. The French frigate Gracieuse recaptured her in August 1778;[2] she was disarmed and sold at Toulon in January 1780 for
Lt44,200.[3] The purchasers turned her into a privateer, which the British privateer Fame captured and burnt on 26 August 1780.[2]
HMS Merlin (1757) was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1757, having been purchased on the stocks. She was abandoned and burnt in 1777 after she grounded on a sandbank while attacking the fort on Mud Island in the
Delaware River below Philadelphia.[4]
HMS Merlin (1780) was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1780, having been purchased on the stocks. She was sold in 1795.
HMS Merlin (1796) was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1796 and broken up in 1803.
HMS Merlin (1803) was a 16-gun sloop, previously in civilian service as Hercules. She was purchased in 1803 and sold in 1836.
Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA).
ISBN2-906381-23-3
Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot.
ISBN0-948864-30-3.
List of ships with the same or similar names
This article includes a
list of ships with the same or similar names. If an
internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.