HMS Cormorant was an 16-gun ship-sloop

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 of the Cormorant class

Cormorant class ship-sloop

The Cormorant class were built as a 16-gun class of ship-sloops for the Royal Navy, although an extra 2 guns were added soon after completion.-Design:...

 in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe

Rotherhithe

Rotherhithe is a residential district in inner southeast London, England and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is located on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping and the Isle of Dogs on the north bank, and is a part of the Docklands area...

.

Career

The Cormorant was the name-ship of the initial batch of six ship-rigged sloops of the Cormorant Class ordered in February 1793 to a joint design by Sir John Henslow and William Rule, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars

French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

. After launch, she was taken down the Thames to Deptford Naval Dockyard, where she was masted and completed on 10 March 1794.

She entered service under Commander Joshua Morlock. Command passed in July 1794 to Commander Joseph Bingham

Joseph Bingham

Joseph Bingham , English scholar and divine, was born at Wakefield in Yorkshire.He was educated at University College, Oxford, of which he was made fellow in 1689 and tutor in 1691...

, under whose command she sailed for Jamaica in February 1795. In March 1796 Commander Peter Francis Collingwood became her captain, but later that year command passed to Commander Thomas Gott.

On Christmas Eve 1796, the Cormorant caught fire by accident at Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....

and blew up; 95 of her crew were killed (including Gott).