HMS Doris was a 36-gun fifth-rate

Fifth-rate

In Britain's Royal Navy during the classic age of fighting sail, a fifth rate was the penultimate class of warships in a hierarchal system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.-Rating:...

 frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 of 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...

 that served between 1808 and 1829. She was the second ship of the Royal Navy to be named after the mythical Greek sea nymphe Doris

Doris (mythology)

Doris , an Oceanid, was a sea nymph in Greek mythology, whose name represented the bounty of the sea. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the wife of Nereus. She was also aunt to Atlas, the titan who was made to carry the sky upon his shoulders, whose mother Clymene was a sister of Doris...

.

Doris was originally built as an East Indiaman in Bombay in 1807. She was launched as Salsette, but was renamed Pitt later that year. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1808 and renamed HMS Doris because there was already an HMS Pitt in service, which in turn the Navy renamed Salsette

HMS Salsette (1805)

HMS Salsette was a Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of a nominal 36 guns, launched in 1805. The East India Company built her for the Royal Navy at the Company’s dockyards in Bombay...

.

HMS Doris initially saw service in the Malacca Straits and the South China Sea

South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...

, and was involved in the Mauritius Campaign of 1810. After a trip to Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 in 1821, she was mainly active on the South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n side of the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 until she was sold out of the service in 1829.

During her 21 years in the Royal Navy she had eight captains. One of them was Barrington Reynolds

Barrington Reynolds

Admiral Sir Barrington Reynolds, GCB , was a senior and long-serving officer of the British Royal Navy who went to sea with his father aged only nine during the French Revolutionary Wars and was captured by the French aged eleven...

, who commanded her for a short period in 1812, between his commands of HMS Sir Francis Drake and HMS Bucephalus. Another was Thomas Graham, who died on route to Chile in 1822, with his wife, the travel writer Maria Graham

Maria Callcott

Maria Graham , later Maria, Lady Callcott , was a British writer of travel books and children's books, and also an accomplished illustrator....

, on board.

By the late 1820s, her decayed timbers made her unfit for further service, and she was sold at Valparaiso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

in April 1829.

External links

• Ships of the Old Navy