HMS Mackerel was a 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...

 Ballahoo-class schooner

Ballahoo class schooner

The Ballahoo class was a Royal Navy class of eighteen 4-gun schooners built under contract in Bermuda during the Napoleonic War. The class was an attempt by the Admiralty to harness the expertise of Bermudian shipbuilders who were renowned for their fast-sailing craft...

 of four 12-pounder carronade

Carronade

The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, and she was launched in 1804. Given that she served entirely during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, she had an unusually peaceful and uneventful career, primarily on the Newfoundland station, before she was sold in 1815.

Service

She was commissioned in May 1804 at Bermuda under Lieutenant Peter S. Prieur for the Newfoundland station. Later that year Lieutenant Richard Williams assumed command, after serving as a Master's Mate on . In 1805 he was succeeded by Lieutenant John G.M'B. McKillop.

His replacement, in 1807, was Lieutenant Thomas Bishop. In November 1808 he sailed her to Britain. On the way she encountered a gale and had to throw all her guns overboard to lighten her.

Between 22 November 1808 and 19 February 1809 Mackerel was in Portsmouth, refitting. In February Lieutenant William Carter took command at Spithead and sailed her back to Newfoundland. Late in the year Lieutenant Thomas Lee assumed command and sailed her on the Newfoundland station on coast patrol and fisheries duties.

By 1812 Lieutenant Parker had taken command of Mackerel, and on 15 April 1812 sailed for South America. Apparently, she called at New York in June to deliver some official dispatches. The acting commander reported that her commander had been killed when a sailor fell from a mast and landed on him.

As Mackerel left New York on 18 June she passed the USS United States

USS United States (1797)

USS United States was a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy and the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794...

 under Captain Stephen Decatur

Stephen Decatur

Stephen Decatur, Jr. , was an American naval officer notable for his many naval victories in the early 19th century. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, Worcester county, the son of a U.S. Naval Officer who served during the American Revolution. Shortly after attending college Decatur...

. Apparently war had been declared two days earlier, but the news only arrived in New York on 20 June.Allison (2005), 113. After the frigate Belvidera

HMS Belvidera (1809)

HMS Belvidera was a 36-gun Royal Navy Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate built in Deptford in 1809. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and continued a busy career at sea into the middle of the 19th century...

 arrived in Nova Scotia with the news that war had been declared and that the USS President

USS President (1800)

USS President was a nominally rated 44-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was named by George Washington to reflect a principle of the United States Constitution. Forman Cheeseman was in charge of her construction, and she was launched in April 1800 from a...

, in company with the USS Congress

USS Congress (1799)

USS Congress was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was named by George Washington to reflect a principal of the United States Constitution. James Hackett built her in Portsmouth New Hampshire and she was launched on 15 August 1799...

 and the USS United States

USS United States (1797)

USS United States was a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy and the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794...

, had fired on her, Mackerel carried the news to Portsmouth, arriving there on 27 July.

Fate

Lieutenant Thomas Hughes recommissioned her in December 1812 and remained in command into 1815. In October 1813 she was reported sailing from Cadiz to London. The Admiralty put the "Mackarel schooner, of 70 tons" up for sale on 30 November 1815. She was sold at Plymouth on 14 December 1815 for £400.