HMS Mermaid was a 24-gun sixth-rate

Sixth-rate

Sixth rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for small warships mounting between 20 and 24 nine-pounder guns on a single deck, sometimes with guns on the upper works and sometimes without.-Rating:...

 post ship

Post ship

Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the Age of Sail to describe a ship of the sixth-rate that was smaller than a frigate , but by virtue of being a rated ship , had to have as its captain a post captain rather than a lieutenant or commander...

 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...

, built in 1748-49, which served in the Seven Years War.

Construction and commissioning

Mermaid was ordered on 4 February 1748, with the contract being awarded to Henry Adams

Henry Adams (shipbuilder)

Henry Adams was a British Master Shipbuilder. He lived and worked at Bucklers Hard between 1744 and 1805. His home is now The Master Shipbuilders House Hotel in Bucklers Hard....

, of Bucklers Hard

Bucklers Hard

Bucklers Hard is a hamlet situated on the banks of the Beaulieu River in the English county of Hampshire.- Overview :With its Georgian cottages running down to the river, Bucklers Hard is part of the 9,000 acre Beaulieu Estate...

, with the keel being laid on 2 April. She was built to a design by the Surveyor of the Navy

Surveyor of the Navy

The Surveyor to the Navy was a civilian officer in the Royal Navy. He was a member of the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1546, and held overall responsibility for the design of British warships, although until 1745 the actual design work for warships built at each Royal Dockyard...

 Joseph Allin, named Mermaid on 6 December, launched on 22 May 1749 and completed on 7 August 1749 at Portsmouth Dockyard, having cost £4,211.16.7d to build, and with a further £3,829.3.11d spent on fitting her out.

Career

Her first commander was Captain John Montagu

John Montagu

John Montagu may refer to:* John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury * John Montagu , Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1683–1699* John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu...

, who commissioned her in June 1749, and sailed her to New York in August 1749. Montagu was succeeded by Captain Edward Keller in 1750, then later that year by Captain Elias Bate, and in 1753 by Captain John Hollwall. Mermaid served this first commission in North American and Caribbean waters, and was decommissioned in July 1753. She refitted and underwent repairs over the next few months, and recommissioned in January 1754 under Captain Washington Shirley, sailing for New England in July 1754. Captain Alexander Innes took command in 1756, and was succeed by Captain James Hackman in 1758. She bilged on a sandbank off Charles, South Carolina on 2 December 1759 and was abandoned as a wreck on 6 January 1760.