HMS Active (1758)
Active (right) engaging the Spanish frigate Hermione (centre) in 1762: sketch by Richard Wright | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Great Britain | |
| Name | HMS Active |
| Ordered | 6 May 1757 |
| Builder | Thomas Stanton, Rotherhithe |
| Laid down | 13 June 1757 |
| Launched | 11 January 1758 |
| Completed | 2 March 1758 at Deptford Dockyard |
| Commissioned | January 1758 |
| Fate | Taken by the French off San Domingo 1 September 1778 |
| France | |
| Name | Active |
| Acquired | 1778 by capture |
| Fate | Broken up 1795 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate |
| Displacement | 850 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen | 594 87⁄94 bm |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 33 ft 10+1⁄2 in (10.3 m) |
| Depth of hold | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
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HMS Active was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1758. She was one of the captors of the Spanish ship Hermione. After Hermione surrendered, her captors found that she carried a large cargo of gold and silver that would lead to the greatest single amount of prize money awarded to the crew of a British warship.
On 1 September 1778 the French frigates Charmante and Dédaigneuse captured Active after a storm had dismasted her. The French Navy took Active into service under her existing name. She was broken up in 1795.