HMS Lizard was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, with periods of service between 1757 and 1828. Named after the Lizard, a peninsula in southern Cornwall, she was intended as a broad-beamed and sturdy vessel designed for lengthy periods at sea. Her crewing complement was 200 and, when fully equipped, she was armed with 24 nine-pounder cannons, supported by 4 three-pounders and 12 -pounder swivel guns. Despite her comparatively heavy design, she was plagued with maintenance problems and had to be repeatedly removed from service for repair.
Lizards early seagoing service included active duty during the Seven Years' War from 17571763. In this capacity she assisted in major naval operations in the Caribbean and North America, including the British capture of Quebec City and the Siege of Havana. After three years as a peacetime privateer-hunter between 17711774, she resumed wartime service during the American Revolutionary War from 17751782. Thereafter she aided British efforts between 17901794 in the leadup and early years of the French Revolutionary War including patrolling the North Sea for privateers. Across these periods of service Lizard secured 43 victories at sea, principally against American and French merchant vessels and privateers.
Removed from seagoing duty in 1794, Lizard was refitted as a hospital ship and assigned to a berth near Burntwick Island where she received merchant seamen suspected of suffering from diseases including yellow fever and bubonic plague. What had been intended as a temporary assignment continued for 28 years, with Lizard eventually becoming the last of the Coventry-class vessels still in operation. She was removed from service, 71 years after her launch, and sold to private ownership at Sheerness Dockyard in September 1828.
Construction Design and crew Lizard was an oak-built 28-gun sixth rate, one of 18 vessels forming part of the of frigates.Winfield 2007, p. 227 As with others in her class she was loosely modeled on the design and external dimensions of , launched in 1756 and responsible for capturing five French privateers in her first twelve months at sea. The Admiralty Order to build the Coventry-class vessels was made after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, and at a time in which the Royal Dockyards were fully engaged in constructing or fitting-out the Navy's ships of the line. Consequently, despite Navy Board misgivings about reliability and cost, contracts for all but one of Coventry-class vessels were issued to private shipyards with an emphasis on rapid completion of the task.
Contracts for Lizards construction were issued on 13 April 1756 to shipwright Henry Bird of Globe Stairs, Rotherhithe. It was stipulated that work should be completed within twelve months for a fully-rigged 28-gun vessel measuring approximately 590 tons burthen, with a gundeck of , keel , beam and hold depth . Subject to satisfactory completion, Bird would receive a fee of £sd£9.9s per ton to be paid through periodic imprests drawn against the Navy Board.Winfield 2007, pp. 229–230Baugh 1965, pp. 255–256 Private shipyards were not subject to rigorous naval oversight, and the Admiralty therefore granted authority for "such alterations withinboard as shall be judged necessary" in order to cater for the preferences or ability of individual shipwrights, and for experimentation with internal design.
Lizards keel was laid down on 5 May 1756, and work proceeded swiftly with the fully-built vessel ready for launch by April 1757, comfortably within the stipulated time. In final construction the vessel's hull was slightly larger than contracted, at 594 tons burthen, with a gundeck of , a keel, a beam of , and a hold depth of . These slightly exceeded the dimensions specified in Bird's contract. However these minor variations did not affect final settlement of the contract, with Bird receiving £5,540.14s, , for his shipyard's work.
The vessel was named after the Lizard, a peninsula in southern Cornwall that was a maritime landmark for vessels passing along the English Channel. In selecting her name, the Board of Admiralty continued a tradition dating to 1644 of using geographic features for ship names; overall, ten of the nineteen Coventry-class vessels were named after well-known regions, rivers or towns.Winfield 2007, pp. 227–231 With few exceptions, the remainder of the class were named after figures from classical antiquity, following a more modern trend initiated in 1748 by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Lizards designated complement was 200, comprising two commissioned officers a captain and a lieutenant overseeing 40 warrant and petty officers, 91 naval ratings, 38 Marines and 29 servants and other ranks.Rodger 1986, pp.348351 The 29 servants and other ranks provided for in the ship's complement consisted of 20 personal servants and clerical staff, four assistant carpenters, an assistant sailmaker, and four widow's men. Unlike naval ratings, servants and other ranks took no part in the sailing or handling of the ship. Armament comprised 24 nine-pounder cannons located along her gun deck, supported by 4 three-pounder cannons on the quarterdeck and 12 -pounder swivel guns ranged along her sides.
Sailing qualities Lizards design was broadly comparable with French frigates of equivalent size, but with a shorter and sturdier hull and greater weight in her broadside guns. She was also comparatively broad-beamed, with ample space for provisions and the ship's mess, and a large magazine for powder and round shot. Taken together, these characteristics aimed to enable Lizard to tack and wear more reliably than her French equivalents, and to remain at sea for longer periods without resupply.Gardiner 1992, p.95Gardiner 1992, pp. 107108 She was built with broad and heavy masts which balanced the weight of her hull, improved stability in rough weather and allowed her to carry a greater quantity of sail. The disadvantages of this heavy design were an overall decline in manoeuvrability and slower speed when sailing in light winds.Gardiner 1992, pp. 111112
Lizard was plagued with construction and maintenance difficulties throughout her seagoing career, requiring seven major repairs or refits between 1769 and 1793. Private shipyards such as Henry Bird's used thinner hull planking than did the Royal Dockyards, producing less robust vessels which further decreased in seaworthiness after every major repair.Correspondence, Captain Augustus Keppel to John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, August 1745. Cited in Baugh 1965, p. 259 Smaller vessels during the Seven Years' War were also hampered by the unavailability of seasoned oak, as the Royal Navy's supply was preferentially allocated to ships of the line. Frigates such as Lizard were therefore routinely repaired with unseasoned timber which could warp as it dried, causing cracks in decks and gun ports and leaks along the hull.Albion 2000, pp. 133134Baugh 1965, pp.258259
Seven Years' War North Atlantic, 1757–1758 Lizard was commissioned by Captain Vincent Pearce in March 1757, while still under construction at Rotherhithe. She was launched on 7 April and sailed to Deptford Dockyard for fitting-out and to take on armament and crew. This was completed by 1 June and Lizard immediately put to sea to join a small squadron under the command of Admiral Samuel Cornish off the southwest coast of Cornwall. Britain had been at war with the French for more than a year, and Royal Navy vessels in waters surrounding England were routinely deployed to escort merchant fleets and hunt French privateers.Robson 2016, pp.4748 It was in this second capacity that Lizard secured her first victories at sea, with the capture on 12 July 1757 of the 6-gun French privateer LHiver, and the recapture of a British merchantman loaded with rum and sugar which the French vessel had in tow. With assistance from members of Lizards crew, both captured craft were sent in to the Irish port of Kinsale as prizes.
Lizard was reassigned in 1758 to a squadron under the command of Admiral George Anson, that was blockading the French seaport of Brest.Clowes 1898, p.299 Anson had directed that the 74-gun ship of the line maintain a position close to the Brest shoreline in order to observe the French fleet. Lizard was sent in support, accompanied by the 20-gun sixth-rate . On 12 September the three Royal Navy vessels were in position when their crews observed an approaching convoy of French coasters, escorted by the frigates Calypso and Thetis. The French sought to reach Brest without battle by sailing very close to land to take advantage of their shallow draft. Both Lizard and Unicorn moved toward the French with Lizard successfully interposing herself between the coasters and their escorting frigates. Thetis exchanged cannon fire with Lizard for around two hours before sheering off and taking shelter in the mouth of a river. Her companion Calypso attempted to manoeuvre around Lizard but ran aground and was wrecked on the shore. The unarmed French coasters then scattered, with many forced seaward where they were captured or destroyed by the British vessels. Lizard suffered one man killed and eight wounded in the battle. Following the action, she and Unicorn returned to their station alongside Shrewsbury in close observation of Brest. A further victory was secured on 2 October when Lizard pursued and captured Duc d'Hanovre, a 14-gun French privateer.
Americas, 1759–1763
Captain James Doake took command of Lizard in mid-October 1758, bringing Admiralty orders reassigning the vessel to North American waters in support of a planned invasion of Québec in 1759. The winter idled by as the invasion force was assembled, until on 17 February 1759 the Lizard departed Spithead for Halifax, Nova Scotia, accompanied by other Royal Navy vessels. On arrival in Nova Scotia, she joined the combined British fleet of 52 naval vessels and 140 transports, under the overall command of Vice-Admiral Charles Saunders.Clowes 1898, pp. 205206 On 23 June the fleet passed L'Isle-aux-Coudres on the St Lawrence River, and three days later anchored before the French stronghold of Quebec City. There were few French vessels at Quebec City, and little useful work for frigates such as Lizard, though her sister vessel was able to bombard and destroy an artillery battery on the shoreline.Clowes 1898, p. 207 Lizard remained below Quebec throughout July and August while other parts of Saunders' fleet reconnoitred and captured the river above the town. On 12 September Lizards marines were part of a landing below the town as a feint to distract from the real British landing – conducted by forces under General James Wolfe upstream on the Plains of Abraham.Clowes 1898, pp. 205209 Wolfe's assault was successful, and Quebec City was surrendered on 17 September.Clowes 1898, p. 209 Lizard then returned to England with the majority of the fleet.