HMS Rattler (1783)

Rattler was one of six Echo-class sloops constructed in the early 1780s, principally for service in the imperial colonies. She was ordered in December 1781, to be constructed at Sandgate by shipwright Francis C. Willson, and launched on 22 March 1783.[1]

Construction costs were £7,211, comprising £3,572 in builder's fees, £3,182 for fittings and £457 in dockyard expenses.[1][Note 1]

Rattler was built to the same technical drawings as the five other Echo-class ships, namely Brisk (1784), Calypso (1783), Echo (1782), Nautilus (1784), and Scorpion (1785). The class was designed to be 16-gun ship sloops with quarterdecks and forecastles.[5]

All the Echo-class used the same plans for frame,[6] inboard profile,[7] lines,[8] stern,[9] and upper and lower decks

Rattler was commissioned in April 1783 for service in the British Leeward Islands under Commander Wilfred Collingwood, assisting in enforcement of Great Britain's Navigation Acts against American trading vessels. On arrival in the Caribbean, Rattler joined the British fleet under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson, and including HMS Mediator whose captain was Wilfred Collingwood's brother Cuthbert.[10]

In 1787 she was laid up to remove her copper bottom and replace it with wooden sheathing, despite the weaker protection this offered against infestation by shipworm.[1] While the ship was being refitted Commander Collingwood was taken ill and died on 21 April 1787 en route to a hospital at Grenada.[Note 2] Rattler returned to sea later in April under Lieutenant James Wallis.[1] After six months service Rattler returned to Britain for further refit and repair she was paid off.[1]

Rattler was recommissioned in October 1789 under Lieutenant William Hope. He sailed her for Nova Scotia on 26 March 1790. In June 1790 Commander Jeremiah Beale replaced Hope.[1]

Disposal: Rattler was paid off in 1792. She was sold at Woolwich to Messrs. Enderby & Sons on 6 September 1792.[1]

Rattler underwent refitting in Perry's Blackwall Ship Yard.

1st whaling voyage (1792–1794): Captain McCowen sailed from London on 12 November 1792. She left Portsmouth on 2 January 1793, bound for waters off Peru. Captain James Colnett replaced McCowen at some point. Rattler returned to England on 18 November 1794. Rattler returned with a poor cargo of only 48 tuns of sperm oil but with a detailed chart of the western side of South America and the Galapagos.[12]

Enderby's sold Rattler and new owners sailed her as a slave ship.

1st slaving voyage (1795–1796): Captain Robert Bibby sailed from London on 27 April 1795. Rattler arrived at the Gold Coast on 3 July 1795. She loaded slaves at Cape Coast Castle and Anomabu and left Africa on 9 April 1796. She arrived at Kingston on 18 June. There she landed 468 slaves. She arrived back at London on 16 October.[13]

2nd whaling voyage (1798–1800): Captain Sinclair Halcrow acquired a letter of marque on 23 December 1797.[2] He sailed from England in 1798. He returned to London on 24 June 1800.[12]

2nd slaving voyage (1800–1801): Captain Thomas Wilson acquired a letter of marque on 17 November 1800.[2] He sailed from England on 25 December, bound for the Gold Coast.[14] Rattler returned to Falmouth after having been chased on 1 February 1801 off Finisterre and having been forced to separate from her convoy and escort, HMS Fly.[15]

Rattler arrived on the West Coast of Africa on 1 April 1801. She loaded slaves at Cape Coast Castle and Accra and delivered them to Demerara, where she arrived in October. She landed some 280-300 slaves.[14] Rattler, late Wilson master, sailed from Demerara for London but around the end of January 1802 had to put into Grenada leaky. There she unloaded her cargo.[16]

Rattler was condemned at Grenada as unseaworthy.[17] The Register of Shipping for 1802 carried the annotation "Condemned" by her name.[3]