HMS Atalanta (1775)

HMS Atalanta was a 14 gun ship sloop of the Swan class, launched on 12 August 1775. She served during both the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War, and was then renamed HMS Helena in March 1797 before being sold for disposal in 1802.

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Coordinates: 39°34′41″N 74°18′00″W / 39.578°N 74.300°W / 39.578; -74.300

HMS Atalanta

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Atalanta or HMS Atalante after the athlete in ancient Greek mythology.

HMS Atalanta (1814)

HMS Atalanta was the American letter of marque schooner Siro, launched in 1812, that the British captured in 1814. There is no evidence that she actually entered into active service with the Royal Navy. She was a merchant brig when the USS Wasp captured her in September 1814 and sent her into Savannah as a prize, where she was condemned and sold.

Letter of Marque

Siro was built by William Flanagan, reportedly at a cost of US$40,000, and launched in 1812 at Baltimore for her owner George Stiles. She was a relatively expensive vessel, having been made of the finest materials.

On her first trip her captain was Henry Levely. In the autumn of 1812 she was sailing to France when she made one capture, the Loyal Sam, of ten guns, which was carrying specie worth US$23,500, and a cargo of indigo. Loyal Sam had been on her way from Nassau for Britain when Siro captured her.Siro sent her prize into Portland, and arrived there herself soon after. However, the British recaptured the Loyal Sam.

HMS Juno (1844)

HMS Juno was a 26-gun Spartan-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1844 at Pembroke. As HMS Juno, she carried out the historic role in 1857 of annexing the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to the British Empire. She was renamed HMS Mariner in January 1878 and then HMS Atalanta two weeks later.

Atalanta was serving as a training ship when in 1880 she disappeared with her entire crew after setting sail from Bermuda for Falmouth, England on 31 January 1880. It was presumed that she sank in a powerful storm which crossed her route a couple of weeks after she sailed. The search for evidence of her fate attracted worldwide attention, and the Admiralty received more than 150 telegrams and 200 personal calls from anxious friends and relatives after it was announced that the ship was missing, and possibly lost.

Investigation of the ship's loss was rendered difficult by the lack of any survivors, but one former member of her crew, Able Seaman John Varling, testified that he had found her "exceedingly crank, as being overweight.. She rolled 32 degrees, and Captain Stirling is reported as having been heard to remark that had she rolled one degree more she must have gone over and foundered. The young sailors were either too timid to go aloft or were incapacitated by sea-sickness... Varling states that they hid themselves away, and could not be found when wanted by the boatswain's mate."