Three ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Nancy.
Coordinates: 35°22′01″S 150°50′04″E / 35.367°S 150.834333°E / -35.367; 150.834333
Nancy was a sloop launched in 1803 and wrecked on 18 April 1805 near Jervis Bay, Australia.
Nancy was a sloop of some 20 tons constructed on the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales by Kable & Co. It arrived in Sydney on its maiden voyage on 17 October 1803. On 18 April 1805, the Nancy commanded by Captain Demaria was just off Jervis Bay when a violent squall hit the area. The Nancy's mainsail split and the ship could make no leeway. Everything on board was washed overboard and then the ship struck a small sandy beach between two headlands. The ship promptly broke up with one crew member, Richard Wall, from Exeter, drowning. The remaining crew walked to Sydney, arriving on 1 May 1805.
HMS Nancy was the mercantile vessel Nancy that the Royal Navy purchased in 1794 for use as a fire ship. She was never expended as a fireship but instead served as a small gunboat. The Navy sold her at Deptford in 1801.
Nancy underwent fitting out at Woolwich between May and 9 August 1794. The Navy commissioned her in June 1794 under Mr. Jeremy Brown. A formal listing of the vessels under the command of Captain Sidney Smith lists her, together with five similar fire ships. In September 1795 Nancy was at the Îles Saint-Marcouf, which the Royal Navy had occupied in July 1795, possibly at the same time as the British forces there repelled a French attack.
On 10 March 1796 a court martial convened on Pegasus, then at Portsmouth, to try Mr. Mark Moore, commander of Nancy, for embezzlement. The court found him guilty and ordered him dismissed the service, never to serve again in His Majesty's naval service.
Nancy was recommissioned in March 1800 under Lieutenant William Fitzwilliam Owen, for the Downs. An account of the "State of the Navy" described her as a fire vessel, with no guns, and under the command of "Owen".