HMS Nancy (1794)
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".
HMS Nancy
Three ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Nancy.
References
Nancy (1803 ship)
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.
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Nancy (1789 ship)
Coordinates: 44°31′09″N 80°01′12″W / 44.519214°N 80.019951°W / 44.519214; -80.019951
Nancy was a schooner, built in Detroit and launched in 1789. She served for several years in the fur trade on the Great Lakes, but is best known for playing a part in the Anglo-American War of 1812. She served for several years as a vital supply ship for the Provincial Marine. The Royal Navy took over the Provincial Marine in 1814 and so acquired Nancy. After HMS Nancy was blocked in by an American fleet near the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, her crew set her on fire on 14 August 1814 to prevent the capture of the ship and the cargo she carried. Forgotten for many years, the wreck was re-discovered in July, 1927 and raised to form the centrepiece of the Nancy Island Museum.
Construction
Nancy was built by the fur trading company Forsyth, Richardson and Company of Montreal, at Detroit. (Although Detroit was by rights on American territory, it was not handed over to the United States until the Jay Treaty was signed in 1796.) At this time the company was one of the several merchant firms based in Montreal that made up the loose partnership known as the North West Company. The Indian trade on the Great Lakes was conducted by larger sailing vessels whereas birchbark canoes remained the principal means of transport in the fur trade of the Canadian north-west via the Ottawa River.
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