HMS Solebay (1763)

[2] Consequently, the contracts for Solebay were issued to a private shipyard, Thomas Airey and Company of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with a requirement that the vessel be completed within 14 months at a cost of £9.3s per ton burthen.[1] Solebay's keel was laid down on 10 May 1762 and work proceeded swiftly with the vessel ready to be launched by 9 September 1763, just outside Admiralty's stipulated construction time.[1] In selecting her name the Board of Admiralty continued a tradition dating to 1644, of using prominent geographic features; Sole Bay having been the site of a naval engagement between the English and the Dutch in 1672.[4][a] Among these other ranks were four positions reserved for widow's men – fictitious crew members whose pay was intended to be reallocated to the families of sailors who died at sea.[5] In 1777-78 the vessel was used as a floating prison for John McKinly, the first President of Delaware, who was captured by the British Army after the Battle of Brandywine.
Sir Thomas Slade, naval architect for Solebay in 1760
HMS SolebayNewcastle-upon-TyneSheerness DockyardMermaid-classfrigateFull-rigged shipcannonsixth-rateRoyal NavySeven Years' WarAmerican Revolutionary WarThomas Sladenaval architectSurveyor of the NavyAbénaquiseRoyal Dockyardsfitting-outships of the lineton burthenfit-outnine-pounder cannonsquarterdeckswivel gunsSouthwoldSuffolknaval engagementcaptainlieutenantwarrantpetty officersnaval ratingsMarineswidow's menJohn McKinlyBattle of BrandywineCape HenryHMS RichmondSt. Mary's RiverPortlandHarpoonerHMS Marquis de SeignelayMermaid-class frigatesMermaidHussarGreyhoundTritonBoreasCoventry classEnterprise classList of frigate classes of the Royal Navy