The ArchivesShipsHMS Mermaid
HMS Mermaid
A Royal Navy guardship on the Jamaica station, recorded near the convoy threatened by the Cassandra company.
LaunchedRoyal Navy fifth rateToearly 1720s, Jamaica station
A Royal Navy guardship on the Jamaica station, recorded near the convoy threatened by the Cassandra company.
What the record establishes
Charles Johnson's General History names 'The Mermaid Man of War happening then to be down on the Main with a Convoy, about 30 Leagues from these Pyrates' (Taylor's Cassandra crew, c.1723), whose commander, bound to protect the convoy, was 'unwillingly withheld' from attacking them1
No instance of this Mermaid capturing, sinking or exchanging fire with a pirate vessel was located this session; her one documented piracy connection is the 1723 near-engagement she was prevented from pressing2
No contemporary Admiralty log, muster book or Calendar of State Papers Colonial entry naming this Mermaid in an anti-pirate action was read this session; the entire piracy relevance rests on one passage in Johnson (capped Possible)3
What the evidence does not settle
The pirate episode rests on one narrative and does not by itself settle which rebuild of Mermaid was present or identify every officer aboard.
What the evidence does not settle
Vessel identity
- Which rebuild of HMS Mermaid took part in the reported episode
Officers
- The complete list of officers aboard
Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.
Sources for this record
Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.
- Charles Johnson's General History names 'The Mermaid Man of War happening then to be down on the Main with a Convoy, about 30 Leagues from these Pyrates' (Taylor's Cassandra crew, c.1723), whose commander, bound to protect the convoy, was 'unwillingly withheld' from attacking them Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates
- No instance of this Mermaid capturing, sinking or exchanging fire with a pirate vessel was located this session; her one documented piracy connection is the 1723 near-engagement she was prevented from pressing Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative; Colonial state paper: A General History of the Pyrates; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33 (1722-1723)
- No contemporary Admiralty log, muster book or Calendar of State Papers Colonial entry naming this Mermaid in an anti-pirate action was read this session; the entire piracy relevance rests on one passage in Johnson (capped Possible) Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Colonial state paper; Period narrative: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33 (1722-1723); A General History of the Pyrates