HMS Thunder (1803)

History
Great Britain
NameDasher
Owner
  • 1800:Thomas Phillips
  • 1803:J. Sims
BuilderBideford
Launched1800
FateSold 1803
General characteristics
Tons burthen309, or 318 (bm)
Complement40
Armament20 × 6-pounder guns
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Thunder
AcquiredOctober 1803
Honours &
awards
FateSold 1814
General characteristics
Tons burthen383 (bm)
Length
  • Overall: 111 ft 3 in (33.9 m)
  • Keel: 92 ft 10 in (28.3 m)
Beam27 ft 10 in (8.5 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 7 in (4.7 m)
Complement67
Armament8 × 24-pounder carronades + 1 × 10" + 1 × 13" mortars

HMS Thunder was an 8-gun bomb vessel of the Royal Navy, previously the mercantile Dasher. Dasher, launched at Bideford in 1800, had made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people before the Royal Navy purchased her in 1803 and renamed her HMS Thunder. Thunder served in the Mediterranean and the Baltic; among other actions, she participated in a battle and one single-ship action, each of which resulted in her crew later qualifying for clasps to the Naval General Service Medal (1847). The Navy sold her in 1814.