Hind-class sloop


The Hind class was a class of four sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. Two were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Joseph Allin, then Master Shipwright at Deptford Dockyard, and the other two were built in Deptford Dockyard under the supervision of Allin himself.
The first two - Hind and Vulture - were ordered on 6 August 1743 to be built to replace two ex-Spanish vessels ; they were officially awarded their names on 18 April 1744. Although initially armed with ten 6-pounder guns, this class was built with seven pairs of gunports on the upper deck, enabling them to be re-armed with fourteen 6-pounders later in their careers.
Two more vessels to the same design - Jamaica and Trial - were ordered ten days later, on 18 August 1743 and were named on 13 July 1744; these were built under Allin's supervision at Deptford Dockyard, and were the only wartime sloops of this era to be built in a Royal Dockyard. In early 1754 the Trial was fitted with a mizzen mast at Deptford, thus making her a ship-sloop.

Vessels

NameOrderedBuilderLaid downLaunchedCompletedFate
Hind6 August 1743Philemon Perry,
Blackwall		11 September 174319 April 174412 May 1744Lost 1 September 1747 off Louisbourg.
Vulture 6 August 1743John Greaves,
Limehouse		16 September 17434 May 174424 May 1744Sold 30 January 1761
at Portsmouth.
Jamaica18 August 1743Deptford Dockyard15 September 174317 July 174428 August 1744Wrecked 27 January 1770 off Cuba.
Trial18 August 1743Deptford Dockyard15 September 174317 July 17449 August 1744Taken to pieces, completed 3 January 1776 at Woolwich.

Costs

Hind was built for £1,996.12.0d and then fitted out for a further £2,015.4.4d.
Vulture was also built for £1,996.12.0d and then fitted out at Deptford Dyd for a further £1,864.10.9d.
Jamaica was built and fitted for £5,065.7.4d.
Trial was built and fitted for £5,050.13.1d.