HMS Solebay (1763)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Solebay.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Solebay
Ordered:	30 January 1762
Builder:	Thomas Airey & Co, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Laid down:	10 May 1762
Launched:	9 September 1763
Completed:	15 March 1764 at Sheerness Dockyard
Commissioned:	August 1763
Fate:	Wrecked off Nevis 25 January 1782
General characteristics
Class & type:	Mermaid-class frigate
Displacement:	619 ​4⁄94 (bm)
Length:	124 ft 0 in (37.80 m) (gundeck) 102 ft 8.5 in (31.306 m) (keel)
Beam:	33 ft 8 in (10.26 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	200 officers and men
Armament:	28 guns comprising Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder cannon Quarterdeck 4 × 3-pounder cannon 12 swivels.

HMS Solebay was a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned in August 1763 under Captain William Hay.

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.

Further reading

• Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9.
• David Lyon, The Sailing Navy List, Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. ISBN 0-85177-617-5.
• Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 to 1792, Seaforth Publishing, London 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.