HMS Ariadne (1816)

HMS Ariadne was a 20-gun Hermes-class post ship sixth-rate post ship built for the Royal Navy during the 1810s. The vessel was completed in 1816, modified in the early 1820s and only entered service in 1823. Ariadne was assigned to the Cape of Good Hope Station, followed by a stint in the Mediterranean Sea. The ship served on the North America and West Indies Station from 1829 to 1835. She was paid off in 1835, turned into a coal hulk the following year and sold for scrap in 1841.

Description
Ariadne had a length at the gundeck of 121 ft and 100 ft at the keel. She had a beam of 30 ft, a draught of 10 ft and a depth of hold of 8 ft. The ship's tonnage was 511 $25/94$ tons burthen. Ariadne was armed with initially eighteen, later twenty-four, 32-pounder carronades on her gundeck and a pair of 9-pounder cannon as chase guns. The ship had a crew of 135 officers and ratings.

Construction and career
Ariadne, the third ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was ordered on 28 November 1812, laid down in April 1815 in Pater Dockyard, Wales, and launched, together with her sister ship, HMS Valorous (1816), on 10 February 1816 by John Campbell, Lord Cawdor. She was completed on 21 March 1816 and placed in ordinary. Ariadne cost £11,936 to build and a further £3,579 to fit out. She was converted into a 26-gun post ship at Plymouth Dockyard in January–May 1820 by the addition of quarterdeck, with further six carronades, and forecastle to the original flush-deck construction, and fitted for sea in March–August 1822.

The ship's first commission began in April 1823 under the command of Captain Robert Moorsom. He was relieved by Captain Isaac Chapman in December 1824 and Ariadne was assigned to the Cape of Good Hope Station. Chapman was court-martialed and dismissed from the service in June 1826 for having purchased a female slave and brought her aboard, but he had been relieved by Captain Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence earlier in February, by which time the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was paid off at Plymouth at its end in May 1828, but began a refit in August that lasted until February 1829. Captain Frederick Marryat was appointed to her on 11 October 1828 for service in the Central Atlantic. Ariadne was paid off in November 1830, but recommissioned for service on the North America and West Indies Station that lasted until 1835. The ship was refitted as a coal hulk in November 1836–February 1837 for service at Alexandria, Egypt, and was sold for scrap there on 23 July 1841.