Who is Weazel?
Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Weazel or HMS Weazle, archaic spellings of weasel, while another was planned: HMS Weazel (1704) was a 10-gun sloop launched in 1704 and sold in 1712. HMS Weazel (1721) was an 8-gun sloop launched in 1721 and sold in 1732. HMS Weazel (1745) was a 16-gun sloop purchased on the stocks and launched in 1745. The French frigate Boudeuse captured her in 1779 in the West Indies. The French took her to the French Antilles where they removed her guns for Admiral d'Estaing's squadron. They then sold her at Guadeloupe in 1781. HMS Weazle (1783) was a 14-gun brig-sloop launched in 1783 and wrecked while attempting to leave Barnstaple Bay on 12 February 1799. She vainly fired signals of distress before she broke up; her purser was the only survivor of her crew of 106 men and boys. HMS Weazle (1799) was a 16-gun brig-sloop launched in 1799 and purchased that year. She was wrecked on 1 March 1804 off Cabritta Point near Gibraltar with the loss of...
