![]() HMS Black Joke firing on El Almirante by Nicholas Matthews Condy
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History | |
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Name | Henriquetta |
Builder | Baltimore |
Launched | 1824? |
Acquired | 1825 |
Fate | Captured by the Royal Navy in 1827 |
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Name | HMS Black Joke |
Namesake | Black Joke (bawdy song) |
Acquired | Captured 1827 |
Commissioned | 1827 |
Decommissioned | May 1832 |
Fate | Burnt on orders from London |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Baltimore clipper |
Tons burthen | Approx. 260 ton (bm) |
Length | 90 ft 10 in (27.7 m)[1] |
Beam | 26 ft 7 in (8.1 m)[1] |
Sail plan | Brig |
Complement | 34 sailors & 5 marines |
Armament | One pivot-mounted 18-pounder gun |
Service record | |
Part of: | West Africa Squadron |
Commanders: |
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The third HMS Black Joke was probably built in Baltimore in 1824, becoming the Brazilian slave ship Henriquetta.[2] The Royal Navy captured her in September 1827, and purchased her into the service. The Navy renamed her Black Joke, after an English song of the same name, and assigned her to the West Africa Squadron (or Preventive Squadron). Her role was to chase down slave ships, and over her five-year career, she freed thousands of slaves. The Navy deliberately burnt her in May 1832 because her timbers had rotted to the point that she was no longer fit for active service.