HMS Racer (1833)

Racer's sister ship HMS Sappho
History
United Kingdom
Name	Racer
Ordered	10 July 1832
Builder	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down	September 1832
Launched	18 July 1833
Completed	5 September 1833
Commissioned	13 July 1833
Out of service	8 March 1852
Fate	Sold 17 September 1852
General characteristics
Class and type	Racer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen	430 63⁄94 (bm)
Length	100 ft 8 in (30.7 m) (gundeck) 78 ft 9+1⁄8 in (24 m) (keel)
Beam	32 ft 4+3⁄4 in (9.9 m)
Draught	7 ft 10 in (2.4 m) (forwards) 12 ft 3 in (3.7 m) (aft)
Depth of hold	14 ft 10+1⁄2 in (4.5 m)
Sail plan	Brig-sloop
Complement	110
Armament	2 × 12-pdr cannon; 14 × 32-pdr carronades

HMS Racer was a 16-gun Racer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1833 she served on the North America and West Indies Station where she was badly damaged by what became known as Racer's hurricane in 1837. After repair at Havana she returned to England where she was paid off. Racer was recommissioned later in 1838 and returned to North America where, in 1840, her commanding officer was drowned in an accident. She was refitted in 1842 and served on the South America Station and on anti-slavery patrols off West Africa. An 1848 refit reduced her to 12 guns and she afterwards served as a tender to HMS Caledonia and in the Mediterranean Sea. Racer was sold out of service in 1852.