The Crocus class brig-sloops were a class of sloop-of-war

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 built for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, and were the only Royal Navy brig-sloops ever designed rated for 14 guns. The class was designed by the Surveyors of the Navy (Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow) jointly, and approved on 28 March 1807. Unlike the vast majority of other British brig-sloops built for the Royal Navy in this wartime period, which were built by contractors, construction of the Crocus class was confined to the Admiralty's own dockyards. One vessel was ordered from each of the Royal Dockyards (except Sheerness) on 30 March; four more were ordered in 1808 and a final unit in 1810

Vessels

In the following table, the Crocus-class brig-sloops are listed in the order in which they were ordered.

Name	Built at	Launched
Podargus	Portsmouth Dockyard	26 May 1808
Crocus	Plymouth Dockyard	10 June 1808
Merope	Chatham Dockyard	25 June 1808
Apelles	Woolwich Dockyard	10 August 1808
Portia	Deptford Dockyard	30 August 1810
Prospero	Woolwich Dockyard	9 November 1809
Muros	Chatham Dockyard	23 October 1809
Zephyr	Portsmouth Dockyard	29 April 1809
Banterer	Woolwich Dockyard	2 June 1810
Wolf HMS Wolf (1814) HMS Wolf was a 14-gun brig of the Royal Navy that was launched in 1814 from Woolwich Dockyard. She served on the Irish Station in 1819, and was paid off and sold in 1825. She was working as a whaler in the Pacific Ocean when she hit a unchartered rock on 6 August 1837 off Lord Howe Island, was...	Woolwich Dockyard	16 September 1814