Hired armed ship Kitty
Encyclopedia
The Hired armed
Hired armed vessels
right|thumb|250px|Armed cutter, etching in the [[National Maritime Museum]], [[Greenwich]]During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy made use of a considerable number of hired armed vessels...

 ship Kitty served 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...

 only from 17 May 1804 to 17 January 1805. She was armed with sixteen 18-pounder carronade
Carronade
The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s and was of 16671/94 tons burthen (bm
Builder's Old Measurement
Builder's Old Measurement is the method of calculating the size or cargo capacity of a ship used in England from approximately 1720 to 1849. It estimated the tonnage of a ship based on length and maximum beam...

).

On 10 March 1805, while under the command of Thomas Musgrave, she captured the Spanish ship Felicity (or Felicidad) in the Channel. Felicity was armed with 20 guns and had a crew of 178 men. She was under the command of Jose Vincento de Cinza and had been out 10 days. In the one and a half hour engagement Kitty suffered one man killed and two seriously wounded.

By this time, Kitty's Master described her as a "private ship of war". He had received a letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...

 against the French on 5 February 1805. The letter describes Kitty as having a crew of 100 men, and being armed with 22 carriage guns of 9, 18 and 24 pounds, and six swivels
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...

.

In his report, Musgrave reports that fewer than 20 of her crew had ever seen a gun fired, and fewer than 40 had ever been to sea before she left port on 3 March. Kitty's owner and the underwriters of Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...

presented Commander Musgrave with an honour sabre worth 30 guineas for the action.http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7137470
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