AH-WR-1461

HMS Wolf

Sloop-Of-War · United Kingdom · Lost 1806 · The Bahamas

A Royal Navy sloop that hunted Spanish and French privateers in the West Indies before wrecking in the Bahamas in 1806.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

HMS Wolf was a Merlin-class sloop launched at Dartmouth in 1804 and sent to the West Indies station, where she captured or destroyed several small Spanish and French privateers preying on merchant shipping. After more than a year of active anti-privateer cruising around Jamaica and Cuba, Wolf was wrecked in the Bahamas on 4 September 1806. Few details of the wrecking itself survive in accessible records.

Vessel

Built: 1804
Builder: Not established
Yard: Dartmouth, England
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Royal Navy

Loss

Date: September 4, 1806
Cause: Grounding
Location: The Bahamas (specific site not established)
Water: Bahama waters, Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: The Bahamas
Region: The Bahamas

Wreck site within the Bahamas is not specified in the sources reviewed.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Sparsely documented (45/100)

The precise wrecking location, cause, and casualties are not established in the sources reviewed.

Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817
Build date, class, and general service history.
David Hepper, British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail 1650-1859
Date and general fact of loss in the Bahamas.