Name HMS Lark Laid down 5 May 1761 Construction started 5 May 1761 Builder Rotherhithe | Ordered 24 March 1761 Commissioned May 1762 Launched 10 May 1762 | |
Completed 9 July 1762 at Deptford Dockyard Fate Burnt to avoid capture at Newport, Rhode Island, 5 August 1778 | ||
HMS Lark was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1762 and destroyed in Narragansett Bay in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War.
Between 29 May and 18 July, the British captured a number of vessels: the sloops Sally and Fancy, snow Baron D'Ozell, Olive Branch, sloop Betsey, and schooner Sally. Lark shared the prize money with Kingfisher, Hope, Sphinx, and the Pigot galley.
French Admiral d'Estaing's squadron arrived in Narragansett Bay on 29 July 1778 to support the American army under General George Washington during the battle of Rhode Island. On 30 July, four French ships of the line entered Narrangansett Bay and positioned themselves north of Conanicut Island to support the American and French forces in the battle of Rhode Island. The arrival of the French vessels trapped several British vessels, Lark among them. On 5 August 1778, as Lark lay off Newport, Captain Richard Smith had her set on fire and her cables cut. She then drifted on to shore. The Royal Navy ended up having to destroy ten of their own vessels in all.
The remains of Lark are now part of a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the "Wreck Sites of HMS Cerberus and HMS Lark."