NameNiger-class frigate In commission1759–1814 Length125 ft (38 m)
Built1757–1766 Completed11
Tons burthen679 67/94 (as designed)
The Niger-class frigates were 32-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1757 by Sir Thomas Slade, and were an improvement on his 1756 design for the 32-gun Southampton-class frigates.
Slade's design was approved in September 1757, on which date four ships were approved to be built to these plans - three by contract and a fourth in a royal dockyard. Seven more ships were ordered to the same design between 1759 and 1762 - three more to be built by contract and four in royal dockyards. Stag and Quebec were both reduced to 28-gun sixth rates in 1778, but were then restored to 32-gun fifth rates in 1779.
Ships in class
Stag
Ordered: 19 September 1757
Built by: Thomas Stanton & Company, Rotherhithe.
Keel laid: 26 September 1757
Launched: 4 September 1758
Completed: 4 December 1758 at Deptford Dockyard.
Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in July 1783.
Alarm
Ordered: 19 September 1757
Built by: John Barnard & John Turner, Harwich.
Keel laid: 26 September 1757
Launched: 19 September 1758
Completed: 24 June 1759 at the builder's shipyard.
Fate: Taken to pieces at Portsmouth Dockyard in September 1812.
Aeolus
Ordered: 19 September 1757
Built by: Thomas West, Deptford.
Keel laid: September 1757
Launched: 29 November 1758
Completed: 18 January 1759 at Deptford Dockyard.
Fate: Renamed Guernsey on 7 May 1800. Taken to pieces at Sheerness Dockyard in April 1801.
Niger
Ordered: 19 September 1757
Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
Keel laid: 7 February 1758
Launched: 25 September 1759
Completed: 24 November 1759.
Fate: Renamed Negro 1813. Sold at Portsmouth Dockyard on 29 September 1814.
Montreal
Ordered: 6 June 1759
Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
Keel laid: 26 April 1760
Launched: 15 September 1761
Completed: 10 October 1761.
Fate: Captured by French squadron off Gibraltar on 1 May 1779.
Quebec
Ordered: 16 July 1759
Built by: John Barnard & John Turner, Harwich.
Keel laid: July 1759
Launched: 14 July 1760
Completed: 9 August 1760 at the builder's shipyard.
Fate: Blew up and sunk in action against French frigate La Surveillante off Ushant on 6 October 1779.
Pearl
Ordered: 24 March 1761
Built by: Chatham Dockyard.
Keel laid: 6 May 1761
Launched: 27 March 1762
Completed: 14 May 1762.
Fate: Renamed Prothee 19 March 1825. Sold at Portsmouth Dockyard on 14 January 1832.
Emerald
Ordered: 24 March 1761
Built by: Hugh Blaydes, Hull.
Keel laid: 13 May 1761
Launched: 8 June 1762
Completed: October 1762 at the builder's shipyard.
Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in October 1793.
Winchelsea
Ordered: 11 August 1761
Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
Keel laid: 29 March 1762
Launched: 31 May 1764
Completed: 26 June 1766.
Fate: Sold at Sheerness Dockyard on 3 November 1813.
Glory
Ordered: 30 January 1762
Built by: Hugh Blaydes & Thomas Hodgson, Hull.
Keel laid: March 1762
Launched: 24 October 1763
Completed: December 1763 at the builder's shipyard.
Fate: Taken to pieces at Woolwich Dockyard in January 1786.
Aurora
Ordered: 8 December 1762
Built by: Chatham Dockyard.
Keel laid: 10 October 1763
Launched: 13 January 1766
Completed: 24 July 1769.
Fate: Lost with all hands in the Indian Ocean (disappeared, fate unknown) in January 1770.
