Thirteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Shark (or HMS Sharke) after the shark:
HMS Sharke (1691) was an 8-gun brigantine launched in 1691 and sold in 1698.
HMS Sharke (1699) was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1699 and captured by French forces in 1703.
HMS Sharke (1711) was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1711, rebuilt in 1722 and sold in 1732.
HMS Shark (1732) was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1732 and sold in 1755.
HMS Shark (1776) was a 16-gun sloop purchased on the stocks in 1775 and launched in 1776. She was converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander in 1778, and was sold in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander and was seriatem a whaler, convicttransport to Australia, whaler, and slaver. She is last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1811.
HMS Shark (1779) was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1779. She was used as a receiving ship on the Jamaica station from 1803 to 1816 and foundered in Port Royal harbor in 1818; her remains were sold a few months later.[1]
HMS Shark (1780) was a 28-gun sixth rate bought in 1780 that foundered with the loss of her entire crew during a storm off North America in 1780.[2]
HMS Shark (1794) was a 4-gun Dutch hoy purchased in 1794 and handed over to French forces in 1795 at La Hogue by her crew during a mutiny.[3]
Hepper, David J. (1994) British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. (Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot). ISBN 0-948864-30-3
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.