Cyane I (Frigate)
1815-1835
(Fr: t.539; l. 110'; b. 31'6"; dph.17'3"; cpl.180; a. 4 12-pdr., 20 32-pdr. car., 8 18-pdr. car.)
A Latin word meaning "deep blue."
I
The first Cyane, a frigate, was built in 1796 at Frinsbury, England, for the Royal Navy. She was captured with HMS Levant 20 February 1815 by Constitution after a 40-minute night engagement off Madeira. With Constitution's second lieutenant Hoffman as prize master, she successfully escaped recapture by a pursuing British squadron 12 March and arrived in America 10 April. She was adjudicated by a prize court and purchased by the Navy.
Cyane cruised off the west coast of Africa from 1819-20 and in the West Indies from 1820-21 protecting the Liberian colony and suppressing piracy and the slave trade. She cruised in the Mediterranean 1824-25, and on the Brazil Station 1825-27. Laid up at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she sank in 1835 and was raised and broken up the following year.
