Cyane

A Latin word meaning "deep blue."

( Fr: t. 539, 1. 110', b. 39'6"; dph. 8'; cpl. 180; a. 4 9-pdr., 22 32-pdr. ear., 9 18-pdr. car., 1 12-pdr. car.)

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 1826-27. Laid up at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she sank in 1886 and was raised and broken up the following year.