John Adams began as a 28-gun frigate in 1799 and later changed rating and armament several times. She served through the Barbary Wars and remained a United States Navy asset for roughly sixty-six years. Sold to the British government in 1867, her hulk became the Hong Kong water-police headquarters. After fire destroyed the hulk in 1884, HMS Merlin torpedoed and sank the remains, giving an eighteenth-century-built sailing ship an unexpectedly modern final chapter.
Notable Point · 4:40:18-4:42:13
USS John Adams ended as a Hong Kong police hulk sunk by torpedo
A terminology search uncovers the long afterlife of an American sailing warship that became a British colonial police headquarters.