Thanks for that info Bobby.
That Mutine was quite a busy little ship.
Rob.
Printable View
Thanks for that info Bobby.
That Mutine was quite a busy little ship.
Rob.
HMS CURIEUX
Curieux was a French corvette launched in September 1800 at Saint Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique. In her five-year British career Curieux captured several French privateers and engaged in two notable single-ship actions, also against privateers. In the first she captured the Dame Ernouf; in the second, she took heavy casualties in an indecisive action with the Revanche. In 1809 Curieux hit a rock. All her crew were saved but they had to set fire to her to prevent her recapture.
On 4 February 1804, HMS Centaur sent four boats and 72 men under Lieutenant Robert Carthew Reynolds to cut her out at Fort Royal harbour, Martinique. The British suffered nine wounded, two of whom, including Reynolds, later died. The French suffered ten dead and 30 wounded, many mortally. Cordier, wounded, fell into a boat and escaped. The British sent Curieux under a flag of truce to Fort Royal to hand the wounded over to their countrymen.
The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Curieux, a brig-sloop. Reynolds commissioned her but he had been severely wounded in the action and though he lingered for a while, died in September.
Reynold's successor was George Edmund Byron Bettesworth, who had been a lieutenant on Centaur and part of the cutting out expedition. Curieux's first lieutenant was John George Boss who had been a midshipman on Centaur and also in the cutting out expedition.
In June 1804, Curieux recaptured the English brig Albion, which was carrying a cargo of coal. Then, on 15 July, she captured the French privateer schooner Elizabeth of six guns. That same day she captured the schooner Betsey, which was sailing in ballast.
In September Curieux recaptured the English brig Princess Royal, which was carrying government stores. Then in January 1805 Curieux recaptured an American ship, from St. Domingo, that was carrying coffee. The American had been the prize of a French privateer.
Then on 8 February 1805, Curieux chased the French privateer Dame Ernouf (or Madame Ernouf) for twelve hours before she able to bring her to action. After forty minutes of hard fighting Dame Ernouf, which had a crew almost double in size relative to that of Curieux, maneuvered to attempt a boarding. Bettesworth anticipated this and put his helm a-starboard, catching his opponent's jib-boom so that he could rake the French vessel. Unable to fight back, the Dame Ernouff struck. The action cost Curieux five men killed and four wounded, including Bettesworth, who took a hit in his head from a musket ball. Dame Ernouf had 30 men killed and 41 wounded. She carried 16 French long 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 120. This was the same armament as Curieux carried, but in a smaller vessel. Bettesworth opined that she had fought so gallantly because her captain was also a part-owner. She was 20 days out of Guadeloupe and had taken one brig, which, however, Nimrod had recaptured. The British took Dame Ernouf into service as Seaforth, but she capsized and foundered in a gale on 30 September 1805. There were only two survivors.
On 25 February Curieux, under Bettesworth, captured a Spanish launch, name unknown, which she took into Tortola.
Lieutenant Boss was on leave at the time of the action but later took over as acting commander while Bettesworth recuperated. At Cumana Gut, Boss cut out several schooners and later took a brig from St. Eustatia. On 7 July, Curieux arrived in Plymouth with dispatches from Lord Nelson. On her way, she spotted Admiral Villeneuve's Franco-Spanish squadron on its way back to Europe from the West Indies and alerted the Admiralty. Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, with 15 ships of the line, intercepted Villeneuve on 22 July, but the subsequent Battle of Cape Finisterre was indecisive, with the British only capturing two enemy ships.
James Johnstone took command of Curieux in July 1805. After refitting she sailed for the Lisbon station. On 25 November 1805 Curieux captured the Spanish privateer Brilliano, under the command of Don Joseph Advis, some 13 leagues west of Cape Selleiro. She was a lugger of five carriage guns and a crew of 35 men. Brilliano, which had been out five days from Port Carrel and two days before Pomone captured her, had taken the English brig Mary, sailing from Lynn to Lisbon with a cargo of coal. Brilliano had also taken the brig Nymphe, which had been sailing from Newfoundland with a cargo of fish for Viana. The next day Curieux apparently captured the San Josef el Brilliant.
On 5 February 1806, two years after her own capture, Curieux captured the 6-gun privateer Baltidore (alias Fenix) and her crew of 47 men. The capture occurred 27 leagues west of Lisbon after a chase of four hours. Baltidore had been out of Ferrol one month, during which time she had captured the Good Intent, which had been sailing from Lisbon for London. About a month earlier, on 3 January, Mercury had recaptured Good Intent, which had been part of a convoy that Mercury had been escorting from Newfoundland to Portugal.
In March 1806 John Sheriff took over as captain of Curieux. On 3 December 1807, off Barbados, Curieux, now armed with eight 6-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades, engaged the 25-gun privateer Revanche, commanded by Captain Vidal. Revanche, which had been the slaver British Tar, was the more heavily armed (chiefly English 9-pounders, and one long French 18-pounder upon a traversing carriage on the forecastle) and had a crew of 200 men. Revanche nearly disabled Curieux, while killing Sheriff. Lieutenant Thomas Muir wanted to board Revanche, but too few crewmen were willing to follow him. The two vessels broke off the action and Revanche escaped. Curieux, whose shrouds and back-stays were shot away, and whose two topmasts and jib-boom had been damaged, was unable to pursue.
In addition to the loss of her captain, Curieux had suffered another seven dead and 14 wounded. Revanche, according to a paragraph in the Moniteur, lost two men killed and 13 wounded. Curieux, as soon as her crew had partially repaired her, made sail and anchored the next day in Carlisle Bay, Barbados. A subsequent court martial into why Muir had not taken or destroyed the enemy vessel mildly rebuked Muir for not having hove-to to repair his vessel's damage once it became obvious that Curieux was in no condition to overtake Revanche.
In February 1808 Commander Thomas Tucker assumed command, to be succeeded by Commander Andrew Hodge. Lieutenant the Honourable Henry George Moysey, possibly acting, then took command. Under his command Curieux was engaged in the blockade of Guadaloupe, where she cut out a privateer from St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica.
On 18 February 1809, Latona captured the French frigate Felicité. Curieux shared in the prize money, together with all the other vessels that been associated in the blockade of the Saintes.
On 22 September 1809, at about 3:30am, Curieux struck a rock off Petit-Terre off the Îles des Saintes. The rock was 30 yards from the beach in 11 feet of water. At first light, Hazard came to her assistance and her guns and stores were removed. Hazard then winched Curieux off a quarter of a cable but she slipped back and ran directly onto the reef. There she bilged. All her crew was saved but she herself was burned to prevent capture. A court martial board found Lieutenant John Felton, the Officer of the Watch, guilty of negligence and dismissed him from the service. Moysey died the next month of yellow fever.
On 30 August 1860, the Prince of Wales was visiting Sherbrooke, where he met John Felton, who had emigrated to Canada after being dismissed the service. The Prince of Wales exercised his royal prerogative and restored Felton to his erstwhile rank in the Navy.
HMS SCOUT
Vénus was a corvette of the French Navy that the British captured in 1800. Renamed HMS Scout, she served briefly in the Channel before being wrecked by accident in 1801, a few days after taking a major prize.
Vénus was begun in Bordeaux in 1793 as a privateer but the French Navy bought her while she was still on the stocks. She was launched in January 1794 as the Vengeance and completed for service in the following April, but was renamed Vénus in May 1795.
The French commissioned her as a corvette and initially armed her with 26 guns: twenty-two 8-pounders on her upper deck and four 4-pounders on her galliards, i.e. her quarterdeck and forecastle. By 1796 she had had 4 obusiers (the French equivalent of the carronade) added on her gaillards, but by July 1798 these had been removed and she carried ten 4-pounders on her galliards.
Vénus took part in the Expédition d'Irlande and under the command of Captain André Senez, was in Commodore Savary's squadron at the Battle of Tory Island.
On 22 October 1800 Indefatigable captured Vénus off the Portuguese coast. The Indefatigable had been chasing Venus from the morning when in the afternoon Fisgard came in sight and forced Vénus to turn. Both British vessels arrived at Vénus at about 7pm. Vénus was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 200 men. She was sailing from Rochefort to Senegal. Later, Indefatigable and Fisgard shared the prize money with Boadicea, Diamond, Urania and the hired armed schooner Earl St Vincent.
The Royal Navy commissioned Vénus as Scout in November 1800 under Commander George Ormsby. She was fitted out at Plymouth until March 1801. However Ormsby died in January 1801. Ormsby's successor was Commander Henry Duncan.
Scout was too small and too weak for the Royal Navy (RN) to take her in as a sixth-rate frigate or even a Post-ship. She was designed for short-range privateering in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, rather than the longer-range escort or patrol work of a naval corvette. Accordingly she couldn't stow as much in the way of stores as the Admiralty needed; reducing her armament, relative to her French establishment, would have permitted her to carry the larger weight of stores she had to carry in RN service.
In March 1801, Scout was in company with the hired armed vessels Sheerness and the Lady Charlotte when they captured a large Dutch East Indiaman off St Alban's Head. She was the Crown Prince, of 1400 tons and 28 guns, and had been sailing from China to Copenhagen with a cargo of tea.
Scout was wrecked on the Shingles, Isle of Wight, on 25 March 1801. The crew attempted to lighten her but all efforts had had failed by late afternoon on 27 March. Due to the efforts of Beaver and the master attendant of the dockyard all the crew were saved.
On 1 April a court martial was held at Portsmouth on Gladiator for Commander Duncan, his officers and crew for the loss of Scout. The court acquitted Duncan, the pilot, the officers and the crew of all blame, ruling that the sinking was due to a strong tide catching Scout when she was vulnerable
Duncan received command of the Premier Consul, which Dryad had captured on 5 March 1801, and which the Admiralty renamed Scout. Scout foundered with the loss of all hands in 1801 or 1802. Naval opinion was that she went down off Newfoundland.
HMS NIOBE
The Diane was a 38-gun frigate of the French Navy.
She took part in the Battle of the Nile, managing to escape to Malta with the Justice.
In 1800, as she tried to escape from Malta, she was captured by HMS Success, HMS Northumberland and HMS Genereux.
She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Niobe.
On 16 July 1806, Niobe captured the 16-gun Néarque off Groix.
On 23 December 1810, off Le Havre along with Diana, Niobe sighted the 40-gun Amazone and the 44-gun Elisa. HMS Donegal and HMS Revenge joined the chase. Eventually, the Elisa was wrecked near La Hougue, while the Amazone escaped to Le Havre.
On 24 March 1811, she sailed with a squadron comprising HMS Berwick, Amelia, Goshawk and HMS Hawk again chased the Amazone, which was trapped near Barfleur and scuttled herself to avoid capture.
HMS Niobe was eventually sold on 31 July 1816.
HMS SYBILLE
The Sibylle was an 38-gun Hébé class frigate of the French Navy. She was launched in 1791 at the dockyards in Toulon and placed in service in 1792. After the 50-gun Fourth Rate HMS Romney captured her in 1794, the British took her into service as HMS Sybille. She served in the Royal Navy until disposed off in 1833. While in British service Sybille participated in three notable single ship actions, in each case capturing a French vessel. On anti-slavery duties off West Africa from July 1827 to June 1830, Sybille captured numerous slavers and freed some 3,500 slaves. She was finally sold in 1833 in Portsmouth.
From 23 April 1790 to October-December 1792, Sibylle escorted a convoy and transferred funds from Toulon to Smyrna, first under Capitaine de vaisseau (CV) Grasse-Briançon and then CV de Venel. From March 1793 to January 1794, under CV Rondeau, she escorted convoys between Toulon and Marseilles and then she moved to the Levant station. She cruised the Aegean Sea, and in June 1794 she was escorting a convoy from Candia to Mykonos when she encountered Romney. Romney, under Capt. Paget, captured Sibylle on 17 June; she was taken in British service as HMS Sybille.
In 1798, she served off the Philippines. In December, she gave chase to the privateer Clarisse, under Robert Surcouf. Clarisse escaped by throwing eight guns overboard.
In February 1799, while under the command of Captain Edward Cooke, Sybille patrolled the Indian Ocean in a hunt for the French frigate Forte, under captain Beaulieu-Leloup. The ships met on 28 February in the Balasore Roads in the Bay of Bengal. Sybille took Forte by surprise and captured her, as Forte's captain mistook Sybille for a merchantman. Cooke was wounded in the action and died at Calcutta 23 May, aged 26. Though his grave is in Calcutta, the East India Company erected a monument to him in Westminster Abbey in appreciation of the benefit to British trade of his capture of Forte. In all, Sybille lost five dead and 17 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Sybille 28 Feby. 1799" to all remaining survivors of the action.
In June 1799, Sybille came under the command of Captain Charles Adam. On 23 August 1800, Sybille, with Daedalus, Centurion and Brave captured a Dutch brig. The Royal Navy took her into service as Admiral Rainier. The British ships had entered Batavia Roads and captured five Dutch armed vessels in all and destroyed 22 other vessels. Sybille alone apparently captured one brig of six guns, four proas armed with swivels, four proas armed, between with three 8-pounder and three 4-pounder guns, and some 21 unarmed proas, of which five were lost. How many of these, if any, are among the vessels reported as being taken in the Batavia Roads is not clear.
On 19–20 August 1801, in the Roads of Mahé, Seychelles, Sybille captured the French frigate Chiffonne, under the command of Capitaine de Vaisseau Guieyesse. Chiffone had captured the Portuguese corvette Andorinha off the coasts of Brazil on 5 May, and the East Indiaman Bellona in the Madagascar Channel on 16 June. (Later, from 23 May 1803 to 1805, Charles Adams would command Chiffonne.)
On 3 May 1807, under Capt. Robert Winthrop, Sybille captured the French 4-gun privateer Oiseau in the Channel.
Sybille, under the command of Capt. Clotworthy Upton, participated in Battle of Copenhagen (1807), where she bombarded the city. The battle resulted in the British capturing the Danish Fleet.
On 25 January 1808, while on the Home station, Sibylle captured the French privateer lugger Grand Argus. Grand Argus was pierced for 12 guns but carried only four. She and her crew of 41 men were under the command of Michael Daguinet. She was on her first cruise from Granville but had made no captures in three days she had been out.
Then on 16 August, Sybille captured the French brig-corvette Espiègle, later recommissioned in the Royal Navy as Electra. Espiègle arrived in Cork on the evening of 31 August.
In the summer of 1809 Sybille cruised off the Greenland ice. Her role was to protect the whalers from privateers and then to escort them back to Britain.
In subsequent years she captured several privateers. In October 1810 she captured the French privateer Edouard on the coast of Ireland. Edouard, under Guillaume Moreau, was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 90 men. She was eight days out of Abrevarake.
On 28 January 1812 Sybille was in company with Surveillante and Spitfire, when Surveillante captured the American ship Zone. In 10 May Sybille captured the French 14-gun privateer Aigle at sea. On 2 August she detained and sent into Cork the Perseverance of New York. Lastly, on 5 February 1813 Sybille captured the French 14-gun privateer Brestois at sea.
Captain Sir John Pechell took command of Sybille on 1 July 1823 and fitted her out for service in the Mediterranean. She sailed in October and proceeded to spend three years protecting the Ionian Islands and suppressing piracy.
A year later, Sybille enforced an indemnity on the Greek government of the United States of the Ionian Islands for an attack on a Turkish vessel in violation of their own neutrality. Pechell seized a number of Greek ships until the indemnity of 40,000 dollars was forthcoming. On 5 October 1824, her boats succeeded in cutting out three Greek schooners: Polyxenes of 8 guns and 69 men; San Niccolo of 10 guns and 73 men; and Bella Poula of 8 guns and 37 men. Sybille took the prizes to Zante and the prisoners to Corfu.
In October 1825, boats from Sybille and Medina, Captain Timothy Curtis, found a Greek pirate mistico and her prize at anchor in a cove at Catacolo. The British handed the Ionian prize over to the authorities in Zante and sent the mistico to Corfu.
Sybille's next notable action occurred when she attacked a pirate lair on a barren island near Candia at the end of June 1826. Sybille sent in her boats but they were unsuccessful, suffering some 13 dead and 31 wounded, five of whom died subsequently. Gunfire from Sybille killed many pirates until the pirates traded a Royal Marine they had captured from one of the boats for a cease-fire. Sybille left the island though some time later a Turkish brig chased the pirates' remaining boat ashore in Anatolia thus ending that threat.
From 4 December 1826 until 1830, Sybille was part of the West Africa Squadron, which sought to suppress the slave trade. There she was under the command of Commodore Francis Augustus Collier.
On 6 September 1827, Sybille captured the Brazilian ship Henriqueta (also Henri Quatre), with 569 slaves on board, of whom 546 survived to be liberated in Sierra Leone. In December the Admiralty purchased Henriquetta for £900 as a tender to Sybille and renamed her Black Joke. Black Joke would go on to be one of the most successful anti-slavery vessels in the squadron.
On 14 March 1828 Sybille was reported to have captured three slave vessels: possibly a Dutch schooner with 272 slaves; a Spanish schooner with 282 slaves; and the Hope, former tender to the Maidstone, with a cargo onboard for the purchase of slaves. When Sybille arrived at Sierra Leone on 17 May for refitting in preparation for a passage to Ascension Island, she reported that since she arrived on the station in July 1827 she had freed over 1100 slaves.
In 1829, 204 men died on board Eden from yellow fever. To convince the crew of Sybille that the fever was not contagious, her surgeon, Robert McKinnal, drank a glassful of black vomit from an ailing crew member.
Between February and March 1829 Sybille captured a Brazilian brig, and her tenders captured the slave schooner Donna Barbara. By 11 April 1829, Sybille claimed to have released over 3,900 slaves in the previous 22 months. On 29 April she captured a Spanish schooner with 291 slaves on board. Then on 12 May she sent in to the prize court a schooner with 185 slaves on board.
Sybille also seized and condemned a number of vessels for illicitly trafficking in slaves. On 11 October it was the brigantine Tentadora and on 1 November the brigantine Nossa Senhora da Guia, with 310 slaves, of whom 238 survived. On 30 January 1830 Sybille seized and condemned a third, unnamed vessel. Then on 15 January she took the Umbelino, 377 slaves of whom only 163 survived, and eight days later, the Primera Rosalia, with 282 slaves, of whom 242 survived. She also captured a brigantine from Lagos after a 27 hour chase; the vessel turned out to have 282 slaves on board. Her last capture occurred on 1 April when she captured Manzanares. Sybille finally returned to Portsmouth from the coast of Africa on 26 June and was paid off.
Between January 1830 and July 1831 she was fitted as a lazaretto for Dundee. She was eventually sold to Mr. Henry for ₤2,460 on 7 August 1833.
HMS MINORCA
The French brig Alerte was launched in 1787 and captured by the Royal Navy at Toulon in 1793. The British set her on fire when they evacuated Toulon later that year. After the French rebuilt her as Alerte, she served at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The British recaptured her in 1799 and took her into service as Minorca. Minorca was sold in 1802.
Alerte was built at Rochefort and designed as an aviso. Hubert Pennevert completed here as a brig. She was commissioned as a brig of 10 guns. In 1790 she was under the command of Commandant D'Aujard in the Levant.
On 28 August 1793, the British occupied Toulon. Alerte was among the many vessels they seized. The British may have renamed her HMS Vigilante. In September she was under the command of Commander William Edge.
The Siege of Toulon went badly for the Royalist, Spanish and British forces and they were forced to quit the city on 18 December. As they did so, they set fire to the "Frigate Alerte", of "16 guns" and "in want of repairs".
Alerte burned to her waterline, but the French were able to rebuild her. On 1 August 1798 she was at the battle of Aboukir Bay (Battle of the Nile).
Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers hoped to lure the British fleet onto the shoals at Aboukir Island, sending the brigs Alerte and Railleur to act as decoys in the shallow waters, but the plan failed. Then, as the British fleet approached, Brueys sent Alerte ahead, passing close to the leading British ships and then steering sharply to the west over the shoal in the hope that the ships of the line might follow and become grounded. None of Nelson's captains fell for the ruse and the British fleet continued undeterred.
After the French defeat, Alerte left Alexandria in the squadron under Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée, consisting of the 40-gun Junon, 36-gun Alceste, 32-gun Courageuse, 18-gun Salamine and Alerte. The squadron then took shelter in Genoa.
On 17 June 1799 the squadron, still under Perrée, while enroute from Jaffa for Toulon, ran into a British squadron under the command of Captain John Markham of Centaur. The British captured the entire French squadron, with Captain capturing Alerte. Markham described Alerte as a brig of 14 guns and 120 men, under the command of Lieutenant Dumay.
The British took Alerte into service as Minorca. They commissioned her in August 1800 under Commander George Miller. On 26 January Foudroyant was in company with Minorca and Queen Charlotte when she recaptured the Ragusean brig Annonciata, Michele Pepi, master.
Minorca served with the British blockade of Malta. Between 29-31 March Minorca played an important role in the capture of the French ship of the line Guillaume-Tell by sailing to bring up ships of the blockading squadron while the frigate HMS Penelope harried her.
Minorca was among the many ships that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the French frigate Dianne on 25 August. On 16 February 1801 she captured the Turenne, J. Imbert, master, or the Furienne. Turenne or Furienne was a French xebec of six guns and a crew of 38 men. She had 1200 stand of arms on board and had been sailing from Leghorn to Alexandria.
In March Minorca returned to Aboukir Bay. She was part of Admiral Keith's naval force at the British expedition to Egypt. Here she was among the vessels moored as near as possible to the beach, with their broadsides towards it to support the landing of the troops. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service medal with clasp "Egypt" to all claimants from vessels that had been present between March and September. Minorca was among the vessels listed as qualifying.
Minorca was paid off in April 1802. She was sold later that year.
HMS ARETHUSA
The Aréthuse was a French frigate, launched in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. She was subsequently captured by the Royal Navy and became the fifth-rate HMS Arethusa.
Aréthuse was built at Le Havre for privateer warfare, as Pélerine. Soon after her launch, she was bought by the King, and commissioned as Aréthuse on 21 January 1758.
In June, under captain Vauquelin, she sailed through the British blockade of Louisbourg. She helped defend the place, and later departed, again forcing the blockade.
On the 18th of May 1759, she was in transit from Rochefort to Brest, under the command of the Marquis Vandrenil, when she was intercepted near Audierne Bay (Baie d'Audierne(French)) by three Royal Navy ships - HMS Thames, HMS Venus and HMS Chatham. She attempted to escape but after two hours, she lost her top-masts and was overtaken by her pursuers. The Thames and Venus engaged her with heavy fire, causing 60 casualties before she surrendered.
She entered service with the Royal Navy. For the rest of the war, she was in service in British home waters and was responsible for the capture of several French, privateer cutters.
In 1777, a Scotsman, James Hill , known as "Jack the Painter", was hanged from her mizzenmast for burning the Rope House at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard on 7 December 1776, to aid the cause of American independence . The mast was struck from the ship and re-erected at the dockyard entrance so as many as possibly could watch the execution.
On 17 June 1778, she fought a famous duel against the French, 26-gun frigate, Belle Poule. The Belle-Poule was on a reconnaissance mission, along with the 26-gun frigate Licorne, the corvette Hirondelle and the smaller Coureur when she encountered a large British squadron that included the Arethusa.
The Arethusa was the first to reach the French ships. A furious battle between her and the Belle Poule resulted in the deaths of the French second captain and 30 of the crew. But the Arethusa was crippled by the loss of a mast and had to withdraw, allowing the Belle Poule and the Licorne to escape the approaching British, although the two smaller French ships were captured.
This battle was the first between British and French forces during the American Revolutionary War and was widely celebrated in France as a victory, even inspiring a hair-style in court circles that included a model of the Belle Poule. It was also viewed as a victory in Britain and became the subject of a traditional Sea shanty, The Saucy Arethusa (Roud # 12675). The Arethusa is also the subject of a song on the Decemberists' album Her Majesty the Decemberists.
On the 18 March 1779, under captain Charles Holmes Everitt, the Arethusa engaged the French Aigrette, sustaining considerable damage in the fight. Arethusa was wrecked the next day off Ushant, at a point 48°27′4″N 5°4′4″W.
It was apparently the fame which this Arethusa which induced the Royal Navy, during the following two centuries, to bestow the name on a further seven cosecutive individual ships and two consecutive classes of cruisers.
HMS UNDAUNTED
The Aréthuse was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, built from 1789 following plans by Ozanne.
Launched on 3 March 1791, Aréthuse served in the Mediterranean under captain Pierre René Bouvet.
During the Siege of Toulon in 1793, she was surrendered to the British by Royalist rioters. She escaped to Portoferraio at the fall of the city, and was brough into Royal Navy service as HMS Arethusa.
In 1795, she was renamed HMS Undaunted.
In August 1796, under Robert Winthorp, she was wrecked at Morant Keys in the West Indies
HMS RAVEN
Aréthuse was a corvette of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, and launched in April 1798. Excellent captured her in 1799. The Royal Navy took her into service under the name HMS Raven. She was wrecked in 1804.
Aréthuse served between France and the Caribbean. On 9 October 1799 she was sailing towards Impregnable and her convoy when the 74-gun Excellent, which was to windward of Impregnable, spotted her. Excellent chased Aréthuse, catching her during the night. Captain Robert Stopford of Excellent described Aréthuse as having eighteen 9-pounder guns and a crew of 153 men, all under the command of a lieutenant de vaisseau. She was sailing from Lorient to Cayenne with dispatches that she succeeded in destroying before she struck. Excellent shared the capture with Impregnable.
Aréthuse arrived in Plymouth on 26 November 1799. She was fitted for service with the Royal Navy between September and December 1800. She was commissioned in September 1800 as HMS Raven under Commander James Sanders for the Channel. She was recommissioned in June 1802 under Commander Spelman Swaine and in August sailed for the Mediterranean.
On 4 January 1804 Raven sailed from Malta as escort to the merchant ship Dolphin, bound for Naples. She was following a course along the south coast of Sicily that would take her between the islands of Favignana and Marettimo. In the evening of the next day master's mate Robert Incledon had the watch and saw a light shape in the moonless night. He thought it was a sail but it turned out to be a tower on the cliffs near Mazari, on the south west coast of Sicily. At 11pm she ran aground. Despite efforts to lighten and free her, efforts that extended into the afternoon of 6 January, the pumps were unable to clear the water that was coming in and she had to be abandoned. Dolphin rescued her crew. The court martial on 10 February 1805 admonished the master for having steered too near the land.
If you didn't notice, the last three ships were all named Arethuse by their French builders. The French kept building them, naming them Arethuse, and the British kept capturing them.
HMS FOUDROYANT
The Foudroyant was a 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was later captured and served in the Royal Navy as the Third Rate HMS Foudroyant.
Foudroyant was built at Toulon to a design by François Coulomb, and was launched on 18 December 1750. She was present at the Battle of Minorca in 1756, where she engaged the British flagship HMS Ramillies. She then formed part of a squadron under Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran, during which time she was captured during the Battle of Cartagena off Cartagena, Spain on 28 February 1758 by Monmouth, Hampton Court and Swiftsure. The Monmouth's captain was wounded early in the fight and the two lieutenants commanded the ship for most of the battle. The captain of the Foudroyant insisted upon handing his sword to the lieutenants including Lt Hammick who commanded the main gun-deck. After the battle the ship's crew composed a poem about the action which included the lines "Gallant Hammick aimed his guns with care, not one random shot he fired in the air".
She was brought into Portsmouth and surveyed there in September 1758 for £163.10.2d. The Admiralty approved her purchase on 7 November that year, and she was duly bought on 6 December for the sum of £16,759.19.11d. She was officially named Foudroyant and entered onto the navy lists on 13 December 1758. She underwent a refit at Portsmouth between February and August 1759 for the sum of £14,218.9.2d to fit her for navy service.
She was commissioned in June 1759 under the command of Captain Richard Tyrell, serving as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy between June and October 1759. She spent August sailing with Admiral Edward Hawke's fleet. Foudroyant underwent another refit at Portsmouth in the spring of 1760, commissioning later that year under Captain Robert Duff. She sailed to the Leeward Islands in April 1760, but had returned to Britain by Autumn 1761 to undergo another refit. She took part in the operations off Martinique in early 1762, before coming under the command of Captain Molyneaux Shuldham later that year. She served for a short period as the flagship of Admiral George Rodney, before being paid off in 1763. She underwent several surveys, and a large repair between February 1772 and January 1774, after which she was fitted to serve as the Plymouth guardship in April 1775. She recommissioned again in August that year, under the command of Captain John Jervis, and was stationed at Plymouth until early 1777.
In March 1777 she was fitted for service in the English Channel, and spent that summer cruising off the French coast. On 18 June 1778 she engaged and captured the 32-gun Pallas, and was then present with Admiral Augustus Keppel's fleet at the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. Jervis was briefly replaced as captain by Captain Charles Hudson, while the Foudroyant became the flagship of her old commander, now Vice-Admiral Lord Shuldham. Jervis resumed command in 1779, sailing with Hardy's fleet, before being moved to a detached squadron in December 1779. Foudroyant returned to port in early 1780, where she was refitted and had her hull coppered. On the completion of this work by May, she returned to sea, sailing at first with Admiral Francis Geary's fleet, and later with George Darby's. She was then present at the relief of Gibraltar in April 1781, after which she was moved to Robert Digby's squadron. By the summer of 1781 she had returned to sailing with Darby's fleet, and by April 1782 had moved to a squadron under Samuel Barrington. She captured the French 74-gun Pégase on 21 April 1782, for which actions Jervis was knighted. She sailed again in July 1782, this time as part of a fleet under Admiral Richard Howe, before spending the autumn cruising in the Western Approaches. She briefly came under the command of Captain William Cornwallis in 1783, but was soon paid off and then fitted for ordinary.
An Admiralty order of 24 August 1787 provided for Foudroyant to be broken up and she was sold off for £479.3.2d. The breaking up had been completed by 26 September 1787.
HMS ARAB
HMS Arab was a 22-gun post ship of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the 18-gun French privateer Brave, which the British captured in 1798. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars until she was sold in 1810.
During her 12-year career she served on three separate stations, and was involved in two international incidents. The first incident occurred under Captain John Perkins and involved the Danes. The second incident occurred under Captain Lord Cochrane and involved the Americans. She participated in the capture of Sint Eustatius and Saba. Under Captains Perkins and Maxwell she also took a considerable number of prizes.
Brave was built in Nantes around 1797. On 24 April 1798 the 36-gun Phoenix, under the command of Captain Lawrence William Halsted, captured Brave off Cape Clear. She was pierced for 22 guns and was carrying eighteen, mixed 12 and 18-pounders. Unusually for a privateer, Brave resisted capture, suffering several men killed and 14 wounded before she surrendered. Phoenix had no casualties and suffered trifling damage to her sails and rigging. Brave had a crew of 160 men and also some 50 English prisoners on board, none of whom were injured. Halsted described Brave as being "a very fine ship, of 600 Tons, is coppered, and sails exceedingly fast."
After Phoenix captured Brave, the British brought her to Plymouth, where she arrived on 12 May. She was named and registered on 24 July 1798 and fitted out between November 1798 and April 1799. During this period a lower deck, quarterdeck and a forecastle were added. She was commissioned as HMS Arab in December 1798 under Commander Peter Spicer.
On 5 January 1799 Captain Thomas Bladen Capel took command; he sailed Arab for Jamaica 23 April. On 23 August, Quebec shared with Arab the capture of the American brig Porcupine. Porcupine, of 113 tons and with a crew of eight men, was sailing from New York to Havana with a cargo wine, oil, soap and sundries. Porcupine was condemned but Quebec appealed. During this period Arab detained, on suspicion, the Spanish brig Esperansa, which was sailing from Carthagena with a cargo of cotton, hides, and so forth.
Captain John Perkins (Jack Punch) took command in January 1801. In March 1801 Arab, in company with the 18-gun British privateer Experiment, caught and challenged two Danish vessels, the brig Lougen, under the command of Captain C.W. Jessen, and the schooner Den Aarvaagne. Arab approached the two Danish vessels and, according to Danish accounts, without warning, fired several broadsides at Lougen before the Danish ship was able to return fire. Lougen, which had escaped serious damage, began to return fire steadily. Experiment initially attempted to capture Aarvaagne, but Aarvaagne obeyed orders to stay out of the fight and instead escaped south to Christiansted on St. Croix with its intelligence on British actions. Experiment then joined Arab in the attack on Lougen, with the two British ships sandwiching the Danish ship. During the engagement, which lasted for over an hour, one of Lougen's shots struck the Arab's cathead and loosed the bower anchor. (Perkin's reported that it was the first shot from Lougen that loosed the bower anchor.) Arab's crew was unable to cut the anchor free, leaving Arab unable to manoeuvre effectively. This allowed Jessen to steer a course that brought him under the protection of the shore batteries and then into St Thomas.
The Danish government awarded Jessen a presentation sword made of gold, a medal and 400 rixdollars (the equivalent of a whole year’s salary) for his actions in escaping from a numerically superior force. Still, Perkins, after having repaired his battle damage, cruised outside the harbour and in a two week period captured more than a dozen Danish and other foreign vessels.
On 13 April Arab captured the Spanish armed schooner Duenda. Perkins then used her and Arab to transport Colonel Blunt and 100 men of the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) to the wealthy islands of Sint Eustatius and Saba. On 16 April Perkins and Blunt captured the islands, together with their French garrisons, forty-seven cannon and 338 barrels of gunpowder.
Command of Arab passed to Captain Robert Fanshawe in 1802. Fanshawe took her back to Plymouth, where she spent between August and December being repaired and refitted. After a brief period spent laid up she was brought back into service with the resumption of war with France.
Arab was recommissioned in October 1803 under Captain Lord Cochrane, who had been assigned to Arab by Earl St Vincent. In his autobiography, Cochrane compared the Arab to a collier, and his first thoughts on seeing her being repaired at Plymouth were that she would "sail like a haystack". Under Cochrane's command Arab twice collided with Royal Navy ships, first with the 12-gun HMS Bloodhound, and then with the storeship HMS Abundance. Despite his misgivings, Cochrane still managed to intercept and board an American merchant ship, the Chatham, thereby creating an international incident that led to the consignment of Arab and her commander to fishing fleet protection duties beyond Orkney in the North Sea, an assignment that Cochrane bitterly complained about. Cochrane would later refer to his time in the Arab in the North Sea and the Downs as "naval exile in a dreary tub".
Captain Keith Maxwell replaced Cochrane in 1805, and sailed Arab to serve with the squadron off Boulogne. On 18 July the British spotted the French Boulogne flotilla sailing along the shore. Captain Edward Owen of HMS Immortalite sent Calypso, Fleche, Arab and the brigs HMS Watchful, HMS Sparkler, and HMS Pincher in pursuit of 22 large schooners flying the Dutch flag. As Maxwell came close to shore he found the water barely deep enough to keep Arab from running aground. Still, the British managed to force three of the schooners to ground on the Banc de Laine near Cap Gris Nez; their crews ran two others ashore. The British also drove six French gun-vessels on shore. However, the bank off Cape Grinez, and the shot and shells from the right face of its powerful battery, soon compelled the British to move back from the shore. Arab suffered seven wounded and a great deal of damage. Fleche was the closest inshore owing to her light draft of water; she had five men severely wounded and damage to her rigging.
At some point a shell from a shore battery hit Arab's main-mast-head and then fell to the gun deck. At first a seaman named Clorento tried to defuse the shell. While he was doing this master's mate Edward Mansell and two more seamen came up. Together they got the shell into the sea, where it exploded. The next day Arab buried her dead at sea, after which the men on Immortalite cheered Arab. Maxwell wrote to the Patriotic Fund at Lloyd's, drawing its attention to the heroism of the four men. Thereafter, the Fund voted Mansell £50 and the three other seamen £20 each. The fund gave an additional £125 for Maxwell to divide between eight other crewmen in graduated amounts.
In December 1805, Arab was off the west coast of Africa, together with Favourite. Subsequently Arab returned to the West Indies. During her time there Lieutenant Edward Dix, as acting captain, temporarily replaced Maxwell for a period of five weeks in 1806. Two days after Dix joined Arab, yellow fever broke out which the crew of Arab, except Dix and eight others, contracted; 33 men died. Maxwell resumed command and returned to Spithead in 1807 where Arab's remaining crew were paid off.
Arab was placed in ordinary at Woolwich and was sold at Deptford on 20 September 1810.
HMS BABET
HMS Babet was a 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy. She had previously been a corvette of the French Navy under the name Babet, until her capture in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars. She served with the British, capturing several privateers and other vessels, and was at the Battle of Groix. She disappeared in the Caribbean in 1801, presumably having foundered.
Babet was built at Le Havre, one of a two ship class of 20-gun corvettes built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb. In the Bay of Biscay, on 18 May 1793, Captain Andrew Snape Douglas's HMS Phaeton captured her sister, Prompte, which the Royal Navy took into service as HMS Prompte. Babet was laid down in September 1792, fitted out in May 1793 and launched on 12 December 1793. In French service she carried twenty to twenty-six 8-pounder guns.
Babet's French career was brief. Under Lieutenant Pierre-Joseph-Paul Belhomme she was part of a squadron consisting of two frigates and another corvette that a British squadron under John Borlase Warren engaged off the Île de Batz on 23 April 1794. HMS Melampus and HMS Arethusa captured Babet and brought her into Portsmouth, arriving on 30 April. The action had cost Babet some 30 to 40 of her crew killed and wounded. Arethusa had three men killed and five wounded.
Babet was registered for service on 19 June 1794, and was commissioned in December that year under Captain the Honourable John Murray, for service with Lord Howe's fleet. Captain Joshua Mulock replaced Murray in April 1795 while Babet was being fitted for service at Portsmouth, a process completed on 10 May that year, having cost £2,544. Captain Edward Codrington replaced Mulock; Babet was Codrington's first command after he had made post captain.
Codrington then sailed Babet to join Lord Bridport's fleet. On 23 June 1795 she was with the fleet at the battle of Groix. In 1847, the Admiralty awarded any remaining survivors who claimed it, the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "23rd June 1795".
Captain William Lobb replaced Codrington in December 1795 and sailed Babet to the Leeward Islands in February the following year. There Babet was present at the capture of Demerara on 23 April, and the capture of Berbice on 2 May 1796.
In July 1796, Babet, Prompte, Scipio and Pique captured the Catherina Christina in July 1796. At some point Babet sailed in company with Prompte and the two vessels captured the Danish brig Eland Fanoe. On 23 July, Scipio, Babet, Pique and Prompte shared in the capture of the Ariel and the Zee Nymphe.
On 16 September Thorn, Scipio and Babet captured the John and Mary. The first, fourth and fifth-class shares of the prize money were shared, by agreement, with Madras and Prompte. Thorn captured the schooner Abigail on 24 September. This time the first, fourth and fifth-class shares were shared with Scipio, Babet, Madras and Prompte. Then on 16 November Thorn and Resource captured the Spanish schooner Del Carmen. Once again the first, fourth and fifth class shares were shared with Scipio, Babet, Madras and Prompte.
On 10 January 1797, Babet and Bellona drove a small French privateer schooner ashore on Deseada. They tried to use the privateer Legere, of six guns and 48 men, which Bellona had captured three days earlier, to retrieve the schooner that was on shore. In the effort, both French privateers were destroyed. Then Babet chased a brig, which had been a prize to the schooner, ashore. The British were unable to get her off so they destroyed her.
Between 25 July and 5 October Babet captured three merchant vessels:
brig Decision (or Decisive or Maria), of 200 tons and eight men, recaptured while sailing from Cape to Puerto Rico in ballast;
brig Schylhill (probably Schuylkill), of Philadelphia, of 100 tons and eight men, sailing from New York to Puerto Rico with a cargo of flour, supposedly Spanish property; and
barque Æolus, of Copenhagen and of 180 tons and 10 men, sailing from Marseilles to St. Thomas, with a cargo of wine, French property.
Captain Jemmett Mainwaring took command of Babet in June 1797. Then on 16 January 1798 Babet's boats captured the French schooner Désirée. The schooner was sailing towards Babet as Babet was sailing between Martinique and Dominique. As soon a the schooner realized that Babet was a British warship she attempted to escape. The wind failed and the schooner then took to her sweeps. Lieutenant Pym of Babet took 24 men in her pinnace and launch and went after the schooner. After rowing several leagues the boats closed to within range of their cannon, which they then commenced to fire. The British closed on their quarry despite a strong counter-fire. The British then boarded Désirée and took her. She was armed with six guns and had a crew of 46 men. The British lost one man killed and five wounded; the French had three men killed and 15 wounded. Désirée was six days out of Guadeloupe and had taken one American brig that had been sailing from St. Vincent to Boston.
Babet was refitted at Portsmouth between July and December 1798 at a cost of £5,194. Then, in December she recaptured the American ship Helena.
On 18 and 19 January 1799, Babet captured two French fishing vessels, Deux Freres Unis, with a cargo of herring, and the Jacques Charles. On 24 June Babet was in company with Harpy when they captured the ship Weloverdagt.
Then Babet, under the command of Captain Jemmett Mainwairing, took part in the Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland in 1799. There she briefly served as Vice-Admiral Andrew Mitchell's flagship in the Zuider Zee. On 28 August 1799, the fleet captured several Dutch hulks and ships in the New Diep, in Holland. Babet was listed among the vessels qualifying to share in the prize money. However, by the time this was awarded in February 1802, Babet had been lost at sea. Similarly, Babet was also present at the subsequent Vlieter Incident on 30 August.
Babet was among the numerous vessels that shared in the proceeds after Dart cut out the French frigate Desirée from Dunkirk harbour on 8 July 1800.
Babet left Spithead on 14 September 1801, arrived at Fort Royal Bay, Martinique, on 24 October, and sailed the next day for Jamaica. She was not seen again; she had probably foundered at sea during a tropical storm.
HMS PIQUE
HMS Pique was a 38-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had formerly served with the French Navy, initially as the Fleur-de-Lys, and later as the Pique. She was captured in 1795 by HMS Blanche, in a battle that left the Blanche's commander, Captain Robert Faulknor, dead. HMS Pique was taken into service under her only British captain, David Milne, but served for just three years with the Royal Navy before being wrecked in an engagement with the French ship Seine in 1798. The Seine had been spotted heading for a French port and Pique and another British ship gave chase. All three ships ran aground after a long and hard-fought pursuit. The arrival of a third British ship ended French resistance, but while the Seine and Jason were both refloated, attempts to save the Pique failed; she bilged and had to be abandoned.
Pique was built at Rochefort as the Fleur-de-Lys, one of the six ship Galatée class designed by Raymond-Antoine Haran. She was launched on 2 December 1785. The French Revolution led to her being renamed Pique in June 1792.
The Pique encountered HMS Blanche off the island of Desirade at Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe on 4 January 1795. The Pique at first tried to avoid an action, but eventually the two ships came to close quarters in the early hours of 5 January. The two ships closed and exchanged broadsides, with both sustaining heavy damage; the Blanche lost her main and mizzen masts. The Pique then turned and ran afoul of the Blanche, with her bowsprit caught across her port quarter. While the French made several attempts to board, which were repulsed, the crew of the Blanche attempted to lash the bowsprit to their capstan, but during the attempt Captain Faulknor was killed by a musket ball to the heart. The Pique then broke away from the Blanche and came round her stern, this time colliding on the starboard quarter. Blanche's men quickly lashed the bowsprit to the stump of their mainmast, which held her fast. The Pique was now unable to manoeuvre or bring any of her guns to bear on the Blanche. After being repeatedly raked by Blanche's guns, the Pique surrendered. Casualties for the British were eight killed, including Captain Faulknor, and 21 wounded. The Pique had lost 76 killed and 110 wounded. The two ships were joined later that morning by the 64-gun HMS Veteran, which helped exchange and secure the prisoners and tow the ships to port. The Blanche towed her prize to a British port, where she was named and registered on 5 September.
HMS Pique was commissioned in September 1795 under Captain David Milne, and assigned to serve in the Leeward Islands. On 9 March 1796 Pique and Charon captured the French privateer Lacédémonienne off Barbados. She was described as a brig of 14 guns and 90 men. The British took her into service.
Pique then went on to serve as part of a squadron. She was present at the capture of the Dutch colonies of Demerera and Essequibo on 23 April 1796, and the capture of Berbice on 2 May 1796. She then returned to Britain and operated in the English Channel from 1797.
In July 1796, Babet, Prompte, Scipio and Pique captured the Catherina Christina in July 1796.
Pique shared with Révolutionnaire, Boadicea and the hired armed cutter Nimrod in the capture of the Anna Christiana on 17 May 1798.
While patrolling off the Penmarks on 29 June 1798 she and her consorts Mermaid and Jason came across the French frigate Seine. The Seine had crossed the Atlantic from the West Indies and was bound for a French port. The British squadron manoeuvred to cut her off from land, but the Mermaid, under Captain James Newman-Newman, soon lost contact, leaving the Pique under Milne and the Jason under Captain Charles Stirling, to chase down the Frenchman.
The chase lasted all day, until 11 o'clock at night when Pique was able to range alongside the Seine and fire a broadside. The two exchanged fire for several hours, with the lighter Pique suffering considerable damage to her masts and rigging. Jason then ranged up and Captain Stirling called upon Milne to anchor, but Milne did not hear and was determined to see the Seine captured, and pressed on. Before the battle could be resumed Pique ran suddenly aground. The Jason too ran aground before she could swing way, while the Seine was observed to have grounded, and lost all her masts in the process. As the tide rose the Seine was able to swing into a position to rake the two British ships. With difficulty the sailors of Jason dragged several guns to the bow in order to exchange fire, while the Pique was able to bring her foremost guns to bear. Under fire from both British ships, the appearance on the scene of the Mermaid convinced the French to surrender. Jason had lost seven killed and 12 wounded, while Pique sustained casualties of two killed and six wounded. The Seine however had 170 killed and 100 wounded.
Mermaid arrived and retrieved Jason, but Pique had bilged and had to be destroyed. St Fiorenzo too arrived and was instrumental in recovering Seine. The Royal Navy took Seine into service under her existing name.
HMS LACEDEMONIAN
HMS Lacedemonian (or Lacedaemonian) was the French brig Lacedemonienne, launched in 1793, that the British captured in 1796 near Barbados. She was at the capture of Saint Lucia in May of the next year, but the French re-captured her a year after that.
Pique and Charon captured Lacedemonian on 9 March 1796 to the windward of Barbados. She was described as a privateer brig of 14 guns and 90 men. The British took her into service and commissioned her in May under the command of the newly promoted Commander George Sayer.
She was part of the expeditionary force under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh C. Christian at the capture of the island of Saint Lucia in May 1796. Commander Thomas Boys replaced Sayer and he sailed Lacedemonian to Martinique. Boys received promotion to post-captain on 3 July 1796. His replacement was Commander Thomas Harvey. Shortly thereafter Harvey transferred to Pelican. Commander Matthew Wrench took command on 27 March 1797.
Lacedemonian was under Wrench's command when the French captured her on 6 April 1797. She was patrolling near Point Salines, Grenada, when she encountered a sloop. Lacedemonian gave chase for much of the day, when towards late afternoon another sloop appeared and started to chase Lacedomonian, while firing some random shots from long range. Lacedemonium gave up her chase and turned her attention towards her pursuer. Eventually, the newcomer caught up and Wrench stopped, with his crew at quarters. The newcomer did not display a flag but replied to queries in English. Lacedemonian's crew relaxed, so when the newcomer sent over a boat with armed men, and ran into Lacedemonian, they were taken by surprise. Wrench tried to organize resistance but the attackers knocked him down and took over the brig. The subsequent court martial ordered a severe reprimand for Wrench for having allowed himself to be caught unprepared.
HMS ALBANAISE
The French brig Albanaise (or Albannese) was launched in 1790. In June 1800 the Royal Navy captured her in the Mediterranean and took her into service as HMS Albanaise. In November her crew mutinied, took command of the vessel, and sailed her to Malaga where they surrendered her to the Spanish.
Albanaise was a tartane built for the purpose of transporting lumber for shipbuilding from Albania and Italy. She was built to a design by Ricaud du Temple, with the plans being dated 23 September 1789 and approved 23 October 1789. However the project was abandoned and she was employed as an ordinary transport. In late 1792 she served as a powder magazine for four small frigates converted into bomb vessels. At the time she was armed with four cannons. She then served out of Agde and Sète under Enseigne de vaisseaux Bernard.
In 1795 the French Navy converted her to a gun boat, of eight guns. Then between 1798 and February 1799 the French converted her to a brig, and armed her with 12 cannons.
On 4 June 1800 Phoenix and Port Mahon captured Albanaise. She was sailing from Toulon with provisions for Genoa when she encountered the Port Mahon, which initiated the chase about 35 miles west of Corsica. The chase lasted until early evening when Phoenix came up as Albanaise was just six miles out of Port Fino on Elba. Lieutenant Etiénne J. (or S.) P. Rolland fired two broadsides and then struck. (A subsequent court martial exonerated Rolland of the loss of his vessel.) Haerlem shared in the capture, as did a number of other vessels in the squadron blockading Genoa.
The British took her into service as HMS Albanaise and commissioned her under the command of Lieutenant Francis Newcombe.
On 20 September she captured the Spanish vessel Virgen del Rosario. Then on 9 October she cleared the trabaccolo Santa Maria, which was carrying linseed from Barré to Ferraro.
However in November the crew of Albanaise mutinied while she was escorting a small convoy of seven merchantmen that were carrying cattle and barley from Arzew for the garrison at Gibraltar. On 22 November she had captured a small Spanish vessel and taken her eight-man crew board, while putting five men aboard the prize, including master's mate John Terrel as commander. Newcombe then took special precautions, worried about the possibility of the prisoners conspiring against their captors.
Newcombe was awakened by noises at midnight and on discovering the mutiny, was able to shoot Hugh Keenan, one of the mutineers, dead. He would have shot the ringleader, Jacob Godfrey, but his pistol misfired. The mutineers then overpowered him and tied him up. The mutineers also restrained the other officers and loyal crew. The next day the mutineers took Albanaise into Malaga where they surrendered her to the Spanish.
The court martial of Newcombe and his officers for their conduct during the mutiny took place on 7 June 1801 on board Kent off Alexandria. The court acquitted Newcombe and his officers, judging that the crew (many of whom were foreigners), had risen and overpowered the officers or restrained them and that the gunner, Mr. Lewyn, was to be especially commended for having resisted until wounded. The court gave its opinion that Lieutenant William Prosser Kent was unfit to hold a commission in the Navy because he refused, “from mistaken religious motives”, to give his evidence under oath. It further stated that it had reason to believe that Master’s Mate John Tyroll (or Tyrell), although away in a prize at the time of the mutiny, knew of the plan and had not given warning. The court recommended further investigation into the crewmen Alexander M’Kiever and Thomas Parsons, who had been seen armed.
Godfrey was hanged in January 1802. Four crewmen were tried on Donegal in Portsmouth on 18 June 1802. Tyroll was acquitted, the only evidence against him being an ambiguous statement by Godfrey and hearsay from another mutineer who was never caught. Furthermore, his conduct in the year after the mutiny, when he had been transferred from vessel to vessel, had been exemplary as he participated in some 30 boat and other actions. The other three, Parsons, M’Keiver and J. Marriott, had returned from Malaga with Newcombe. The court martial board ordered that all three were to forfeit all pay and were to be incarcerated for three months in the Marshalsea. In addition, M’Keiver received 50 lashes and Marriott 100.
The British also captured several of the mutineers. Three more were tried on 27 September 1802 aboard Centaur. The court martial acquitted one man and sentenced another to 300 lashes. The court judged a third man, Patrick (or Henry) Kennedy, to have been a ringleader and ordered him tried separately. He was tried on 5 October and was sentenced to be hanged. He was hanged aboard Hussar on 16 October.
HMS WASP
HMS Wasp was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French privateer Guèpe, captured in 1800. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was sold out of the service in 1811.
Guèpe was a brig built at Bordeaux in 1798 that operated against British shipping in the Atlantic. On 29 August 1800 the vessels of the British blockading squadron, which was under the command of Sir John Warren, sent their boats into the harbour at Vigo to attack and cut her out.
The party went in and, after a 15-minute fight, captured the Guêpe and towed her out. She had a flush deck and was pierced for 20 guns but carried eighteen 9-pounders. She and her crew of 161 men were under the command of Citizen Dupan. In the attack she lost 25 men killed, including Dupan, and 40 wounded. British casualties amounted to four killed, 23 wounded and one missing. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.
A prize crew took Guêpe back to Portsmouth where the Admiralty fitted her out between October 1800 and August 1801. During this time she was re-rigged.
Now named HMS Wasp she was commissioned in July 1801 under Commander Charles Bullen, and sent to Sierra Leone at the end of the year. She sailed from there to the West Indies, and was paid off in July 1802.
Wasp recommissioned again in May 1803 under Commander Frederick William Aylmer, and on 19 July that year captured the privateer Despoir. Despoir was a lugger, pierced for 10 guns but only mounting two. She had a crew of 28 men under the command of Jean Delaballe. She was three days out of Hodierne and had made no captures. At the time Seahorse was in company with Wasp.
Aylmer sailed to the Mediterranean in June 1804. In August Wasp captured a Spanish lugger and sloop. The French privateer Venus recaptured these vessels, only to be herself captured by several East Indiamen, notably the Eliza Ann. Venus had five crewmen from Wasp on board as prisoners.
On 12 and 16 January 1805, Wasp, under Alymer, captured the Spanish brigs Minerva and Carmen, and their cargoes. About two weeks later, on 21 February, Wasp captured the Spanish ship Victoria, and her cargo.
Aylmer was succeeded by Lieutenant Joseph Packwood in an acting capacity, and he by Commander John Simpson, also in 1805. Wasp was with Sir John Orde's squadron patrolling off Cadiz, and had a narrow escape from a French squadron in August 1805.
On 12 December, Boadicea, Arethusa and Wasp left Cork, escorting a convoy of 23 merchant vessels. Four days later the convoy encountered a French squadron consisting of five ships of the line and four sailing frigates, as well as nine other vessels that were too far away for assessment. The letter writer to the Naval Chronicle surmised that the distant vessels were the Africa squadron that Lark had escorted and that the French had captured. On this occasion, the British warships and six merchant vessels went one way and the rest went another way. The French chased the warships and the six for a day, ignored the 17, and eventually gave up their pursuit. Boadicea then shadowed the French while Wasp went back to French and Spanish coasts to alert the British warships there. Arethusa and her six charges encountered the French squadron again the next day, but after a desultory pursuit the French sailed off.
Lieutenant Buckland Sterling Bluett of Scorpion received promotion to Commander and took over command of Wasp in 1806. He then sailed to the Leeward Islands. On 24 May she came across the former British cutter HMS Dominica, which had been taken by mutineers four days earlier and delivered to the French, who had immediately commissioned her under the name Napoléon and sent her out to capture some merchant vessels at Roseau. Wasp retook the cutter, which had on board 73 men under the command of Vincent Gautier, two of whom were killed before she surrendered.
In 1807 Commander William Parkinson took command. Wasp returned to Britain later that year under the command of Commander John Haswell.
Wasp was laid up at Deptford in May 1809. She was offered for sale on 13 December 1810, and was sold there on 17 May 1811.
I'm going to confine my notes to ships we're seeing in the first release, for ships you might look into:
Temeraire-class 74-gun 3rd Rate Ship of the Line: Genereux played Musical Flags, taken by the RN from August to December 1793, going back to the French and retaken in 1800 to serve out her last days under RN colors. Fougueux was captured at Trafalgar, but had no chance to show her stuff for New Management being wrecked soon after. Commerce de Marseiiles->Lys->Tricolore was taken by the RN at Toulon in August 1793, but destroyed in a siege there that December. (Best guess, same events as Genereux's cchanging hands.) Impetueux, too, was taken but burned by accident at Portsmouth, thus also-captured sister-ship America took her name upon recommissioning into the RN. Aquilon was also taken, at the Battle of the Nile, recommissioned as HMS Aboukir. Additionally, two classes of two ships each were built to the Temeraire design in English yards, the Pompees (HMS Superb and Achilles, built from studying Pompee) and Americas (HMS Northumberland and Renown, similarly reverse-engineered from captured L'America/HMS Impetueux. Actually, out of 67 Temeraires listed at ThreeDecks, twenty-five, over a THIRD of the class, are listed as captures--this implies to me that the RN was impressed enough by the design to perhaps adopt an unofficial policy of "let the French do the building work, then go take their toys away for a free expansion of the Fleet whenever possible."
Concorde-class 32-gun 5th Rate Frigate: La Concorde and Courageuse--2/3 of the entire class--were captured by the Royal Navy, the exception La Hermione being wrecked.
Going the opposite direction:
Bellona/Arrogant/Ramillies/Elizabeth-class 74-gun 3rd Rate Ship of the Line: The former HMS Swiftsure and Berwick saw service at Trafalgar, in the French Marine Nationale.
Amazon-class 5th Rate Frigate: To find captures, I need to know exactly which of the THREE classes from 1773 to 1799 (latter two only four years apart) Andrea's designing for. I THINK I saw a capture or two listed for the 1773's, but none for the 1795's or the two 1799's.
Thanks for all this info.
As a bit of a layman when it comes to Naval warefare, it is great to see how much milage there is in the first release shipping.
It will keep me researching and painting for quite some time.
Bligh.
Pretty-much -- the French built great ships; but esp. given what the Revolution did to the command ranks (the officers all being Nobles), the French may as well have left the ships at anchor outside their harbors with placards saying "FREE TO GOOD HOME". The Spanish were even worse, both before and after the Rev started....
Of course, with all their time spent training for the Big War, the British (as our dear Coog has amply illustrated) were losing smaller ships in job-lots, so.... :)
Bobby, thanks for all the work on this thread. Very informative. :hatsoff:
Guerriere's history conflicts... Wikipedia has her as a modified and upgunned conventional version of Forfait's Romaine-class mortar frigates, while ThreeDecks has her designed by Jean-Francois Lafosse. This is most annoying, as I'm trying to ID possible sculpts for War of 1812 and Guerriere is a high-profile sticking point.
It seems there is a lot of conflicting information on this period on lots of ships. Quite often there is not any surviving records on ship constuction and much is speculated based on the information that is available.
History, in general, can be a bit tricky. We had a good conversation about such matters on another thread. DB, I am confident that where you land will be valuable input.
Right--if Greenwich and the various French naval museums would digitalize their draughts and plans collections, that'd be a big help. It'd help MORE if Wikipedia weren't "anybody who feels like it can toss up any crap they like"... If I could get plans for Guerriere and a Romaine I could either confirm or dispose of the theory, just like the question about HMS's Revenge and Milford as decendents of 1782 Temeraire. (Revenge is dimensionally VERY close, and her gun layout is almost identical to the rearmament of RN Temeraires with their added 6-gun midships roundhouse, but there's a LOT of room to hide differences in a box of several thousand cubic feet.)
Not that daft theory again :)
Losing ships in "job lots" because the duties involved were dangerous and conducted regularly on the enemies shores - and taking far bigger job lots in return (I think we established the loss rate even for the small ships was in the region of 10:1)
Yes indeed I'll second that.
Time for a little cudos me thinks.
Bligh.
Hardly "daft" if Coog keeps unearthing examples of it.
And I don't think anyone's ever established how one counts instances of a merchantman being captured by each side at least once; or how many "battles" consisted of one side firing a couple guns and the other side promptly giving up (given the morale problems of the French maritime services, I suspect that's how most British small-ship "victories" occurred -- and why they aren't much commented-on in the histories; sort-of difficult to make "[Eccles] I RESIGN! [/Eccles]" sound glorious, no? :) ).
Yes, daft. As Coog said himself, his postings were selective. Because page after page of HM Frigate xxx engaged French frigate yyy would be boring.
And it was a 10;1 win/loss ratio in WARSHIPS. If you add merchies into the equation you need to add some zeroes to that ratio (remember, RN merchant ship captures were in the tens of thousands).
This thread is a great read... thanks to all for posting the stories.