British Large 24pdr Frigates of 50 guns.

The Navy's first spar decker Frigates were rushed into service to combat the many successes of the American super frigates in the War of 1812. This led to the design of both the Leander and Newcastle, plus one bought in Frigate from the HEIC. Although they were followed by the Java class, non of those were completed in time to see action during the period covered.
Rob.

HMS Leander (1813)

HMS Leander was a 50 gun fourth rate spar deck Frigate built to a design by Sir William Rule as a response to the American heavy frigates of this type, such as the USS Constitution. She was built of pitch pine softwood to get her into service as quickly as possible. The ship was built by Wigram, Wells, and Green at Blackwall. Approved in the April of 1813, she was ordered on the 6th of May, laid down in the following month and launched on the 10th of November, less than five months after being laid down. She was completed on the 18th of February, 1814.at Woolwich Dockyard. Although Leander was designed to carry thirty 24 pounder guns on her main deck, and twenty-six 42 pounder Carronades on her spar deck, with four 24-pounders on her forecastle, this armament was slightly altered during her 1813 to 1818 commission, when two extra 24-pounders replaced two of the carronades on the spar deck.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Leander
Ordered:	6 May 1813
Builder:	Wigram, Wells, & Green, Blackwall
Laid down:	June 1813
Launched:	10 November 1813
Completed:	By 18 February 1814
Fate:	Broken up in March 1830
General characteristics
Class and type:	50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,572​10⁄94 (bm)
Length:	174 ft (53 m) (gundeck) 145 ft 1 3⁄4 in (44.240 m) (keel)
Beam:	45 ft 1 1⁄2 in (13.754 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	14 ft 4 in (4.37 m) 9ft 6in x 12ft 3in
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Upper deck: 30 × 24 pdr guns Sd: 26 × 42 pdr Carronades Fc: 4 × 24 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Leander was commissioned under her first commander, Captain George Collier, in the December of 1813.


https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=51884&stc=1
Captain George Collier, Leander's first commander, by William Beechey.


Service in America.

Leander then sailed to North America under Collier's command, and formed part of a powerful squadron specially assigned to deal with the American super-frigates. Collier had previously served with distinction off the Spanish coast during the Peninsular War, and the highly sought after posting reflected the Admiralty's approval of these efforts. He captured the 16 gun privateer Rattlesnake on the 22nd of June, 1814. Collier also sought battle with the USS Constitution, but the American ship escaped from Boston Harbour and evaded him. He gathered a squadron comprising the 40 gun HMS Acaster , Newcastle and his own Leander, and set off in pursuit. He almost caught up with the Constitution off St Jago, but failed to close on her, later claiming the weather frustrated his attempts. The Constitution was at the time sailing with two captured British prizes, the former HMS Levant and Cyane. Collier's three ships gave chase and were overhauling the Constitution, when, having allowed the Cyane to slip from his clutches, the Levant also broke away and Collier followed her. In so doing he retook her off Porto Praya, but allowed Constitution to make good her own escape and Collier continued to cruise in the area, but before he had another opportunity to pursue the Constitution, news reached him that the Treaty of Gent had been signed and that the war was over.
On the 4th of January, 1815 Leander recaptured the British merchant vessel John, just prior to the end of the war.

Later service.

From the August of 1815 Leander's came under the command of, Captain William Skipsey and almost immediately underwent a small repair and was refitted for Foreign Service at Woolwich between then and the February of 1816, after which, in the May of that year, now under the command of Captain Edward Chetham she was deployed to the Med where she was active in the Second Barbary War, as part of the British fleet under Admiral Edward Pellew. On the 27th of August Leander also took part in the bombardment of Algiers, discharging no fewer than 3,680 round shot during the action, and suffering casualties of 17 men killed with 118 wounded.

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The bombardment of Algiers, on the far left is HMS Leander, stationed ahead of the flagship HMS Queen Charlotte, painting by Thomas Luny


In 1817 Leander became the flagship of the commander of the North American station at Halifax, Rear Admiral Sir David Milne. On her return to England, between July and November of 1819, she underwent a small repair at Portsmouth and was recommissioned under Captain Charles Richardson during the August of that year whilst the work was being undertaken. Richardson then sailed with her to the East Indies to become the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, where between the February and May of 1822, Leander came under the temporary command of Captain Price Blackwood, before returning to England later that year.

Fate.

From 1823 to 1830 HMS Leander was fitted and used as a receiving ship, based at Portsmouth, where she was broken up in the March of that year.

HMS Newcastle (1813)

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HMS Newcastle


HMS Newcastle was a Jean-Louis Barrallier designed Spar Decked 50 gun fourth rate ship, built by Wigram, Wells, and Green at Blackwall. She was approved in the April of 1813, and ordered on the 6th of May. She was laid down in the month following and built of pitch pine to get her into service as quickly as possible, Newcastle was thus launched on the 10th of November in that same year of 1813, less than five months after she was laid down. She was then moved to Woolwich Dockyard where she was completed by the 23rd of March 1814, at a total cost of £39129.


https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=51897&stc=1

https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=51898&stc=1
Newcastle

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Newcastle
Ordered:	6 May 1813
Builder:	Wigram, Wells & Green, Blackwall
Laid down:	June 1813
Launched:	10 November 1813
Completed:	By 23 March 1814
Fate:	Broken up in June 1850
General characteristics
Class and type:	50 gun fourth Rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,556 (bm)
Length:	176 ft 5 in (53.77 m) (gundeck) 149 ft 5 3⁄4 in (45.561 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 8 in (13.61 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	15 ft 1 1⁄2 in (4.610 m) 10ft 8in x 13ft 2in
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Upper deck: 30 × 24 pdr guns Spar Deck: 24 × 42 pdr Carronades Fc: 4 × 24-pounder guns

Service.

Newcastle was commissioned under Captain George Collier in the November of 1813, but Collier transferred to command the Leander a month later, and was replaced as Captain by Lord George Stuart.

On the 23rd of May, 1814 she sailed from Portsmouth for the North American station, but on the following day she put back into Portsmouth having run down a Brig from Guernsey during the night in the Channel.
Consequently, on the 26th of May she docked at Portsmouth harbour in order to repair her cutwater.
Finally on the16thth of September Newcastle arrived at Halifax with several ships in a convoy which she had accompanied from Cork.

During the early part of December of the year she was cruising with the Acasta and Arad all of which were stationed in Boston Bay. On the 11th of
December she parted company to reconnoitre Boston Roads. On the following day she found the Constitution apparently ready for sea. She then steered for Cape Cod Bay, but having grounded, she was forced to anchor. On the 13th one of her men, from a boat sent on shore, deserted to the Americans.
Then on the 16th she was rejoined by the Acasta.

On the 28th of December, Newcastle, Leander, and Acasta shared the proceeds of the capture of the notorious American privateer Prince de Neufchatel. Her most famous captain, John Ordronaux, who was also one of her three owners and who had inflicted massive casualties on the boats of Endymion, was apparently not her captain at the time; her commander was Nicholas Millin. At the time of her capture, Prince de Neufchatel was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 129 men. She was eight days out of Boston.
On the 4th of January, 1815, off the Western Isles, Newcastle, Acasta, and Leander recaptured the John, and by the 11th were off Fayal.
On the 21st of February Newcastle had arrived at Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, following her cruise and sailed again on the 25th.

Chasing the USS Constitution.

Leander, under Sir George Collier, had been watching Constitution, then in harbour at Boston. When Collier had to interrupt his surveillance in order to take Leander to Halifax to resupply, he left Acasta and Newcastle off the port. Whilst Collier was away, Constitution and two other heavy frigates left Boston. On his return, Collier prepared to pursue, but had orders to send Acasta into Halifax for a refit. Captain Kerr of Acasta pleaded to be allowed to join the chase; Collier relented and allowed Acasta to remain.
On the 4th of January, 1815, off the Western Isles, Newcastle, Acasta, and Leander recaptured the John, and by the 11th were off Fayal.
On the 21st of February Newcastle had arrived at Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, following their cruise looking for the American ship, and sailed again on the 25th. The British squadron eventually sighted Constitution in heavy weather off Porto Preya on the 11th of March 1815. She was proceeding with two prizes, the sloops Levant and Cyane. Due to the weather and some confusion, Constitution eluded the British.
Fire from Newcastle led Levant's crew to run her ashore, where Acasta then captured her. Collier eventually left Acasta and Newcastle to the windward of Barbados whilst he searched for Constitution. However, she had returned to port, thus avoiding an engagement.

On the 27th of August 1815 Newcastle arrived back at Portsmouth having returned via Quebec, and she had made her way to Deal by the 31st. On the 28th of September her command passed to Captain Samuel Roberts at Woolwich where she was fitted for Foreign Service between the October and the December of that year. From the November she came under Captain Henry Meynell and on the 28th of February, 1816 arrived at Portsmouth to prepare for her passage to St. Helena. She departed Portsmouth in May and arrived in the Roads at Jamestown, St. Helena, on the 4th of September to perform her duty as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Pultney Malcolm.

She returned to Portsmouth in the summer of 1817 and was paid off in the September of that year. She then underwent a small repair at Chatham for £4,658.

Constitution was recommissioned under Captain Arthur Fanshawe in the November of 1818, and in the March of 1819 was fitted as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Edward Griffiths Colpoys for the Halifax station, where from the 5th of December in that year she overwintered as a consequence of an outbreak of fever at Bermuda. She remained In commission and based at Halifax until the 27th of November, 1821 when she left the station to return to England. Newcastle was paid off at Portsmouth in the January 1822.

Fate.

On the 30th of April, 1823, she was put up for sale but failed to attract a buyer.
Between April and June 1824 she underwent fitting at Portsmouth as a lazarette and receiving ship for Pembroke where she resided until 1827 when she was moved to Liverpool in the September of that year to serve there as a Quarantine ship from 1830 until 1848.
On the 12th of June, 1850, she was sold out of the service to John Brown for £2,500.

HMS Cornwallis (1805)


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HMS Cornwallis


HMS Cornwallis was a 54 gun fourth rate, Jemsatjee Bomanjee designed, Spar Decked Frigate, built of teak for the Honorable East India Company (HEIC) between 1800 and 1801, for use by the Bombay Marine and named the EIC. Marquis.
In the March of 1805 Admiral Sir Edward Pellew purchased her from the Company shortly after she returned from a voyage to Britain.

History
HEIC
Name:	Marquis Cornwallis
Operator:	HEIC
Builder:	M/Shipwright Jemsetjee Bomanjee, Bombay
Launched:	1801
Fate:	Sold 1805
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Cornwallis
Acquired:	March 1805 (by purchase) Registered on 13 August 1806
Renamed:	HMS Akbar in February 1811
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal(NGSM) with clasp "Java"
Fate:	Sold 1869 for breaking up
General characteristics
Class and type:	Fourth rate spar decked 50 gun Frigate
Tons burthen:	1387​57⁄94 (bm)
Length:	164 ft 4 1⁄2 in (50.1 m), (overall) 140 ft 4 7⁄8 in (42.9 m
Beam:	43 ft 1 1⁄4 in (13.1 m),
Depth of hold:	15 ft 3 in (4.6 m)
Complement:	430
Armament:	Upper deck (UD): 30 x 24 pdr guns QD: 26 x 42 pdr Carronades Fc:1 x 18 or 24 pdr gun As a troopship UD: 22 x 32 pdr Carronades + 2 x 9 pdr guns QD: 8 x 32 pdr Carronades Fc:2 x 9 pdr guns

Service with the EIC.

The EIC had Marquis Cornwallis built for long-range convoy escort duties and in the December of 1801, she sailed, in company with the Upton castle which was a country ship, Betsey an armed HEIC Brig, together with several other vessels carrying 1000 troops to Daman and Diu in an endeavour to try and persuade the Portuguese governor to resist any French incursion. The expedition was under the command of Captain John Mackellar, of the Royal Navy, whose own vessel, Terpsichore, was unready for sea. The governor accepted the offer of reinforcements, which in the end, fortunately proved to be unnecessary. From the 1st of January, 1802, Cornwallis came under the command of Captain Thomas Hardie but by the 7th of February, 1803, when she departed Bombay for home waters she was under the command of Captain Isaac Godsalve Richardson. Cornwallis reached St Helena on the12th of May, and arrived at the Downs on the 1st of August in that year. On the 8th of May, 1804, Marquis Cornwallis left Portsmouth, still under the command of Richardson's command, and sailed for the Indies, once more via St Helena, to Bombay, escorting a convoy comprising the Marquis of Ely, Marchioness of Exeter, Lord Nelson, Brunswick, Princess Charlotte, Marquis of Wellesley, and Ann. The company had intended her to remain in these waters.However, in 1805 Admiral Pellew purchased her for £68,630, for the Royal Navy and commissioned her immediately.


Service with the Royal Navy.

In the February of 1806 she came under Commander Charles James Johnston (later Captain Johnston) who took command. She then served off Bombay and engaged in the long-distance blockade of Mauritius, then known as the Isle de France.

On the 11th of November in that same year, Cornwallis accompanied by Sceptre entered Saint Paul’s Bay on the Ile de Bonaparte, in an attempt to cut out several vessels sheltering there, comprised of the French Frigate Semillante, and also three other armed ships plus twelve British prizes. Cornwallis and Sceptre exchanged fire with the French. Unfortunately the light breeze then failed them, and both Cornwallis plus Sceptre found themselves unable to manoeuvre in such a way as to close with the foe. Thus they were forced to abandon the attempt having failed to achieve their objective, but, fortunately, having only suffered minimal damage and no casualties.

In the February of 1807, Cornwallis, was instructed to cruise against the Spanish shipping and ports on the west coast of South America. Johnston visited Port Jackson to resupply with vitals and spares before proceeding to the South American shores which lasted from May to October of that year. Cornwallis sailed to Juan Fernandez, and proceeded from there northward along the coasts of Chile, Peru, Panama, and Mexico In the course of this cruise, capturing 17 vessels, most of them small, two of which were sent as prizes to Port Jackson. One of them, the recaptured South Sea whaler Atlantic, was found to be too unseaworthy for a Pacific crossing so her captors scuttled her off Punta Mala, Panama, on the 7th of September. On the13th of July, Cornwallis captured the Brig Rosalía of 375 tons at the Peruvian port of IIo. And escorted her to Pisco with her other prizes. She was later dispatched to Port Jackson on the 17th of July with a crew of 7 under the command of Lieutenant John Garland, Cornwallis's master. Unfortunately Rosalía was wrecked on the Minerva Reefs, 800 miles from Norfolk Island. The survivors then sailed there without a chart or quadrant.

On Cornwallis’s return to Calcutta in the February of 1808 command passed to Captain Fleetwood Pellew and under his captaincy, assisted by Sceptre, Cornwallis, engaged and damaged Sémillante, together with the shore batteries whose protection she had sought.
In 1809 Captain Christopher Cole took command, and Cornwallis then embarked on a number of operations in the Dutch East Indies, making sorties against Amboyna and a series of fortifications on islands in the Celebes. Firstly, in the February of 1810, the British attacked Amboyna. During the campaign, on the 3rd of February, Cornwallis captured the ship Mandarine, of 16 guns under one Captain Besman, following a chase of some four hours. Madarine had been at large for four weeks but had failed to make ant captures. During the chase Cornwallis suffered only one man wounded in the action. Mandarine was then adopted as a tender for Cornwallis.

Next, on the 1st of March, Cornwallis pursued a Dutch National Brig for a whole day before she took refuge in a small bay on the north side of the island of Amblaw. As the prevailing wind was light and variable, with night closing in, Montagu sent in Cornwallis's boats, under the command of Lieutenant Henry John Peachy on a cutting out expedition. After rowing all night,at first light, the Dutch Brig was boarded and taken, proving to be the Margaritta Louisa, under the command of a Captain De Ruyter. She was pierced for 14 guns, but in the event was only carrying 8, with a crew of 40 men. The Margaritta Louisa had departed Surabaya 9 days previously with 20 to 30,000 dollars for Ambonya, and supplies for Tenate During the boarding action, the British had 1 man seriously and 4 lightly wounded whilst the Dutch had suffered 1 man killed and 20 wounded.

Upon Captain Cole’s appointment to HMS Caroline in 1810, he was replaced by Captain William Augustus Montagu.
In late 1810, Cornwallis was deployed with Albemarle Bertie's squadron that forced the surrender of Isle de France. William Fisher took temporary command in December after Montagu was selected from among the captains assembled for the invasion and reassigned to lead a naval brigade in support of the British army land offensive. On the 17th of January, 1811, Cornwallis attacked the Dutch fort at Boolo Combo, in Bouthian Bay, the Celebes. Montagu had requested permission to water his ship under a flag of truce, which the Dutch commander refused. In response, Montagu disembarked a force of 100 men from the European Madras regiment. The 30 or so Dutch troops and 200 local militia quickly abandoned the fort, but continued to snipe from the woods. The British went on to burn 11 small vessels, and public buildings, and spiked eight 9 pounder guns and two brass field pieces prior to confiscating all their ammunition. In the action the British suffered only 1 man killed, and 9 wounded, which included the captain commanding the landing force, who was only slightly wounded.

Then on the1st February Cornwallis’s lookouts observed a Brig taking shelter under the guns of Manippa, and dispatched three boats which took the Brig as a prize and sailed her out of the bay. The British suffered no casualties despite coming under heavy small arms fire from the fort. Montagu removed the cargo of foodstuffs from the Brig in order to feed his crew, and then burnt the vessel.

During February, Cornwallis was renamed HMS Akbar, thus freeing up the name for the 3rd rate ship of the line HMS Cornwallis which would be launched in Bombay during 1813. From the 4th of August to the19th of September, Akbar was involved in the annexation of Java, and in 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.

Akbar was paid-off in July 1812 and in the February of 1813 she was converted to a store ship at Woolwich Dockyard. During the spring of 1813, Captain Archibald Dickson was appointed to command her and then between that time and the December of that year she was converted to a frigate. However, during late August she was used as escort to Windham General Hewett and Wanstead down Channel as they left for New South Wales transporting convicts.

On the 15th of May, 1814, Akbar recaptured the Indian Lass.

Captain Charles Bullen took command in the November of that year and Rear-Admiral Griffiths was to make her his flagship on the Bermuda station in 1815. During that time, on the 28th of June 1815, the courts martial for the loss of their vessel by the captain, officers and crew of Cyane took place on board Akbar at Halifax.

A short time later on the 11th of August Akbar accompanied by Arab captured the Hannah.

Fate.

Akbar was laid up at Portsmouth in the December of1816, but the following year was fitted as a troopship. Then between the June and the December of 1824 she was fitted to serve as a quarantine ship for Pembroke. In the September of 1827 she was moved to Liverpool to serve as a lazarette before becoming a training ship in 1852, and a quarantine ship again around 1858.

https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=51920&stc=1

Frigate Akhbar as a reformatory, 1859

She was finally sold out of the service in 1862 or 1869 for breaking up.

As no further 50 gun Frigates were built for the Royal Navy which saw service in our time scale, I am now moving on to the Fifth Rate 24pdr Frigates built during the period 1793 to 1815.

For the work just completed on the 50 gun Frigates my work is indebted to the slightly different reference sources indicated below:-

Wikipedia.

Rif Winfield's British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817

The Maritime Museum, Greenwich,

and also for this particular series of ships:-

The Historic shipping website.

Whose information has been the only other source in filling in the gaps and cross checking for disparity of information in one of the texts.

Any mistakes are solely down to me.

Rob.