HMS Albion (1802)
HMS Albion was a Fame Class 74 gun third rate ship of the line ordered on the 4th of February, 1800. Designed by Sir John Henslow, and built by Perry, Wells and Green at Blackwall Docks. She was launched at Perry's Blackwall Yard on the Thames on the 17th of June, 1802.
Service.
GREAT BRITAIN Name: HMS Albion Ordered: 24 June 1800 Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard Laid down: June 1800 Launched: 17 June 1802 Honours and
awards:·Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasps
·"Algiers"
·"Navarino"Fate: Broken up, 1836 Class and type: Fame Classship of the line Tons burthen: 1740 32⁄94 bm Length: 175 ft (53 m) (gundeck) Beam: 47 ft 8 in (14.49 m) Depth of hold: 18ft 5 in (6.25 m) Propulsion: Sails Sail plan: Full rigged ship .Armament: ·Lower deck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
·Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
·QD: 2 × 18-pounder guns + 12 × 32-pounder carronades
·Fc: 2 × 18-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades
·Roundhouse: 6 × 18-pounder carronades
HMS Albion was commissioned in the February of 1802 under Captain John Ferrier, who continued in command until 1808. She started her service in the Channel fleet as Flagship to Saumarez. Whilst on station, with the aid of HMS Minatour and Thunderer, she took the French 40 gun La Franchise.
In the May of 1803 under Ferrier she joined Admiral Cornwallis' fleet, which was blockading the vital French naval port of Brest. Albion was among the vessels of the squadron that shared in the proceeds of the capture of:
Juffrow Bregtie Kaas (30 May 1803);
Eendraght (31 May);
Morgen Stern (1 June);
Goede ferwachting (4 June);
De Vriede (5 June).
Albion was soon detached from the fleet to deploy to the Indian Ocean where she was to remain for several years.
Albion and Sceptre left Rio de Janeiro on the13th of October of that same year, escorting Lord Melville, Earl Spencer, Princess Mary, Northampton, Anna, Ann, Glory, and Essex. They were in company with the 74-gunthird rateship of the lineHMS Russell, and the fourth rateHMS Grampus. Three days later Albion and Scepter separated from the rest of the ships.
On the 21st of December, Albion and Sceptre captured the French privateer Clarisse at 1°18′S 95°20′E in the eastern Indian Ocean. Clarisse was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 157 men. She had sailed from Isle de France (Mauritius) on the 24th of November of that year with provisions for a six-month cruise to the Bay of Bengal. At the time of her capture she had not captured anything. Albion, Sceptre, and Clarisse arrived at Madras on the 8th of January,1804.
On the 28th of February, Albion and Sceptre met up in the straits of Malacca with the fleet of Indiamen that had just emerged from the Battle of Pulo Aura and conducted them safely to Saint Helena. From there HMS Plantagenet escorted the convoy to England.
On the 28th of August,1808, Albion recaptured Swallow, which was carrying among other things, a quantity of gold dust.
Next, Albion escorted a fleet of nine East Indiamen returning to Britain. They left Madras on the 25th of October, but a gale that commenced around the 20th of November at 10°S 90°E by the 22nd of November had dispersed the fleet. By the 21st of February three of the Indiamen —Lord Nelson, Glory, and Experiment— had not arrived at Cape Town. Apparently all three had foundered without a trace.
Caroline, of Riga, arrived at Yarmouth on the 17th of August 1810 having been detained by Albion. She then went into Chatham Dockyard for a major repair which took place between the December of 1810 and the June of 1813.
She was recommissioned under Captain John Ferris Devonshire for the North American and West Indies station.
War of 1812.
In the March of 1814 under Captain Charles Ross, the same year that Napoleon was toppled for the first time, and after the long period of extensive repair, she became flagship of Rear Admiral George Cockburn, taking part in a war (War of 1812) against the United States. In the summer of 1814, she was involved in the force that harried the coastline of Chesapeake Bay, where she operated all the way up to the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers, destroying large amounts of American shipping, as well as US government property. In the May of that year che came under the command of Captain Phillip Somerville, and later Captain James Walker. The operations ended once peace was declared in 1815, and from the 31st of December her Captain changed yet again to John Goode who had command until 1819 in the Med.
Post-war.
In 1816, Albion was part of a combined British-Dutch fleet taking part in the bombardment of Algiers on the 27th of August, which was intended to force the Dey of Algiers to free Christian slaves. She fired 4,110 shots at the city, and suffered 3 killed and 15 wounded by return fire.
In 1817 she became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Penrose, and was fitted as a guardship at Sheerness.
From the May of 1819 she came under Captain Richard Raggett, and from the June of1822 under Captain Sir William Hoste until 1824, when she was refitted for sea service at Portsmouth. Recommissioned in the June of 1825,under Captain Ommaney until 1828, in 1827, she was part of a combined British-French-Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Codrington at the Battle of Navarino, where a Turkish-Egyptian fleet was obliterated, securing Greek independence. Albion suffered 10 killed and 50 wounded, including her second-in-command, Commander John Norman Campbell. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Algiers", and "Navarino" to all surviving claimants from the battles.
Albion at the Battle of Navarino.
The Return of the Asia and Albion to Spithead after the Battle of Navarino, 31 January 1828
In 1829, she went into ordinary at Portsmouth, and by mid 1830 she was being used as a receiving ship. Although fitting out had begun she was completed as a lazzarette between the March and July of 1831.
Fate.
Albion was used as a quarantine ship at Leith from1832 to 1835, and was finally broken up at Deptford in the June of 1836.
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