Naval/Maritime History 27th of August - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1808 - HMS Tartar (32), Cptn. G. E. B. Bettesworth (Killed in Action), and boats engaged at Bergen.


HMS Tartar
left Leith roads on 10 May 1807 and arrived off Bergen on the 12th, but heavy fog prevented her from getting closer until three days later. Unfortunately, by the time Tartar arrived, Guelderland had sailed more than a week earlier. Bettesworth nevertheless decided to send his boats into the harbour to cut out some merchant vessels and three privateers that were there. When the boats encountered heavy fire and discovered that a heavy chain protected the ships in the harbour, they and Bettesworth returned to Tartar. However, as Tartar tried to withdraw, she came attack from the schooner Odin and between three and six gunboats (accounts differ). Cannon fire from the Norwegians killed Bettesworth and a midshipman, Henry FitzHugh, early in the action. A further twelve men were wounded before Tartar was able to complete her withdrawal. The Danes lost four men, and a gunboat.

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Tartar fighting gunboats at the battle of Alvøen


HMS Tartar was a 32-gun fifth-rate Narcissus-class frigate of the Royal Navy, built at Frindsbury and launched in 1801. She captured privateers on the Jamaica station and fought in the Gunboat War and elsewhere in the Baltic before being lost to grounding off Estonia in 1811.

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Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with later alterations to gun ports and longitudinal half breadth proposed and approved for Narcissus (1801), and later Tartar (1801), both 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates. The plan also relate to Cornelia (1808), of the same class. Signed J. Henslow and W.Rule. (Surveyors of the navy)

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https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-352679;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=T
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1810 – Launch of French Renard, an Abeille-class 16-gun brig of the French Navy, launched in 1810 in Genoa


Renard was an Abeille-class 16-gun brig of the French Navy, launched in 1810 in Genoa. She is known for her battle against the brig HMS Swallow, one of the early deeds of then-Lieutenant Charles Baudin.

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Fight between Renard and HMS Swallow
(drawing by Paris, engraving by Chabannes)

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Career
August 1810: battle with HMS Seahorse
In August 1809, Charles Baudin, recently promoted to Lieutenant, was appointed to command Renard. On 22 August 1810, while cruising off Tuscany with the brig Ligurie, under Lieutenant Serra, Renard encountered the frigate HMS Seahorse. Renard, the better sailor of the two, allowed Seahorse to chase her while Ligurie sought her escape by sailing close to shore. After a while, Renard and Seahorse found themselves becalmed; when the wind returned, it was to favour Seahorse, and Renard narrowly avoided capture by catching a breeze and running into the Gulf of La Spezia, eventually beaching herself while a storm broke out. As good weather returned, so did Seahorse, and Renard had to endure her bombardment until the evening, although she did not sustain serious damage. Seahorse departed in the evening and Renard, refloated, limped back to Genoa. En route, Renard again met Seahorse, but sought refuge under the shore batteries of Levanto which, although in bad shape, proved sufficient to deter the frigate.

Operations in 1810–11
During 1810 and 1811, Renard escorted convoys off Tuscany and Liguria, reaching as far as Corsica and Elbe. In July 1811, Renard sortied to intercept a British privateer. Renard used a false British flag to reduce the distance of her opponent, before the privateer realised the ruse and attempted to flee. Renard gave chase and, after a solid day of pursuit, overhauled her opponent which struck at her warning shot. She proved to be the 10-gun privateer Three Brothers, of Malta, with a crew of 100 men.

Operations in 1812
In June 1812, Renard was part of the escort of a 33-ship convoy bound for Marseille. Soon after exiting Genoa, the convoy encountered a British squadron comprising the relatively new 74-gun HMS America, the 44-gun frigate Curacoa, and the 20-gun brig-sloop Swallow. The French forces amounted to Renard and the 6-gun schooner Goéland, under Lieutenant Saint-Belin. Recognising that Swallow, in the van of the British squadron, tended to sail at some distance from the America and Curacoa, Baudin sought an opportunity to isolate and capture her. He instructed Goéland to sail the convoy into the safety of Saint-Tropez. Then on 17 June, around noon, seizing a moment of favourable wind when Swallow was far in front of the main British forces, engaged her at close range. The brigs traded fire, with shots from Swallow quickly killing Ensign Charton and severely wounding Baudin, who nevertheless continued to direct the action. Meanwhile, Goéland attempted to assist Renard, but a cannonball took away her rudder and left her momentarily disabled. Soon afterwards, Swallow manoeuvered to rejoin her division, leaving the badly battered Renard, with 42 men casualties, to reach Saint-Tropez.

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1/36th scale model of Cygne, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

Fate
The British were eventually able to seize Renard at the capitulation of Genoa, on 19 April 1814. Admiral Edward Pellew provided a list of the "Enemy's Ships and Vessels of War captured at Genoa, on the Surrender of the Fortress, 18th April 1814."

  • Brilliant, of 74 guns, ready for launching.
  • Coureur brig, of 16 twenty-four-pounders and 2 long nine-pounders.
  • Renard brig, of 14 twenty-four-pounders and 2 long nine-pounders.
  • Endymion brig, of 14 twenty-four-pounders and 2 long eight-pounders.
  • Sphynx brig, of 18 guns, new, equipping.
  • Unknown, of 74 guns, in frame.

The Abeille class was a type of 16-gun brig-corvette of the French Navy, designed by François Pestel with some units refined by Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland. They were armed with either 24-pounder carronades, or a mixture of light 6-pounder long guns and lighter carronades. 21 ships of this type were built between 1801 and 1812, and served in the Napoleonic Wars.

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The four first ships were ordered in bulk on 24 December 1800, but two (Mouche, Serin) could not be completed due to shortages of timbers. As the forerunner of the series, Abeille, is not always identified as such in British sources, the type is sometimes referred to as the Sylphe class, after Sylphe, which served as model for subsequent constructions.

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The Cygne monographie by Jean Boudriot is available at ancre:

https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/35-monographie-du-cygne-brick-1806.html



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_brig_Renard_(1810)
 

Attachments

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1813 – Launch of HMS Cornwallis, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 May 1813 at Bombay


HMS Cornwallis
was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 May 1813 at Bombay. She was built of teak. The capture of Java by USS Constitution delayed the completion of Cornwallis as Java had been bringing her copper sheathing from England.

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HMS Cornwallis and the British squadron under the walls of Nanking, saluting the peace treaty.

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Cornwallis arrived at Deal, Kent on 31 May 1814, having escorted several East Indiamen (including Baring, Charles Mills, and Fairlie), and two whalers (including Indispensable).

On 27 April 1815, Cornwallis engaged the American sloop USS Hornet, which had mistaken Cornwallis for a merchant ship. Heavily outgunned, Hornet was forced to retreat. The crew threw boats, guns and other equipment overboard in order to escape.

After China's defeat in the First Opium War, representatives from the British and Qing Empires negotiated a peace treaty aboard Cornwallis in Nanjing. On 29 August 1842, British representative Sir Henry Pottinger and Qing representatives, Qiying, Yilibu and Niujian, signed the Treaty of Nanking aboard her.

Cornwallis was fitted with screw propulsion and reduced to 60 guns in 1855, and took part in the Crimean War, where she was commanded by George Wellesley, future admiral and First Sea Lord, and the nephew of the Duke of Wellington.

She was converted to a jetty at Sheerness in 1865. In 1916 she was renamed HMS Wildfire and used as a base ship. She was finally broken up in 1957 at Sheerness, some 144 years after her launching.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Cornwallis' (1813), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for 'Cornwallis' (1813), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as fitted after conversion to screw at Plymouth between October 1854 and April 1855. Signed John Edye [Assistant Surveyor of the Navy]

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the hold for 'Cornwallis' (1813), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as fitted after conversion to screw at Plymouth between October 1854 and April 1855. Signed John Edye [Assistant Surveyor of the Navy]

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H.M.S. Cornwallis 72 Guns Going out of Plymouth Harbour (PAH0786)

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Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the sail plan for 74-gun Third Rates, specifically for 'Edinburgh' (1811), 'Minden' (1810), and 'Cornwallis' (1813), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The plan also relates to 'Barham' (1811), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker, as cut down (razeed) to a 50-gun Fourth Rate Frigate


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vengeur-class_ship_of_the_line
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-304770;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1831 – Launch of HMS Viper, a six-gun Cockatrice-class schooner built for the Royal Navy during the 1830s.


HMS
Viper
was a six-gun Cockatrice-class schooner built for the Royal Navy during the 1830s. She was sold for scrap in 1851.

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Description
Viper had a length at the gundeck of 80 feet (24.4 m) and 64 feet 6 inches (19.7 m) at the keel. She had a beam of 23 feet 3 inches (7.1 m), a draught of about 9 feet 5 inches (2.9 m) and a depth of hold of 9 feet 11 inches (3.0 m). The ship's tonnage was 181 35/94 tons burthen. The Cockatrice class was armed with two 6-pounder cannon and four 12-pounder carronades. The ships had a crew of 33–42 officers and ratings.

Construction and career
Viper, the twelfth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was ordered on 11 September 1828, laid down in June 1820 at Pembroke Dockyard, Wales, and launched on 12 May 1831. She was completed on 31 August 1831 at Plymouth Dockyard


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Inboard profile plan with attached document. The document can be viewed via the toggle next to the WHOLE/PART field

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Viper_(1831)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1842 – Launch of The second USS Somers, a brig in the United States Navy during the John Tyler administration which became infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions.


The second USS Somers was a brig in the United States Navy during the John Tyler administration which became infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions.
Somers was launched by the New York Navy Yard on 16 April 1842 and commissioned on 12 May 1842, with Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie in command.

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Initial cruise
After a shakedown cruise in June–July to the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico and back, the new brig sailed out of New York harbor on 13 September 1842 bound for the Atlantic coast of Africa with dispatches for frigateVandalia. On this voyage, Somers was acting as an experimental schoolship for naval apprentices.

After calls at Madeira, Tenerife, and Praia, looking for Vandalia, Somers arrived at Monrovia, Liberia on 10 November and learned that the frigate had already sailed for home. The next day, Cdr. Mackenzie headed for the Virgin Islands hoping to meet Vandalia at St. Thomas before returning to New York.

The "Somers Affair"
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This Lithograph, published circa 1843, shows the mutineers hanging under the US flag.

On 25 November 1842, during the passage to the West Indies, Midshipman Philip Spencer, the son of Secretary of War John C. Spencer, allegedly told purser's steward J.W. Wales of a planned mutiny by approximately 20 of Somers crew, who intended to use the ship for piracy from the Isle of Pines. Seaman Elisha Small was involved in the conversation, and Wales was threatened with death if he revealed Spencer's plan.

On 26 November, Wales notified Captain Mackenzie of the plan through his chain of command via purser H.M. Heiskill and first lieutenant Guert Gansevoort. Captain Mackenzie was not inclined to take the matter seriously, but instructed Lt. Gansevoort to watch Spencer and the crew for evidence of confirmation. Lt. Gansevoort learned from other members of the crew that Spencer had been observed in secret nightly conferences with seaman Small and Boatswain's Mate Samuel Cromwell. Captain Mackenzie confronted Spencer with Wales' allegation that evening. Spencer replied that he told Wales the story as a joke. Spencer was arrested and put in irons on the quarterdeck. Papers written in Greek were discovered in a search of Spencer's locker and translated by Midshipman Henry Rodgers: What is left out of possible reasons for Philip Spencer's so called secret meetings with sailors and the Greek symbols in his journal is the fact that Philip Spencer was a founding member of the Chi Psi Fraternity at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., in May, 1841. Spencer could have been trying to introduce sailors to a fraternal Navy group. He was also interested in pirates and buccaneers and may have used the pirates democratic model for a sailors' "fraternity". He was insufficiently trained and foolishly unaware of the captain's authority. Lt. Gansevoort was a cousin of Herman Melville who heard about the Somers Affair from him and turned it into his famous novella Billy Buddwhich takes place on a British frigate with a far different character than Philip Spencer.

"CERTAIN: P. Spencer, E. Andrews, D. McKinley, Wales"DOUBTFUL: Wilson (X), McKee (X), Warner, Green, Gedney, Van Veltzor, Sullivan, Godfrey, Gallia (X), Howard (X)"Those doubtful marked (X) will probably be induced to join before the project is carried into execution. The remainder of the doubtful will probably join when the thing is done, if not, they must be forced. If any not marked down wish to join after the thing is done we will pick out the best and dispose of the rest."NOLENS VOLENS: Sibley, Van Brunt, Blackwell, Clarke, Corney, Garratrantz, Strummond, Witmore, Waltham, Nevilles, Dickinson, Riley, Scott, Crawley, Rodman, Selsor, The Doctor"Wheel: McKee"Cabin: Spencer, Small, Wilson"Wardroom: Spencer"Steerage: Spencer, Small, Wilson"Arm Chest: McKinley"
A mast failed and damaged some sail rigging on 27 November. The timing and circumstances were regarded as suspicious; and Cromwell, the largest man on the crew, was questioned about his alleged meetings with Spencer. Cromwell said: "It was not me, sir – it was Small." Small was questioned and admitted meeting with Spencer. Both Cromwell and Small joined Spencer in irons on the quarterdeck.

On 28 November wardroom steward Henry Waltham was flogged for having stolen brandy for Spencer; and, after the flogging, Captain Mackenzie informed the crew of a plot by Spencer to have them murdered. Waltham was flogged again on 29 November for suggesting theft of three bottles of wine to one of the apprentices. Sailmaker's mate Charles A. Wilson was detected attempting to obtain a weapon on that afternoon, and Landsman McKinley and Apprentice Green missed muster when their watch was called at midnight.

Four more men were put in irons on the morning of 30 November: Wilson, McKinley, Green, and Cromwell's friend, Alexander McKie. Captain Mackenzie then addressed a letter to his four wardroom officers (First Lieutenant Gansevoort, Passed Assistant Surgeon L.W. Leecock, Purser Heiskill, and Acting Master M.C. Perry) and three oldest midshipmen (Henry Rodgers, Egbert Thompson, and Charles W. Hayes), asking their opinion as to the best course of action. The seven convened in the wardroom to interview members of the crew.

On 1 December, the officers reported that they had "come to a cool, decided, and unanimous opinion" that Spencer, Cromwell, and Small were "guilty of a full and determined intention to commit a mutiny;" and they recommended that the three be put to death, despite Spencer's claim that the accused conspirators "had been pretending piracy". The plotters were hanged that day and buried at sea. Some have noted that the captain could have waited since there were only thirteen days to home port. In response, the captain noted the fatigue of his officers, the smallness of the vessel and the inadequacies of the confinement.

Somers reached St. Thomas on 5 December and returned to New York on 14 December. She remained there during a naval court of inquiry which investigated the alleged mutiny and subsequent executions. The court exonerated Mackenzie, as did a subsequent court-martial, held at his request to avoid a trial in civil court. Nevertheless, the general populace remained skeptical.

In the Home Squadron
On 20 March 1843, Lt. John West assumed command of Somers and the brig was assigned to the Home Squadron. For the next few years, she served along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies.

Mexican–American War
Somers was in the Gulf of Mexico off Vera Cruz at the opening of the Mexican–American War in the spring of 1846; and, except for runs to Pensacola, Florida, for logistics, remained in that area on blockade duty until the winter. On the evening of 26 November, the brig, commanded by Lt. Raphael Semmes (later the celebrated commanding officer of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama), was blockading Vera Cruz when Mexican schooner Criolla slipped into that port. Somers launched a boat party which boarded and captured the schooner. However, a calm wind prevented the Americans from getting their prize out to sea so they set fire to the vessel and returned through gunfire from the shore to Somers, bringing back seven prisoners. Unfortunately, Criolla proved to be a US spy ship operating for Commodore David Conner.

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Loss of USS Somers off Vera Cruz

On 8 December 1846, while chasing a blockade runner off Vera Cruz, Somers capsized and foundered in a sudden squall. Thirty-six of her 80 crew were lost. Eight survivors were rescued by HMS Endymion. Eight more swam to shore and were taken prisoner. English and French vessels rescued the other survivors. On 3 March 1847, Congress authorized gold and silver medals to the officers and men of French, British, and Spanish ships-of-war who aided in the rescue.

Legacy and wreck
Herman Melville – whose first cousin, Lt. Guert Gansevoort, was an officer aboard the brig at the time of the Somers Affair – may have been influenced by the notorious events involving the Somers mutineers. Melville may have used elements of the story in his novella Billy Budd.

The incident is detailed in the novel Voyage to the First of December by Henry Carlisle, written from the viewpoint of the naval surgeon on duty (from his old journals).

The story of the Somers Affair and the subsequent trial is dramatized in the penultimate episode of the sixth season of the television series JAG. The presentation takes place as a dream by Lt. Col. Sarah MacKenzie, while she prepares to give a lecture at the United States Naval Academy, which came into existence as a result of the Somers Affair. The regular cast portrayed the people involved. Trevor Goddard played the role of Mackenzie, and Catherine Bell (in a play on the identical surname of her usual role in JAG) played Mrs. Mackenzie.

In 1986, an expedition led by George Belcher, an art dealer and explorer from San Francisco, California, discovered the wreck, and in 1987 archaeologists James Delgado and Mitchell Marken confirmed the identification of the wreck. In 1990, Delgado, along with Pilar Luna Erreguerena, co-directed a joint Mexican-US expedition, which involved archaeologists and divers from the US National Park Service, the Armada de Mexico, and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. The project determined that unknown people had looted the wreck sometime after the 1987 expedition. The wreck remains as a site protected by legislation.

The most notable legacy of the Somers Affair is the US Naval Academy which was founded as a direct result of the affair. Appalled that a midshipman would consider mutiny, senior naval officials ordered the creation of the academy so that midshipmen could receive a formal and supervised education in naval seamanship and related matters.


 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1865 - Comet, an 1851 California clipper built by William H. Webb which sailed in the Australia trade and the tea trade, was lost at sea


Comet was an 1851 California clipper built by William H. Webb which sailed in the Australia trade and the tea trade. This extreme clipper was very fast. She had record passages on two different routes: New York Cityto San Francisco, and Liverpool to Hong Kong, and beat the famous clipper Flying Dutchman in an 1853 race around the Horn to San Francisco.

In 1863 the Comet was sold to the Black Ball Line and renamed the Fiery Star. She was lost at sea on 12 May 1865 after a fire had broken out in her cargo of wool.

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Clipper Ship Comet of New York in a hurricane off Bermuda on her voyage from New York to San Francisco, Octr 1852 (PAH8536)

Ship history
As the Comet
Her first Captain was E. C. Gardner, previously of the Celestial.[3] Her first voyage was from New York to San Francisco, departing on 1 October 1851 and arriving on 12 January 1852 in 103 days. She made a return journey to New York arriving back in San Francisco on 18 January 1853. From there she sailed to Whampoa, where she loaded a cargo of tea and silk for New York. She arrived in New York on 6 May 1853, an 83-day journey.

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Comet (1851 California clipper) - spars and sails from "PLANS OF WOODEN VESSELS..." by William H. Webb

Record passages
In February 1853 she raced the Flying Dutchman, another William H. Webb-built clipper, from San Francisco to New York, beating her by 30 hours in a time of 83 days and 18 hours. She returned to San Francisco on 10 December 1853. Sailing to New York again on 27 December, she reached Cape Horn in 35 days 7 hours, which was a record for the route. She reached New York on 14 March 1854 in 76 days (pilot to pilot). She then sailed across the Atlantic to Liverpool. From Liverpool she sailed to Hong Kong arriving there in 83 days 21 hours (pilot to pilot) on 9 September 1854, a record time. Her best days run on the voyage was 350 miles.

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Sailing card

Arriving back in New York from Bremen on 19 August 1855 Captain Arquit replaced Captain Gardner. She made further journeys to San Francisco, New York, and Wampoa through 1856 to 1858. On 15 December 1858 Captain Todd took command of her. In 1859 she sailed to Manila and Anjer. Further trips were made between New York and San Francisco in between 1859 and 1862, as well as journeys to Hong Kong and Macao.

Damage
On her journey from New York to San Francisco on 2 October 1861 her bowsprit was badly sprung off at Cape Horn. This was followed by her rudderhead being sprung in her 1862 journey from Macao to New York when she encountered a typhoon in the South China Sea.

As the Fiery Star
On 11 March 1863 she sailed from New York for the final time as the Comet. Arriving in England she had been acquired by T. M. McKay & Co. of Liverpool for the Black Ball Line. She sailed out of London, England, on 11 April 1863 in the Australia trade, with voyages to Queenstown, Moreton Bay, and Brisbane.

Loss of the ship
The Fiery Star left Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, for Liverpool on April 1, 1865 with a crew of 42 under Captain W. Hunter Yule. She had a cargo of wool and 63 passengers. On 17 April she encountered a severe gale and two days later, on 19 April when she was 400 miles north west of the Chatham Islands a fire was discovered by one of the crew, James Adams, in the cargo of wool in her forward hold. Her position at the time was given as being in latitude 46 degrees 10' south and longitude 170 degrees west.

She changed course for Lyttleton while efforts were made to put out the fire. However, the wind changed and a gale rose forcing her to change course for the Hauraki Gulf. By 7 p.m. on 20 April after unsuccessfully trying to put out the fire the captain and 86 people, including all but one of the passengers, abandoned ship in four boats intending to make for the Chatham Islands. There had been six boats on board, but two were lost overboard in the earlier storm. As the remaining boats were to small to carry everyone the chief officer - W. C. Sargent, a passenger - John Ormond, and 16 crew members volunteered to remain on board. During the night the life boats parted company with the Fiery Star. The remaining crew then constructed a raft in case they had to abandon the ship.

By 25 April the weather began to deteriorate and the seas were rough until to 28 April.

By 3 May the ship was thought to be about 98 miles from New Zealand and two islands, possibly Mercury and Alderman were sighted. Another gale struck the ship on 4 May and drove her back out to sea. The wind again changed and by 11 May the ship was thought to be about 25 miles from shore. At 10 p.m. on 11 May lights of another ship, the barque Dauntless was sighted and rockets and cannon were fired, and blue lights shown to attract its attention. The Dauntless sent a lifeboat over and this remained alongside overnight.

At daylight the Chief Officer invited Captain Moore from the Dauntless to come on board to assess the situation. Captain Moore agreed with the Chief Officers decision to abandon her as the fire was worsening and the ship badly damaged. After transferring as much that was salvageable she was abandoned at 4 p.m. and the crew transferred to the Dauntless. Her position was given as being off Great Barrier Island in latitude 37 degrees 5' south and longitude 175 degrees 42' east. The Dauntless remained near the Fiery Star until it sank at about 10:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. in some accounts). The origin of the fire was undetermined.

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Comet (1851 California clipper) - body plan, sheer plan, & half-breadth plan from "PLANS OF WOODEN VESSELS..." by William H. Webb

The seventeen of the eighteen survivors were John Ormond - passenger; W. C. Sargent - Chief Officer; William Marshall - quarter-master; George Maber - engineer; George Strickland - chief steward; John Sutton Palmer - second steward; Charles White - boatswain's mate; David Hariot - sailmaker; James North - carpenter; Knight Stevens, Charles Applequist, John Hargett, Charles Smith, David Payne, John Bullin, Richard Breton - seamen; Richard Herdman - butcher.

A search was mounted on 16 May of the Chatham Islands for the passengers and crew who had left in the lifeboats by HMS Brisk under Captain Charles Webley Hope. The Brisk arrived in the Chathams on 20 May and a search of the island and neighboring Pitt Island found no trace of the missing crew and passengers. Given their distance from the Chathams when they left the Fiery Star and the bad weather in the intervening period, they were presumed to have perished



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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1911 – SS Merida, a steam cargo ship, sank


Merida was a steam cargo ship built in 1906 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co., owned and operated by Ward Line, with intention of serving their New York to Havana route

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Design and Construction
Following the sale of two of their older vessels, SS Havana and SS Mexico, to the US Government in 1905, Ward Line placed an order for four steamers to be built to operate on their expanding Cuban and Mexican trade routes. These vessels were built with accordance with the US Subsidy Act of 1891, which required the vessels to be constructed with a possibility of being converted into auxiliary cruisers in case of war, and be able to carry eleven 5 inch guns. Merida was the first of these vessels and was laid down at the William Cramp & Sons' Kensington Yard in Philadelphia (yard number 332) and launched on 25 January 1906, with Miss Florence Alker, daughter of Mr. Alphonse Alker, and a granddaughter of James E. Ward, founder of the Ward Lines, serving as the sponsor. The ship had 4 decks, and was designed to provide luxury accommodations for 189 first-class passengers, including the smoking room on the upper deck, a drawing room, library and social hall. In addition, the vessel had all the modern machinery fitted for quick loading and unloading of cargo, had seven watertight bulkheads, and also had electrical lights installed and was equipped with the De Forest system of wireless telegraphy.

The initial sea trials were held on April 2-3, 1906 off Cape Henlopen, during which the steamer was able to reach maximum speed of 18.75 knots (21.58 mph; 34.73 km/h) over several runs, which was well over the contractual speed of 15.0 knots (17.3 mph; 27.8 km/h). After successful completion of ocean trials three days later, the ship was transferred to her owners and departed for New York on April 11.

As built, the ship was 400 feet 0 inches (121.92 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 50 feet 2 inches (15.29 m) abeam, a depth of 17 feet 5 inches (5.31 m). Merida was assessed at 6,207 GRT and 3,824 NRT. The vessel had a steel hull, and two sets of triple-expansion steam engines, with cylinders of 28-inch (71 cm), 46-inch (120 cm) and 76-inch (190 cm) diameter with a 42-inch (110 cm) stroke that provided a combined 749 nhp and drove two screw propellers, and moved the ship at up to 17.0 knots (19.6 mph; 31.5 km/h).

Operational history
Upon delivery Merida sailed from Philadelphia for New York on April 11, 1906, and after loading, departed on her maiden voyage on April 21 for Havana. After embarking on cargo and 206 passengers she left Cuba on April 28 and arrived in New York on May 1 after 2 days and 18 hour long uneventful journey, bringing her maiden voyage to a successful ending. Among her first passengers were Alfred Smith, manager of the Ward Line, who made a round-trip voyage, Lionel Carden, British Minister to Cuba, Countess Wachmeister, and Daniel Bacon, Havana-based ship operator.

Commencing with her second trip and through the end of her career Merida would be serving on the same route, taking her from New York to Vera Cruz and Progreso in Mexico and then continuing to Havana before returning to New York. Besides passengers and mails, the steamer was carrying a large variety of general cargo from Mexico and Cuba ranging from exotic things such as alligator skins, jalap and fustic to hemp, coffee, pineapples, mahogany, rubber, tobacco and cigars. Starting from 1908 the vessel also began carrying Mexican silver from the port of Vera Cruz. For example, on May 16, 1908 Merida brought to New York 160 bars of silver in addition to 200 passengers and a large miscellaneous cargo. With improving silver prices and increased production, the silver exports grew in 1909-1910 too, for instance on March 18, 1910 the steamer brought 256 silver bars in addition to other general cargo. With the eruption of Mexican Revolution in November 1910, silver exports nearly doubled, reaching 452 bars when Merida arrived in New York on November 25, 1910.

On January 21, 1911 Merida arrived at New York significantly delayed due losing her port side propeller approximately 160 miles out of Havana. The vessel soon returned to service after completion of the repairs.

Sinking
Merida left for her last journey from New York on April 20, 1911 heading for her usual destinations. After embarking cargo and most of her passengers (89) at Vera Cruz, most of them Americans fleeing the violence in Mexico, she left the port for her return trip on May 4. The steamer called at Progreso to take on more cargo and more passengers (22), including Archbishop of Yucatán Martín Tritschler y Córdoba and his brother and secretary Guillermo, and continued to Havana, which she departed on May 9 after taking on board additional cargo and 77 more passengers. Due to ongoing turmoil in Mexico and with anticipated resignation of President Porfirio Díaz, many wealthy Mexicans boarded US-bound ship to wait out the revolution abroad. Merida was under command of captain Archibald Robertson and had a crew of 131 men. Overall, the steamer had 131 first-class, 32 second-class and 25 steerage passengers on board, and her cargo consisted of general merchandise such as coffee, hides, tobacco, mahogany, fruit and additionally she carried 372 silver bars and 36 bars of mixed silver, as well 699 copper bars used as ballast. On May 11 the ship reached Virginia coast and continued north by east. The night was dark with calm seas, and around midnight she encountered a fog bank. The speed was dropped down to about 7 or 8 knots with the ship staying her course. At about 00:15, while roughly 52 miles east and one half mile north off Cape Charles, a lookout spotted a steamer suddenly appearing out of the haze. As the distance between the vessels was very short, no action could really be taken to avoid the collision, and the incoming steamer, later identified as a fruit boat Admiral Farraguton passage from Philadelphia to Port Antonio in ballast, crashed abaft amidships into the port side of Merida, knocking out her engines and disabling her electrical dynamo. Merida's operator, Herbert O. Benson, was able to send a distress signal and was able to reach Hatteras station, but about ten minutes after the collision the ship went completely black as her electricity supply was drained. Passengers jumped out of their cabins in their night clothing and the panic ensued but the crowd was quickly brought down under control by the captain and the officers of the steamer. Six lifeboats were launched and two rafts were dropped and all passengers and crew were able to disembark the ship.

Meanwhile, Admiral Farragut suffered severe damage to her bow, but her fore collision bulkheads held and she remained afloat and was standing by. Unfortunately, her own wireless apparatus went broken due to collision and could not be used. All passengers and the entire crew, with the exception of the captain, first officer and 4 others, who stayed on board Merida, were transferred to Admiral Farragut without an incident. Only one passenger, a wife of a wealthy Mexican hemp grower Augusto Peon, was injured in the collision, possibly because she was in the cabin closest to the point of impact. Herbert O. Benson (incorrectly reported as Perry E. Benton in some newspapers) was sent by captain Robertson aboard the fruit freighter and together with her operator, A. C. Leech, was able to repair the malfunctioning wireless, and a distress signal was sent out seeking help around 05:30. Fortunately, due to collision being so close to the coast, four ships, Old Dominion steamer Hamilton, battleship Iowa, and torpedo boats Stringham and Bailey, were in the immediate vicinity, and they all responded to the calls for help. Hamilton was about 45 to 50 miles and Iowa was approximately 55 miles north, while torpedo boats were roughly 60 miles south of the place of the collision. Captain Robertson and the rest of the crew finally left the sinking Merida at 05:30 and by 05:50 she went down, sinking in approximately 35 fathoms (210 ft) of water. Both Iowa and Hamilton arrived shortly after 08:00, after navigating through heavy fog. Due to precarious position of steamer Admiral Farragut a decision was made to transfer an entire Merida's crew and passengers to the steamship Hamilton and the second transfer was initiated at about 08:45 and finished by approximately 10:45 with Iowa's cutters aiding in finishing the rescue operation. Both torpedo boats also arrived at the scene and stood by ready to help. Eventually, Hamilton departed the area and arrived at Norfolk at around 19:00. Admiral Farragut remained on site of the collision for a while trying to patch up damage as much as possible, before slowly proceeding to Delaware Breakwater accompanied by Iowa.

A hearing was held in Norfolk following the collision and sinking, however, both captains were exonerated of any blame due to a sudden onset of unusual atmospheric conditions which made an accident unavoidable.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Merida_(1906)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1915 - HMS Goliath, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class, was torpedoed and sunk,


HMS
Goliath
was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Goliath and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Goliath was laid down in January 1897, launched in March 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in March 1900.

1280px-HMS_Goliath_during_the_First_World_War_IWM_Q21299.jpg

The ship was deployed to the China Station from her commissioning until 1903, when she returned to Britain; she was sent back to East Asian waters, but while en route was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. In early 1906, she was transferred to the Channel Fleet, followed by a stint in the Home Fleet starting in early 1907. She was sent to the Mediterranean a second time in 1908, and later returned to the Home Fleet in 1909, before being decommissioned in 1913. With the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Goliath was mobilised into the 8th Battle Squadron. She initially served as a guard ship in Loch Ewe, one of the harbors used by the Grand Fleet, before escorting the crossing of British troops to Belgium in late August.

Goliath then took part in operations against German East Africa, participating in the blockade of the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji River. From March 1915, she was part of the Dardanelles Campaign, and remained in support of the landings at Gallipoli in April. On 13 May 1915 Goliath was sunk in Morto Bay off Cape Helles by three torpedoes from the Ottoman destroyer Muâvenet-i Millîye. Out of her crew of 750, 570 were killed in the sinking.


Dardanelles campaign
See also: Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign

Map showing the Ottoman defences at the Dardanelles in 1915

Upon arrival in the Aegean Sea, Goliath joined the First Squadron, which included seven other battleships and four cruisers, and was commanded by Rear Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss. The First Squadron was tasked with supporting the Landing at Cape Helles, which took place on 25 April. On the morning of the landings, Goliath took up a position off Y beach, some 4,000 to 5,000 yards (3,700 to 4,600 m) offshore to provide gunfire support. The protected cruisers Sapphire and Amethyst moved in closer, and all three ships opened fire at around 05:00, signalling the start of the attack. The Ottomans made no attempt to disrupt the landing, the Allied forces having successfully launching a surprise attack. By late in the day, however, an Ottoman counterattack had advanced from Krithia to threaten the British flank, but gunfire from Goliath and the cruisers broke up the attack. That night, the Ottomans launched another counterattack, this time against the centre of the British line, which was repulsed. Once the sun began to rise, Goliath and the cruisers, which had by then been reinforced by the cruisers Talbot and Dublin, shelled the Ottomans, forcing them to retreat again.

On the morning of 26 April, wounded soldiers began to be ferried off the beach, first to Goliath and the cruisers off shore. A miscommunication with the men on shore led to an unintended, larger evacuation effort. In the course of the action, she sustained some damage from the gunfire of Ottoman forts and shore batteries. Later in the day, order was restored on shore, and the Allied troops were able to occupy Sedd el Bahr. The Allies landed reinforcements, which allowed the advance to push toward Krithia on 27 April. Goliath and several other battleships shelled Ottoman defenders around the town to support the attack, which began the following morning at around 10:00. Goliath moved as close to shore as possible, to employ all of her guns at very close range. Despite the heavy fire support, the Allied troops were unable to dislodge the Ottoman defenders, and the First Battle of Krithia ended in an Allied defeat. Goliath was damaged by Ottoman guns again on 2 May.

By mid-May, the Allied fleet had developed a rotation of two battleships on station off Gallipoli every night to support the troops dug in on the peninsula. On the night of 12–13 May, Goliath was on station with the battleship Cornwallis. The two ships were moored in Morto Bay, with Goliath ahead of Cornwallis; five destroyers patrolled the area against Ottoman torpedo boats. The Ottoman destroyer Muâvenet-i Millîye sortied late on 12 May under cover of a moonless night. By steaming very slowly, the Ottomans were able to slip past the destroyer patrols at about 01:00 on 13 May. Fifteen minutes later, lookouts aboard Goliath spotted Muâvenet-i Millîye and issued a challenge; the Ottomans replied to the challenge but very quickly increased speed and launched three torpedoes at Goliath. The British opened fire, but only managed to shoot three rounds before the first torpedo struck the ship. Two torpedoes hit almost simultaneously, the first abreast her fore turret and the second abeam the fore funnel, causing a large explosion. Goliath began to capsize almost immediately, and was lying on her side when a third torpedo struck near her after turret. Muâvenet-i Millîye sped off and escaped unscathed in the darkness as the other British warships gathered to rescue survivors from Goliath. Some 570 men, out of a crew of 750 were killed in the sinking, including the ship's commander, Captain Thomas Shelford.

The wreck lies upside down at a depth of 63 metres (207 ft), and is largely buried in sediment. Only part of the hull, which was badly mangled by the explosion, and one of her screws are visible.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canopus-class_battleship
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1930 – Launch of Japanese Takao (高雄), the lead vessel in the Takao-class heavy cruisers, active in World War II with the Imperial Japanese Navy.


Takao (高雄) was the lead vessel in the Takao-class heavy cruisers, active in World War II with the Imperial Japanese Navy. These were the largest and most modern cruisers in the Japanese fleet, and were intended to form the backbone of a multipurpose long-range strike force. Her sister ships were Atago, Maya and Chōkai.

IJN_cruiser_Takao_on_trial_run_in_1932.jpg

Background
The Takao-class ships were approved under the 1927 to 1931 supplementary fiscal year budget, and like her sister ships, was named after a mountain. Mount Takao (高雄山) is located outside Kyoto and is not to be confused with the similar Mount Takao (高尾山) located outside Tokyo, or the city of Takao (高雄), in Taiwan.

Design
The Takao-class cruisers were an improved version of the previous Myōkō-class design, incorporating technical elements learned with the development of the experimental light cruiser Yūbari. They had a distinctive profile with a large, raked main smokestack, and a smaller, straight, second smokestack. Intended to address issues with the Myōkō class, the Takao class had thicker armor, dual-purpose main guns which could be used against aircraft, and torpedo launchers moved to the upper deck for greater safety. However, as with its predecessors, the Takao class was also top-heavy.

The Takao class displaced 16,875 t (16,608 long tons). Takao was 203.8 metres (669 ft) long, with a beam of 20.4 metres (67 ft), draft of 6.32 metres (20.7 ft) and were capable of 35.25 knots.

Takao_class_recognition_drawings.jpg
Takao-class recognition drawing

Propulsion was by 12 Kampon boilers driving four sets of single-impulse geared turbine engines, with four shafts turning three-bladed propellers. The ship was armored with a 127 mm (5 in) side belt, and 35 mm (1 in) armored deck; the bridge was armored with 10 to 16 mm (0.39 to 0.63 in) armored plates.

Takao’s main battery was ten 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns, the heaviest armament of any heavy cruiser in the world at the time, mounted in five twin turrets. Her secondary armament included eight Type 10 12cm dual purpose guns in four twin mounts on each side, and 16 Type 90 torpedoes in four quadruple launchers. She was very deficient in anti-aircraft capability, with only two 40 mm (1.57 in) anti-aircraft guns. Takaowas repeatedly modernized and upgraded throughout her career in order to counter the growing threat of air strikes, and in her final configuration was armed with ten Type 3 20 cm naval guns, ten 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns (5x2), four Type 89 12.7 cm (5 in) dual purpose guns, (4x2), and 16 Type 93 Long Lance torpedoes in four quadruple launchers (plus 8 reloads). Anti-aircraft protection included 24 triple-mount and 12 twin-mount and 26 single-mount Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Guns and four 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA machine guns.


The Takao-class cruiser (高雄型) was a class of four heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) launched between May 1930 and April 1931. They all served during World War II.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Takao_(1930)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
12 May 1975 - The Mayaguez incident took place between Kampuchea and the United States from May 12–15, 1975, less than a month after the Khmer Rouge took control of the capital Phnom Penh ousting the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic.
It was the last official battle of the Vietnam War.



The Mayaguez incident took place between Kampuchea and the United States from May 12–15, 1975, less than a month after the Khmer Rouge took control of the capital Phnom Penh ousting the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic. It was the last official battle of the Vietnam War. The names of the Americans killed, as well as those of three U.S. Marines who were left behind on the island of Koh Tang after the battle and were subsequently executed by the Khmer Rouge, are the last names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The merchant ship's crew, whose seizure at sea had prompted the U.S. attack, had been released in good health, unknown to the U.S. Marines or the U.S. command of the operation before they attacked. Nevertheless, the Marines boarded and recaptured the ship anchored offshore a Cambodian island, finding it empty.

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1280px-Container_ship_SS_Mayaguez,_1975.jpg MayagüezIncident1.jpg

Marines_board_the_Mayaguez.jpg MayagüezIncident2.jpg



 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 12 May


1708 Sir John Leake's Fleet took a French frigate and convoy



1780 - The city of Charleston, S.C., falls to the British when Continental Gen. Benjamin Lincoln surrenders during the American Revolution.
Three Continental Navy frigates (Boston, Providence, and Ranger) are captured; and one American frigate (Queen of France) is sunk to prevent capture.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Boston_(1777)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Providence_(1776_frigate)


1781 HMS Thetis (32) wrecked off St. Lucia

HMS Thetis
(1773) was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1773 and wrecked entering the Careenage at St. Lucia Bay in 1781


1799 HMS Courier cutter engaged a French privateer brig near Winterton.


1806 - HMS Pallas (32), Cptn. Lord Cochrane, HMS Indefatigable (44), Cptn. John Tremayne Rodd, and HMS Kingfisher (18), George Francis Seymour, engaged French squadron off Isle of Aix.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pallas_(1804)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Indefatigable_(1784)


1806 - Boats of HMS Juno (32), Capt. H. Richardson, and Neapolitan Minerve, Cptn. Vieugna, destroyed batteries at Gaeta.

the French erected a battery of four guns on the point of La Madona della Catena. The Prince of Hesse-Philipstad put 60 men from the garrison at Gaeta in four fishing-boats and on the night of 12 May Richardson took them and the boats from Juno and Minerva to a small bay in the French rear. As the boats reached shore, the French signaled the attack and abandoned the battery. The landing party spiked the guns and destroyed the carriages unopposed. It then re-embarked, having sustained no losses.

HMS Juno was a Royal Navy 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate. This frigate served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

JUNO_1780_RMG_J6010.jpg



1808 - HMS Amphion (32), Cptn. William Hoste, and boats engaged frigate Baleine at Rosas.

In May 1808, Hoste was ordered to attack the French frigate Baleine off Rosas. Amphion succeeded in destroying the vessel without severe loss

HMS Amphion was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars.
Amphion was built by Betts, of Mistleythorn, and was launched on 19 March 1798.



1810 HMS Tribune (36), Cptn. Reynolds, engaged Danish squadron of 4 brigs, under Cmndr Johannes Krieger, outside Mandal, Norway but was forced to withdraw.

HMS Tribune
(1803) was a 36-gun fifth rate launched in 1803. She was rebuilt as a 24-gun sixth rate in 1832 and was wrecked in 1839.


1812 – Launch of French frigates Trave and Weser, both Pallas-class frigates of the French Navy, launched at the same day at Amsterdam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Trave_(1812)


1827 – Launch of French Terpsichore, (launched 12 May 1827 at Brest) – deleted 6 February 1839

Terpsichore class (60-gun first rate type, 1823 design by Philippe-Jacques Moreau, with 30 x 30-pounder guns, 28 x 30-pounder carronades and 2 x 18-pounder guns):
Terpsichore, (launched 12 May 1827 at Brest) – deleted 6 February 1839.


1846 U.S. declares war against Mexico


At the onset of the Mexican–American War on 12 May 1846, Commodore John D. Sloat was in command of the Pacific fleet. The Pacific war against Mexico lasted only eight months with few casualties. The Pacific fleet consisted mainly of ten ships: two ships of the line, two frigates, two sloops-of-war, and four sloops. As the Mexican navy was very small few vessels were ever captured.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Sloat


1858 – Launch of HMS Topaze was a 51-gun Liffey class wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 12 May 1858, at Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth.

HMS Topaze was a 51-gun Liffey class wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 12 May 1858, at Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth.
Her crew assisted in the building of the Race Rocks Lighthouse in British Columbia, Canada, and laid a bronze tablet in 1868 at the Juan Fernández Islands commemorating the stay of marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk. On the same voyage, the band from HMS Topaze played for the dedication of Congregation Emanu-El, now the oldest surviving synagogue building in Canada.
The voyage to Easter Island in 1868 saw the crew remove the Moai Moai Hava and Hoa Hakananai'a and ship them to Britain, where Hoa Hakananai'a can now be seen in the British Museum.
The ship is notable for an incident when Agnes Weston came on board to plead the cause of Temperance; as she recalled in her memoire:
The Captain of H.M.S. Topaze invited me on board, and the men were mustered on the main deck; they listened very attentively. When I had finished speaking I asked the Captain, "Whether any men that wished it might join the Royal Naval Temperance Society?" He gave a cordial assent, and my eyes roved round to see on what place I could put the pledge-book. I saw what I thought to be a bread tub standing not far off. "Could I have that bread tub?" I asked; "it would make a nice little table turned over." I saw the Captain smile and tug at his moustache, and the men seemed on the brink of bursting into laughter. "Yes," he answered, "anything that we have is at your command. Here, men, a couple of hands roll over that grog-tub."
Topaze was sold on 14 February 1884 and broken up at Charlton.

HMS_Topaze.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Topaze_(1858)


1896 – Launch of General-Admiral Apraksin (Russian: Генералъ-Адмиралъ Апраксинъ), sometimes transliterated as Apraxin, was a member of the Admiral Ushakov-class coastal defense ships of the Imperial Russian Navy.

General-Admiral Apraksin (Russian: Генералъ-Адмиралъ Апраксинъ), sometimes transliterated as Apraxin, was a member of the Admiral Ushakov-class coastal defense ships of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was named after General Admiral Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin, the first commander of Russian Baltic Fleet. She was one of eight Russian pre-dreadnought battleships captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. She subsequently served in the Japanese Navy as Okinoshima (沖ノ島) until removed from service in 1922.
She had only three guns (a single gun turret aft, as shown in the photograph), instead of her sister ships, which were equipped with four guns.

RUS_General-Admiral_Apraksin_in_1902.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_coast_defense_ship_General-Admiral_Apraksin


1898 – Launch of French Châteaurenault was a protected cruiser of the French Navy intended for commerce raiding.

Châteaurenault was a protected cruiser of the French Navy intended for commerce raiding. She was the first ship of the French Navy named in honour of François Louis de Rousselet, Marquis de Châteaurenault. Launched on 24 March 1898, Châteaurenault was commissioned in October 1902. In 1904, she was damaged after hitting a submerged rock. In 1910, she ran aground on Spartel, and had to be taken in tow by French cruiser Victor Hugo. From 1913, she was used as a school ship in Toulon.
Recommissioned at the outbreak of the First World War, Châteaurenault patrolled the Mediterranean. In 1917, she was used as a troopship, ferrying soldiers from Taranto to Itea. On 5 October 1917, she rescued survivors of the liner Gallia, torpedoed by the Imperial German Navy submarine U-35, and saved 1,200 men.

Chateaurenault-Marius_Bar.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_cruiser_Châteaurenault_(1898)


1938 - USS Enterprise (CV 6) is commissioned. Notable service during WWII include the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Midway, the Guadalcanal Campaign, Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and the Okinawa Campaign, where she was badly damaged by a kamikaze strike.



1942 – World War II: The U.S. tanker SS Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German submarine U-507



1942 - USS Massachusetts (BB 59) is commissioned. She serves in both the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II, notably participating in Operation Torch, Battle of Leyte Gulf, and the bombing of the Japanese homeland.

 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1717 - The Battle of Gothenburg was a Danish attempt to destroy the Swedish squadron in Gothenburg, which was led by Olof Strömstierna.


The Battle of Gothenburg was a Danish attempt to destroy the Swedish squadron in Gothenburg, which was led by Olof Strömstierna. The Danes were led by the famous Peter Tordenskjold. The Swedish land defence was led by Fredrik of Hessen, and it consisted of the land batteries Billingen and Rya Nabbe with 12 guns each, and the Älvsborg fortress, who had 400 soldiers with 90 guns.

Danskarna_beskjuter_nya_Älvsborg.jpg
Fire exchange between Danish ships and the Älvsborg fortress

The Danish attack was intended as a surprise attack but failed, after the Swedes opened fire at them after they passed Älvsborg fortress. The bombardment was led as a cross-fire from the fortress and the Swedish ships - which went across the river - against Tordenskjold and his soldiers. After 5 hours of fighting, the Danes retreated after losing several ships.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gothenburg
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1778 – Launch of HMS Jupiter, a 50-gun Portland-class fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy.


HMS Jupiter was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years. She was also one of the fastest ships in the Royal Navy as shown by her attempt to capture the cutter Eclipse under Nathaniel Fanning.

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Combat_du_20_octobre_1778.jpg
Naval battle off the coast of Lisbon, 20 October 1778. The French vessel Triton against the British ship Jupiter and the frigate Medea.

Built in Rotherhithe, she was launched in 1778. Her trial copper sheathed hull featured the new technical breakthrough of protecting her iron bolts by the application of thick paper between the copper plates and the hull. This innovation she trialled successfully.

On 1 April 1779 she assisted Delight after Delight captured the French 20-gun privateer Jean Bart.[2] On 20 October, she fought an indecisive action with the French ship Triton.

On 2 October 1779, Jupiter captured two French cutters, each of 14 guns and 120 men. The Royal Navy took both into service essentially under their existing names. One was Mutin, under the command of Chevalier de Roquefeiul. She was pierced for 16 guns but carried 14, either 4 or 6-pounders. The other was Pilote, under the command of Chevalier de Clonard. She carried the same armament as Mutine (or Mutin). The cutters surrendered after an engagement that left Mutin dismasted. Jupiter shared the prize money with HMS Glory 1763 and HMS Apollo (1805), Crescent, and Milford.

Jupiter fought at the battle of Porto Praya in 1781 and the Battle of Muizenberg in 1795, winning the battle honour 'Cape of Good Hope' for the latter. In 1799 Jupiter battled a French frigate in the aftermath of the Battle of Algoa Bay.

On 25 April 1799 Jupiter, Adamant, and Tremendous recaptured Chance as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate Forte had captured Chance, which was carrying a cargo of rice, in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. Lastly, after the French had driven the American ship Pacific onshore at River Noir, Adamant, Jupiter, and Tremendous came on the scene and sent in their boats, which removed much of Pacific's cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set Pacific on fire.

On 17 September 1801 she arrived at Cape Town from Rio de Janeiro, together with Hindostan and Euphrosyne, after a voyage of about a month. Lionhad escorted a convoy of East Indiamen bound for China to Rio, together with Hindostan. They had arrived there on 1 August. Captain George Losack, of Jupiter, decided to accompany the convoy eastward until they were unlikely to encounter some Spanish and French vessels known to be cruising off Brazil.

Jupiter shared with Diomede, Hindostan, and Braave in the capture of the Union on 27 May 1803.

Fate
She was wrecked on 10 December 1808 in Vigo Bay, but all her crew were saved.

j4061.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern decoration and name on the counter, sheer lines with inboard profile and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Isis (1774), a 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker, as completed at Chatham Dockyard. The plan was later proposed (and approved) for building Jupiter (1778) and Leander (1780). Signed by John William [Surveyor of the Navy, 1767-1784]

j4060.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Jupiter (1778), a 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. The plan has been assigned to Isis (1774), but this is incorrect, as Messrs Randall & Co built Jupiter. Isis had already been completed and commissioned. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1767-1784]

j3575.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Hannibal (1779), Jupiter (1778), Leander (1780), Adamant (1780), and Europa (1783), all 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-deckers



https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-322473;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=J
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1790 - Battle of Reval - Disastrous Swedish attack on Russian battlefleet at Reval (now Tallinn).


The naval Battle of Reval or took place on 13 May 1790 (2 May OS) during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790), off the port of Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia).

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1280px-Battle_of_Revel.jpg
The Battle of Reval by Bogolyubov, Oil on Canvas

Origins
Undaunted by the Swedish defeats and failures during 1789, the Swedish king, Gustav III sent the battlefleet under his brother Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland, to eliminate Admiral Chichagov's Russian squadron, which had wintered in the harbour at Reval.

General-Admiral Duke Karl approached Reval with 26 ships of the line and large frigates mounting a combined 1,680 cannon. Chichagov, preparing to meet the enemy in the harbour, formed a battle line made up of 9 ships of the line and the frigate Venus.

Battle
The Russian fleet (9 ships of the line, 5 frigates) was anchored in a line going from Reval harbour towards the Viimsi (Wims) peninsula. The first line consisted of nine ships of the line and frigates (the 100-gun battleships Rostislav and Saratov, 74-gun Kir Ioann, Mstislav, Sv. Yelena and Yaroslav, 66-gun Pobedonosets, Boleslav and Izyaslav and the 40-gun frigate Venus). In the second line, four frigates - Podrazhislav (32 guns), Slava (32), Nadezhda Blagopoluchiya (32) and Pryamislav (36). Two bomb-vessels were deployed on the flanks. The third line was composed of seven launches.

The Swedish fleet under the command of General-Admiral Duke Karl of Södermanland consisted of 22 ships of the line, four frigates and four smaller vessels. It entered the harbour and started passing by the anchored Russian ships.

Due to strong winds and inaccurate aiming, most Swedish projectiles ricocheted past their targets, while the Russian ships that were anchored within the protected area of the harbour were able to use their guns much more effectively. The ship of the Swedish General-Admiral, which could not be brought into the wind due to a rigging problem, was forced to drift towards Rostislav and received major damage from grapeshot. The 64-gun battleship Prins Karl, fifteenth the Swedish line, lost her rudder to Russian fire and had to strike her colours.

The Duke of Södermanland directed the battle from the frigate Ulla Fersen, beyond the range of Russian fire. After a two-hour artillery duel he ordered his ships to break off the engagement; hence the last ten ships of Swedish line veered off without firing a shot. The Swedish ship Riksens Ständer hit the reefnorth of Aegna (Wolf) island. Swedish attempts to dislodge her failed, and the Swedes were forced to burn her so that the Russians would be unable to take her.

Aftermath
The Battle of Reval was a resounding Russian victory. The Swedes lost two ships of the line, and were forced to retreat despite their almost twofold numerical superiority. Swedish losses were 51 killed, 81 wounded, and 250 captured. Russian losses were 8 killed and 27 injured. Contemporary sources reported Russian casualties of 4 killed, 7 seriously and 18 lightly wounded, with almost 400 Swedish sailors, soldiers and officers captured and presumably 130 killed.

After the battle the Swedish fleet partially repaired at the sea, and then sailed away east of Hogland Island.


Reval order of battle
This is a listing of the fleets that participated in the Battle of Reval on 13 May 1790

Russia
Prints Gustav 74

First line
Kir Ioann 74
Saratov 100
Sv. Elena 74
Prochor 66
Mstislav 74
Rostislav 100
Izyaslav 66
Pobyedonosets 66
Boleslav 66
Yaroslav 74
Venus 44

Second line
Premislav 42
Nadezhda Blagopolutchia 38
Podrazhislav 38
Slava 38
Pobyeditel 18
Strashni 14

Third line
Merkurii 29
Lebed 28
Vyestnik
Volchov
8
Olen
Stchastlivyi
8
Letutchii 28
Neptun 18

Sweden
Wladislaff 74
Dristigheten 64
Götha Lejon 70
Louise Ulrika 70
Uppland 44
Galathea 42
Riksens Ständer 60 -Ran aground and burnt
Euredice 42
Tapperheten 64
Konung Gustaf III 74
Gripen 44
Camilla 42
Enigheten 70
Fröja 42
Rättvisan 62
Ömheten 62
Fäderneslandet 64
Försightigheten 64
Äran 64
Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta 64
Sophia Magdalena 74
Konung Adolf Fredrik 70
Wasa 64
Prins Fredrik Adolf 62
Prins Carl 64 - Captured


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Reval
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reval_order_of_battle
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1793 – HMS Iris and Citoyenne Française conduct an inconclusive but sanguinary engagement
HMS Iris (32), Cptn. George Lumsdaine, engaged Citoyenne Francaise (32) about 6 leagues from Gibraltar in the first action of the war with a French naval ship.



Vestale was a Blonde-class 30-gun frigate of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1761, but had to scuttle her in 1778 to avoid having the French recapture her. She was refloated and sold to the French in 1784. She returned to wartime service in 1794 as a privateer. The British recaptured her in 1798 and broke her up thereafter.

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Vestale
She took part in the Battle of Quiberon Bay (November 1759).

HMS Unicorn captured her on 8 January 1761. Vestale, under the command of M. Boisbertelot, had been part of a squadron of five ships that had left the Vilaine river for Brest under the cover of a heavy fog. When Unicorn encountered Vestale off the Penmarks a two-hour engagement ensued until Vestalestruck. Hunt received a wound at the third broadside and died of his injuries an hour after the action ended. The British had five killed and ten wounded, the majority of them dangerously. The French had many killed and wounded, among them Captain Boisbertelot, who lost a leg, and died of his wounds the next day. Lieutenant John Symons, who took command of Unicorn on Hunt's death, described Vestale as having twenty-six 12 and 9-pounder guns on her lower deck, and four 6-pounders on her quarterdeck; she also had a crew of 220 men.

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Scale model on display at the Musée de la Marine in Toulon

HMS Flora
The Royal Navy recommissioned Vestale in July as HMS Flora, under the command of Captain Gamaliel Nightingale, for the channel and The Downs. July 1761 commissioned. She was paid off in 1762 or 1763.

Captain C. Saxton recommissioned her in January 1771 for Channel service. Captain G. Collier sailed for Cronstadt on 2 June 1772, to deliver the new ambassador. Captain John Brisbane recommissioned her in December 1775. He then sailed Flora for North America on 29 April 1776.

On 8 July 1777, during the capture of Hancock, Flora recaptured Fox, which the Americans had captured a month earlier.

On 30 May 1778, 100 men of the 54th Regiment of Foot embarked on boats to attack saw mills at Fall River, Massachusetts. The galley Pigot and some armed boats were to provide support. Pigot grounded, but the attack proceeded anyway. A sharp skirmish ensued when the troops arrived at their objective. Even so, they were able to destroy one saw mill and one grain mill, as well as a large stock of planks and boards, other buildings, some cedar boats, and so on. They then withdrew, having lost two men killed and five officers and men wounded. As the tide returned, Pigot was floated off, but as Flora towed her off, Flora lost two men killed and a lieutenant severely wounded, all by fire from shore batteries.

French Admiral d'Estaing's squadron arrived in Narragansett Bay on 29 July to support the American army under General George Washington during the battle of Rhode Island. On 30 July, four French ships of the line entered Narrngansett Bay and positioned themselves north of Conanicut Island to support the American and French forces in the battle of Rhode Island. The arrival of the French vessels trapped several British vessels, Flora among them.

Captain Brisbane was the senior British naval officer and he ordered the naval vessels to land their guns, men, and stores for the benefit of the garrison at Newport. Flora was in the inner harbour and on 5 August Brisbane scuttled her in shallow water.[6] The Royal Navy ended up having to destroy ten of their own vessels in all.

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Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for an unnamed 130ft French Fifth Rate, Frigate (circa 1760), as taken off prior to fitting as a British Frigate. The 'Flora' (1761), a 32-gun Fifth Rate, ex French Frigate Vestal (1757) has similar dimensions. The French identity comes from the shape and size of the tumblehome, the position of the wheel behind the mizzen mast, only one set of bits on the Upper Deck, and the lack of an Orlop Deck. The date is uncertain, but is likely to be sometime between 1756 and 1783, as Frigates become larger by the French Revolutionary Wars

Return to French service
After the Americans recaptured Newport, they some time later refloated and repaired Flora. On 16 August 1782, Lloyd's List reported that the transport Amazon, Gray, master, had been taken while carrying clothing to Quebec. Her captor was the American letter of marque Flora, formerly HMS Flora, which sent her capture into Bordeaux.

After Flora reached Bordeaux, the French Navy bought her in September 1784; she was known as Flore américaine, to distinguish her from Flore, built since.

The French Navy refitted her between January and May 1786. Then in 1787 Flore americaine was renamed Flore. The next year the Navy re-rated her as a corvette, and rearmed her with 8-pounder guns. The Navy struck her from the lists and hulked her at Rochefort in May 1789, disarming her some two years later, and then selling her on 4 July 1792.

Her new, private owners, renamed her Citoyenne Française in April 1793. They commissioned her as a privateer out of Bordeaux in May. She then fought an inconclusive but sanguinary engagement with HMS Iris on 13 May 1793. The two vessels encountered each other at 6 p.m. at 42°34′N 13°12′W and after a short chase by Iris, an action of one and a half hours began. When Iris lost her foremast, main topmast, and mizzenmast, Citoyenne Française escaped. She had lost Captain Dubedat and 15 other men killed, and 37 men wounded. British casualties were four men killed, one man mortally wounded, and 31 wounded.

The French Navy requisitioned Citoyenne Française in August, but then returned her to her former owners in December 1795. Her owners again deployed her as a privateer.

Fate
HMS Phaeton and HMS Anson captured her on 8 September 1798 after Phaeton had chased her for 20 hours. Captain Robert Stopford, of Phaeton, in his letter described Flore as a frigate of 36 guns and 255 men. She was eight days out of Boulogne on a cruise. Stopford had heard of her departure and had searched for her for a week.[9] Flore was then sold for breaking up.

Other
A model is on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris, and another in the naval museum in Toulon.


HMS Iris (1783) was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1783. The Navy lent her to Trinity House in 1803, but reclaimed and refitted her in 1805. She was renamed HMS Solebay in 1809 and was broken up in 1833.




https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-537435;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=F
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1797 – French Jalouse, an 18-gun Belliqueuse-class brig-corvette of the French Navy, was captured by HMS Vestale


Jalouse was an 18-gun Belliqueuse-class brig-corvette of the French Navy, built to a design by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, and launched in 1794 at Honfleur. The Royal Navy captured her in May 1797 and took her into service under her existing name. In British service she served primarily on the North Sea station where she captured three small French privateers, and many Dutch merchant vessels. She also participated with other British warships in two or three major cutting-out expeditions. She was broken up in 1807.

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French service
Between 24 March 1794 and 25 August, Jalouse was at Le Havre and Ostend, and under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Astague.

On 5 October 1795 lieutenant de vaiseau Pierre-Édouard Plucket took command of Jalouse. At the time she was apparently armed with 12 guns, and had a crew of 150 men.

Under his command, Jalouse in a 15-day cruise in 1795 captured seven prizes and 52 men.

From 7 March 1797 until her capture, French official records confirm that Jalouse was under Plucket's command, and based at Flessingue. From there she cruised the North Sea, and arrived at Bergen. Sailing from Bergen, she captured three prizes, including a whaler of eight guns and 42 men. He also burnt three vessels under the guns of a fort at Berwick.

On 27 March, or 7 April (records differ), Jalouse encountered the sloop Tisiphone in the North Sea. An inconclusive 11-hour engagement ensued.

Afterwards Plucket reported that he had engaged a 38-gun frigate; according to a French account, Captain James Wallis of Tisiphone reported that he had engaged a 28-gun frigate. Supposedly, when Plucket's English prisoners from prizes returned to Britain and reported that Jalouse was a 12-gun brig, Wallis was court-martialed and reduced in rank. There seems to be only passing mention of the engagement in one English-language source that makes no mention of a court martial and that identifies Tisiphone's opponent as the privateer Naïade.

After the engagement with Tisiphone, Jalouse returned to Bergen. There she replenished her store of munitions, recruited 20 Dutch sailors to rebuild his crew, and then set out for Flessingue. On the way she captured two more British vessels.

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Capture
Vestal, under the command of Captain Charles White, captured Jalouse at about 5a.m. on 13 May 1797 near Elsinor after a chase of about nine hours and running about 84 hours. For an hour and a half during the chase Jalouse fired her stern chasers, two long 12-pounder guns. White was able to bring Vestal alongside Jalouse and fired three broadsides before she struck, having suffered great damage to her masts and rigging. At the time of capture, Jalouse had 16 guns, though she was pierced for 20, and had shifted some guns to the vacant ports. Her armament consisted of twelve "very long 12-pounders", and four 6-pounder guns. Her commander, "C. Plucket", had a crew of 153 men, two of whom were killed and five of whom were wounded. Vestal suffered no casualties. Vestal brought Jalouse into the Humber.

The British took their French prisoners back to England. Plucket managed to escape and return to France. The court martial for the loss of Jalouse then acquitted him.

British service
Jalouse underwent fitting out at Deptford between 24 July and 16 October 1797. Commander John Temple commissioned Jalouse in September 1797 for the North Sea.

Jalouse's first documented capture was the merchant vessel Gerrit Hendrick Groote, which Jalouse captured on 7 May 1798. Later that month, on 25 May, Jalouse captured Mercurius, which was condemned as droit of Admiralty.

In June and July Jalouse captured Zeelust, Antonella, Anna, and Surprize.

On 22 February 1799 Jalouse captured Hermina. The next day Jalouse was off the Texel when she captured the French privateer brig Jason. Jason, of Dunkirk, was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 52 men.

Lieutenant Dawes, of the hired armed cutter Phoenix arrived at Yarmouth Roads on 9 March with intelligence from the Haak Sands at the mouth of the Texel. He reported that he had observed 20 enemy vessels moored as they had been all winter. He further reported that Jalouse was always on site, so that Temple would readily observe any enemy activity. Dawes also brought with him a letter from Temple stating that prisoners from Jason had reported that 15,000 troops in France were to march to Holland to be embarked on transports.

Jalouse was in company on 10 April with the hired armed cutters Nancy and Phoenix. They shared the proceeds of the capture of the brig Maria. Two days later Jalouse and Nancy captured Unvernkorff. Two days after that, Jalouse and Nancy recaptured Friendship.

Jalouse and Hound recaptured the cutter Rover on 10 May. On 4 June Circe and Jalouse recaptured the sloop Ceres. Jalouse recaptured both off the coast of Norway and sent them into Yarmouth. Rover had been sailing from Riga to Hull when captured, and Ceres, of Berwick, had been sailing from Leith to London.

During the night of 27 June Temple and Captain James Boorder of Espiegle volunteered to cut out some Dutch gunboats lying at the back of the island of Ameland, so Capt. Winthrop of Circe ordered Pylades, Jalouse, Espiegle, and Tisiphone to join him in anchoring as close to the shore as possible in order to assist them. When the British boats arrived, they found that their targets were pulled up on shore where the cutting out party could not reach them. The British instead took out 12 merchant vessels, six with cargoes and six in ballast, and retreated. There were no British casualties, even though Dutch shore batteries fired on the attackers. A later prize money notice identified some of the Dutch vessels as Twee Gebroders (Dirks, master), Twee Gebroders (Jansen, master), Jonge Evert, Vrow Regina, Anna Elizabeth, Vrow Trentje, and four fishing vessels.

Then on 10 July Jalouse was a part of a small squadron consisting also of Espiegle, Courier, Pylades, and the hired armed cutter Nancy, all under Winthrop's command in Circe. The boats of the squadron rowed for 15 or 16 hours into the Watt at the back of Ameland. There they captured three merchant vessels carrying sugar, wine and brandy, and destroyed a galliot loaded with ordnance and stores.

On 24 November 1799 Admiral Lord Duncan sent Jalouse find a privateer that had been operating off the coast. Jalouse encountered the privateer on the 29th. and she struck after a chase of 5 hours. She was a brand new, copper-bottomed lugger called Fantasie, of 14 guns and 60 men. Tmple was able to rescue the four masters and 35 seamen of four laden colliers that the privateer had taken the previous day close in to Flamborough Head. He then went off towards Ostend in pursuit of the prizes and on the 30th he retook Sally. of Lynn. Jalouse brought Fantasie into Harwich.

On Saturday 5 April 1800 Jalouse took the small French privateer cutter Inattendu. She was armed with two guns and small arms, and had a crew of 25 men. She had captured nothing since leaving Ostend the previous Wednesday.

A month later, on 4 and 5 May, Jalouse was among the vessels that captured 12 outward-bound Greenland ships. The other vessels included the hired armed cutters Fox, and Marechal de Cobourg, and Cruizer, though most were much larger and included Monmouth, Glatton, Ganges, Director, America, among others.[30] Also on 5 May, Jalouse captured Johanna Eleonora, Malmberg, master, and Luste en Friede, Straud, master.

On 13 May Jalouse captured Vrouw Etje, De Haan, Augustina, and De Brock.

In 1801 the Honorable Frederick Paul Irby took command of Jalouse, then operating in the North Sea.

Jalouse, under Irby's command, recaptured the sloop Friends, of Airth on 3 February. Four days later Jalouse recaptured the brig Providence, of Sunderland.[33] The privateer Victoire had captured Providence and Jalouse had to cut Providence out of Norway.

Jalouse, while under his command, was instrumental in saving Narcissus when she was driven ashore on the coast of Holland. Irby's youngest brother, Charles Leonard Irby, was a midshipman on board Narcissus, having joined her on 23 May.

Jalouse and Marshal de Cobourg, together or singly, captured several Dutch vessels between 22 and 24 July:

Negotie and Zeeward (22 July; Jaloufe and Marshal de Cobourg)Hoop (same)Jusfrouw Dirkje (23 July; Jalouse and Marshal de Cobourg)Hoffnung (24 July; Jalouse)Fortuna (Jaloufe)
On 31 July Jalouse and Lynx captured Brockmerlust, with the capture of Neptunus following on 1 August. The next day Jalouse and Lynx captured Vrow Caterine.

Squirrel, Lynx, and Driver captured three ships on 6 September: Snelle, Jager, and Engesende. Jalouse shared in the proceeds by agreement with Lynx and Driver.

On 26 September Jalouse captured the dogger Fortuna.

Squirrel, Driver, Bittern, and Jalouse shared in the proceeds of the capture on 5 October of Carolina Wilhelmina.

Jalouse also captured smugglers. On 25 March 1802 she seized a "Tub Boat and Quantity of Spirits".[43]

Irby received promotion to post captain on 14 April 1802. Commander Christopher Strachey then replaced him on the 29th. Jalouse continued to operate off Calais.

On 19 May 1803 Jalouse, under Strachey's command, captured Jong Jan Pieter. Jalouse shared the prize money with Grampus and the gun-brigs Censor and Vixen, with whom she had been in company. Lloyd's List reported that Grampus and Jalouse had sent into the Downs a large Dutch ship from Surinam bound for Rotterdam. That same day Jalouse also captured Deux Freres. Two days later Jalouse captured Speculation.

The frigate Immortalité, together with Jalouse and Cruizer, captured two French gun-vessels, the schooner Inabordable and the brig Commode on 14 June 1803 after the French vessels had run themselves ashore under the protection of the guns of a shore battery at Cap Blanc Nez near Sangatte. After about an hour's firing by the British warships, and the French batteries and gun-vessels, the boats of the three British ships were able to take possession and refloat the two gun-vessels. Each of the French gun-vessels was armed with three 24-pounder guns and one 8-pounder gun. The only casualty was one man from Jalouse, who was badly wounded. Later reports described the two French vessels as gun-brigs, and gave their names as Inabordable and Mechanté. The Royal Navy did not take either into service.

Lucius Curtis received promotion to commander on 16 November 1804, and assumed command of Jalouse, then in the Mediterranean Fleet, later that month.

A convoy from Smyrna arrived at Malta on 2 January 1805, and the convoy left for England on 4 January. Jalouse had escorted the convoy from Smyrna and she continued on as an escort as far as western Sicily. In June 1805 Curtis commissioned Rose at Portsmouth.

In an enclosure to a letter dated 7 October 1805, Admiral Lord Nelson wrote, "Jalouse, Childers, and Merlin being unfit for the service of this Country, are ordered home with the first Convoy to be repaired".

Fate
Merlin and Childers went on to serve for some more time. However, Jalouse was paid off in May 1806. She was then broken up at Woolwich in March 1807.


HMS Vestal was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

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https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-321615;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=J
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vestal_(1779)
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1835 - Neva – She was a convict ship that left Cork, Ireland, bound for Sydney, Australia.
On 13 May 1835 she was wrecked on a reef near King Island, Tasmania. 224 people, mainly women and children, were lost.



Neva was a three-masted barque launched in 1813. She made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia. On her second voyage carrying convicts she wrecked in Bass Strait on 13 May 1835. Her loss was one of the worst shipwrecks in Australian history; 224 lives were lost.

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Origins and career
Neva was built at Hull, England by Bunney and Firbank in 1813. She entered Lloyd's Register in 1814 with Bunney, master, Capt & Co. owner, and trade Hull-Saint Petersburg.

Neva spent most of her career as a West Indiaman. However, from January 1828 to May 1832 Neva was in the transport service, sailing to North America, the Mediterranean, the West Indies, and so forth. She underwent repairs for damages in 1826. After her contract with the transport service ended, she underwent a thorough repair at Deptford. The Register of Shipping for 1833 shows her owner as Moates, her master changing from Spratley to Peek, and her trade changing from London transport to London–New South Wales.

On 27 July 1833 Captain Benjamin H. Peck sailed Neva from Plymouth for Port Jackson, and she arrived on 21 November. She had embarked 170 male convicts and she suffered one convict death en route. From Port Jackson she sailed to Manila and then Singapore, where she picked up a cargo for London. In London she underwent a small repair prior to her second voyage carrying convicts.

Final voyage and wreck
Neva sailed from Cork, Ireland for Sydney on 8 January 1835, carrying 150 female convicts with 33 children, and nine free women (probably wives of convicts) with 22 children, under the care of Surgeon Superintendent John Stephenson, R.N., and 26 crew under the command of Captain Benjamin Peck. With the deaths of a crewman, a convict and a free woman, and one birth, during the voyage, by the time she reached the Australian coastline Neva's total complement was 239.

About 5 a.m. on 13 May 1835 Neva hit a reef northwest of King Island in Bass Strait and broke up rapidly. Many of the women became hopelessly drunk on rum that was being carried as cargo and were unable to save themselves. Twenty-two survivors drifted ashore on the northern end of King Island on two rafts formed by the fore and aft decks of the collapsed ship, but seven of these died of exposure "aided if not abetted by the inordinate use of rum" during the first night ashore. The remaining fifteen survivors, including the captain and the chief officer, lived with local sealer John Scott and his aboriginal wives and children until a fortnight later the schooner Sarah Ann rescued them and then carried them to Launceston.

The cause of the disaster
Initial press reports state that Neva was wrecked on the Navarine Reefs, which lie northeast of Cape Wickham on King Island. An inquiry into the loss of the ship exonerated Captain Peck from any blame and attempted to demonstrate that the Navarine Reefs were not the location of the disaster. A map by the master suggests that the vessel hit an uncharted reef well to the west of King Island, but modern reconstructions suggest Neva hit the Harbinger Reefs because Peck had failed to allow for the set of the currents at the northern end of the island after land was first seen.

The wreck of Neva in fiction
The wreck of Neva was clearly the inspiration for a pamphlet The Particulars of the Dreadful Shipwreck of the Ship Tartar, Free Trader, With the Horrible Sufferings of Part of the Crew, Who were compelled to Eat each other to Support Existence, published by John Carmichael of Glasgow in 1840. It purports to tell the story of John M. Daniel of Galway, sole survivor of the ship Tartar of 837 tons (which does not appear in Lloyd’s Register) that sailed from Cork on 8 January 1839 for Sydney with 75 crew and passengers, including ten women and thirteen children, but was wrecked on an island west of King Island on 13 April. Twenty-two survivors landed on the uninhabited island, seven died soon afterwards, and the remainder built a raft on which they endeavoured to reach King Island. It was this party that was forced to eat each other until the raft drifted ashore, by which time only two survived. One of these, the vessel’s master J. H. Peck, died soon after landing.

Memorial
A memorial plague dedicated to Neva is at the Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial at Triabunna on the east coast of Tasmania.

The plaque contains the following text:

Neva
Convict Transport Barque of 327 tons
sailed from Cork, Ireland on 8.1.1835.
Captain Peck with 26 officers and crew,
150 female convicts with 33 children,
9 free women and 22 children bound for
Sydney. 13.5.1835 struck Harbinger Reef
north of King Island with 239 aboard.
22 made landfall where 7 later died.

~ Tasmania's second worst shipwreck. ~​



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neva_(1813_ship)
 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1854 – Launch of French Ulm, a 100-gun Hercule-class ship of the line of the French Navy.


Ulm was a 100-gun Hercule-class ship of the line of the French Navy. She was transformed into a steam and sail ship while on keel and launched as an 82-gun ship.

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Service history
Ordered as Lys under the absolute monarchy of Charles X, the ship, still under construction, was renamed Ulm on 9 August 1830, following the July Revolution. She was transformed into a sail and steam ship, receiving an Indret engine, and was eventually launched in 1854.

She served in the Black Sea during the Crimean War and took part in the Battle of Kinburn. From July 1857, she was part of the squadron of Toulon. She transferred to Brest in 1860 for engine trials, and to Cherbourg in June 1862.

From September 1862, she served in the French intervention in Mexico. She returned to Brest on 3 January 1863.

Struck in 1867, she was used as a coaling hulk in Brest before being eventually broken up in 1890.

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1/40th-scale model of the 100-gun Hercule, lead ship of Ulm ' class, on display at the Musée national de la Marine.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Ulm_(1854)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1854 – Launch of HMS Royal Albert, a 121 gun three-decker ship of the Royal Navy, at Woolwich Dockyard.


HMS Royal Albert
was a 121 gun three-decker ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1854 at Woolwich Dockyard. She had originally been designed as a sailing ship but was converted to screw propulsion while still under construction.

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Woolwich Dockyard, launch of Royal Albert 1854

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The screw steamer 'Royal Albert' was one of the last major warships to be built at Woolwich Dockyard. She was launched on 13 May 1854 by Queen Victoria with Prince Albert in attendance.

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Launch of H.M.S. Royal Albert 131 Guns at Woolwich Dockyard Christened by H.M. The Queen 13th May 1854 (PAH0960)


Lithographs of the launch at Woolwich, 13 May 1854 of HMS Royal Albert screw steamer, claim she has 131 guns.

From commissioning at Sheerness she was first commanded by Commander Alexander Little between June and October 1854. From October to November 1854 by Captain Thomas Sabine Pasley while still at Sheerness. From 14 February 1855 to April 1857 she was commanded by Captain William Robert Mends as flagship to Rear-Admiral Edmund Lyons commanding the Mediterranean fleet, then chiefly concerned with the Crimean War. From April 1857 to 20 August 1858 she was commanded by Captain Francis Egerton.

From 25 August 1858 to October 1859 she was commanded by Captain Edward Bridges Rice as part of the Channel Squadron under Rear-Admiral Charles Howe Fremantle. She received a new captain on 1 October 1859, Captain Henry James Lacon, who remained up to her paying off at Plymouth on 25 January 1861. Rear-Admiral Robert Fanshawe took over the Channel Squadron from 10 October 1860. In 1884 she was sold for breaking up at Charlton.

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H.M.S. Royal Albert In Malta Harbour 1856 (PAH9266)

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H.M.S. Royal Albert 131 Guns, 1856, Lithograph T.G.Dutton, after Oswald Walters Brierly

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Section of a First Class, First-Rate Line of Battle Ship of 131 Guns, with Screw Propeller & Auxiliary Steam Power Royal Albert (PAI6692)

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Illustrations of the Spars, Rigging, Sails and Interior of a Steam Line of Battle Ship with views and description of the Warrior and Royal Sovereign, Iron-clad and Turret ships... Line-of-Battle Ship Class of Royal Albert, Wellington etc (PAH9267)

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Scale: 1:48? A contemporary full hull model of the 121-gun three-decker HMS ‘Royal Albert’ (1854) fully rigged, equipped and mounted on a wooden display baseboard. The model is highly detailed in all its aspects, especially in the detail and quality of the rigging. Deck fittings include hammocks stored in the rails on the bulwarks, and a full set of boats in the waist and rigged from davits over the quarter galleries. The hull is complete with the guns set in the ports, a half bust figurehead of Prince Albert and open galleries at the stern. The ‘Royal Albert’ was designed by Oliver Lang in 1831 as a sailing warship, but it was later converted for screw whilst still on the stocks. Measuring 220 feet in length by 60 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 3463 displacement, she was eventually launched in 1854. In 1854, she was fitted out to carry troops and became part of the Black Sea fleet in 1855. In 1861 she was declared unfit for further service, and eventually sold to Castle’s of Charlton for breaking in 1884

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the 121-gun three-decker ‘HMS Royal Albert’ (1854), equipped with stump masts and bowsprit, and mounted on its original wooden display baseboard. The model is complete with a limited number of fittings including deck gratings, guns rigged through the gun ports (on the port side only) and a wheel just under the quarterdeck. The hull is painted in the black and white pattern and is fitted with a half bust figurehead of Prince Albert. The stern is fully enclosed (as opposed to SLR0876) and probably shows the ship when alterations to her stern were made whilst she was still on the stocks. The ‘Royal Albert’ was designed by Oliver Lang in 1831 as a sailing warship, but it was later converted for screw whilst still on the stocks. Measuring 220 feet in length by 60 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 3463 displacement, she was eventually launched in 1854. In 1854, she was fitted out to carry troops and became part of the Black Sea fleet in 1855. In 1861 she was declared unfit for further service, and eventually sold to Castle’s of Charlton for breaking in 1884

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Scale: 1:24. A model of the starboard side stern of HMS Royal Albert made entirely in wood with metal fittings and painted in realistic colours. The hull is painted black with three broad off-white stripes along the three gundecks. There are three gunports on the lowest deck, four gunports on the deck above and two gunports on the main gundeck. A total of five gunports are also shown on the two poop decks. All the gunports are depicted open, with no lids, their inner faces painted a dark green. Two short channels are shown in position. There are three stern quarter galleries, their windows painted. There are two open stern galleries with brass rails. The inboard hull is painted cream and there is provision for four decks which are missing



http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=4
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...6;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R;start=0
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Royal_Albert_(1854;start=0
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
13 May 1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.


USS Planter (1862)
was a steamer taken over by Robert Smalls, a Southern slave and ship's pilot who steered the ship past Confederate defenses and surrendered it to Union Navy forces on 13 May 1862 during the American Civil War.

For a short period, Planter served as a gunboat for the Union Navy. As the ship burned wood, which was scarce where the Navy was operating, the Navy turned the ship over to the Union Army for use at Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast. In 1863 Smalls was appointed captain of Planter, the first black man to command a United States ship, and served in that position until 1866.

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Steamer Planter loaded with 1000 bales of cotton at Georgetown, South Carolina. Ca 1860-61 or 1866-76

Service under the Confederacy
Planter was a sidewheel steamer built at Charleston, South Carolina in 1860 that was used by the Confederacy as an armed dispatch boat and transport attached to the engineer department at Charleston, under Brigadier General Roswell Ripley, CSA.

Robert Smalls, pilot
At 04:00 on 13 May 1862, while her captain, C. J. Relyea, was absent on shore, Robert Smalls, a slave who was Planter's pilot, quietly took the ship from the wharf, and with a Confederate flag flying, steamed past the successive Confederate forts. He saluted the installation as usual by blowing the steam whistle. As soon as the steamer was out of range of the last Confederate gun, Smalls hauled down the Confederate flag and hoisted a white one. Then he turned Planter over to the USS Onward of the Union blockading force.

Besides Smalls, Planter carried 15 other slaves to freedom behind Union lines: seven crewmen, five women, and three children. In addition to the cargo of artillery and explosives, Smalls brought Flag officer Samuel Francis Du Pont valuable intelligence, including word that the Confederates had abandoned defensive positions on the Stono River.

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The gunboat "Planter," run out of Charleston by Robert Smalls in May 1862

Smalls pilots Planter to Samuel DuPont in South Carolina
The next day, Planter was sent to Flag Officer Du Pont at Port Royal Harbor, South Carolina, who later assigned Robert Smalls as Planter's pilot. At the time she was taken over by the Union, Planter was carrying four guns as cargo beside her usual armament.

Smalls and his crew are awarded half the value of Planter
The United States Senate and House of Representatives passed a private bill on 30 May 1862, granting Robert Smalls and his African-American crew one half of the value of Planter and her cargo as prize money. At the very time of the seizure she had on board the armament for Fort Ripley. The Planter was taken by the government at a valuation of $9,000, one-half of which was paid to the captain and crew, the captain receiving one-third of one-half, or $1,500. However, $9,000 was a very low valuation for the Planter. The real value was around $67,000. The report of Montgomery Sicard, commander and inspector of ordnance, to Commodore Patterson, navy-yard commandant, shows that the cargo of the Planter, as raw material, was worth $3,043.05; that at antebellum prices it was worth $7,163.35, and at war prices $10,290.60. For this cargo the government has never paid one dollar.

Service in the Union Navy
Du Pont took Planter into the Union Navy and placed her under command of Acting Master Philemon Dickenson. On 30 May he ordered the side-wheeler to North Edisto, where Acting Master Lloyd Phoenix relieved Dickenson. Planter served the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron through the summer of 1862. On a joint expedition under Lieutenant Rhind, the USS Crusader and Planter carried troops to Simmons Bluff, Wadmelaw River, South Carolina, where they destroyed a Confederate encampment.

Planter transferred to the Union Army
The Southern steamer had been designed to use only wood as fuel, a scarce commodity for the Union blockaders off Charleston, South Carolina. In the fall of 1862, Du Pont ordered her transferred to the Union Army for service near Fort Pulaski on the coast of Georgia.

Planter under fire
After his escape, Smalls served as a pilot for Union ships in the Charleston area. He was eventually assigned to serve aboard Planter again. On December 1, 1863, Planter was caught in a crossfire between Union and Confederate forces. The ship's commander, a Captain Nickerson, ordered him to surrender. Smalls refused, saying he feared her black crewmen would not be treated as prisoners of war and that they might be summarily killed.

Smalls took command and piloted the ship out of range of the Confederate guns. As a reward for his bravery, he was appointed captain of the Planter, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship. Smalls served as captain until the army sold Planter in 1866 after the end of the war.

After the war
On March 25, 1876, while trying to tow a grounded schooner, the Planter sprang a plank in the bow and began to take on water in the hold. The captain elected to beach the steamer and repair the plank, hoping to get off the beach with the next high tide. However, stormy seas battered the Planter as the tide rose and the ship was too badly damaged and had to be abandoned. Upon hearing of its loss, Robert Smalls was reported to have said that he felt as if he had lost a member of his family.

In May 2014 the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reported that it believed it had found the Planter's wreck.


Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was an American businessman, publisher, and politician. Born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina, he freed himself, his crew, and their families during the American Civil War by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, on May 13, 1862, and sailing it from Confederate-controlled waters of the harbor to the U.S. blockade that surrounded it. He then piloted the ship to the Union-controlled enclave in Beaufort-Port Royal-Hilton Head area, where she became a Union warship. His example and persuasion helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army.

After the American Civil War he returned to Beaufort and became a politician, winning election as a Republican to the South Carolina State legislature and the United States House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. Smalls authored state legislation providing for South Carolina to have the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States. He founded the Republican Party of South Carolina. Smalls was the last Republican to represent South Carolina's 5th congressional district until 2010.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Planter_(1862)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smalls
 
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