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

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1760 - HMS Ramillies (90) driven ashore and wrecked in what is today Ramillies Cove near Salcombe, Devon


HMS Royal Katherine (HMS Ramilles after 1706) was an 84-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1664 at Woolwich Dockyard. Her launching was conducted by Charles II and attended by Samuel Pepys. Royal Katherine fought in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars and the War of the Grand Alliance before entering the dockyard at Portsmouth for rebuilding in 1702. She was upgraded to carry 90 guns and served in the War of the Spanish Succession during which she was renamed Ramillies in honour of John Churchill's victory at the Battle of Ramillies. She was rebuilt again in 1742–3 before serving as the flagship of the ill-fated Admiral John Byng in the Seven Years' War. Ramillies was wrecked at Bolt Tail near Hope Cove on 15 February 1760.





Launch
Royal Katherine was launched in 1664 by Charles II, an event attended by naval administrator Samuel Pepys. Pepys recorded the occasion in his diary and it was dramatised by BBC Radio 4 in 2012 as part of series 5 of The Diary of Samuel Pepys.


Peinture représentant le vaisseau britannique HMS Royal Katherine, lancé en 1664.
A portrait of the 'Royal Katherine', an 84-gun ship built at Woolwich in 1664 by Christopher Pett and named for Catherine [Katherine] of Braganza, the Portuguese-born queen of King Charles II. The ship took part in all the principal actions of the second and third Dutch Wars, 1665-74 and later fought against the French in King William's War, including at the Battles of Bantry Bay and La Hogue, 1692. She was originally a two-deck ship but was built up in the waist as a full 100-gun three-decker in 1673, then later reduced to 84-86 in the early 1680s. She was rebuilt as a 90-gun ship in 1700-2, renamed 'Ramillies' in 1706 and, after further rebuild, was finally wrecked in 1760. There is a characteristic Vale cartouche, ornately decorated with seashells and coral, at the top centre of the picture. This contains the inscription, 'The Royall Katherine command[e]d by John Earl of Mulgrave in the Second Dutch Warr', which is is inaccurate by modern reckoning since John Sheffield, 3rd Earl of Mulgrave, only commanded the ship during the Third Dutch War, from June to October 1672, after she was captured and then recaptured under John Chicheley at the Battle of Solebay in May, and before her 1673 enlargement as shown here. However, for reasons of Stuart loyalist propriety the inscription may ignore the first war of 1652-54, fought by the Parliamentary regime of the Interregnum. (Mulgrave served only as a volunteer at Solebay, being given command of the ship atterwards for his gallantry while she was, in effect, waiting refit. He subsequently had a more active command in the 'Captain'.) The portrait shows the 'Royal Katherine' in starboard-broadside view firing a salute, in her phase as a 100-gun first rate in the 1670s. A minor error is that only 13 middle deck guns are shown, though she had 14, with the unique feature of that furthest astern being mounted within the quarter gallery. She is flying a Union jack on her sprit top-mast as well as the red ensign and a number of pennants. A number of figures are busy on deck and a small boat is positioned at the stern with a man holding a boathook. Immediately beyond, to the left, is a gaff-rigged royal yacht in stern view (possibly intended as the 'Katherine' of 1661 from her stern carving and double quarter windows, though the two stern windows are also too small) and on the far left an additional stern view of the 'Royal Katherine'. Instead of a coat of arms she has a full-length carving of Queen Catherine on her stern, with the letters 'CR' and 'KR', (for 'Carolus Rex' and 'Katherina Regina') elsewhere in the decoration. It is possible that the painting has been slightly cut down on the left and right, but not much given that the cartouche is still central. Ships flying plain white ensigns in the background may be French, alluding to the Anglo-French alliance during the war of 1672-74. There is very little documentary information about the artist although it is known that he worked in England in the style of van de Velde and Sailmaker between 1705 and 1730. This painting is thought to be the earliest that can be attributed to him, and is likely to have been done from drawings or other images, as the apparent inclusion of the 'Katherine' yacht also suggests, since she was wrecked in 1673. It was probably painted in the 1690s, perhaps before Mulgrave became Marquess of Normanby in 1694 (and Duke of Buckingham in 1703), though use of his earlier title is not proof of that. However, the inclusion of a bobstay under the bowsprit, only introduced in the mid-1690s in English ships, suggests that decade at earliest. The picture was presumably painted for Mulgrave and was only sold from Normanby Hall by Sir Berkeley Sheffield in 1943, when the Museum purchased it. It may be the painting of the 'Royal Katherine' seen in Mulgrave's London house by Captain George Carleton and mentioned in his memoirs, first published in 1728. After describing how the ship was captured and then recaptured at Solebay in 1672, he adds: ‘This is the same Ship which the Earl of Mulgrave (afterwards Duke of Buckingham) commanded the next Sea Fight, and has caus'd to be painted in his House in St. James's Park’, though this is not correct: Mulgrave only had command to October 1672 and, by the time she next fought after rebuild as a 100-gun ship in 1673 (at Schooneveld and the Texel) George Legge had taken over. The canvas is signed 'H. Vale fec', bottom left.

Anglo-Dutch wars
Royal Katherine participated in the Second Anglo-Dutch War fighting in the Battle of Lowestoft on 13 June 1665, the Four Days' Battle from 11 June to 14 June 1666 and the St. James's Day Battle on 4 August 1666. She was scuttled in June 1667 to prevent her capture by the Dutch during the Raid on the Medway.

Refloated, Royal Katherine fought again during the Third Anglo-Dutch War of 1672–4. She was captured by the Dutch during the Battle of Solebay on 7 June 1672 but was retaken the same day. Royal Katherine was also part of the Anglo-French fleet for the Battle of Schooneveld. She saw action in the War of the Grand Alliance, fighting at the Battle of Barfleur on 29 May 1692.



Scale: 1:48. A contemporary block model of the Second Rate ‘Ramillies’ (1749), a 90-gun, three-decker ship of the line. The number ‘6’ is on the port broadside. The gun ports are painted on the side of the hull in red. The figurehead has been carved approximately to shape out of a solid block. Originally ‘Royal Katherine’, built at Woolwich in 1664, she was rebuilt in 1702 and renamed ‘Ramillies’ in 1706. Ramillies was ordered to be broken up and rebuilt 1 March 1739, [POR A/10]. She was rebuilt again at Portsmouth and launched in 1749. In 1756 it was the flagship of the Honourable John Byng at the Battle of Minorca that, fatefully, resulted in the loss of Minorca to the French and Byng’s execution on the grounds of failing to do his utmost in preventing the capture of the island (see BHC0380). The ‘Ramillies’ was wrecked in a storm off Bolt Head on the South Devon coast in 1760.

Rebuilds
Royal Katherine was rebuilt at Portsmouth in 1702 and became a 90-gun second rate.[2] She served as the flagship of Admiral George Rooke in the War of the Spanish Succession from 1701. In 1706 she was renamed Ramillies in honour of John Churchill's victory at the Battle of Ramillies fought that year.Ramillies was rebuilt again at Portsmouth Dockyard between 30 November 1742 and 8 February 1743. She remained a 90-gun second rate in accordance with 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, relaunching on 8 February.

She saw service in the Seven Years' War and was the flagship of Admiral John Byng when he failed to relieve Port Mahon and so lost the island of Minorca to the French. Byng was later controversially executed for this action.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing body plan, sternboard with decoration, inboard profile with stern quarter decoration, and faint longitudinal half-breadth for 'Ramillies' (1748), a 1741 Establishment 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker. The plan illustrates the ship as she was launched at Portsmouth Dockyard.

Wreck
Ramillies was wrecked at Bolt Tail near Hope Cove on 15 February 1760.[3] The ship's master had mistaken their location as Ramillies approached the Devon shore, and the vessel was already within Hope Bay when the error was identified. There was a strong onshore wind and Ramillies' captain ordered the anchors lowered to hold the vessel fast until it could turn back to open sea, but no purchase could be found on the sandy seabed and the ship continued to drift towards the coast. After several hours she struck the cliffs beneath Bolt Tail and sank; twenty-six seamen and one midshipman survived from her crew of 850 men.[6][5] The sinking became the subject of a popular contemporary folk song, "The Loss of the Ramillies", a version of which has been recorded by the English folk band Brass Monkey.[


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sternboard outline with some detail, sheer lines with quarter detail, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed for 'Ramillies' (1749), a 1741 Establishment 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker, proposed to be built at Portsmouth. The plan illustrates the ship as re-ordered to the 1741 Establishment from the 1733 Establishment design. Signed by Pierson Lock [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1742-1755 (died)].


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Katherine_(1664)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/15079.html
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-341925;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1775 - HMS Halifax schooner (10) wrecked.


HMS Halifax was a schooner built for merchant service at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1765 that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1768 for coastal patrol in North America in the years just prior to the American Revolution. She is one of the best documented schooners from early North America.


Plans of HMS Halifax by Howard I. Chapelle



Packet ship
The schooner was built by a group of Halifax merchants with government support as the Nova Scotia Packet, to establish a reliable packet service of mail and passengers between Halifax and Boston in 1765. The managing owner was, Joseph Grey, the son in law of the commissioner of the Halifax Naval Yard where the schooner was likely built. Launched in late September 1765, the schooner made her first voyage on 15 October 1765 under the command of Benjamin Green Jnr. Weather permitting, the packet sailed every eight days between Halifax and Boston and made 23 round trips during her merchant career. In July 1768, the Nova Scotia Packet was chartered by Commodore Samuel Hood in Halifax to take dispatches to Portsmouth, England. Hood also recommended that the schooner be purchased by the British Royal Navy.

HMS Halifax
The Royal Navy purchased the schooner on 12 October 1768 and renamed her Halifax; she met a need for more coastal patrol schooners to combat smuggling and deal with colonial unrest in New England. The careful record of her lines and construction by Portsmouth dockyard naval architects, and the detailed record of her naval service, make the schooner a much-studied example of early schooners in North America.


Original Royal Navy plans of HMS Halifax
Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the body plan with stern board detail, modified sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half-breadth, deck plan, and fore and aft platforms for 'Halifax' (1768), a purchased American-built 6-gun Schooner.

After being surveyed in September 1768 she was commissioned in October and fitted out at Portsmouth between October and December. Her first commander was Lieutenant Samuel Scott, who sailed her back to North America in January 1769. In 1769 Halifax confiscated and towed the schooner Liberty, later HMS Liberty, belonging to John Hancock. Halifax returned to Britain for a refit in December 1770, and the following year was under the command of Lieutenant Abraham Crespin. Lieutenant Jacob Rogers took command in 1773, and was succeeded in 1774 by Lieutenant Joseph Nunn.

Loss
After an active career on the coast on North America she was wrecked on 15 February 1775 at Foster Island near Machias, Maine. she was reportedly intentionally run aground by a local pilot. The court martial of Nunn, his officers, and crew, attributed the loss to the pilot's ignorance; nothing came of this as the pilot had disappeared while Nunn was arranging transport from Sheep's Island to Boston for his crew with a local shipowner, Mr. Beale.

The wreck played a role in the Battle of Machias later that year, when Admiral Samuel Graves ordered that her guns be recovered.[8] A later schooner named Halifax serving in North America was recorded as being purchased in 1775, though her lines were identical to the Halifax sunk that year, and she may therefore have been salvaged and returned to service.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Halifax_(1768)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-317312;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=H

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1782 - The Action of 15 January 1782


The Action of 15 January 1782 was a minor naval engagement that took place near the island of Jamaica during the American Revolutionary War. A Royal Naval frigate HMS Fox intercepted and engaged two small Spanish Navy frigates.



HMS Fox was an Active-class fifth-rate frigate of thirty-two guns and was commanded by Captain Thomas Windsor from 1781. While on a cruise near Jamaica they saw two sail and then went to intercept. They turned out to be two small Spanish frigates and thus Windsor showed his colours.

The two Spanish frigates Socorro Guipuscoano a ship of twenty-six guns and Dama Biscayma of twenty guns tried to escape but Fox overhauled them both. They engaged Fox for nearly an hour before they finally struck. Fox had one boatswain and one seaman killed, and seven others wounded.

The two Spanish ships were bound to Havana from San Sebastián. The prizes were carried into Jamaica and the prize money was distributed accordingly making Windsor and his crew rich men.

For his action, Windsor was promoted and went on to command HMS Lowestoffe on 31 January.



HMS Fox was a 32-gun Active-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 2 June 1780 at Bursledon, Hampshire by George Parsons.



Fox was sent to the Caribbean in late 1781 and in January the following year under Captain Thomas Windsor captured two Spanish frigates. In March 1783 under Captain George Stoney captured the Spanish frigate Santa Catalina.

In March 1797, near Visakhapatnam, Fox captured the French privateer Modeste, under Jean-Marie Dutertre.

Took part in the bloodless Raid on Manila in January 1798.

Because Fox served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

She was broken up in April 1816.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_15_January_1782
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Fox_(1780)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1783 - Action of 15 February 1783


The Action of 15 February 1783 was a small naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War, involving the 36-gun French Navy frigate Concorde and the Royal Navy 74-gun ship of the line Magnificent. The British were victorious when Concorde was overhauled and captured.



Course of battle
Captain Charles Inglis was given command of a squadron of four ships cruising independently in the West Indies. The squadron, consisting of HMS St Albans, the 64-gun Prudent, the 74-gun HMS Magnificent under Captain Robert Linzee and the sloop HMS Barbados, had arrived in St. Lucia. They were to eventually help blockade Cap-François off Saint-Domingue with the help of ships of the line from the Jamaica station. On 12 February reports arrived of a French squadron, consisting of Triton, Amphion and several frigates, having sailed from Martinique and so the squadron was sent to investigate.

Magnificent sailed from Gros Islet Bay in Bay on 12 February 1783 in company with Prudent and St Albans. On 15 February 1783 a French frigate was sighted just past Guadeloupe island by Magnificent. The frigate was the Concorde carrying 36 guns and 300 men, and was under the command of Chevalier du Clesmaur. Magnificent gave chase and by 20:00 as darkness fell Concorde opened fire on her pursuer with her stern guns. Magnificent however overhauled the French ship by 21:15, and after fifteen minutes of fighting including a devastating broadside, forced her to strike her colours. Magnificent then took possession of Concorde.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plans, sheer lines with stern quarter decoration, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for 'Monarch' (1765), and later applying to 'Ramilies' (1763), 'Invincible' (1765), 'Robust' (1764), 'Magnificent' (1766), and 'Marlborough' (1767), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by Thomas Slade [Surveyor of the Navy, 1755-1771].

Aftermath
Shortly after surrendering, Concorde's maintopsail caught fire, forcing the crew to cut away the mainmast to extinguish it. Prudent and St Albans arrived two hours later and Magnificent towed Concorde to St. John's, Antigua. Concorde served in the Royal Navy as HMS Concorde until being broken up in 1811.


Concorde (originally Le Concorde) was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. Built in Rochefort in 1777, she entered service with the French early in the American War of Independence, and was soon in action, capturing HMS Minerva in the West Indies. She survived almost until the end of the war, but was captured by HMS Magnificent in 1783. Not immediately brought into service due to the draw-down in the navy after the end of the war, she underwent repairs and returned to active service under the White Ensign with the outbreak of war with France in 1793 as the fifth-rate HMS Concorde.


Concorde and Engageante, depicted at the Action of 23 April 1794

Initially part of squadrons cruising off the French coast, she played an important part in the Action of 23 April 1794, capturing the French frigate Engageante, and at a later engagement, where she helped to capture the French frigate Virginie. From 1797 until the early 19th century she had especial success against privateers, capturing a large number in the West Indies and in the Atlantic. She had a narrow escape from a superior French force in 1801, but was able to batter her pursuer, the 40-gun Bravoure into submission. She was prevented from capturing her by the arrival of French reinforcements. Her last years were spent on a variety of stations, including at the Cape of Good Hope and the East Indies. Laid up in 1807, she was sold for breaking up in 1811.


HMS Magnificent was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 20 September 1766 at Deptford Dockyard. She was one of the Ramillies-class built to update the Navy and replace ships lost following the Seven Years' War. She served through two wars before her loss during blockade duty off the French coast.


Loss of The Magnificent, 25 March 1804

On 21 December 1779, HMS Magnificent with the 74-gun ships HMS Suffolk and HMS Vengeance, and the 64-gun HMS Stirling Castle under Rear-Admiral Joshua Rowley, fell in with the 32-gun French frigates Fortunee and Blanche and the 28-gun Elise, when off Guadeloupe. The French ships were in bad order; their crews were excessively weak; and thus they could not escape the vastly superior British force. The Blanche was overtaken and captured on the evening of the 21st; the Fortunes, by throwing her quarter-deck guns overboard, kept away a little longer, but was captured at last in the early morning of 22 December, an hour before the Elise.

Her war service in the American War of Independence was conducted with Rodney's fleet in the Caribbean, where she served in the battles off Grenada in 1779, Martinique in 1780 and the Saintes in 1782. Her duties during the Napoleonic Wars mainly consisted of blockade duties off the French coast, but between 1798 and 1800, the ship had received a complete overhaul designed to extend her service life and improve her ability at performing the close blockade.

Magnificent came under the command of Captain John Giffard on 23 February 1801 upon his transfer from HMS Active. On 9 April 1802, the 8th West India Regiment revolted in Dominica. They killed three officers, imprisoned the others and took over Fort Shirley. On the following day, HMS Magnificent, which was anchored in Prince Rupert's Bay under Captain John Giffard's command[2] sent a party of marines ashore to restore order. The mutineers fired upon the Magnificent with no effect. On 12 April, Governor Cochrane entered Fort Shirley with the Royal Scots Regiment and the 68th Regiment of Foot. The rebels were drawn up on the Upper Battery of Fort Shirley with three of their officers as prisoners and presented arms to the other troops. They obeyed Cochrane's command to ground their arms but refused his order to step forward. The mutineers picked up their arms and fired a volley. Shots were returned, followed by a bayonet charge that broke their ranks and a close range fire fight ensued. Those mutineers who tried to escape over the precipice to the sea were exposed to grape-shot and canister fire from Magnificent. The 74-gun Excellent, the frigate Severn, and the sloop Gaieteassisted Magnificent, also supplying marines.

On the morning of 25 March 1804, during her duties blockading the French port of Brest, she struck an uncharted reef close to the Black Rocks that bordered the port and rapidly began to founder. The remaining ships of the blockading squadron closed in and removed most of the crew, the remainder of whom took to boats as the ship sank at 10.30 am, just an hour and a half after she struck the reef. Although all her crew survived, a boat carrying 86 men became diverted from the main group and was washed ashore on the French coast, where the men remained in captivity for ten years. The captain, William Jervis, was later reported to have lost £1500 in lost property on board the wreck.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_15_February_1783
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Magnificent_(1766)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Concorde_(1783)
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Magnificent_(1766

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1794 – Launch of HMS Lark, a 16-gun ship sloop of the Cormorant class,


HMS Lark was a 16-gun ship sloop of the Cormorant class, launched in 1794 at Northfleet. She served primarily in the Caribbean, where she took a number of prizes, some after quite intensive action. Lark foundered off San Domingo in August 1809, with the loss of her captain and almost all her crew.







Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for building Cormorant (1794), Favourite (1794), Hornet (1794), Hazard (1794), Lark (1794), Lynx (1794) and in 1795 for Stork (1796), all 16-gun Ship Sloops with quarterdecks and forecastles. The body plan was similar to the captured French Sixth Rate Corvette Amazon (captured 1745).


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the quarterdeck and forecastle, inboard profile, and upper deck for Hornet (1794), Cormorant (1794), Favourite (1794), Lynx (1794), Hazard (1794), Lark (1794), and Stork (1796), all 16-gun Ship Sloops. The plan was later altered in 1805 and used to build Hyacinth (1806), Herald (1806), Sabrina (1806), Cherub (1806), Minstrel (1807), Blossom (1806), Favourite (1806), Sapphire (1806), Wanderer (1806), Partridge (1809), Tweed (1807), Egeria (1807), Ranger (1807), Anacreon (1813), and Acorn (1807), Rosamond (1807), Fawn (1807), Myrtle (1807), Racoon (1808), and North Star (1810) all modified Cormorant class 16-gun Ship Sloops. The plan was altered again in 1808 while building Hesper (1809). The design for this class is 'similar to the French Ship Amazon' - the French Amazon (captured 1745).


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lark_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant-class_ship-sloop
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-304699;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1804 - Battle of Pulo Aura


The Battle of Pulo Aura was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought on 14 February 1804, in which a large convoy of Honourable East India Company (HEIC) East Indiamen, well-armed merchant ships, intimidated, drove off and chased a powerful French naval squadron. Although the French force was much stronger than the British convoy, Commodore Nathaniel Dance's aggressive tactics persuaded Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois to retire after only a brief exchange of shot. Dance then chased the French warships until his convoy was out of danger, whereupon he resumed his passage toward British India. Linois later claimed that the unescorted British merchant fleet was defended by eight ships of the line, a claim criticised by contemporary officers and later historians.



The battle occurred during an extended commerce raiding operation by a French squadron led by Linois in the ship of the line Marengo. Linois had sailed to the Indian Ocean in 1803 before the declaration of war, under orders to install garrisons in the French and Dutch colonies in the region and to prey on lightly defended British merchant shipping. One of the richest and most significant targets was the "China Fleet", an annual convoy of East Indiamen from China and other Far Eastern ports that carried millions of pounds worth of trade goods. Although these large vessels were accompanied by numerous smaller merchant ships, news of the outbreak of war had only just arrived in the Pacific and the only warship available to defend the fleet was the small HEIC armed brig Ganges. Dutch informants notified Linois of the fleet's destination and date of departure from Canton while he was anchored at Batavia on Java, and he sailed in search of the convoy on 28 December 1803, eventually discovering it in early February.



Although no warships protected the convoy, Commodore Dance knew that lookouts could, from a distance, mistake a large East Indiaman for a ship of the line. He raised flags that indicated that his fleet included part of the Royal Navy squadron operating in the Indian Ocean at the time and formed into a line of battle. Although Linois's ships were clearly superior, the British reaction unnerved him and he quickly broke off combat. Dance continued his ruse, pursuing Linois for two hours until the body of the convoy was safe. King George III knighted Dance for his courage and various mercantile and patriotic organisations awarded him large sums of money, while both Linois's own officers and the Emperor Napoleon personally castigated the French admiral for his failure to press the attack against a weaker and extremely valuable enemy. Although he remained in command of the squadron for another two years and had some minor success against undefended merchant ships, he suffered a string of defeats and inconclusive engagements against weaker British naval forces. Ironically, Linois was captured at the Action of 13 March 1806 by a numerically superior British battle squadron that he mistook for a merchant convoy.


Hand-coloured aquatint. The China Fleet heavily laden Commanded by Commodore Sir Nathaniel Dance beating off Adml Linois and his Squadron the 15th of Feby 1804. A scene from the Battle of Pulo Aura, a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. Below are the names of the East Indiaman and the French Squadron; and a diagrammatic key to the picture. The scene shows the French squadron in formation on the left of the image, engaging with the East India Company’s fleet to the right. On the far right of the image are further British vessels, not part of the immediate action in the centrepoint of the image. The ships are shown at sea, with a cloudy sky, with no land visible. Painted by Thomas Buttersworth from a sketch by an officer.

Battle
At 08:00 on 14 February 1804, with the island of Pulo Aura within sight to the south-west near the eastern entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the Indiaman Royal George raised a signal describing three sail approaching the convoy from the direction of the island. This was Linois's squadron, which had been cruising in the area for the previous month in anticipation of the convoy's arrival. Dance ordered the brig Ganges and the Indiamen Alfred, Royal George, Bombay Castle, and Hope to approach the strange vessels and investigate, rapidly discovering that they were enemy warships. By 13:00, Dance had readied his guns and reformed his convoy, with the large Indiamen formed up in line of battle to receive the French attack as if they were warships. During the late afternoon, Linois's squadron fell in behind the slow line of merchant ships and Dance expected an immediate attack, but Linois was cautious and merely observed the convoy, preferring to wait until the following morning before engaging the enemy. Dance made use of the delay to gather the smaller country ships on the opposite side of his line from the French, the brig Ganges shepherding them into position and collecting volunteers from their crews to augment the sailors on board the Indiamen. Linois later excused his delay in attacking the merchant convoy by citing the need for caution:

If the bold front put on by the enemy in the daytime had been intended as a ruse to conceal his weakness, he would have profited by the darkness of the night to endeavour to conceal his escape; and in that case should have taken advantage of his manoeuvres. But I soon became convinced that this security was not feigned; three of his ships constantly kept their lights up, and the fleet continued to lie to, in order of battle, throughout the night. This position facilitated my gaining the wind, and enabled me to observe the enemy closely.
— Linois, quoted in translation in William James' The Naval History of Great Britain during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Volume 3, 1827.​

Defeat of Adml. Linois by Commodore Dance, Feby. 15th. 1804, William Daniell, National Maritime Museum

At dawn on 15 February, both the British and French forces raised their colours. Dance hoped to persuade Linois that his ships included some fully armed warships and he therefore ordered the brig Ganges and the four lead ships to hoist blue ensigns, while the rest of the convoy raised red ensigns. By the system of national flags then in use in British ships, this implied that the ships with blue ensigns were warships attached to the squadron of Admiral Rainier, while the others were merchant ships under their protection. Dance was unknowingly assisted by the information that had reached Linois at Batavia, which claimed that there were 23 merchant ships and the brig in the convoy. Dance had collected six additional ships during his journey, and the identity of these were unknown to the French, who assumed that at least some of the unidentified vessels must be warships, particularly as several vessels had been recently painted at Canton to resemble ships of the line.

At 09:00 Linois was still only observing the convoy, reluctant to attack until he could be sure of the nature of his opponents. Dance responded to the reprieve by reforming the line of battle into sailing formation to increase his convoy's speed with the intention of reaching the Straits ahead of Linois. With the convoy a less intimidating target, Linois began to slowly approach the British ships. By 13:00 it was clear that Linois's faster ships were in danger of isolating the rear of the convoy, and Dance ordered his lead ships to tack and come about, so that they would cross in front of the French squadron. The British successfully executed the manoeuvre, and at 13:15 Linois opened fire on the lead ship—Royal George—under the command of John Fam Timmins. The Royal George and the next four ships in line, the Indiaman Ganges, Dance's Earl Camden, the Warley and the Alfred, all returned fire, Ganges initially attacking Royal George in error. Captain James Prendergrass in Hope, the next in line, was so eager to join the battle that he misjudged his speed and collided with Warley, the ships falling back as their crews worked to separate their rigging. Shots were then exchanged at long range for 43 minutes, neither side inflicting severe damage.


The East Indiaman 'Warley', Robert Salmon, 1801, National Maritime Museum

Royal George had a sailor named Hugh Watt killed, another man wounded, and suffered some damage to her hull. None of the other British ships or any of the French reported anything worse than superficial damage in the engagement. At 14:00, Linois abandoned the action and ordered his squadron to haul away with the wind and sail eastwards, away from the convoy, under all sail. Determined to maintain the pretence of the presence of warships, Dance ordered the ships flying naval ensigns, including his flagship Earl Camden, to chase the French. None of the merchant ships could match the French speed, but an attempt at a chase would hopefully dissuade the French from returning. For two hours, Dance's squadron followed Linois, Hope coming close to catching Aventurier but ultimately unable to overtake the brig. At 16:00, Dance decided to gather his scattered ships and return to his former heading rather than risk attack from other raiders or lose sight of his convoy in the darkness. By 20:00, the entire British convoy had anchored at the entrance to the Straits of Malacca. On 28 February, the British ships of the line HMS Sceptre and Albion joined them in the Strait and conducted them safely to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic.

There HMS Plantagenet escorted the convoy to England. Five whalers and the Carmarthen, Captain Doree, also joined the convoy, with the Blackhouse, from coast of Guinea, joining at sea. The convoy returned to England without further incident.

Linois's squadron reached Batavia several days after the action without encountering any British ships. He was there joined by Atalante and, after taking on supplies, made sail for Île de France, arriving on 2 April. The Dutch brig Aventurier was left at Batavia and remained there until a raid on the port by a British force in November 1806, when it was destroyed. The French admiral later attempted to explain his conduct during the engagement:

The ships which had tacked rejoined those which were engaging us, and three of the engaging ships manoeuvred to double our rear, while the remainder of the fleet, crowding sail and bearing up, evinced an intention to surround us. By this manoeuvre the enemy would have rendered my situation very dangerous. The superiority of his force was ascertained, and I had no longer to deliberate on the part I should take to avoid the consequence of an unequal engagement: profiting by the smoke, I hauled up to port, and steering east-north-east, I increased by distance from the enemy, who continued the pursuit of the squadron for three hours, discharging at it several broadsides.​

Aftermath
Nathaniel Dance and his fellow captains were highly praised in the aftermath of the battle: in saving the convoy they had prevented both the HEIC and Lloyd's of London from likely financial ruin, the repercussions of which would have had profound effects across the British Empire. The various commanders and their crews were presented with a £50,000 prize fund to be divided among them, and the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund and other national and mercantile institutions made a series of awards of ceremonial swords, silver plate and monetary gifts to individual officers. Lloyd's Patriotic Fund gave each captain a sword worth 50 pounds, and one to Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Merrick Fowler, travelling as a passenger on Earl Camden, and one worth 100 pounds to Nathaniel Dance.

Dance was specifically rewarded, receiving royal recognition when he was made a Knight Bachelor by King George III. He was also personally presented with the sum of £5,000 by the Bombay Insurance Company and an additional £500 a year for life by the HEIC. Dance immediately retired from the sea to Enfield Town, where he died in 1827. He refused to take full credit for the survival of the convoy, writing in reply to the award from the Bombay Insurance Company:

Placed, by the adventitious circumstances of seniority of service and absence of convoy, in the chief command of the fleet intrusted to my care, it has been my good fortune to have been enabled, by the firmness of those by whom I was supported, to perform my trust not only with fidelity, but without loss to my employers. Public opinion and public rewards have already far outrun my deserts; and I cannot but be sensible that the liberal spirit of my generous countrymen has measured what they are pleased to term their grateful sense of my conduct, rather by the particular utility of the exploit, than by any individual merit I can claim.
— Nathaniel Dance, quoted in William James' The Naval History of Great Britain during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Volume 3, 1827.​

Brilliant Naval Action of the East India Fleet, British propaganda poster celebrating the engagement, National Maritime Museum
Brilliant Naval Action of the East India Fleet. The representation of the Naval Action Fought in India 15th Feby 1804 wherein Capt. Dance.... defended the Ships under his Convoy, and ships Marengo... & four frigates (PAF4755)

Among the passengers on the Indiamen were a number of Royal Navy personnel, survivors of the shipwreck of the exploratory vessel HMS Porpoise off the coast of New South Wales the previous year. This party — carried aboard Ganges, Royal George and Earl Camden — volunteered to assist the gun teams aboard their ships and Dance specifically thanked them in his account of the action. One was Lieutenant Robert Merrick Fowler, the former commander of Porpoise, who distinguished himself in a variety of capacities during the engagement.

Some of the party had influential careers in the Navy, including the naval architect James Inman, who sailed on Warley, and John Franklin, who later became a polar explorer. Also aboard was Indian businessman Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy returning from the second of his five voyages to China.

Linois continued his raiding, achieving some success against individual sailing ships, but failing to press successfully his numerical superiority against British naval forces; most notably at the Battle of Vizagapatam on 15 September 1804 and the Action of 6 August 1805. Ironically, Linois was eventually captured at the Action of 13 March 1806 after mistaking a squadron of British ships of the line for a merchant convoy in the mid-Atlantic. Linois was concerned throughout the engagement for the safety of his ships: with the nearest dockyard over 3,000 nmi (3,500 mi; 5,600 km) away at Île de France, he could not afford to suffer severe damage to his rigging or masts that would leave his squadron crippled. He also sought to defend his behaviour off Pulo Aura with the claim that the British convoy was protected by as many as eight ships of the line, and that he had performed heroically in saving his squadron from this overwhelming force. Subsequent historians have ridiculed this latter statement: William James wryly commented in his account of the action, written in 1827, that "it would be uncharitable to call into question the courage of Rear-admiral Linois" and William Laird Clowes stated in 1900 that "his timidity and want of enterprise threw away a great opportunity". Nicholas Rodger, writing in 2004, was even more critical, insisting that "his [Linois's] officers do not seem to have been fooled, and it is extremely difficult to believe that he was." He goes on to suggest that no experienced seaman could possibly have mistaken a poorly manned and poorly trained merchant crew for the crew of a real Royal Navy ship of the line, concluding that "Linois had thrown away a prize worth at least £8 million through mere timidity". The most scathing criticism of Linois's conduct came from Napoleon himself, who wrote to Minister of Marine Denis Decrès on the subject, stating:

All the enterprises at sea which have been undertaken since I became the head of the Government have missed fire because my admirals see double and have discovered, I know not how or where, that war can be made without running risks ... Tell Linois that he has shown want of courage of mind, that kind of courage which I consider the highest quality in a leader.​

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body stern board outline, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Marengo (1806), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard prior to being broken up in November 1816. Signed by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1803-1823].


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pulo_Aura

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1810 - HMS Wild Boar, a brig-sloop launched in 1808, was wrecked in 1810


HMS Wild Boar was a brig-sloop launched in 1808. She was wrecked in 1810.



Career
Captain thomas Burton commissioned Wild Boar in October 1808.

On 12 April 1809, Wild Boar captured Verite.

On 13 May Burton sailed Wild Boar for Portugal.

Lloyd's List reported on 23 May that Wildboar had detained and sent into Falmouth Gustaff, Trent, master, which had been sailing from Bordeaux.

While Wild Boar was on the Lisbon station she captured a French schooner carrying some staff officers from Ferrol to Bayonne. She returned from the Tagus to land at Falmouth an army officer with dispatches.

sistership

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck of Parthian (1809), a 10-gun Brig to be built by contract by Messrs Barnard and Roberts of Deptford. The only Cherokee class ship to be built by this firm in 1807/8 was the Parthian. The title has been erased and re-dated to 25 February 1817 and refers to the Atholl (1820), a 28-gun Brig Sloop built of larch. The dimensions of the ship do not match the plan, although the alterations in green may be relevant to the Atholl. These alterations relate to the capstan, forecastle deck addition, extended platforms and the removal of bulkheads. Initialled by Joseph Tucker [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1831], Henry Peake [Surveyor of the Navy, 1806-1822], and Robert Seppings [Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1832].


Fate
Commander Villiers Francis Hatton was appointed to Wildboar at the beginning of 1810 but before he could take command she was wrecked on 15 February on the Runnel Stone, Isles of Scilly. Lloyd's List reported on 20 February that she had left Falmouth on the 15th with dispatches for Lisbon.

The courtmartial of Burton and his crew took place on 23 March. It found that Wild Boar had been sailing from Falmouth to Cork and was passing between Scilly and the mainland when she struck in fine weather on the Runnelstone. She took on water so quickly most of the crew had to jump into the sea.

Earl of Uxbridge fortuitously and fortunately was in sight and came to Wild Boar's rescue. Even so, 12 men drowned.

The court martial exonerated Burton, and blamed the loss on the incompetence of the master. It also described the master's behaviour as reprehensible as when she struck he had jumped into the jolly boat and made off. The court martial ordered him dis-rated, to serve only as a seaman.

Captain Burton went on to commission the new sloop HMS Primrose.



The Cherokee class was a class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy, mounting 10 guns. Brig-sloops are sloops-of-war with two masts (a fore mast and a taller main mast) rather than the three masts of ship sloops. Orders for 115 vessels were placed, including 5 which were cancelled and 6 for which the orders were replaced by ones for equivalent steam-powered paddle vessels.

Many of these sailing vessels served as mail packet ships, and more than eight assisted with exploration and surveys. The best known of the class was HMS Beagle, then considerably modified for Beagle's second survey voyage under Robert FitzRoy, with the gentleman naturalist Charles Darwin on board as a self-funded supernumerary.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Wild_Boar_(1808)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee-class_brig-sloop

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1809 - HMS Belle Poule (38), Cptn. James Brisbane, captured French frigate Var (26) in the Gulf of Valona, Adriatic


Var was a corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1806 as the name-ship of her class of flutes. She served as a storeship until the British captured her in 1809. She became the transport HMS Chichester, and was wrecked in 1811.



Career
Var was built to a design of Pierre-Alexandre Forfait, though Jacques-Noël Sanė modified it.

On the morning of 14 February 1809, HMS Belle Poule, under the command of Captain James Brisbane, was about 12 leagues north of Corfu when she sighted a suspicious sail. Belle Poule gave chase and caught up with Var the next morning, finding her anchored under the guns of the fortresses guarding Valona. The fortresses did not come to Var's assistance, so after a few broadsides from Belle Poule, she struck. Var was under the command of capitaine de frégate Paulin, who was sailing her from Corfu to Brindisi. The British suffered no casualties; Brisbane could not assess French casualties as most of Var's officers and men escaped ashore after she struck. (A French court martial on 16 April 1814 acquitted Paulin for the loss of his ship.)

Var was sent to Woolwich for fitting as a storeship, which took from 21 January to 23 March 1810. She was brought into British service as Chichester.

Loss
On 2 May 1811, as she sailed under Master William Kirby, she was wrecked on the Madras roadstead with the loss of two crew. The violent gale also claimed the frigate Dover, several merchant vessels, and some 70 small craft



HMS Belle Poule was a Royal Navy fifth rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, which was built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was launched on 17 April 1802, and saw active service in the East, but in 1806 a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren captured her off La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Belle Poule. She was sold in 1816.



French Navy service
In March 1803, she joined the fleet of Rear-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois, whose mission was to re-take the colonies of the Indian Ocean, given to English at the peace of Amiens. The fleet included the 74-gun ship of the line Marengo, the frigates Atalante, Belle Poule and Sémillante, troop ships and cargoes with food and ammunition.

On 15 June 1803 Belle Poule landed troops at Pondichéry in India. The French fleet however, left the next day and the troops surrendered in September.

At the beginning of November, the division set sail for Batavia to protect the Dutch colonies. En route, Linois destroyed the English counters in Bencoolen, capturing five ships, and sailed for the South China Sea, where the China Fleet of the British East India Company was expected. The fleets met in the Battle of Pulo Aura, but the greater numbers and aggressive action of the British East Indiamen, some of whom flew Royal Navy flags, drove the French away. Linois returned to Batavia. He dispatched Atalante and Belle Poule to the Gulf of Bengal, where Belle Poule captured a few ships before returning to Ile de France. Among the ships was Althea, which Atalanta and Belle Poule captured on 17 April 1804.


HMS Amazon pursuing unnamed French vessel, possibly the Belle Poule, by Nicholas Pocock

In 1805 and 1806, Belle Poule and some other ships of the division cruised the African coast between the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, capturing some ships. At the Action of 13 March 1806, Linois met with the division of Vice-Admiral Sir John Warren, with seven ships of the line (including the 108-gun London, the 82-gun Ramilles and Repulse, and the 80-gun Foudroyant), two frigates (including the 48-gun Amazon) and one corvette. After a fierce duel with London, Marengo struck her colours; Belle Poulebattled against Amazon and later against Ramillies, and had to surrender as well.

At the time of her capture Belle Poule was armed with forty 18-pounder guns, had a crew of 320 men, and was under the command of Captain Brouillac. Marengo and Belle Poule had lost 65 men killed and 80 wounded. The British on London and Amazon had 13 officers and men killed and 26 officers and men wounded.


No scale. Plan showing the starboard profile of the figurehead for Belle Poule (1806), a captured French Frigate, now a 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate Signed by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1802-1823].

Royal Navy service
Adriatic
She entered service under the same name in 1808 under captain James Brisbane, joining the forces operating in the Adriatic campaign of 1807-1814 off Corfu, successfully blockading the island. In February 1809 Brisbane captured the storeship Var in a raid on the harbour at Valona; the British then used her as a storeship too. Var was anchored under the guns of two fortresses that nevertheless did not fire their guns, leaving Belle Poule free to concentrate her fire on the French vessel. Var was pierced for 32 guns but only had twenty-two 9-pounder guns and four 24-pounder carronades mounted. She had a crew of 200 men and was under the command of Capitaine de Frigate Palin, however Brisbane was unable to ascertain her losses as her crew abandoned her as she struck. She had been sailing from Corfu for any port in Italy that she could reach.

Between 2 and 12 October of the same year Belle Poule was involved in the invasions of the Ionian Islands of Cerigo, Cephalonia, and Zante, and would share in the booty captured there.

On 10 March 1810 Belle Poule captured the Charlotta.

Then a British force attacked the fortress of Santa Maura, which was a French strongpoint off Greece's west coast. Belle Poule's marines formed part of the assault on the enemy's lines; the fortress surrendered on 16 April 1810. Belle Poule had one man, Lieutenant Morrison, of the Royal Marines, wounded at this time. In all, during the siege of Santa Maura, from 31 March to 10 April, Belle Poule suffered six men wounded.

On 21 August 1810 Belle Poule captured the Saint Nicholo. Then on 11 December, Belle Poule captured the brig Carlotta, pierced for 14 guns but with only 10 mounted. She had a crew of 100 men and when captured was sailing from Venice to Corfu. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Carlotta. Montague and Acorn shared in the prize money for the hull. At around the same time Belle Poule also assisted at the capture of a French schooner on the Dalmatian Coast.

On 30 January 1811 Belle Poule, Leonidas, Victorious and Imogen shared in the capture and destruction of the Italian man-of-war schooner Leoben. Leoben was sailing along the Albanian coast from Venice to Corfu with a cargo of ordnance stores when the British caught her. She was armed with ten guns and a crew of 60 men. Her own crew set her on fire and she subsequently blew up.

From 4–5 May 1811, Belle Poule participated with Alceste in an attack on Parenza (Istria). They chased a French 18-gun brig into the harbour but the ships could not close enough to bombard her. Instead, the two vessels landed 200 seamen and all their marines on an island nearby. They then landed two 9-pounders and two howitzers, which they placed in one battery, and a field piece that they placed further away. Eventually, they and the French in Parenza engaged in five hours of mutual bombardment, during which the British were able to sink the brig. They then returned men and cannons to their ships. In the action Belle Poule had one man killed and three wounded and Alceste had two men killed; all casualties occurred onshore.

Belle Poule then returned to Britain to join the Channel Fleet. On 22 December 1811, Belle Poule and Medusa captured and destroyed two chasse marees.



The ‘Gypsy’, an American schooner fitted out as a privateer, was on her way from New York to Bordeaux with a valuable cargo when she was captured in the mid-Atlantic after a three-day chase. In the left foreground is the ‘Belle Poule’, starboard broadside view. To the right and beyond, off her port bow is the ‘Gypsy’, still firing at the ‘Belle Poule’, but with her ensign being struck at the same time. In the right background is the ‘Hermes’, port bow view. For dramatic effect the artist has set the scene of the chase in a stormy setting with dark clouds and waves. Thomas Butterworth, to whom this painting has been (somewhat optimistically) attributed, was born on the Isle of Wight on 5 May 1768. Like many other marine painters, Buttersworth was a seaman who recorded his experiences in paint and charcoal. He was appointed Marine Painter to the East India Company and added commissioned ship portraits to his prolific output of naval battle scenes. Despite his relative success, Buttersworth exhibited few paintings during his lifetime. It was long thought that he had died in 1830 but it was confirmed that he was still alive in 1842, painting Queen Victoria’s visit to Edinburgh in that year. He died in London in November 1842.

War of 1812
During 1812 Belle Poule patrolled the Western Approaches, capturing numerous American merchant vessels and privateers. On 27 January she detained and sent in the Spy from New York. Then she captured Prudentia on 31 January and Don Roderick on 16 February. At the capture of Don Roderick, Belle Poule was in company with Achates, Dryad and Lyra.

On 30 April 1812, Belle Poule and Hermes captured the American privateer schooner Gipsy or Gipsey, out of New York, in the middle of the Atlantic and after a three-day chase. Gipsey surrendered twice to Hermes and twice got away again before Belle Poule caught her. Gipsey was of 300 tons and was armed with twelve 18-pounder carronades and an 18-pounder gun on a pivot mount.

On 26 May, Belle Poule captured General Gates while in company with Dryad and Abercrombie. Armide shared by agreement. Three days later Armide captured Purse, and Belle Poule shared by agreement.


Lines & Profile (ZAZ2722)

In September 1812 George Harris replaced Brisbane and over the next year Belle Poule captured several American vessels, including four privateers. Warspite and Belle Poule captured Mars and her cargo, on 26 February 1813. On 11 March, Belle Poule and the privateer Earl St Vincent captured the American ship John and Francis, of 220 tons, two guns and 16 men. She was sailing from Bordeaux to New York with a cargo of brandy and wine.

On 3 April 1813 Belle Poule took Grand Napoleon after a chase of nine hours. She was 29 days from New York, carrying a valuable cargo to Bordeaux. She was a new vessel of 305 tons, pierced for 22 guns but carrying only four, and had a crew of 43 men. Harris described her as "copper-fastened, and in every respect one of the finest vessels I ever saw." That same day Dispatch captured the Prussian vessel Enigheidt. Briton, Belle Poule and Royalist shared by agreement. Belle Poule also captured the American schooner Napoleon, which may have been a different vessel than the Grand Napoleon. With respect to the Napoleon, Belle Poule was in company with Briton and the hired armed cutter Fancy, with Dispatch and HMS Royalist1807 (2) sharing by agreement.

Belle Poule and Pyramus took the 10-gun letter of marque schooner Zebra and her crew of 38 men on 20 April 1813. Zebra was sailing from Bordeaux to New York. At the time of the capture, Andromache was in sight. The navy took Zebra into service as Pictou

On 11 May Belle Poule took Revenge after a chase that lasted from 5 p.m. the previous evening until 2am. Revenge was a new vessel, sailing from Charleston to Bordeaux. She had a crew of 32 men and was pierced for 16 guns but carried only four long 9-pounders.

On 20 September Belle Poule captured two French chasse marees. the first was Rose, of 32 tons and five men, sailing from Bordeaux to Nantes. The second was Ambition, of 25 tons and three men, sailing from Bordeaux to Rochelle.

Lastly, on 14 December Belle Poule took the brig Squirrel, which was sailing from Arcasson, in the Gironde, to New York. The brig was of 169 tons, armed with two guns and had a crew of 17 men. Belle Poule was in company with Castilian and Tartarus.

In 1814 Belle Poule was under Captain Edward Williams. Then she entered the Gironde in Southern France. Before 9 April, a landing party of seamen and marines from Belle Poule, under Captain George Harris, marched 50 miles, successively entering and destroying the batteries of Pointe Coubre, Pointe Nègre, Royan, Soulac, and Mèche. In all, the landing party destroyed forty-seven 36-pounder guns and seventeen 13" mortars. On his return from this expedition, Harris organized the siege of the fortress at Blaye. Rear Admiral Penrose then had Belle Poule sail up the Gironde, "in advance of the advanced squadron".

Following a request from the Duke of Wellington, Belle Poule was commissioned as a troopship in June under Captain Francis Baker. She was fitted for that role in August and September. On 15 August she was in Plymouth, having come from Portsmouth with the 93d Regiment of Foot. On 17 September she embarked troops before sailing for Bermuda the next day and then on to New Orleans. The 93rd would then serve at the Battle of New Orleans, where they would take heavy casualties.

Belle Poule was part of the flotilla at the battle of New Orleans. In the run-up to that battle her boats participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne on 12–14 December 1814. Her only casualties were two men slightly wounded. Many years later her crew received a distribution of head-money arising from the capture of American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton at the battle. In 1847, the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "14 Dec. Boat Service 1814" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Fate
Belle Poule returned to Portsmouth on 17 May 1815. A week later she sailed for Cork. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1815. She was sold on 11 June 1816 for ₤2,700.


The Virginie class was a class of ten 40-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Jacques-Noël Sané. An eleventh vessel (Zephyr) begun in 1794 was never completed.

Virginie class, (40-gun design by Jacques-Noël Sané, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pounder guns, plus 4 x 36-pounder obusiers).

• Virginie, (launched 1794 at Brest) – captured by British Navy 1795, becoming HMS Virginie.
• Courageuse, (launched 1794 at Brest) – renamed Justice in April 1795 – captured by British Navy 1801, then handed over to Turks.
• Harmonie, (launched 1796 at Bordeaux).
• Volontaire, (launched 1796 at Bordeaux) – captured by British Navy 1806, becoming HMS Volontaire.
• Cornélie, (launched 1797 at Brest) – captured by Spanish Navy 1808.
• Didon, (launched 1799 at St Malo) – captured by British Navy 1805, becoming HMS Didon.
• Rhin, (launched 1802 at Toulon) – captured by British Navy 1806, becoming HMS Rhin.
• Belle Poule, (launched 1802 at Basse-Indre) – captured by British Navy 1806, becoming HMS Belle Poule.
• Surveillante, (launched 1802 at Basse-Indre) – captured by British Navy 1803, becoming HMS Surveillante.
• Atalante, (launched 1802 at St Malo) – burnt 1805.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Var_(1806)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belle_Poule_(1806)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginie-class_frigate
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-295415;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1811 - HMS Amethyst (36), Cptn. Jacob Walton, driven ashore and wrecked on Cony Cliffs, Plymouth Sound, by a violent gust of wind.


HMS Amethyst was a Royal Navy 36-gun Penelope-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. Amethyst served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing several prizes. She also participated in two boat actions and two ship actions that won her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811 after suffering severe damage in a storm.



French Revolutionary Wars
Amethyst was commissioned in May 1799 under the command of Captain John Cooke. She then operated on the Dutch coast later that year. During the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, Amethyst conveyed the Duke of York to the Netherlands and later participated in the evacuation of the force following the campaign's collapse.

On 18 December she and Beaulieu recaptured the brig Jenny. Eleven days after that, Amethyst and Beaulieu recaptured the ships Dauphin, Cato, Cabrus, and Nymphe.

On 29 December Amethyst captured the French privateer brig Aventurier (or Avanture). Aventurier, out of Lorient, was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 75 men. One month earlier, on 29 November, Aventurierhad captured the American ship Cato and taken her master, John Parker, and his crew prisoner. When Amethyst captured Aventurier Cooke freed the Americans and informed Parker that Cato had been sent to Cork. Cooke sent Aventurier into Plymouth from where Parker and his mate traveled to Cork.

On 7 January 1800, the French armed ship Huzelle (or Ursule), came into Plymouth. She had been carrying passengers from Cayenne, including women and children, when Amethyst captured her. On her way into a British port, the French privateer Providence, of 14 guns and 152 men, had recaptured her and sent her to Bordeaux. However, before she got get there, Beaulieu and Unicorn again captured her and sent her into Plymouth. Huzelle was low on provision with the result that a five-year-old child died while she was in Plymouth Sound; as she anchored at Catwater, M.P. Symonds, the broker for the prize, delivered fresh provisions to Huzelle. Among Huzelle's passengers were a Colonel Molonson of Invalids, and a naturalist, M. Burnelle, with a cabinet of curiosities for the French National Museum at Paris.

Later that month, on the 26th, Oiseaux encountered the French frigate Dédaigneuse and gave chase. Sirius and Amethyst joined the next day. On the 28th Oiseaux and Sirius effected the capture. Unfavourable winds kept Amethyst from joining the action. She was brought into Royal Navy service as HMS Dedaigneuse.

In February 1800 Amethyst was in company with Nymphe when on 15 February they captured the French privateer cutter Valiant (or Vaillante), of Bordeaux, after a long chase. Valiant was armed with one long 18-pounder, two long 12-pounder, and twelve 6-pounders guns. She had a crew of 131 men who had been out four days, but had not yet captured anything.

On 24 February, Nymphe, in company with Amethyst, captured the French letter of marque Modeste, of about 600 tons burthen. She was pierced for 16 guns and had a crew of 70 men. She had left the Île de France some nine weeks earlier and was sailing for Bordeaux with a cargo of cotton, coffee, tea, sugar, indigo, and the like. Still in company with Nymphe, Amethyst captured Julius Pringle and recaptured Active (4 March) and Amity (21 March).

Then on 31 March, Amethyst, with Nymphe, captured the French privateer Mars. Mars was armed with twenty 12-pounder guns and two 36-pounder obusiers, and carried a crew of 180 men. Cooke described her as being "one of the finest Privateers fitted out of Bourdeaux." The British took Mars into service as Garland.

Amethyst also captured a valuable American ship attempting to dock in a French port. This may have been Caroline, captured on 14 April.

In early June Cooke met up with Captain Sir Edward Pellew's squadron at Quiberon Bay. The squadron engaged in a successful large scale raid on Morbihan, though Amethyst's role, if any, is unclear.

Amethyst was among the vessels of a squadron that shared the proceeds for the recapture on 28 June 1800 of Lancaster. She was also part of Pellew's squadron, which shared in the proceeds of the capture of Vigilant, Menais, Insolent, Ann, and the wreck of a vessel that was sold, and the recapture of Industry.

On 29 July, a boat each from Viper, Impetueux and Amethyst, all manned by volunteers under the command of Lieutenant Jeremiah Coghlan of Viper, cut out the French naval brig Cerbère, armed with three 24-pounder and four 6-pounder guns. Cerbère was manned by 87 men under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Menage and was moored in a port within pistol-shot of three batteries and near a number of naval vessels. The attack was a success, with the British boarding party of some 20 men losing only one man killed and eight wounded, including Coghlan; none of the casualties were from Amethyst's boat, which did not take part in the actual boarding. The French lost six men killed and 20 wounded. In admiration for the feat, Pellew's squadron gave up their share of the prize money, with the result that it accrued in its entirety to the cutting-out party. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 July Boat Service 1800" to the four surviving claimants from the action.

Next, Amethyst participated in an abortive invasion of Ferrol. On 29 August, in Vigo Bay, Admiral Sir Samuel Hood assembled a cutting-out party from the vessels under his command consisting of two boats each from Amethyst, Stag, Amelia, Brilliant, and Cynthia, four boats from Courageaux, as well as the boats from Renown, London, and Impetueux. The party went in and after a 15-minute fight captured the French privateer Guêpe, of Bordeaux, and towed her out. She was of 300 tons burthen and had a flush deck. Pierced for 20 guns, she carried eighteen 9-pounders, and she and her crew of 161 men were under the command of Citizen Dupan. In the attack she lost 25 men killed, including Dupan, and 40 wounded. British casualties amounted to four killed, 23 wounded and one missing. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.

On 9 October, Amethyst returned to Plymouth from a secret mission. She and Nymphe would share in the prize money for a captured a French East Indiaman. During their stay in port the prize netted them £36,000.

In 1801, Amethyst operated off Spain, capturing two Spanish privateers and the French corvette Général Brune. On 26 January, Oiseaux encountered Dédaigneuse and gave chase while unfavorable winds kept Amethyst from joining the action. The British brought Dédaigneuse into Royal Navy service as HMS Dedaigneuse.

Later on 28 January Sirius and Amethyst captured the Spanish Letter of Marque Charlotta (or Carlotta) of Ferol, 16 hours out of Ferol on her way to Curaçao. The capture took place about six or seven leagues from Cape Belem in Galicia. The hired armed cutter Earl St Vincent shared in the capture.

The next day Atalante captured the Spanish privateer Intrepido Cid. Amethyst and Sirius shared in the prize money by agreement.

On 16 March, Amethyst encountered and captured Nostra Signora del Carmen, a Spanish privateer schooner. Nostra Signora was armed with six guns and had a crew of 65 men. She had left Rigo [sic] the previous evening and had not captured anything. Cooke decided to destroy her as she appeared unfit to take into the navy.

On 12 April, Amethyst captured French navy corvette General Brune. General Brune was a former merchant ship and she was sailing from Guadeloupe to Bordeaux. She was under the command of Citizen Martin, lieutenant de vaisseaux. She was armed with fourteen 6-pounders guns and had 108 men on board, including Général Pélardy, the late governor of Guadaloupe, and his suite.

On 30 July, Amethyst and two other frigates, Glenmore and Galatea, sailed from Plymouth for the Isle of wight. There they were to pick up Dutch troops that they were to return to Holland.

On 10 September Amethyst captured the French lugger Alert, and recaptured a ship.

In October 1801 Captain Charles Taylor took command of Amethyst, only to be replaced in the next month by Captain Henry Glynn, for the North Sea. During the Peace of Amiens, Amethyst sailed on anti-smuggling patrols off the coast of Scotland under the command of Captain Alexander Campbell.

During the autumn and winter of 1802–03 Amethyst was sent to the Northern Station, based at Leith. On Wednesday 27 October 1802, 38 miles off Tod Head, she captured Vlugheid, smuggling cutter from Flushing. Aboard were John Dangerfield and eleven other seamen. On 18 November 1802, three or four leagues from the Isle of May, Campbell captured Fly, a smuggling lugger from Flushing, "laden with 570 Ankers of Gineva and eighty five Bails of Tobacco". On Tuesday 30 November Amethyst gave chase to three more smuggling luggers, but lost them due to lack of wind.

Captain Campbell wrote to the Admiralty on 27 October 1802 requesting that he might keep the seamen captured on Vlugheid, because Amethyst was 29 short of complement. However, Dangerfield and the others were released on 22 November.

In a letter to the Admiralty dated 10 November Capt. Campbell reported that the smugglers were attempting to bribe the seamen to desert from His Majesty’s ships on the Leith station “so as to disable them from cruising.” In a letter dated 27 October 1802, at sea, he had complained that “The Revenue Cruizers belonging to Leith are seldom out of Harbour. I have not seen or heard of any of them during my cruise altho’ there are several smuggling vessels on the coast.”


Capture of the Thétis by HMS Amethyst on 10 November 1808, by Thomas Whitcombe

Napoleonic Wars
In the months before the resumption of war with France, the Navy started preparations that included impressing seamen. The crews of outbound Indiamen were an attractive target. Woodford and Ganges were sitting in the Thames in March 1803, taking their crews on board just prior to sailing. At sunset, a press gang from HMS Immortalite rowed up to Woodford, while boats from Amethyst and HMS Lynx approached Ganges. As the press gangs approached they were noticed, and the crews of both Indiamen were piped to quarters. That is, they assembled on the decks armed with pikes and cutlasses, and anything they could throw. The officers in charge of the press gangs thought this mere bravado and pulled alongside the Indiamen, only to meet a severe resistance from the crewmen, who had absolutely no desire to serve in the Royal Navy. The men from Immortalite suffered several injuries from shot and pike that were thrown at them, and eventually the marines opened fire with muskets, killing two sailors on Woodford. Even so, the press gangs were not able to get on board either Indiaman, and eventually withdrew some distance. When Woodford's officers finally permitted the press gang from Immortalite to board, all they found on board were a few sickly sailors.

Some seven months later, on 11 November 1803 Amethyst captured Spes, H. L. Cornelia, master. Three days later, Amethyst captured Johannes. That same day Amethyst captured Irene, L. J. Lubbens, master.

In June 1804, a court martial dismissed Campbell from command of Amethyst and stripped him of all his seniority on the Captain's List for misconduct in an action with four Dutch vessels off the coast of Norway. Command transferred to Captain John Spranger.

On 24 July Amethyst, while in company with Magicienne, captured Agnela. On 30 July Amethyst captured the Ebenezer, and then on 1 August Amethyst captured Juno. In December Amethyst participated in the pursuit of a French squadron under Admiral Willaumez.

In November 1805 Amethyst encountered the brig-sloop Wolverine off the coast of Madeira. After a series of ambiguous and misinterpreted moves by the other, the two captains mistook each other for enemies and opened fire. Both vessels survived and the two captains proceeded to exchange mutually recriminatory letters.

Amethyst was among the vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture, on 25 July 1805, of the Jonge Jacob.


Sir Michael Seymour, Ist Baronet

Captain Michael Seymour replaced Spranger. On 15 May 1807, Amethyst captured the privateer Josephine some 20 leagues from Scilly. Josephine was armed with four 2-pounders guns and small arms. She had a crew of 45 men, but had put ten on board Jane, which had been sailing from Lisbon. Josephine had sailed from the Île de Batz and Jane was her only capture. When Amethyst captured Josephine, Amethyst was in company with Dryad and Plover.

Then on 9 September Amethyst captured the Danish ship Twende Venner.

Later, on 18 October, Amethyst recaptured the ship Susannah. Amethyst also recaptured the American brig Rising Sun.

On 10 March 1808 Amethyst captured the Spanish brig Vigilantie. Eleven days later Amethyst recaptured the Portuguese schooner Inseperavil Unio.

On 3 May Amethyst and Conflict captured the French sloop Actif. Sixteen days later, Amethyst, Conflict, and Growler were in company when they captured the French schooner Annais. The next month, on 10 June, Amethystand Conflict captured the Spanish schooner Carmelita. Fourteen days later, Amethyst captured the American brig Sally Tracey. Then Amethyst was again in company with Growler when they captured St. Etienne, Maria Julia, and six chasse marees on 9 July. Lastly, on 17 September Amethyst captured sundry spars.

In November 1808 Amethyst captured the French frigate Thétis at the Action of 10 November 1808. British casualties in the engagement were severe, with 19 killed and 51 wounded, but French losses were several times larger, with 135 dead and 102 wounded. Amethyst had been severely damaged in the engagement and repairs took 71 days to complete at Plymouth. Seymour's victory was rewarded: Seymour himself was presented with a commemorative medal, £100 (with £625 to share among the wounded) and the freedoms of Cork and Limerick. The Admiralty awarded him a gold medal; this was one of only 18 actions that it so honoured. In addition, first lieutenant Goddard Blennerhasset was promoted to commander, the junior officers were advanced, and the Royal Navy purchased Thétis, commissioning her as HMS Brune. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Amethyst Wh. Thetis" to the still living survivors of the battle.


Combat de la frégate Niemen contre les frégates Aréthusa et Amethyst, by Jean-Baptiste Henri Durand-Brager

In 1809, Amethyst was with Sir Robert Stopford's squadron off Rochefort. She saw action in the early stages of the Battle of Brest Roads and in April captured the French frigate Niémen, under the command of Mons. Dupotet, Capitaine de Frigate, at the Action of 6 April 1809. Niémen had 47 killed and 73 wounded; Amethyst had eight killed and 37 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Amethyst 5 April 1809".

Later in the year, Seymour participated in the Walcheren Expedition, providing naval support to the transports. On 11 August she was part of a squadron under Captain William Stewart that forced the passage between shore batteries at Flushing and Cadsand. Amethyst had one man killed and one man wounded in the operation. Seymour left the ship in 1809; his replacement in September was Captain Jacob Walton.

Fate
On 15 February 1811 Amethyst was anchored in Plymouth Sound, intending to sail the next day join the fleet off Brest with provisions, including live bullocks. To facilitate her departure Walton decided to use only her bower anchor. A heavy storm caught her and blew her on shore near Cony Cliff Rocks, Mount Batten, before her crew could lower a second anchor. Lines were passed to the shore that enabled most of the crew to reach safety, though eight men did die. Most of the ship's stores were salvaged over the next few days. Still, the ship was too badly damaged to salvage and by 10 March wave action had broken up the hull.

The subsequent court martial found Walton and Robert Owen, the master, negligent and reprimanded both for allowing Amethyst to be anchored so close to shore with only one anchor. The court also barred Owen for a year from serving in anything larger than a sixth rate



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amethyst_(1799)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1854 – Launch of French Le Donawerth, a 90-gun Suffren class ship of the line of the French Navy.


The Donawerth was a 90-gun Suffren class ship of the line of the French Navy.



Her keel was laid in Lorient in 1827. She stayed abandoned in an unbuilt state for several years before being completed as a steam ship. She was eventually launched on 15 February 1854.

She took part in the Crimean War as a transport.
In 1860, she served off Beirut with Redoutable.
In 1868, she was renamed to Jean Bart, and used as a school ship.

She was again renamed to Cyclope in 1886, and eventually broken up in 1897.


The Jean Bart, sister-ship of Donawerth. Drawing by Louis Le Breton


Portrait of Alexandre as a gunnery school ship, her engine removed after 1873. by François Roux.

The Suffren class was a late type of 90-gun ships of the line of the French Navy.

The design was selected on 30 January 1824 by the Commission de Paris, an appointed Commission comprising Jean-Marguerite Tupinier, Jacques-Noël Sané, Pierre Rolland, Pierre Lair and Jean Lamorinière. Intended as successors of the 80-gun Bucentaure class and as the third of four ranks of ships of the line, they introduced the innovation of having straight walls, instead of the tumblehome design that had prevailed until then; this tended to heighten the ships' centre of gravity, but provided much more room for equipment in the upper decks. Stability issues were fixed with underwater stabilisers.

Only the first two, Suffren and Inflexible, retain the original design all through their career; the others were converted to steam and sail during their construction






Straight walls of an arsenal model of Suffren, with the lower long 30-pounder battery, the upper short 30-pounder battery, and the 30-pounder carronades on the deck


Suffren class ships of the line (further ships of this class)[edit]
The ships of the Suffren class, designed to be 90-gun sailing ships of the line, were modified and transformed into 80-gun steam ships of the line

• Donawerth 80 (launched 15 February 1854 at Lorient) – Stricken 1872
• Tilsitt 80 (launched 30 March 1854 at Cherbourg) – Stricken 1872
• Saint Louis 80 (launched 25 April 1854 at Brest) – Training ship 1881
• Jean Bart 80 (launched 14 September 1852 at Lorient) – renamed Donawerth 1868 – Stricken 1880
• Bayard 80 (launched 28 August 1848 at Lorient) – Stricken 1872
• Duguesclin 80 (launched 3 May 1848 at Rochefort) – wrecked 1859
• Breslaw 80 (launched 31 July 1848 at Brest) – Stricken 1872
• Charlemagne 80 (launched 16 January 1851 at Toulon) – Transport 1867
• Alexandre 90 (launched 1857 at Rochefort) – Stricken 1877
• Fontenoy 80 (launched November 1858 at Toulon) – Transport 1881
• Castiglione 90 (1860 at Toulon) – Stricken 1881
• Masséna 90 (1860 at Toulon) – Stricken 1879

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Donawerth_(1854)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffren-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1856 - The stores-ship, USS Supply, commanded by Lt. David Dixon Porter, sails from Smyrna, Syria, bound for Indianola, Texas, with a load of 21 camels intended for experimental use in the American desert west of the Rockies.


The first USS Supply was a ship-rigged sailing vessel which served as a stores ship in the United States Navy. She saw service in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.



Service history
Supply was purchased by the U.S. Navy at Boston, Massachusetts, late in 1846 for service during the Mexican–American War. She was delivered to the United States Government at the Boston Navy Yard on 8 December 1846, and was commissioned there on 19 December 1846, Lieutenant John Calhoun in command.

Mexican–American War
Supply sailed for the Gulf of Mexico on 21 January 1847 and supported the Home Squadron's operations against Mexico serving as a stores ship until late in the summer when Commodore Matthew C. Perry reduced the size of his force in Mexican waters after the American evacuation of Tabasco. Supply returned to New York City on 26 September 1847.



Dead Sea expedition
Exactly two months later, on 26 November 1847, the ship, now commanded by Lieutenant William F. Lynch, departed New York Harbor and proceeded to the Mediterranean with equipment and stores to be used in an expedition to explore the Dead Sea. She reached Gibraltar on the afternoon of 19 December 1847, and proceeded to Port Mahón with supplies for the Mediterranean Squadron. There she was delayed in quarantine for two weeks because of two cases of smallpox which occurred on board. After finally delivering stores to the American warships, she resumed her voyage to the Levant on 4 February 1848.

After touching at Malta on 9 February 1848, the ship reached Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire on 16 February 1848. There Lieutenant Lynch left the ship and proceeded to Constantinople to obtain permission from Sultan Abdülmecid I for the expedition before returning on board on 11 March 1848. After twice getting underway and being forced back to Smyrna by bad weather, the ship finally sailed to Syria and reached Beirut on 25 March 1848, and the expedition left the ship and proceeded on to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Lynch's report of the exploration still was cited in the 1970s as a primary source of information on the area.

Meanwhile, Supply cruised in the Mediterranean. When she returned, late in August 1848, she learned that the exploring party had successfully completed their undertaking and that Lynch, forced by the poor health of his men, had chartered a small French brig to carry them to Malta. Supply then headed west and reached Malta on 11 September 1848. There, Lynch and the entire expedition party reembarked, and the ship returned to the United States. She reached Norfolk, Virginia, on 8 December 1848 and was decommissioned there on 17 December 1848.

Tripoli mission
Recommissioned on 17 February 1849, the stores ship sailed once more for the Mediterranean on 8 March 1849, carrying the United States consul to Tripoli. After disembarking her passenger and delivering stores to the ships of the Mediterranean Squadron, Supplyreturned home, via Brazil, arrived at Norfolk on 4 September 1849, and was laid up there on 11 September 1849.

Commodore Perry's Japan expedition
Reactivated on 22 November 1849, Supply sailed early in January 1850 and proceeded around Cape Horn to the California coast, which was overflowing with "49ers," participants in the California Gold Rush who had been drawn there by word of a gold strike at Sutter's Mill. Two years later, she returned to New York to prepare for service in the West Indies Squadron; however, she was assigned instead to the East India Squadron as stores ship in support of Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition to Japan. She entered Edo Bay on 13 February 1854 during his second visit to Japan. After serving on the China coast, she returned to New York in February 1855.

Camel Corps mission
Supply's next assignment was perhaps the most unusual duty of her career. United States Secretary of War Jefferson Davis was extremely interested in developing the territory recently acquired by the United States from Mexico as a result of its victory in the Mexican–American War and arranged for an expedition to obtain camels for experimental use in a United States Army Camel Corps in the desert west of the Rocky Mountains.

Supply, commanded by Lieutenant David Dixon Porter – who later would win fame in the American Civil War – departed New York on 4 June 1855 and headed for the Mediterranean to obtain the camels. The ship reached Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire on 30 January 1856, loaded 21 (some reports say 31) camels, and sailed on 15 February 1856 for the Gulf of Mexico. Porter delivered the animals to Indianola, Texas, in May 1856. The ship had reached the halfway point on this curious mission for she was soon on her way back to the Levant for another load of camels which she transferred to Suwanee on the Mississippi River early in February 1857.

Paraguay Expedition


The Paraguay Squadron (Harper's Weekly, New York, 16 October 1858).

Next in Supply's string of interesting assignments came service in a special squadron assembled and sent to South American waters to support the Paraguay Expedition, a diplomatic effort to settle differences between the United States and Paraguay which resulted from an incident in which Paraguayans had fired upon the U.S. Navy sidewheel gunboat USS Water Witch. Supply arrived with the squadron off Asunción, Paraguay, on 25 January 1859 and stood by during negotiations which resulted in a Paraguayan apology and an indemnity which settled the affair.

A cruise with the Africa Squadron and duty on the United States East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico followed.

American Civil War
January 1861 found Supply in Pensacola Bay, Florida, with the secession of the Southern states beginning, and, on 16 January 1861 she sailed north with the families and possessions of the officers and men who had been stationed at Pensacola Navy Yard and arrived at New York on 4 February 1861.

The ship sailed south on 15 March 1861 carrying U.S. Army troops and United States Marines. She anchored in the harbor at Pensacola, Florida, on 7 April 1861 and, on 11 April 1861, landed them at night to reinforce Fort Pickens. The American Civil War broke out the following day when Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Throughout the Civil War, Supply supported the blockading squadrons on the United States East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. She took her sole prize of the conflict on 29 January 1862. when she captured the schooner Stephen Hart, which was carrying arms and ammunition, south of Sarasota, Florida. Her services, although undramatic, enabled many warships to remain on station in the blockade and thus helped substantially to shorten the war.

Post–Civil War service
After the end of hostilities, Supply served in the Brazil Squadron in 1866, and in the Far East in 1867 and 1868. After being laid up from 27 June 1868 to 5 November 1869, the ship sailed for Europe, but soon returned and was decommissioned at New York on 7 July 1870.

On 21 February 1871, Supply was recommissioned and sailed eastward across the Atlantic Ocean carrying supplies for the citizens of France left destitute by the Franco-Prussian War. In the spring of 1872, the ship carried a relief crew to the sloop-of-war Lancaster in the South Atlantic Squadron and, the following year, transported the American exhibits to Austria-Hungary for the Vienna Exposition of 1873. Following two years in ordinary at New York, the ship returned to Europe to bring back the exhibits from Vienna. Later that year, she made a training cruise with boys from New York. Then, in 1877, she served as a tender to the steam frigate Minnesota, which was serving as a training ship at the time.

In 1878, Supply sailed to Europe with the American exhibits for the Paris Exposition of 1878 and brought them home in March 1879. On 26 October 1878, while off Le Havre, France, Boatswain's Mate John Flannagan rescued a fellow sailor from drowning, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

On 27 January 1879, Supply collided with the British barque Diadem in the Atlantic Ocean. Diadem′s crew abandoned ship and were landed at Madeira.

Supply was decommissioned at New York on 23 April 1879 and was towed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was laid up until she was sold on 3 May 1884 to M. H. Gregory of Great Neck, Long Island, New York.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Supply_(1846)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1887 – Launch of SMS Eber, a 735-ton iron-hulled gunboat,


SMS Eber, a 735-ton iron-hulled gunboat, was built at Kiel, Germany for gunboat diplomacy in the Pacific. It was a barque-rigged auxiliary steamer.





After commissioning in September 1887 she was sent to the Pacific to serve in the German colonial empire. She disarmed the inhabitants of Nauru in 1888, ending their civil war and annexing the island to the German Empire. Eber was anchored in Apia Harbor, Samoa, during the 1889 Apia cyclone of 15–16 March 1889. Though she was the most modern of the seven warships present, damage to her propeller made it impossible for her to survive the violent wind and seas. After a long struggle, Eber was forced against the edge of the harbor reef and sank quickly, with the loss of 73 of her crewmen.


Wrecked ships in Apia Harbor, Upolu, Samoa soon after the storm. The view looks northwestward, with the shattered bow of the German gunboat Eber on the beach in the foreground. The stern of USS Trenton is at right, with the sunken USS Vandaliaalongside. The German gunboat SMS Adler is on her side in the center distance. Trenton 's starboard quarter gallery has been largely ripped away.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Eber_(1887)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Eber_(1887)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1889_Apia_cyclone
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-fornv/germany/gersh-e/eber.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1898 – The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba.
Of the 374 officers and men aboard, 266 died immediately, another eight died later from their injuries. The ship's sinking precipitated the Spanish–American War.


USS Maine (ACR-1) was a US Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor during the Cuban revolt against Spain, an event that became a major political issue in the United States.



Commissioned in 1895, this was the first United States Navy ship to be named after the state of Maine. Originally classified as an armored cruiser, she was built in response to the Brazilian battleship Riachuelo and the increase of naval forces in Latin America. Maine and her near-sister ship Texas reflected the latest European naval developments, with the layout of her main armament resembling that of the British ironclad Inflexible and comparable Italian ships. Her two gun turrets were staggered en échelon, rather than on the centerline, with the fore gun sponsoned out on the starboard side of the ship and the aft gun on the port side,[2]with cutaways in the superstructure to allow both to fire ahead, astern or across her deck. She dispensed with full masts thanks to the increased reliability of steam engines by the time of her construction.

Despite these advances, Maine was out of date by the time she entered service, due to her protracted construction period and changes in the role of ships of her type, naval tactics and technology. It took nine years to complete, and nearly three years for the armor plating alone. (This was 4 times as long to build as it lasted in service, 3522 days vs. 882 days.) The general use of steel in warship construction precluded the use of ramming without danger to the attacking vessel. The potential for blast damage from firing end on or cross-deck discouraged en échelon gun placement. The changing role of the armored cruiser from a small, heavily armored substitute for the battleship to a fast, lightly armored commerce raider also hastened her obsolescence. Despite these disadvantages, Maine was seen as an advance in American warship design.



Maine is best known for having been lost in Havana Harbor on the evening of 15 February 1898. Sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, she blew up without warning and quickly sank, killing nearly three quarters of her crew. The cause of her sinking and the identity of those who were responsible remained unclear after a board of inquiry investigated. Nevertheless, popular opinion in the U.S., fanned by inflammatory articles printed in the "yellow press" by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, blamed Spain. The phrase, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!", became a rallying cry for action, which came with the Spanish–American War later that year. While the sinking of Maine was not a direct cause for action, it served as a catalyst, accelerating the approach to a diplomatic impasse between the U.S. and Spain.

The cause of Maine's sinking remains a subject of speculation. In 1898, an investigation of the explosion was carried out by a naval board appointed under the McKinley Administration. The consensus of the board was that Maine was destroyed by an external explosion from a mine. However, the validity of this investigation has been challenged. George W. Melville, a chief engineer in the Navy, proposed that a more likely cause for the sinking was from a magazine explosion within the vessel. The Navy's leading ordnance expert, Philip R. Alger, took this theory further by suggesting that the magazines were ignited by a spontaneous fire in a coal bunker. The coal used in Maine was bituminous coal, which is known for releasing firedamp, a gas that is prone to spontaneous explosions. There is stronger evidence that the explosion of Maine was caused by an internal coal fire which ignited the magazines. This was a likely cause of the explosion, rather than the initial hypothesis of a mine. The ship lay at the bottom of the harbor until 1911. A cofferdam was then built around the wreck. The hull was patched up until the ship was afloat, then towed to sea and sunk. Maine now lies on the sea-bed 3,600 feet (1,100 m) below the surface.

Design

Stern view of Maine

Maine's building time of nine years was unusually protracted, due to the limits of U.S. industry at the time. (The delivery of her armored plating took three years and a fire in the drafting room of the building yard, where Maine's working set of blueprints were stored, caused further delay.) In the nine years between her being laid down and her completion, naval tactics and technology changed radically and left Maine's actual role in the navy ill-defined. At the time she was laid down, armored cruisers such as Maine were intended to serve as small battleships on overseas service and were built with heavy belt armor. Great Britain, France and Russia had constructed such ships to serve this purpose and sold others of this type, including Riachuelo, to second-rate navies. Within a decade, this role had changed to commerce raiding, for which fast, long-range vessels, with only limited armor protection, were needed. The advent of lightweight armor, such as Harvey steel, made this transformation possible.



As a result of these changing priorities, Maine was caught between two separate positions and could not perform either one adequately. She lacked both the armor and firepower to serve as a ship-of-the-line against enemy battleships and the speed to serve as a cruiser. Nevertheless, she was expected to fulfill more than one tactical function. In addition, because of the potential of a warship sustaining blast damage to herself from cross-deck and end-on fire, Maine's main-gun arrangement was obsolete by the time she entered service.

Sinking


Wreckage of USS Maine, 1898


Telegram sent by Captain James Forsythe, commanding, Naval Station Key West, forwarding word from Charles Sigsbee, Captain, USS Maineof the sinking of his ship


Cover of Collier's Weekly for March 19, 1898: "Memorial Service at Grave of Maine's Dead, Havana, March 4"


American cartoon, published in 1898: "Remember the Maine! And Don't Forget the Starving Cubans!"



In January 1898, Maine was sent from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban War of Independence. Three weeks later, at 21:40, on 15 February, an explosion on board Maine occurred in the Havana Harbor (coordinates: 23°08′07″N 82°20′38″W). Later investigations revealed that more than 5 long tons (5.1 t) of powder charges for the vessel's six- and ten-inch guns had detonated, obliterating the forward third of the ship. The remaining wreckage rapidly settled to the bottom of the harbor. Most of Maine's crew were sleeping or resting in the enlisted quarters, in the forward part of the ship, when the explosion occurred. In total, 260 men lost their lives as a result of the explosion or shortly thereafter, and six more died later from injuries. Captain Sigsbee and most of the officers survived, because their quarters were in the aft portion of the ship. Altogether there were 89 survivors, 18 of whom were officers. On 21 March, the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry, in Key West, declared that a naval mine caused the explosion.

The New York Journal and New York World, owned respectively by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, gave Maine intense press coverage, but employed tactics that would later be labeled "yellow journalism." Both papers exaggerated and distorted any information they could obtain, sometimes even fabricating news when none that fitted their agenda was available. For a week following the sinking, the Journal devoted a daily average of eight and a half pages of news, editorials and pictures to the event. Its editors sent a full team of reporters and artists to Havana, including Frederic Remington, and Hearst announced a reward of $50,000 "for the conviction of the criminals who sent 258 American sailors to their deaths." The World, while overall not as lurid or shrill in tone as the Journal, nevertheless indulged in similar theatrics, insisting continually that Maine had been bombed or mined. Privately, Pulitzer believed that "nobody outside a lunatic asylum" really believed that Spain sanctioned Maine's destruction. Nevertheless, this did not stop the World from insisting that the only "atonement" Spain could offer the U.S. for the loss of ship and life, was the granting of complete Cuban independence. Nor did it stop the paper from accusing Spain of "treachery, willingness, or laxness" for failing to ensure the safety of Havana Harbor. The American public, already agitated over reported Spanish atrocities in Cuba, was driven to increased hysteria.

Maine's destruction did not result in an immediate declaration of war with Spain. However, the event created an atmosphere that virtually precluded a peaceful solution. The Spanish–American War began in April 1898, two months after the sinking. Advocates of the war used the rallying cry, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" The episode focused national attention on the crisis in Cuba, but was not cited by the William McKinley administration as a casus belli, though it was cited by some already inclined to go to war with Spain over perceived atrocities and loss of control in Cuba.

Investigations
In addition to the inquiry commissioned by the Spanish government to naval officers Del Peral and De Salas, two Naval Courts of Inquiry were ordered: The Sampson Board in 1898 and the Vreeland board in 1911. In 1976, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover commissioned a private investigation into the explosion, and the National Geographic Society did an investigation in 1999, using computer simulations. All investigations agreed that an explosion of the forward magazines caused the destruction of the ship, but different conclusions were reached as to how the magazines could have exploded.


Raising and final sinking

Raising Maine on 20 December 1910

For several years, Maine was left where she sank in Havana Harbor, although it was evident she would have to be removed sometime. Maine took up valuable space and the buildup of silt around her hull threatened to create a shoal. In addition, various patriotic groups wanted mementos of the ship. On 9 May 1910, Congress authorized funds for the removal of Maine, the proper interment in Arlington National Cemetery of the estimated 70 bodies still inside, and the removal and transport of the main mast to Arlington. Congress did not demand a new investigation into the sinking at that time.

The Army Corps of Engineers built a cofferdam around Maine and pumped water out from inside it. By 30 June 1911, Maine's main deck was exposed. The ship forward of frame 41 was entirely destroyed; a twisted mass of steel out of line with the rest of the hull, all that was left of the bow, bore no resemblance to a ship. The rest of the wreck was badly corroded. Army engineers dismantled the damaged superstructure and decks, which were then dumped at sea. About halfway between bow and stern, they built a concrete and wooden bulkhead to seal the after-section, then cut away what was left of the forward portion. Holes were cut in the bottom of the after-section, through which jets of water were pumped, to break the mud seal holding the ship, then plugged, with flood cocks, which would later be used for sinking the ship.


Wreckage of Maine surrounded by a cofferdam, on 16 June 1911

Maine had been outfitted with Worthington steam pumps. Although lying on the bottom of Havana Harbor for fourteen years these pumps were found to be still operational, and were subsequently used to raise the ship.




USS Maine sinking after being scuttled off the shore of Cuba

On 13 February 1912, the engineers let water back into the interior of the cofferdam. Three days later, the interior of the cofferdam was full and Maine floated. Two days after that, Maine was towed out by the tug Osceola. The bodies of its crew were then removed to the armored cruiser North Carolina for repatriation. On 16 March, Maine was towed four miles from the Cuban coast by Osceola, escorted by North Carolina and the light cruiser Birmingham. Its sea cocks were opened and it sank in 600 fathoms (3,600 ft; 1,100 m) of water to the salutes of Birmingham and North Carolina.[87][88] During the salvage, remains of 66 more were found, of whom only one (an engineering officer) was identified and returned to his home town; the rest were reburied at Arlington Cemetery making a total of 229 buried there.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(ACR-1)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1917 - SS Minas – the troop transport was carrying Italian, Serbian and French troops from Taranto to Salonica, was torpedoed and sunk by U-39 off Cape Matapan. 870 men were lost.


SS Minas was an Italian troopship which was sunk on 15 February 1917 off Cape Matapan. Eight hundred seventy people were killed.



SS Minas was a passenger ship built in 1891 by Gio. Ansaldo & C. in Genoa, Italy, and operated by Angelo Parodi.

The ship was 110.90 metres (363 ft 10 in) long and 12.22 metres (40 ft 1 in) wide and had a top speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). She could carry 60 passengers in first class and 900 in third class. Until she was requisitioned for use as a troopship during World War I, she travelled mainly between Genoa and South America.

On 15 February 1917, the ship was in the Mediterranean Sea steaming from Taranto, Italy, to Salonika, Greece, when she was attacked near Cape Matapan by the Imperial German Navy submarine U-39 under the command of Walter Forstmann. On board were Italian, Serbian, and French soldiers on their way to the Salonika Front. The ship was also carrying weapons and ammunition, which exploded when two torpedoes hit the ship. This caused the ship to sink very quickly, killing 870 people. Eleven crew members and 315 Italian soldiers were among the dead. One of the lost soldiers was Vittorio Locchi, a young Florentine poet, who had written The Feast of Santa Gorizia in 1916. It was also rumored that the ship carried 25 boxes of gold bullion



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Minas_(1891)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1944 - japanese cruiser Agano (阿賀野), the lead ship of the Agano-class cruisers, sunk by USS Skate


Agano (阿賀野) was the lead ship of the Agano-class cruisers which served with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. She was named after the Agano River in Fukushima and Niigata prefectures in Japan.


Japanese light cruiser Agano off Sasebo in October 1942

Background
Agano was the first of the four vessels completed in the Agano class of light cruisers, which were intended to replace increasingly obsolete light cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Funding was authorized in the 4th Naval Armaments Supplement Programme of 1939, although construction was delayed due to lack of capacity in Japanese shipyards. Like other vessels of her class, Agano was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla.

Design
The design for the Agano class was based on technologies developed by the experimental cruiser Yūbari, resulting in a graceful and uncluttered deck line and single smokestack.

Agano was armed with six 152 mm Type 41 guns in three gun turrets. Secondary armament included four 8 cm/60 Type 98 naval guns designed specifically for the class, in two twin turrets amidships. Anti-aircraft weapons included two triple 25 mm AA guns in front of the bridge, and two twin 13 mm mounts near the mast.[3] Agano also had two quadruple torpedo launchers for Type 93 torpedoes located below the flight deck, with eight reserve torpedoes. The torpedo tubes were mounted on the centerline, as was more common with destroyers, and had a rapid reload system with eight spare torpedoes. Being mounted on the centerline allowed the twin launchers to fire to either port or starboard, meaning that a full eight-torpedo broadside could be fired, whereas a ship with separate port and starboard launchers can only fire half of its torpedoes at a time. Two depth charge rails and 18 depth charges were also installed aft. Agano was also equipped with two Aichi E13A aircraft and had a flight deck with a 26-foot catapult.

The engines were a quadruple-shaft geared turbine arrangement with six boilers in five boiler rooms, developing 100,000 shp (75,000 kW) for a maximum speed of 35 knots (65 km/h).

Operations in the Solomons
In harbor at Rabaul on 11 November, a Mark 13 torpedo launched by a Grumman TBF Avenger aircraft hit Agano in the stern, bending one of her shafts and flooding four compartments. Rear Admiral Morikazu Osugi was also injured in the attack. The next day, Aganowas taken under tow by her sister ship, Noshiro together with four destroyers, for repairs at Truk. However, a few hours after departure, the ships were sighted by the American submarine USS Scamp, which launched four torpedoes. Agano was struck again in the stern, damaging a second screw shaft and severely buckling several plates. Later that day, the accompanying destroyers fought off an attack by the submarine USS Albacore using a four-hour-long depth charge barrage. Agano finally reached Truk on 16 November.

Sinking
After three months of emergency field repairs, from November 1943 until mid-February 1944, Agano was finally able to leave Truk, albeit on only two of her four screws. In the course of repairs, 19 of her bulkheads had to be removed. She departed Truk on 15 February 1944, escorted by the destroyer Oite and submarine hunter CH-28, for the Japanese home islands where she was to be properly repaired, but could make only 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). On the afternoon of 16 February 170 nautical miles (310 km) north of Truk the three vessels were spotted by the American submarine USS Skate, which launched four torpedoes. Two struck Agano on the starboard side, flooding boiler rooms 3 and 5, and setting the ship ablaze. She remained afloat until the early morning of 17 February, allowing Oite to rescue 523 survivors from her crew of 726 men. Agano sank at 10°11′N 151°42′ECoordinates:

10°11′N 151°42′E at 05:17 on 17 February. Agano was removed from the navy list on 31 March 1944.

However, as Oite attempted to return to Truk that afternoon, the destroyer was sunk by torpedoes launched by Grumman TBF Avengers in the course of Operation Hailstone, and sank within minutes at the north entrance to the atoll, taking all but twenty of her own crew down with her. All of the Agano crewmembers originally rescued were lost.



USS Skate (SS-305) was a United States Navy Balao-class submarine named for the skate, a type of ray.

Skate was laid down at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard of Vallejo, California, 1 August 1942. She was launched on 4 March 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ethel L. Shamer, wife of Captain George P. Shamer, Supply Officer of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard and commissioned on 15 April with Commander Eugene B. McKinney in command.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Agano
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Skate_(SS-305)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
15 February 1982 – The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 workers.


Ocean Ranger was a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit that sank in Canadian waters on 15 February 1982. It was drilling an exploration well on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, 267 kilometres (166 mi) east of St. John's, Newfoundland, for Mobil Oil of Canada, Ltd. (MOCAN) with 84 crew members on board when it sank. There were no survivors.



History and design
Ocean Ranger was designed and owned by Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company, Inc. (ODECO) of New Orleans. The vessel was a self-propelled large semi-submersible design with a drilling facility and living quarters. It was capable of operation beneath 1,500 feet (460 m) of ocean water and could drill to a maximum depth of 25,000 feet (7,600 m). It was described by ODECO as the world's largest semi-submersible oil rig to date.

Constructed for ODECO in 1976 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Hiroshima, Japan, Ocean Ranger was 396 feet (121 m) long, 262 feet (80 m) wide, and 337 feet (103 m) high. It had twelve 45,000-pound (20,000 kg) anchors. The weight was 25,000 tons. It was floating on two 122-metre (400 ft) long pontoons that rested 24 metres (79 ft) below the surface.

The vessel was approved for 'unrestricted ocean operations' and designed to withstand extremely harsh conditions at sea, including 100-knot (190 km/h) winds and 110-foot (34 m) waves. Prior to moving to the Grand Banks area in November 1980, it had operated off the coasts of Alaska, New Jersey and Ireland.



Sinking
On 26 November 1981, Ocean Ranger commenced drilling well J-34, its third well in the Hibernia Oil Field. Ocean Ranger was still working on this well in February 1982 when the incident occurred. Two other semi-submersible platforms were also drilling nearby: Sedco 706, 8.5 miles (13.7 km) NNE, and Zapata Ugland, 19.2 miles (30.9 km) N of Ocean Ranger. On 14 February 1982, the platforms received reports of an approaching storm linked to a major Atlantic cyclone from NORDCO Ltd, the company responsible for issuing offshore weather forecasts. The usual method of preparing for bad weather involved hanging-off the drillpipe at the sub-sea wellhead and disconnecting the riser from the sub-sea blowout preventer. Due to surface difficulties and the speed at which the storm developed, the crew of Ocean Ranger were forced to shear the drillpipe after hanging-off, after which they disconnected the riser in the early evening.

At about 19:00 local time, the nearby Sedco 706 experienced a large rogue wave which damaged some items on deck and caused the loss of a life raft. Soon after, radio transmissions were heard from Ocean Ranger, describing a broken portlight (a porthole window) and water in the ballast control room, with discussions on how best to repair the damage. Ocean Ranger reported experiencing storm seas of 55 feet (17 m), with the odd wave up to 65 feet (20 m), thus leaving the unprotected portlight at 28 feet (8.5 m) above the water line vulnerable to wave damage. Some time after 21:00, radio conversations originating on Ocean Ranger were heard on Sedco 706 and Zapata Ugland, noting that valves on Ocean Ranger's ballast control panel appeared to be opening and closing of their own accord. The radio conversations also discussed the 100-knot (190 km/h) winds and waves up to 65 feet (20 m) high. Through the remainder of the evening, routine radio traffic passed between Ocean Ranger, its neighbouring rigs and their individual support boats. Nothing out of the ordinary was noted.

At 00:52 local time, on 15 February, a Mayday call was sent out from Ocean Ranger, noting a severe list to the port side of the rig and requesting immediate assistance. This was the first communication from Ocean Ranger identifying a major problem. The standby vessel, the M/V Seaforth Highlander, was requested to come in close as countermeasures against the 10–15-degree list were proving ineffective. The onshore MOCAN supervisor was notified of the situation, and the Canadian Forces and Mobil-operated helicopters were alerted just after 1:00 local time. The M/V Boltentor and the M/V Nordertor, the standby boats of Sedco 706 and Zapata Ugland respectively, were also dispatched to Ocean Ranger to provide assistance. At 1:30 local time, Ocean Ranger transmitted its last message: "There will be no further radio communications from Ocean Ranger. We are going to lifeboat stations." Shortly thereafter, in the middle of the night and in the midst of severe winter weather, the crew abandoned the platform. The platform remained afloat for another ninety minutes, sinking between 3:07 and 3:13 local time.

All of Ocean Ranger sank beneath the Atlantic: by the next morning all that remained was a few buoys. Her entire complement of 84 workers – 46 Mobil employees and 38 contractors from various service companies – were killed.[4] While the rig was provided with an Emergency Procedures Manual which detailed evacuation procedures, it is unclear how effectively the platform evacuation was carried out. There is evidence that at least one lifeboat was successfully launched with up to 36 crew inside, and witnesses on the M/V Seaforth Highlander reported seeing at least 20 crew members in the water at the same time, indicating that at least 56 crew successfully evacuated the rig. The United States Coast Guard report speculated that 'these men either chose to enter the water directly or were thrown into the water as a result of unsuccessful lifesaving equipment launching'. Rescue attempts by the standby vessels were hampered by the adverse weather conditions and the conclusion that the standby boats were neither equipped nor configured to rescue casualties from a cold sea. As a result of the severe weather, the first helicopter did not arrive on scene until 2:30 local time, by which time most if not all of Ocean Ranger's crew had succumbed to hypothermia and drowned. Over the next week, 22 bodies were recovered from the North Atlantic. Autopsies indicated that those men had died as a result of drowning while in a hypothermic state.

In related activity the following day, the Soviet container ship Mekhanik Tarasov was struck by the same weather conditions as Ocean Ranger, approximately sixty-five miles to the east. The battered Soviet freighter listed dramatically for hours before sinking with the loss of 32 of 37 crew.

Causes and effects


Ocean Ranger's vulnerability to a rogue wave illustrated.
1 – For comparison, the Draupner wave 59 ft/18 m
2 – 28 ft/8.5 m
3 – Location of the ballast control room

The remains of the platform were found by sonar search over the following weeks, resting in an inverted position approximately 485 feet (148 m) south-east of the wellhead, surrounded by major items of debris such as the derrick. The platform had capsized bow-first, turning over and striking the sea floor with the forward ends of the platform's pontoons. The United States Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation report on the disaster summarised the chain of events as follows:

• A large wave appeared to cause a broken portlight;
• The broken portlight allowed the ingress of sea water into the ballast control room;
• The ballast control panel malfunctioned or appeared to malfunction to the crew;
• As a result of this malfunction or perceived malfunction, several valves in the platform's ballast control system opened due to a short-circuit, or were manually opened by the crew;
• Ocean Ranger assumed a forward list;
• As a result of the forward list, boarding seas began flooding the forward chain lockers located in the forward corner support columns;
• The forward list worsened;
• The pumping of the forward tanks was not possible using the usual ballast control method as the magnitude of the forward list created a vertical distance between the forward tanks and the ballast pumps located astern that exceeded the suction available on the ballast system's pumps;
• Detailed instructions and personnel trained in the use of the ballast control panel were not available;
• At some point, the crew blindly attempted to manually operate the ballast control panel using brass control rods;
• At some point, the manually operated sea valves in both pontoons were closed;
• Progressive flooding of the chain lockers and subsequent flooding of the upper deck resulted in a loss of buoyancy great enough to cause the platform to capsize.

A Canadian Royal Commission spent two years looking into the disaster. The joint Federal-Provincial Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster found that the crew were not trained, the safety equipment was inadequate, there were no safety protocols for the supply ship, and that the platform itself had a number of flaws. The Royal Commission concluded that Ocean Ranger had design and construction flaws, particularly in the ballast control room, and that the crew lacked proper safety training, survival suits and equipment. The Royal Commission also concluded that inspection and regulation by United States and Canadian government agencies was ineffective. In addition to key recommendations for Canada's offshore oil and gas industry, the commission recommended that the federal government invest annually in research and development for search and rescue technologies, such as improving the design of lifesaving equipment—a commitment that has been met in every fiscal year since 1982.



Further information: National Search and Rescue Program
Aftermath
In August 1983, the wreck of Ocean Ranger was refloated and sunk in deeper waters by the Dutch firm Wijsmuller Salvage. Since its sinking the previous year, concerns over the wreck's position had been made by the federal government. As the Ocean Ranger was situated at an approximate 30 metres below the water, the wreck posed a danger to shipping. The operation saw Ocean Ranger towed upside down with her two pontoons breaking the surface.

Operations had commenced earlier in June, however progress was halted when two salvage divers were killed on the wreck by an underwater explosion on 20 June. A stop-work order on refloating the wreck was declared and an investigation into the incident followed. However, exploratory diving was allowed to continue. A second incident on 26 June saw a third diver killed, believed to have been hit by a dropped object as he attempted to return to the surface.

Lawsuits arising from the sinking were settled out of court with a package cumulatively valued at $20 million.

A permanent monument to those who died was created on the grounds of the Confederation Building, the seat of the provincial government of Newfoundland.

A documentary film, The Ocean Ranger Disaster (2002), was released only in Canada. In fiction, Canadian author Lisa Moore's novel, February (2009), depicts the life of a woman whose husband died aboard the oil rig. Canadian folk singer-songwriter Ron Hyneswrote a song called "Atlantic Blue" (1988) as a tribute to the crew of Ocean Ranger.

In January 2012, a non-fiction book, The Ocean Ranger: Remaking the Promise of Oil was published in Canada by Fernwood Publishing. The book's author, Susan Dodd, lost her older brother Jim with the sinking of the Ocean Ranger and watched, for years, as her parents pursued legal struggles with the oil companies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Ranger

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 15 February


1749 – Launch of French Hercule 64 (launched 15 February 1749 at Brest) - hulked 1756 and sold 1761.

Protée class. Designed and built by Francois-Guillaume Clairain-Deslauriers.
Protée 64 (launched 1 December 1748 at Brest) - condemned 1770 and taken to pieces in 1771.
Hercule 64 (launched 15 February 1749 at Brest) - hulked 1756 and sold 1761.


1756 – Launch of French Minerve, (launched 15 February 1756 at Toulon) – wrecked October 1762 off Villefranche.

Minerve class (30-gun design of 1754 by Jacques-Luc Coulomb, with 26 x 8-pounder and 4 x 4-pounder guns).
Minerve, (launched 15 February 1756 at Toulon) – wrecked October 1762 off Villefranche.
Oiseau, (launched 25 April 1757 at Toulon) – captured by British Navy 1762.


1793 HM Brig Sloop Childers (16), Robert Barlow, captures the French privateer Patriote near Gravelines in the first capture of the Revolutionay War

HMS Childers was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, initially armed with 10 carriage guns which were later increased to 14 guns. The first brig-sloop to be built for the Navy, she was ordered from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. She had an active career in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous French privateers and during the Gunboat War participated in a noteworthy single-ship action. The navy withdrew her from service at the beginning of 1811, at which time she was broken up.


French batteries firing at Childers off Brest (1793); National Maritime Museum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Childers_(1778)


1802 – French Tyrannicide, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, wrecked

Tyrannicide was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
In 1794, under Alain Joseph Dordelin, she took part in the Glorious First of June. Along with Indomptable, she helped rescue the Montagne trapped in the midst of the British fleet.
Under Zacharie Jacques Théodore Allemand, she was part of Bruix' squadron from March 1799 and took part in the Cruise of Bruix.
She was renamed Desaix in 1800 in honour of General Louis Desaix. Under captain Jean-Anne Christy de la Pallière, she captured HMS Speedy, captained by Lord Cochrane, and took part in the Battle of Algeciras Bay.
In January 1802, she was shipwrecked at Saint-Domingue trying to enter Cap Français harbour



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Tyrannicide_(1793)


1805 – Launch of French brig Nisus was a Palinure-class brig of the French Navy,

The French brig Nisus was a Palinure-class brig of the French Navy, launched in 1805. The Royal Navy captured Nisus at Guadeloupe in 1809. The British took her into service as HMS Guadaloupe (or Guadeloupe), and sold her in November 1814.

sistership

This lithograph depicts the French brig Palinure in action with the British brig Carnation off Martinique on 3rd October 1808. Both ships are seen in port broadside view, on port tacks, Palinure slightly to windward of Carnation. The crews swarm on the decks. On Palinure, they have climbed the bowsprit in readiness to board Carnation, while on Carnation they are ranged at the rails firing hand weapons to repel the French boarding party. Eventually Palinure succeeded in taking Carnation, although they later burnt her to prevent recapture in February 1809.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_brig_Nisus_(1805)


1808 - HMS Raposa gun-brig, Lt. James Violett, burnt to avoid capture near Carthagena.

HMS Raposa was the Spanish brig Raposa, launched in 1804. She was captured in a cutting out expedition by boats from HMS Franchise in 1806 in the western Caribbean and subsequently taken into service by the British under her existing name.

Raposa served in the Caribbean, repeatedly recapturing merchant ships which had been taken by French privateers. Thirteen months after being captured she ran aground while pursuing enemy ships. Unable to refloat her, her crew set fire to her to avoid her capture and she was destroyed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Raposa_(1806)


1847 – Launch of French Sané, 20, launched 15 February 1847 at Cherbourg - wrecked 23 September 1859


1855 - Sémillante – On 15 February 1855, in the Strait of Bonifacio near the Lavezzi Islands, Sémillante was caught in a storm. Lost in a thick fog, a gust of wind drove the ship into rocks on Ile Lavezzi, the 200 ha main island of the archipelago. The ship sank around midnight with all hands.

The Sémillante was a Surveillante class 60-gun first rank frigate of the French Navy.

Sémillante took part in the Crimean war from 1854 as a transport. In February 1855, under Captain Jugan, she departed Toulon with a crew of 301 and 392 soldiers as reinforcements for the French army
On 15 February 1855, in the Strait of Bonifacio near the Lavezzi Islands, Sémillante was caught in a storm. Lost in a thick fog, a gust of wind drove the ship into rocks on Ile Lavezzi, the 200 ha main island of the archipelago. The ship sank around midnight with all hands.

For weeks, bodies of the victims washed up on the shore of Ile Lavezzi. The remains of 600 of the people on board were eventually recovered and buried in the Achiarino cemetery on the island. Only the captain's grave is marked by name. A 27-foot-high (8.2 m) pyramid of boulders was built as a remembrance of the disaster.
The wreck is cited as a triggering event that raised public awareness of naval disasters and spurred the creation of coastal rescue organizations



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Sémillante_(1841)


1943 - USS Gato (SS 212) sinks Japanese stores ship Suruga Maru in Bougainville Strait and USS Pickerel (SS 177) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks cargo vessel Tateyama Maru off the east coast of Honshu.


1996 - Tanker MV Sea Empress disaster

The MV Sea Empress was a single-hull oil tanker that ran aground at the entrance to the Milford Haven harbour on the southwest coast of Wales in February 1996. The ensuing oil spill, Britain's third largest oil spillage and the twelfth largest in the world at the time, devastated a considerable area of local coastline and killed many birds, and continued to affect the Pembrokeshire coast for years afterwards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Sea_Empress

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16 February 1669 – Launch of French Lys, a 70-gun 3-decker ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Audibert.


The Lys was a 70-gun 3-decker ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Audibert. She was the first ship of the line to feature suspended lamps instead of candels.



As Ile de France, she was commissioned under Captain Bellisle to wadged war against the Barbary corsairs.

She was renamed Lys on 24 June 1671. She took part in operations off Tripoli under Captain de La Fayette. In 1672, along with Dauphin, Juste and Reine, she battled corsairs from Algiers at the entrance of Rhône, destroying two of them.

She was part of Abraham Duquesne's squadron in operations off Sicily. She took part in the Battle of Stromboli under Lieutenant-Général Marquis Guillaume d'Alméras, and in the Battle of Augusta, where she led the vanguard of the French fleet. She was in the rear-guard at the Battle of Palermo.

She was eventually broken up in 1689.


Vaisseaux de Premier Rang Ordinaire
While the smaller First Rank ships also had three full-length gun decks, the uppermost of these before 1690 generally carried carriage guns only on the forward section and on the after section of that deck, with a section between them in the waist of the ship where no guns were mounted (and no gunports fitted). These ships had no forecastle or poop, so that the two sections of the upper gun deck served the function of forecastle and quarterdeck, while the nominal quarterdeck was short and served in effect the function of a poop.

All First Rank ships built from 1689 (until 1740) had three full-length gun decks, usually plus a number of smaller carriage guns mounted on the gaillards (i.e. the quarterdeck, forecastle and possibly a poop deck). Some of the earlier ships built before 1689 received extra guns and gunports fitted in the waist section of their upper deck around 1689, to bring them up to 80 guns or more.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Lys_(1669)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16 February 1745 - HMS Weymouth (60), Cptn. Warwick Calmady, grounded and wrecked off English Harbour, Antigua


HMS Weymouth was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1736 and in service during the War of the Austrian Succession. Initially stationed in the Mediterranean, she was assigned to the Navy's Caribbean fleet in 1740 and participated in Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741. Decommissioned later that year, she was restored to active service in the Caribbean in 1744. A navigational error on 16 February 1745 brought her too close to the shore of Antigua, where she was wrecked upon a submerged reef. Three of Weymouth's officers were subsequently found guilty of negligence, with two required to pay substantial fines and the third sentenced to a two-year jail term.



Description
Weymouth was designed according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment of dimensions. As built, she was 144 ft 5 in (44.0 m) long with a 116 ft 10 in (35.6 m) keel, a beam of 41 ft 5 in (12.62 m), and a hold depth of 16 ft 11 in (5.2 m). She was armed with twenty-four 24-pounder cannonslocated along her gundeck, supported by 26 nine-pounders on the upper deck and ten 6-pounders ranged along the quarterdeck and the forecastle. The designated complement was 400, comprising four commissioned officers – a captain and three lieutenants – overseeing 63 warrant and petty officers, 219 naval ratings, 67 Marines and 47 servants and other ranks. The 47 servants and other ranks provided for in the ship's complement consisted of 30 personal servants and clerical staff, six assistant carpenters, two assistant sailmakers, a steward's mate and eight widow's men. Weymouth's marines were headed by a captain and second lieutenant, with four non-commissioned officers, a drummer boy and 60 private soldiers.


Scale: 1:48. A modern plan showing the inboard profile with figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Weymouth (1736), a 1733 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker, possibly as built in 1736.

Construction and career
Weymouth, named after the eponymous port, was ordered on 6 January 1733. She was laid down in September at Plymouth Dockyard and was launchedon 31 March 1736. Completed on 27 July 1739 at the cost of £14,963, she commissioned under the command of Captain Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, but he was replaced by Captain Thomas Trefusis in July and the ship was sent to the Mediterranean. The following year the ship was commanded by Captain Charles Knowles and participated in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in March 1741.

Loss
Weymouth was recommissioned for active service on 10 June 1744, under the command of Captain Warwick Calmady. Calmady had recently transferred aboard from the sixth-rate HMS Lively which had been paid off at Spithead the previous day. He brought most of Lively's crew with him, as Weymouth was short-handed while in ordinary. the next four months were spent in fitting out Weymouth for action at sea. She put to sea on 18 November 1744 to join a squadron under vice-admiral Thomas Davers, which was escorting a merchant convoy destined for the Caribbean.

On 17 February 1745, shortly before 01:00, Weymouth grounded after having sailed from English Harbour, Antigua on 13 February. All her guns and stores were removed, before Weymouth finally broke up on 22 February. Her commanding officer, Captain Warwick Calmady, was court-martialed over the loss on 18—19 February, and acquitted. The pilot who was embarked on Weymouth was sentenced to two years at the Marshalsea prison.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Dragon (1736), Weymouth (1736), and with alterations for Nottingham (1745), Medway (1742), and Dreadnought (1742), all 1733 Establishment 60-gun Third (later Fourth) Rate, two-decker.


1733 proposals and revisions
Over time, as British shipbuilding remained stagnant, Britain's foreign maritime rivals, most notably France, continued developing their own ships so that eventually the Navy Board was forced to take note. British ships by comparison with their foreign counterparts were usually significantly smaller — a practice that had come about through a combination of various factors differentiating the role of the Royal Navy from that of the continental navies, but a major factor was the need for a sizeable fleet, and the associated requirement to keep costs as low as practicable. However, by 1729 concerns were being expressed that the ships being built to the 1719 Establishment may be too small, and so a new ship, HMS Centurion, and HMS Rippon which was due for rebuilding, were built with slightly altered dimensions.

In 1732 the Admiralty decided to ask the Master Shipwrights in each of the Royal dockyards to report to them on how best they thought the ships could be improved. The responses, when they finally arrived, were conservative, offering only minor adjustments to certain dimensions. There was little agreement between the changes proposed, and no further progress was made until May 1733 when Sir Jacob Ackworth of the Navy Board — the Surveyor of the Navy at the time — proposed to the Admiralty some changes to the dimensions of the 50-gun and 60-gun ships, most notably an increase in breadth. The Admiralty accepted these proposals, and the ones that followed in later months for the other types, and these new dimensions became the effective new Establishment, though they never technically superseded the 1719 dimensions; there was no 1733 Establishment. Indications are that the Admiralty desired more far-reaching reforms that what was actually implemented, but due in part to the absence of anyone with practical shipbuilding knowledge on the Board, the Board of Admiralty lacked the ability to realise them.

Fourth rates of 60 (later 58) guns
The 1719 Establishment revised the dimensions of these ships as shown in the adjacent table. Three 60-gun ships were rebuilt to this specification during the early 1720s - the Plymouth, Canterbury and Windsor - while the Dreadnought underwent a major repair amounting to a rebuild and a fifth ship - the Sunderland - was replaced by new construction. In the late 1720s, six new 60-gun ships were rebuilt to replace obsolete 50-gun ships - the Deptford, Pembroke, Tilbury, Warwick, Swallow and Centurion (the last-named to a somewhat broader specification), while the 60-gun Dunkirk was likewise rebuilt. A slightly lengthened ship - the Rippon - was built in 1730–1735.

The 1733 revision increased the dimensions as follows:

• Tons burthen: 1061 49⁄94 bm
• Length: 144 ft 0 in (43.9 m) (gundeck)
  116 ft 4 in (35.5 m) (keel)
• Beam: 41 ft 5 in (12.6 m)
• Depth in hold: 16 ft 11 in (5.2 m)

Eleven vessels were initially built to this specification, including six built as replacements for obsolete 50-gun ships. These were the Weymouth, Worcester, Strafford, Superb, Jersey, Augusta, Dragon, Lion, Kingston, Rupert and Princess Mary. After 1739 another four were built - the Nottinghamand Exeter in the Royal Dockyards and the Medway and Dreadnought by contract.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Weymouth_(1736)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1719_Establishment#1733_proposals
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/colle...el-363795;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=W

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
16 February 1782 – Launch of french Dictateur, a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy


The Dictateur was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars.



Construction and early service
Dictateur was laid down at Toulon Dockyard in July 1781 to a design by Antoine Groignard. Launched on 16 February 1782, she had entered service by August of that year. She was renamed Liberté in September 1792 by the Revolutionary government.

Capture
The Liberté was handed over by French Royalists at Toulon to the Anglo-Spanish occupying forces during the occupation of Toulon in August 1793, but was burnt at the subsequent evacuation of that port in December to avoid her being taken back into French service.

Notes
a. ^ The six ships of the Pégase-class proved unlucky in their encounters with the Royal Navy. Pégase, the nameship of the class, was captured by the British in 1782, less than a year after being launched, and served in the Royal Navy until 1815. The other five - Liberté, Suffisant, Puissant, Alcide and Censeur - were all taken by Royalist forces during the occupation of Toulon in 1793, with Liberté and Suffisant being burnt in the withdrawal, Puissant taken away and added to the Royal Navy, and Alcide and Censeur left to fall back into Republican hands. Alcide subsequently blew up while fighting a British fleet at the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands in July 1795.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with decoration detail and name in a cartouche on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pegase (1782), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard. The plan shows the ship with the French layout of fittings, and the proposed alterations for fitting her as a British 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Signed by George White [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1779-1793].


The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781.

The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.


Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782

Pégase class (1781 onwards) – Designed by Antoine Groignard.

Pégase 74 (launched 15 October 1781 at Brest) – Captured by the British in the Bay of Biscay in April 1782 and added to the RN under the same name, BU 1815
Dictateur 74 (launched 16 February 1782 at Toulon) – Renamed Liberté in September 1792, captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793 and burnt by them there in December 1793, repaired by the French but BU 1807
Suffisant 74 (launched 6 March 1782 at Toulon) – Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793 and burnt by them there in December 1793
Puissant 74 (launched 13 March 1782 at Lorient) – Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793 and added to the RN under the same name, sold in 1816
Alcide 74 (launched 27 May 1782 at Rochefort) – Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793, retaken there by the French in December 1793, blown up by the British in the Battle of Hyeres in July 1795
Censeur 74 (launched 24 August 1782 at Rochefort) – Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793, retaken there by the French in December 1793, captured by the British in the Battle of Cape Noli in March 1795, retaken by the French in October 1795, and transferred to Spain in June 1799, BU 1799


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Puissant (1793), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard possibly after having been refitted as a prison ship. Signed by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1803-1823].


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Dictateur_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pégase-class_ship_of_the_line