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
4 September 1782 - Action of 4 September 1782 - HMS Rainbow (44) took French frigate Hebe (40) off the Ile de Bas.


The Action of 4 September 1782 was a small naval engagement which was fought off the Île de Batz between a French naval frigate Hébé and a Royal Naval frigate HMS Rainbow. This battle was notable as the first proper use of a carronade and so effective was this weapon that the French commander promptly surrendered just after the first broadside.

Action
On 4 September the 44 gun frigate HMS Rainbow under Captain Henry Trollope armed entirely with carronades was off the French coast near the Île de Batz when a frigate was sighted. Having then chased the vessel it turned to be a French frigate Hébé . Hébé of 1,063 tons was a new ship of the class of the same name whose armament consisted of 38 guns, twenty six of which were 18-pounder long guns. It was commanded by the Chevalier de Vigny (uncle of Alfred de Vigny) and had on board 360 men. Hébé had left Saint-Malo on 3 September and was heading to Brest escorting a small convoy.

At 7 am, having arrived within gunshot of the French ship, the Rainbow commenced firing 32-pounder chase guns from the forecastle, which were returned by the frigate. One thirty-two pound ball shot away Hébé's wheel and killed her second captain.


Schematics of a Carronade

Vigny examined the fragments of the hollow carronade shot and concluded that if she was firing 32-pounders as chase pieces she was actually a ship of the line in disguise. He fired one broadside, "pour l'honneur du pavillon,” (the honour of the flag) and struck his colours. The surrender of Hébé after slight resistance was not surprising taking into consideration the advantage provided by the unusual armament of the Rainbow.

Rainbow lost only one man killed and two slightly wounded. The French lost five killed, including the second captain Yves-Gabriel Calloët de Lanidy, and several wounded out of a crew of 360 men.

Consequences
A council of war was met at Morlaix whereby the loss of a new frigate, with barely a fight, condemned Vigny to fifteen years in prison, the case of his rank and service being declared as unfit for service. The captured ship was immediately integrated into the Royal Navy as HMS Hebe. After being renamed HMS Blonde in 1805 it was finally broken up in 1811.

More importantly for the Navy, Hebe would serve as a model for a new series of British frigates, the Leda class, the first of which was launched in 1800. The new class would include HMS Surprise (1812), HMS Trincomalee (1817), HMS Unicorn (1824), and a second HMS Hebe (1826).


The ships:
Hébé was a 38-gun of the French Navy, lead ship of the Hébé-class frigate.


Proserpine, sister-ship of Hébé

French Navy career
Soon after her commissioning under Captain de Vigny, Hébé was tasked to escort a convoy from Saint Malo to Brest and protect shipping from the depredations of the British Royal Navy in the context of the Anglo-French War.
In the Action of 4 September 1782, she was chased by the frigate HMS Rainbow, whose 32-pounder chase guns shot away her wheel and mortally wounded her second captain Yves-Gabriel Calloët de Lanidy. The weight of the ball made de Vigny mistake Rainbow for a disguised ship of the line. Even though the first shots had shown that Rainbow 's guns had a shorter range than Hébé's stern chasers, de Vigny never altered his course to take advantage of the longer range of his guns by firing back a full broadside. Later in the morning, the foremast of Hébé was seriously damaged and another man killed. An hour and a half later, when Rainbow was about to comme alongside, de Vigny could only fire his four of five most rear port guns and immediately struck his colours.

British Royal Navy career
The Royal Navy took Hébé into service first as HMS Hebe.


Port-quarter view of the Hebe (right) on a larboard (port) tack, with a starboard-broadside view of the lugger (left). 'HEBE' is inscribed on the upper counter on the stern of the ship. Hand-coloured.; Technique includes roulette work.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/102796.html#r339HRYBaTwmf0M7.99

On 3 July 1795 Melampus and Hebe intercepted a convoy of 13 vessels off St Malo. Melampus captured an armed brig and Hebe captured six merchant vessels: Maria Louisa, Abeille. Bon Foi, Patrouille, Eleonore, and Pecheur. The brig of war was armed with four 24-pounders and had a crew of 60 men. Later she was identified as the 4-gun Vésuve. The convoy had been on its way from Île-de-Bréhat to Brest. Seaflower, Daphne and the cutter Sprightly shared in the prize and head money. The Royal Navy took Vésuve into service as HMS Vesuve.
On 24 December 1805, the Navy renamed Hebe HMS Blonde.
On 15 August 1807, Blonde, Captain Volant Vashon Ballard, captured Dame Villaret after a chase of 13 hours. She was armed with an 18-pounder gun and four 9-pounder carronades, and had a crew of 69 men. She had been out twenty days but had taken no prizes.

Fate
The Royal Navy paid off Blonde in July 1810. She was eventually broken up at Deptford in June 1811


HMS Rainbow (1747) was a 44-gun fifth rate launched in 1747. She was used as a troopship from 1776, then equipped experimentally with carronades she captured the French frigate Hébé off the coast of Brittany in 1782, was on harbour service from 1784 and was sold in 1802.


Scale: 1: 48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, inboard profile (no waterlines), and longitudinal half-breadth for Rainbow (1747), a 1745 Establishment 44-gun Fifth Rate, two-decker, as taken off at Woolwich Dockyard on 14 August 1770. Rainbow was at Woolwich for a Great Repair and fitting between July 1769 and October 1770. The plan includes a table of the mast and yard dimensions.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81858.html#hgLzYEPUotlwsAZt.99


Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the roundhouse, quarterdeck and forecastle, upper deck, lower deck, and orlop deck with fore & aft platforms for Rainbow (1747), a 1745 Establishment 44-gun Fifth Rate, two-decker, as taken off at Woolwich Dockyard on 14 August 1770. Rainbow was at Woolwich for a Great Repair and fitting between July 1769 and October 1770.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_4_September_1782
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Hébé_(1782)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 September 1794 – Launch of French Minerve, a 40 gun Modified / enlarged Minerve-class frigate


Minerve was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her twice and the French recaptured her once. She therefore served under four names before being broken up in 1814:

• Minerve, 1794–1795
• HMS Minerve, 1795–1803
• Canonnière, 1803–1810
• HMS Confiance, 1810–1814

Modified (enlarged) Minerve class (lengthened by 7 pieds (French feet), broadened by 1.5 pieds and with 4 pouces (French inch) more depth in hold)

French service as Minerve
Her keel was laid in January 1792, and she was launched in 1794.

On 14 December, off the island of Ivica, she captured the collier Hannibal, which was sailing from Liverpool to Naples. However, eleven days later, HMS Tartar recaptured Hannibal off Toulon and sent her into Corsica.
Minerve took part in combat off Noli. At the action of 24 June 1795, she and the 36-gun Artémise engaged the frigates HMS Dido and Lowestoffe. Minerve surrendered to the British, Artémise having fled, and was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Minerve.


Capture of Minerve off Toulon

British service as HMS Minerve
French Revolutionary Wars
On 19 December 1796, Minerve, under the command of Captain George Cockburn, was involved in an action with HMS Blanche against the Spanish frigates Santa Sabina and Ceres. Minerve captured the Santa Sabina, which lost 164 men killed and wounded. Minerve herself lost eight killed, 38 wounded and four missing. Minerve also suffered extensive damage to her masts and rigging. Blanche went off in pursuit of Ceres. Early the next morning a Spanish frigate approached Minerve, which made ready to engage. However, two Spanish ships of the line and two more frigates approached. Skillful sailing enabled Cockburn to escape with Minerve but the Spaniards recaptured Santa Sabina and her prize crew.

On the evening of 1 August 1799, at 9 P.M., Minerve's boats came alongside Peterel. Captain Francis Austen of Peterel sent these boats and his own to cut out some vessels from the Bay of Diano, near Genoa. Firing was heard at around midnight and by morning the boats returned, bringing with them a large settee carrying wine, and the Virginie, a French warship. Virginie was a Turkish-built half-galley that the French had captured at Malta the year before. She had provision for 26 oars and carried six guns. She was under the command of a lieutenant de vaisseau and had a crew of 36 men, 20 of whom had jumped overboard when the British approached, and 16 of whom the British captured. She had brought General Joubert from Toulon and was going on the next day to Genoa where Joubert was to replace General Moreau in command of the French army in Italy. Minerve and Peterel shared the proceeds of the capture of Virginie with Santa Teresa and Vincejo.

Then on 8 November, Minerve and the hired armed brig Louisa captured the Mouche.

On 15 May 1800, Minerve and the schooner Netley captured the French privateer cutter Vengeance. Vengeance was armed with 15 guns and had a crew of 132 men.

In September 1801 Minerve was in the Mediterranean protecting Elba. Early on 2 September Minerve alerted Phoenix, which was anchored off Piombino, to the presence of two French frigates nearby. Phoenix and Minerve set out in pursuit and Pomone soon came up and joined them. Pomone re-captured Success, a former British 32-gun fifth-rate frigate now under the command of Monsieur Britel. (The French had captured Success in February, off Toulon.) Minerve also ran onshore the 46-gun French frigate Bravoure, which had a crew of 283 men under the command of Monsieur Dordelin. Bravoure lost her masts and was totally wrecked; she struck without a shot being fired. Minerve took off a number of prisoners, including Dordelin and his officers, in her boats. With enemy fire from the shore and with night coming on, Captain Cockburn of Minerve decided to halt the evacuation of prisoners; he therefore was unwilling to set Bravoure on fire because some of her crew remained on board.

Napoleonic Wars
Shortly after war with France had resumed Minerve was in the Channel and under the command of Captain Jahleel Brenton. On 26 May 1803 she arrested the French exploration ship Naturaliste and brought her into Portsmouth, even though Naturaliste was flying a cartel flag and had passports attesting to her non-combatant character. The British released her and she arrived at Le Havre on 6 June 1803.


Capture of Minerve by Chiffonneand Terrible.

In the evening of 2 July, during a fog, Minerve ran aground near Cherbourg. She had been pursuing some merchant vessels when she hit. The guns of Île Pelée and the gunboats Chiffonne (Captain Lécolier) and Terrible(Captain Petrel) immediately engaged her. Minerve's crew attempted to refloat her, but the fire forced Brenton to surrender at 5:30 in the morning, after she had lost 12 men killed and about 15 men wounded.

Brenton attributed his defeat to fire from Fort Liberté at Île Pelée, although the artillery of the fort comprised only three pieces (its other guns had been moved to the fort on the Îles Saint-Marcouf), fired at extreme range, and had ceased fire during the night; on the other hand, the gunboats fired continuously at half-range.

The French took Minerve back into their service under the name Canonnière.

French service as Canonnière


The Action of 21 April 1806 as depicted by Pierre-Julien Gilbert. In the foreground, HMS Tremendous aborts her attempt at raking Canonnière under the threat of being outmaneuvered and raked herself by her more agile opponent. In the background, the Indiaman Charlton fires her parting broadside at Canonnière. In fact, several hours separated the two events.

In 1806, under Captain César-Joseph Bourayne, she sailed to Isle de France (now Mauritius) to reinforce the frigate squadron under admiral Linois. Failing to find Linois at Isle de France, Canonnière patrolled the Indian Ocean in the hope of making her junction. She fought an inconclusive action on 21 April against the 74-gun HMS Tremendous and the 50-gun HMS Hindostan.

In late 1806, Canonnière was in Manilla, where Bourayne agreed to sail to Acapulco to claim funds on behalf of the Spanish colonies. She arrived at Acapulco in April 1807 and escorted Spanish merchantmen to Luzon. She then returned to Acapulco on 20 July to load three million piastres, ferried them to Manilla, and was back in Isle de France in July 1808.

At that time, the French division of Isle de France, comprising the frigates Manche and Caroline as well as the corvette Iéna, was at sea to conduct commerce raiding. The island was blockaded by the 30-gun HMS Laurel, under Captain John Woolcombe. On 11 September, Canonnière set sail to meet Laurel and force her to retreat or fight. After a day of searching, Canonnière found Laurel and the frigates began exchanging fire around 17:00. Laurelsustained heavy damage to her rigging, hindering her ability to manoeuvers and at 19:00, a gust of wind gave advantage to Canonnière. Laurel struck her colours shortly before 20:00, and Canonnière took her prize in tow back to Port Louis. Her capture strengthened the situation of the island, as Laurel was freshly arrived, provisioned for a five-month cruise, and carried various supplies for the British squadron.

Canonnière returned to Mauritius in late March 1809 . As she required repairs beyond those possible in Mauritius, the French sold her in June and she eventually sent off for France en flûte under the name Confiance.

Capture and British service as HMS Confiance
It was during this transit that HMS Valiant, under Captain John Bligh, recaptured her on 3 February 1810 near Belle Île after a six-hour chase. She was armed with only 14 guns and had a crew of 135 men, under the command of Captain Jacques François Perroud. She had been 93 days in transit when she was captured, having eluded British vessels 14 times. She was carrying goods worth £150,000, General Decaen having made her available to the merchants of Île de France to carry home their merchandise. Amongst her passengers was César-Joseph Bourayne.


Combat du Grand Port (le 23 Aout 1810) Defaite de l'escadre Anglae par la Divn France compe de la Bellone comdt Duperrey, la Minerve commdt Pre Bouvet, le Ceylan capne Moulac, le Victor capne Moisson (PAD5794)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109945.html#4VLd6drsfXIJac9P.99

Confiance then briefly re-entered the Royal Navy as HMS Confiance. She never returned to active service however, and was deleted from navy lists in 1814.


The Minerve class was a type of 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, carrying 18-pounder long guns as their main armament. Six ships of this type were built at Toulon Dockyard, and launched between 1782 and 1794. The frigates served the French Navy briefly during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured all six between 1793 and 1799 and took them into service, with all but one serving in the Napoleonic Wars, and some thereafter.

The first four frigates were built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb. Jacques Brune Sainte Catherine modified Coulomb's design for the fifth, lengthening it to permit the addition of a 14th pair of gunports on the upper deck. Catherine further redesigned the class for the sixth, final frigate. The French Navy preferred the designs by Jacques-Noël Sané. However, the more rounded hull form of the Minerve-class vessels' found favour with the Royal Navy, leading it to copy the design.

Ships

• Minerve

Ordered: 30 October 1781
Begun: January 1782
Launched: 31 July 1782
Completed: October 1782
Fate: Captured by the British 18 February 1794, taken into service as HMS San Fiorenzo, broken u 1837

• Junon

Ordered: 30 October 1781
Begun: February 1782
Launched: 31 July 1782
Completed: October 1782
Fate: Captured by the British 16 June 1799, taken in as HMS Princess Charlotte, renamed HMS Andromache January 1812, broken up 1828

• Impérieuse

Ordered: November 1785
Begun: February 1786
Launched: 11 July 1787
Completed: May 1788
Fate: Captured by the British 12 October 1793, taken in as HMS Captain, renamed HMS Unite 3 September 1803, hospital hulk 1836, broken up 1858

• Melpomène

Ordered: 1787
Begun: February 1788
Launched: 6 August 1789
Completed: April 1792
Fate: Captured by the British 10 August 1794, taken om as HMS Melpomene, sold on 14 December 1815

• Perle

Ordered: 1789
Begun: June 1789
Launched: 27 August 1790
Completed: September 1792
Fate: Handed over to the British 29 August 1793, taken in as HMS Amethyst, wrecked 27 December 1795

• Minerve

Ordered:Begun: late 1791
Launched: 4 September 1794
Completed: October 1794
Fate: Captured by the British 23 June 1795, taken in as HMS Minerve, recaptured by the French 3 July 1803, renamed Canonnière, sold June 1809 and renamed Confiance, recaptured by the British 3 February 1810 and sold



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Minerve_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerve-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-331308;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=M

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 September 1804 - The bomb-ketch USS Intrepid outfitted as fireship, blew up in failed attack on Tripoli with loss of all hands.


The first USS Intrepid was a captured ketch in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War.


Destruction of Fire Ship Intrepid

Intrepid was built in France in 1798 for Napoleon's Egyptian expedition. The vessel was sold to Tripoli, which she served as Mastico. The bomb ketch was one of several Tripolitan vessels which captured the Philadelphia on 31 October 1803 after the American frigate had run fast aground on uncharted Kaliusa reef some five miles (8 km) east of Tripoli.

Capture
USS Enterprise, a schooner with Lt. Stephen Decatur in command, captured Mastico on 23 December 1803 as it was sailing from Tripoli to Constantinople under Turkish colors and without passports. After a time-consuming search for a translator, the ketch's papers and the testimony of an English ship master who had been in Tripoli to witness her role in operations against Philadelphia convinced the commander of the American squadron, Commodore Edward Preble, that Mastico was a legitimate prize. He took her into the U.S. Navy and renamed her Intrepid.


U.S. Ketch Intrepid (1804)Contemporary sketch by Midshipman William Lewis, with a description reading:
"The Ketch Intrepid taken by the Constitution of(f) Tripoli in Dec. 1803. Was the vessel with which Capt. Decatur burnt the Philadelphia in Feby 1804. She served as a store vessel off Tripoli and was at last turned into an Infernal in order to blow up part of the Bashaw's castle. In this unfortunate attempt she was blown up & all her crew perished. Cpt. Sommers, Lieuts. Wadsworth & Israel & 10 or 12 men. 4th Septr. '04."
The original sketch was in the possession of Captain C.W. Cook, O.R.C.U.S.A., 1925.

Destruction of the USS Philadelphia
Meanwhile, Philadelphia lay in Tripoli Harbor threatening to become Tripoli's largest and most powerful corsair. Preble decided that he must destroy the frigate before the enemy could fit her out for action against his squadron. In order to take the Tripolitans by surprise, he assigned the task to the only ship which could be sure of passing as a North African vessel, Intrepid. He appointed Lieutenant Stephen Decatur captain of the ketch on 31 January 1804 and ordered him to prepare her for a month's cruise to Tripoli in company with Syren. Preble's orders directed Decatur to slip into harbor at night, to board and burn the frigate, and make good his retreat in Intrepid, unless it then seemed feasible to use her as a fire ship against other shipping in the harbor. In the latter case, he was to escape in boats to Syren which would await just outside the harbor.

Intrepid and Syren set sail 2 February and arrived off Tripoli five days later. However, bad weather delayed the operation until 16 February. That evening Syren took station outside the harbor and launched her boats to stand by for rescue work. At 7 o'clock Intrepid entered the harbor and 2½ hours later was alongside Philadelphia. When hailed, they claimed to be traders who had lost their anchor in the late gale, and begged permission to make fast to the frigate till morning. Guards suddenly noticed the ketch still had her anchors and gave the alarm. Leaving a small force commanded by Surgeon Lewis Heermann on board Intrepid, Decatur led 60 of his men to the deck of the frigate. A brief struggle, conducted without firing a gun, gave the Americans control of the vessel enabling them to set her ablaze. Decatur, the last man to leave the burning frigate, remained on board Philadelphia until flames blazed from the hatchways and ports of her spar deck. When he finally left the ship, her rigging and tops were afire. Shore batteries opened up on Intrepid as she escaped only to be answered from abandoned Philadelphia when her guns discharged by the heat of the conflagration.


Burning of the USS Philadelphia / by Edward Moran (1897) / Intrepid depicted in foreground

When Lord Nelson, then blockading Toulon, heard of Intrepid's' feat, he is said to have called it "the most bold and daring act of the age".

Intrepid returned to Syracuse on 19 February, and the next day her crew returned to their original ships. The ketch remained in Syracuse with only a midshipman and a few men on board while the squadron was at sea during the next few months. She became a hospital ship on 1 June and continued this duty through July. She departed Syracuse on 12 August for Malta, where she took on board fresh supplies for the squadron and departed on 17 August. She rejoined the squadron off Tripoli on 22 August.


U.S. Ketch Intrepid (1804) 19th Century painting by G. Brooking, depicting Intrepid off Tripoli in 1804, illuminated by moonlight.

Fire ship
A week later she began to be fitted out as a "floating volcano" and was to be sent into the harbor and blown up in the midst of the corsair fleet close under the walls of Tripoli. The vessel was loaded with 100 barrels of powder and 150 fixed shells, the fuses leading to the explosives were calculated to burn for 15 minutes. Carpenters of every ship were pressed into service and she was ready on 1 September, but unfavorable weather delayed the operation until 4 September. That day, Lieutenant Richard Somers assumed command of the fire ship. Volunteers for the mission also included Midshipman Henry Wadsworth and ten seamen. Shortly after Intrepid got underway, Midshipman Joseph Israel arrived with last-minute orders from Commodore Preble and insisted on accompanying the expedition.

Two of the fastest rowing vessels were chosen to assist in the mission and return the volunteers from the mission. At eight o'clock on 4 September the Intrepid got underway with the Argus, Vixen and Nautilus serving as escorts up to the point by the rocks near the harbor's entrance, remaining there to watch and pick up the returning rowing boats and return the crew from their mission. As the Intrepid approached the enemy fleet they were discovered and fired upon by carronades from the overlooking shore batteries. At 8:30 before the Intrepid could get to its final position it exploded, lighting up the entire scene and sending the hull, yards and rigging and exploding shells in all directions, killing all on board. The anxious crews of the awaiting squadron were shaken by the concussion of the great explosion but at this time could not determine the exact fate of the mission. They remained there the entire night with the hope that the rowing vessels would return with the volunteers, but by morning their hopes turned to despair when the light of day finally revealed what had happened. Commodore Preble later concluded that an attempt was made by intercepting boarding vessels, and that Somers decided to destroy the vessel, himself, and his crew to avoid capture and enslavement, but there was no way of knowing the exact events which resulted in the explosion.

Aftermath
The remains of the 13 sailors on the ship washed ashore the next day after the explosion and were dragged through the street by angry locals. [needs documentation] The bodies were buried in an unmarked mass grave outside Tripoli. In 1949, the Libyan government unearthed the remains and moved them to the current cemetery. Rear Admiral Richard H. Cruzen, veteran of two expeditions to Antarctica, represented the U.S. Navy at the ceremony unveiling the monument to the fallen sailors on April 2, 1949. Since then, the Libyan government has maintained the grave site, although sometimes has allowed maintenance of the site to deteriorate. On 17 December 2011, US defense chief Leon Panetta visited the cemetery in Tripoli and placed a wreath at the grave site. The US has no plans to repatriate the remains to the US.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Intrepid_(1798)
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/intrepid.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 4 September


1774 – New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook.

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

1777 - HMS Druid (16), Cptn. Carteret, attacked by American frigate Raleigh (36), Cptn. Thomas Thompson, while escorting a convoy.

HMS Druid (1776) was a 16-gun sloop, formerly in civilian service under the name Brilliant. She was purchased in 1776, converted into a fire ship and renamed HMS Blast in 1779, and was finally sold in 1783.


Model of Raleigh in the U.S. Navy Museum

On September 2 USS Raleigh captured the British brig, Nancy, (see also the event in Naval History) and from her they obtained the signals of the convoy which the brig had been escorting from the rear. Giving chase, the Americans closed with the convoy on September 4, 1777.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Raleigh_(1776)

1801 - HMS Proselyte (1770 - 32) wrecked off St. Martin the West Indies

HMS Proselyte was a 32-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate. She was the former Dutch 36-gun frigate Jason, built in 1770 at Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her crew mutinied and turned her over to the British in 1796. She then served the Royal Navy until she wrecked in 1801.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan and sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half breadth for Alcmene (1779) a captured French Frigate ,as taken off at Woolwich Dockyard prior to being fitted as a 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate. Signed John Jenner (Master Shipwright) and John Bartholomew (1st Assistant Master Shipwright) The plan includes the yard and mast dimensions for when she was taken off.. Annotation in the top left: "The Water Lines and Midship Bend in pencil are agreeable to the Proselyte" (Proselyte is a captured French Privateer, 1780) NMM, progress Book, volume 5, folio 517 states that 'Alcmene' (1779) was captured from the French in the West Indies on 21 October 1779. 'Alcmene' arrived at Woolwich Dockyard on 17 July 1781 and docked on 3 September 1781 where the copper was removed. She was recopped in early March 1782 and undocked on 13 March 1782, sailing on 25 April 1782 having been fitted at the cost of £10,524.9.6. She was sold on 17 August 1784 for £595.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83182.html#kd5LPV5p6RdHXwK9.99

Mutiny
In 1796 Jason, under the command of Captain Gerardus Donckum, was part of a Dutch squadron that had sailed from Texel in February. She encountered difficulties and had to put into Drontheim, Norway for a refit. On 31 May 1796, Jason captured and sank the British merchant ship Maryann, which was on a voyage from Nevis to Greenock, Renfrewshire.

Following this action, political disagreement and bad treatment aboard led some of Jason's crew to mutiny. They locked the captain and his followers below deck, and sailed into Greenock on 8 June. Captain John K. Pulling, of the 18-gun brig-sloop Penguin, accepted the mutineers' surrender there. When Jason surrendered she had more than 200 men aboard, so a "great party" from the Sutherland Fencibles marched from Glasgow to Greenock to take possession of the frigate.

Loss
While under the temporary command of Lieutenant Henry Whitby, Fowke not being on board, Proselyte was wrecked on 4 September 1801. She was on her way from St. Kitts into port at St. Martin when she struck the "Man of War Shoal" in view of Philipsburg. Fortunately, boats from Philipsburg saved all the crew. A court martial on aboard HMS Magnanime at Fort Royal, Martinique, on 7 November 1801 found Whitby guilty of negligence for not heeding the warning about the danger of the reef; the court sentenced him to a reduction in rank. The board also dismissed the master, Luke Winter, from the Navy. Whitby had left him in charge of the navigation and ignored the local standing orders, which specified where the shoal was and the bearings vessels were to follow when entering port.

Wreck site
Proselyte is now a popular dive site for visitors to St. Martin. She lies on her starboard side in approximately 50 feet of water, just beyond the mouth of Great Bay at Philipsburg. Numerous cannon, ballast bars, barrel hoops and anchors are scattered around the wreck on the ocean floor, all heavily encrusted with coral, which has made the "Proselyte Reef" a popular dive site. The Sint Maarten Museum has put many artifacts retrieved from Proselyte on display.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Proselyte_(1796)

1804 - Dutch frigate De Ruyter (1799 - 32), Joseph Beckett, lost in a hurricane in Deep Bay, Antigua.

HNLMS De Ruyter (1799), was a 32-gun frigate that the British Royal Navy captured in 1799 and took into service as a storeship. She was on her way to Falmouth, Jamaica, to serve as a prison hulk when a hurricane in September 1804 caused her to ground, wrecking her.

1807 - The island of Heligoland is occupied by British forces

1812 - Boats of HMS Menelaus (38), Cptn. Peter Parker, brought out a government transport, Fidelle, laden with ship's timbers from the entrance to the Orbitello Lake.

1839 - British action with junks at Kowlung.

1855 - Launch od SS Fulton, a wooden hulled, brig-rigged, sidewheel steamer



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Arago_(1855)


1941 – World War II: A German submarine makes the first attack of the war against a United States warship, the USS Greer.

The "Greer incident" occurred 4 September. By all accounts, a German submarine (later identified as U-652) fired upon the Greer, but made no contact. When news of the encounter reached the United States, public concern ran high. Initial reports reported that a British aircraft aided in repelling the attack.


USS Greer (DD-145)

In response, Germany claimed "that the attack had not been initiated by the German submarine; on the contrary, ... the submarine had been attacked with depth bombs, pursued continuously in the German blockade zone, and assailed by depth bombs until midnight." The communique implied that the US destroyer had dropped the first depth bombs. Germany accused President Roosevelt of "endeavoring with all the means at his disposal to provoke incidents for the purpose of baiting the American people into the war."


Franklin D. Roosevelt delivering his fireside chat of September 11, 1941

The United States Department of the Navy replied that the German claims were inaccurate and that "the initial attack in the engagement was made by the submarine on the Greer." Roosevelt made the Greer incident the principal focus of one of his famed "fireside chats", where he explained a new order he issued as commander-in-chief that escalated America nearer to outright involvement in the European war. In Roosevelt's words:

The Greer was flying the American flag. Her identity as an American ship was unmistakable. She was then and there attacked by a submarine. Germany admits that it was a German submarine. The submarine deliberately fired a torpedo at the Greer, followed by another torpedo attack. In spite of what Hitler's propaganda bureau has invented, and in spite of what any American obstructionist organisation may prefer to believe, I tell you the blunt fact that the German submarine fired first upon this American destroyer without warning, and with the deliberate design to sink her.​

Declaring that Germany had been guilty of "an act of piracy," President Roosevelt announced what became known as his "shoot-on-sight" order: that Nazi submarines' "very presence in any waters which America deems vital to its defense constitutes an attack. In the waters which we deem necessary for our defense, American naval vessels and American planes will no longer wait until Axis submarines lurking under the water, or Axis raiders on the surface of the sea, strike their deadly blow—first." He concluded:

The aggression is not ours. [Our concern] is solely defence. But let this warning be clear. From now on, if German or Italian vessels of war enter the waters, the protection of which is necessary for American defence, they do so at their own peril. . . . The sole responsibility rests upon Germany. There will be no shooting unless Germany continues to seek it.​

principal focus of one of his famed "fireside chats", where he explained a new order he issued as commander-in-chief that escalated America nearer to outright involvement in the European war. In Roosevelt's words:

Senator David I. Walsh (Democrat–Massachusetts), isolationist Chair of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, scheduled a committee hearing to unearth the details of the incident, which prompted Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, to issue a written report. Stark's account, made public in October 1941, confirmed that the Greer dropped its charges only after the submarine fired its first torpedo at it, but revealed that the Greer had gone in search of the submarine after its presence was noted by the British aircraft. Admiral Stark's report stated:

At 0840 that morning, Greer, carrying mail and passengers to Iceland, "was informed by a British plane of the presence of a submerged submarine about 10 miles [(16 km)] directly ahead. . . . Acting on the information from the British plane the Greerproceeded to search for the submarine and at 0920 she located the submarine directly ahead by her underwater sound equipment. The Greer proceeded then to trail the submarine and broadcast the submarine's position. This action, taken by the Greer, was in accordance with her orders, that is, to give out information but not to attack." The British plane continued in the vicinity of the submarine until 1032, but prior to her departure the plane dropped four depth charges in the vicinity of the submarine. The Greermaintained [its] contact until about 1248. During this period (three hours 28 minutes),the Greer manoeuvred so as to keep the submarine ahead. At 1240 the submarine changed course and closed the Greer. At 1245 an impulse bubble (indicating the discharge of a torpedo by the submarine) was sighted close aboard the Greer. At 1249 a torpedo track was sighted crossing the wake of the ship from starboard to port, distant about 100 yards [(100 m)] astern. At this time the Greer lost sound contact with the submarine. At 1300 the Greer started searching for the submarine and at 1512 . . . the Greer made underwater contact with a submarine. The Greer attacked immediately with depth charges.​

Stark went on to report that the result of the encounter was undetermined, although most assumed from the German response that the sub had survived. In fact, U-652 had indeed survived and promptly headed west to participate in the devastating U-boat pack attack on convoy SC-42 in early September.

Historian Charles A. Beard would later write that Admiral Stark's report to the Senate Committee "made the President's statement... appear in some respects inadequate, and, in others, incorrect." In his postwar summary of the Stark report, Beard emphasised that (1) the Greer had chased the sub and held contact with the sub for 3 hours and 28 minutes before the sub fired its first torpedo; (2) the Greer then lost contact with the sub, searched, and after re-establishing contact two hours later, attacked immediately with depth charges, then (3) searched for three more hours before proceeding to its destination.

The Stark report's account of how the Greer's engagement began caused Pulitzer-prizewinning New York Times reporter Arthur Krock to address it (and the Nazi sub engagements with the Kearny, and the Reuben James) when speaking about "who 'attacked' whom." Krock defined the term "attack" as "an onset, an aggressive initiation of combat, a move which is the antithesis of 'defense.'"[8] "In that definition," he said, "all three of our destroyers attacked the German submarines."

A 2005 book concluded that Senator Walsh's "very aggressive actions in the USS Greer case prevented war from breaking out in the Atlantic."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Greer_(DD-145)

1954 - The icebreakers USS Burton Island (AGB 1) and USCGC Northwind complete the first transit of Northwest Passage through the McClure Strait.


USS Burton Island (AGB 1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Burton_Island_(WAGB-283)

2009 – Launch of Leiv Eriksson, the biggest trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD)


Trailing suction

A trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) trails its suction pipe when working. The pipe, which is fitted with a dredge drag head, loads the dredge spoil into one or more hoppers in the vessel. When the hoppers are full, the TSHD sails to a disposal area and either dumps the material through doors in the hull or pumps the material out of the hoppers. Some dredges also self-offload using drag buckets and conveyors.



The largest trailing suction hopper dredgers in the world are currently Jan De Nul's Cristobal Colon (launched 4 July 2008) and her sister ship Leiv Eriksson (launched 4 September 2009). Main design specs for the Cristobal Colon and the Leiv Eriksson are: 46,000 cubic metre hopper and a design dredging depth of 155 m.[8] Next largest is HAM 318 (Van Oord) with its 37,293 cubic metre hopper and a maximum dredging depth of 101 m.

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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1697 – War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship, the Pelican, defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay


The Battle of Hudson's Bay, also known as the Battle of York Factory, was a naval battle fought during the War of the Grand Alliance (known in England's North American colonies as "King William's War"). The battle took place on 5 September 1697, when a French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron commanded by Captain John Fletcher. As a result of this battle, the French took York Factory, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company.


The French ship Pélican sinks following the en:Battle of Hudson's Bay (1697). From Histoire de l'Amérique septentrionale by Claude-Charles Bacqueville de La Potherie, Paris, Jean-Luc Nion and François Didot, 1722 (en:Library and Archives Canada, FC305 B326)

Prelude
D'Iberville's flagship, Pélican (44-guns), was part of a larger French squadron dispatched to contest English control of Hudson Bay. D'Iberville commanded Le Pélican (50 cannons, captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville), a 3rd rate man-of-war cut for fifty guns, and with one hundred and fifty men ship's company. Serigny commanded the Le Profond (frigate/'storeship') (460 t, flûte de 32 canons [+2 from Le Pélican], commanded by Pierre Du Gué, Sieur de Boisbriand.). Boisbriant commanded Le Vesp/Weesph (frigate) (Capt. Chatrie (chevalier de Chastrier) a vessel of about 300 t with about 20–26 guns). Le Palmier (frigate) (5th rate man-of-war, 300t, captain Joseph Le Moyne de Serigny) a vessel of about 20–26 guns, and originally the "Violent" renamed L'Esquimau/Esquimaux (the Eskimo), a supply ship (150 ton brigantine) Jean Outelas, Capt., capable of carrying from 10–12 guns; one report says the last was crushed by the ice pack.

Before the battle, Pélican became separated from the rest of the French squadron in heavy fog, but D'Iberville elected to forge ahead. This set the stage for a little-known but spectacular single-ship action against heavy odds.


Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

As Pélican sailed south into clearer weather, she approached the trading post of York Factory, and a group of soldiers went ashore to scout out the fort. Captain D'Iberville remained on board Pélican. While the shore party was scouting the fort, D'Iberville saw the sails and masts of approaching ships. Thinking the rest of his squadron had arrived, he set off to meet them. D'Iberville realized that the ships were not French, but were, instead, an English squadron when one fired a shot across the bow of Le Pélican.

The English squadron comprised the warship HMS Hampshire under Captain Fletcher, mounting only 50 guns, HBC Royal Hudson's Bay (200 t) commanded by Capt. Nicholas Smithsend and mounting 32 guns, and HBC Dering (a 3rd of this name owned by the HBC) (260 t) (Capt. Michael Grimington) mounting 36 guns. Fireship HMS Owner's Love (217 t) (Capt. Lloyd), which also joined the expedition, was crushed by ice earlier in the passage of the Hudson Bay Strait.

The Battle / Action
D'Iberville, his shore party out of reach, elected to give battle. The battle began as a running fight, but after two and a half hours, D'Iberville closed with the English and a brutal broadside-to-broadside engagement took place between Pélican and Hampshire. The English seemed to be gaining the upper hand with blood running from the scuppers of Pélican into the water. Captain Fletcher demanded that D'Iberville surrender, but D'Iberville refused. Fletcher is reported to have raised a glass of wine to toast D'Iberville's bravery when the next broadside from Pélican detonated Hampshire's powder magazine. Hampshire exploded and sank.

Aftermath
Hudson's Bay and Dering seem to have played only a limited supporting role in the final stage of the engagement. Hudson's Bay was damaged and struck her colors to Pélican after Hampshire blew up. Dering broke off the engagement and fled, but Pélican was too badly damaged to pursue.

Pélican was also fatally damaged in the battle. Holed below the waterline, Pélican had to be abandoned, but the arrival of the remainder of the French squadron shortly thereafter led to the surrender of York Factory on September 13, 1697, and the continuation of D'Iberville's remarkable career.


The Ships:
The Pélican was a French warship from the late 17th century. Built in Bayonne, France, the original Pélican was launched in 1693. A 500-ton ship fitted with 50 guns and commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, she ran aground on the shores of Hudson Bay a few days after a heroic battle in 1697, badly damaged by the encounter and by a fierce storm. In five short months the ship's place in history had been assured, as the victor in the greatest naval battle in the history of New France.


Dessin représentant le vaisseau le Pélican dans les glaces de la baie d'Hudson en 1697. Détail d'un dessin publié en 1722 par Claude-Charles Bacqueville de La Potherie, dans son Histoire de l'Amérique septentrionale. Vaisseau non nommé dans le dessin mais identifiable grâce au récit de l'auteur qui a embarqué sur le navire à cette époque et raconte en 1722 la campagne de 1697 en citant plusieurs membres de l'équipage.

Replica Le Pélican (1992)


Le Pélican after being struck in the Mississippi.

History
Laid down: 1987
Launched: 1992
Out of service: 2004
Fate: Sank 2004

Three centuries later, an authentic replica of the Pelican was built in La Malbaie, Quebec. Construction began in 1987, but the project encountered many problems. In 1991, the architect François Cordeau was removed from the project management. The concept was then changed quite a bit. The wooden hull gave way to steel, up to the waterline. AML Naval Shipyard remade the ship's bottom. All sorts of other important changes reinforced the vessel. The ship was completed in 1992.



For two years, the Pelican II was in the Old Port of Montreal as a museum, and it was finally sold to a Louisiana company in 1995. The purchase of the Pelican by a company in Louisiana marked more than the beginning of a symbol of New France abroad. It also sealed an end on Quebec soil, of a true epic after seven years of construction in which $15 million dollars were spent, and the famous ship was never able to sail.



The ship was placed in the port of New Orleans from 1995 to 2002. It was then moved to Donaldsonville, Louisiana, farther up the Mississippi River, where it became the property of the Fort Butler Foundation. It sank once in 2002 and was refloated. It was struck by a tugboat in 2004, and the city decided not to raise the ship. On 19 January 2008, a barge towboat struck Pélican II again. Fuel leaking from the towboat caused the river to be closed to boat traffic.

Half of the hull of the ship was made of metal, so that lifting her out of the water became a problem. Today not much is left of the ship except for a marker.




HMS Hampshire was a 38-gun fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Phineas Pett II at Deptford, and launched in 1653. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 46 guns.


In this scene, the six Algerines corsairs pictured in the background have been driven ashore on a low coast and set on fire. English frigates are at anchor in the foreground. The nearest is the ‘Portsmouth’; ahead of her, the ‘Hampshire’.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/157871.html#vmQsly7EfCsbRetW.99

In 1686 Hampshire was rebuilt at Deptford Dockyard as a 46-gun fourth-rate ship of the line. She was sunk in action on 5 September 1697 in the waters of Hudson Bay off York Factory. Manitoba. during the Battle of Hudson's Bay.


Check this out: Nice drawings of
The Crew of Le Pélican -- Concept Drawings by Francis Back

http://www.checkmatebook.com/francis-back---le-peacutelican-crew-members.html

Maybe interesting to read:




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hudson's_Bay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Pélican_(1693)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Le_Moyne_d'Iberville

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1758 – Launch of HMS Cerberus, a 28 gun Coventry-class frigate


HMS Cerberus was a 28 gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.




Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the sixth-rate sloop 'Guadeloupe' (1763), 28 guns, built in the Georgian style. The model is decked and equipped. The unfinished appearance of the head and stern suggests that the model was built for design purposes but the measurements are correct for the frigate ‘Guadeloupe’ of 1763. The deck layout is typical of the early frigates. The raised forecastle shows the position of the foremast with bitts either side and the galley funnel and belfry at the break of the forecastle. Below, in the waist, are the riding bitts, the hatchways and by the mainmast position, the gallows bitts, freshwater and bilge pumps. The quarterdeck carries the main capstan and steering wheel. The mizzenmast was situated just abaft the wheel. Built at Plymouth Royal Dockyard, the ‘Guadeloupe’ measured 118 feet along the lower deck by 34 feet in the beam, displacing 586 tons burden. It was armed with twenty-four 9-pounders on the upper deck and four 3-pounders on the quarterdeck. The ‘Guadeloupe’ was one of the smallest class of 18th-century frigates. The first of the ‘true’ frigates of this class were actually the ‘Tartar’ and ‘Lowestoft’, built in 1756, but the ‘Unicorn’ and ‘Lyme’ of 1748 had been almost similar in design. The ‘Guadeloupe’ was sunk by American batteries near Yorktown in 1781. Frigates were fifth or sixth rate ships and thus not expected to lie in the line of battle. With the advantage of superior sailing qualities over the larger ships of the line, they were used with the fleet for such tasks as lookout or, in battle, as repeating ships to fly the admiral’s signals. They also cruised independently in search of privateers.

Construction
She was ordered on 6 May 1757 from the yards of Pleasant Fenn, East Cowes and was laid down on 13 June 1757. She was launched just over a year later on 5 September 1758.

The frigate was named after Cerberus, the multi-headed dog from Greek mythology that reputedly guarded the doors to Hades. The choice of name followed a trend initiated in 1748 by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty, of using figures from classical antiquity as descriptors for naval vessels. A total of six Coventry-class vessels were named in this manner; a further ten were named after geographic features including regions, English or Irish rivers, or towns.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Coventry (1757), Lizard (1757),Liverpool (1757), Maidstone (1758), Acteon (1757), Shannon (1757), Levant (1757), Coberus (1757), Griffin (1757), Hussar (1757), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates, based on the plan for Lowestoft (1756) and Tartar (1756, which were the same as Unicorn (1748) and Lyme (1748). Maidstone (1758), Cerberus (1757), Griffin (1757), Acteon (1757), Shannon (1757),Bureas (1757) and Trent (1757) had the House holes moved to the upper deck. There are construction amendments for the first built Frigates. Annoted in the top right: " Body, same as the Lestaff and Tartar, except one havng a Beakhead and the other a round bow, withou the least alteration below the surface of the water - and the Tartar and Leostaff are exactly the same Body as the Unicorn and Lime. "
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83192.html#Ru9YKA8myGbRvlsk.99



In sailing qualities Cerberus was broadly comparable with French frigates of equivalent size, but with a shorter and sturdier hull and greater weight in her broadside guns. She was also comparatively broad-beamed with ample space for provisions and the ship's mess, and incorporating a large magazine for powder and round shot. Taken together, these characteristics would enable Cerberus to remain at sea for long periods without resupply. She was also built with broad and heavy masts, which balanced the weight of her hull, improved stability in rough weather and made her capable of carrying a greater quantity of sail. The disadvantages of this comparatively heavy design were a decline in manoeuvrability and slower speed when sailing in light winds.

Her designated complement was 200, comprising two commissioned officers – a captain and a lieutenant – overseeing 40 warrant and petty officers, 91 naval ratings, 38 Marines and 29 servants and other ranks.[9][c]Among these other ranks were four positions reserved for widow's men – fictitious crew members whose pay was intended to be reallocated to the families of sailors who died at sea.

Naval career
Cerberus saw action in the American Revolutionary War. One of its first duties was to dispatch generals William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne to Boston after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The American press likened the three generals to the three-headed dog that was the ship's namesake. It provided naval reinforcement at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The ship was the target of an early torpedo attack by David Bushnell's newly developed powder keg torpedoes in 1777. The attack killed four sailors in a small boat, but did not severely damage the ship.


An engraving depicting the destruction of a small British ship near the HMS Cerberus in 1777 by a floating mine designed by David Bushnell.

Cerberus was eventually burnt to prevent being captured by the French on 5 August 1778 during the American War of Independence, in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.
The remains of the Cerberus are now part of a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the "Wreck Sites of HMS Cerberus and HMS Lark.


Detail from a 1778 map, drawn by a French military engineer, showing the precise Wreck Sites of HMS Cerberus and HMS Lark, two Royal Navy frigates scuttled upon the arrival of a French fleet in July 1778.


The Coventry-class frigates were 28-gun sixth rate frigates of the Royal Navy, principally in service during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. They were designed in 1756 by Britain's Surveyor of the Navy, Sir Thomas Slade, and were largely modeled on HMS Tartar, which was regarded as an exemplar among small frigates due to its speed and maneuverability. The 1750s were a period of considerable experimentation in ship design, and Slade authorized individual builders to make "such alterations withinboard as may be judged necessary" in final construction.

A total of twelve Coventry-class frigates were built in oak during the Seven Years' War. Eleven of these were ordered from private shipyards and built over the relatively short period of three years; the twelfth was completed following the close of the War in a royal dockyard after its original contractor became bankrupt.

A variant was designed for building with fir hulls rather than oak; five vessels were built to this design, all in Royal Dockyards. these five vessels differed in external appearance to the oak-built frigates, as they had a square tuck stern. The use of fir instead of oak increased the speed of construction but reduced the frigate's durability over time.

More than a quarter-century after the design was produced, two further oak-built ships to this design were ordered to be built by contract in October 1782. One of these was cancelled a year later, when the builder became bankrupt.

The ships of the class:
First batch
HMS Coventry 1757
HMS Lizard 1757
HMS Liverpool 1758
HMS Maidstone 1758

Second batch 5 fir-built ships
HMS Boreas 1757
HMS Hussar 1757
HMS Shannon 1757
HMS Trent 1757
HMS Actaeon 1757

Third batch 9 oak-built ships
HMS Active 1758
HMS Aquilon 1758
HMS Cerberus 1758
HMS Griffin 1758
HMS Levant 1758
HMS Argo 1758
HMS Milford 1759
HMS Guadeloupe 1763
HMS Carysfort 1766

Final batch 2 oak-built ships, only 1 completed
HMS Hind 1785
HMS Laurel - cancelled


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cerberus_(1758)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-301036;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bushnell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreck_Sites_of_HMS_Cerberus_and_HMS_Lark

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1770 - a joung boy, William Bligh, entered as able seaman on HMS Hunter


William Bligh was born on 9 September 1754, but it is not clear where. It is likely that he was born in Plymouth, Devon, as he was baptised at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth on 4 October 1754, where Bligh's father, Francis (1721–1780), was serving as a customs officer. Bligh's ancestral home of Tinten Manor in St Tudy near Bodmin, Cornwall, is also a possibility. Bligh's mother, Jane Pearce (1713–1768), was a widow (née Balsam) who married Francis at the age of 40. Bligh was signed for the Royal Navy at age seven, at a time when it was common to sign on a "young gentleman" simply to gain, or at least record, the experience at sea required for a commission. In 1770, at age 16, he joined HMS Hunter as an able seaman, the term used because there was no vacancy for a midshipman. He became a midshipman early in the following year. In September 1771, Bligh was transferred to Crescent and remained on the ship for three years.


Portrait of Rear Admiral William Bligh by Alexander Huey, en:1814

The complete Career of Bligh will be shown on the 9th, the Birthday of Vice-Admiral of the Blue William Bligh FRS (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817)

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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War:


The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781. The combatants were a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves and a French fleet led by Rear Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse. The battle was strategically decisive, in that it prevented the Royal Navy from reinforcing or evacuating the besieged forces of Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The French were able to achieve control of the sea lanes against the British and provided the Franco-American army with siege artillery and French reinforcements. These proved decisive in the Siege of Yorktown, effectively securing independence for the Thirteen Colonies.


The French line (left) and British line (right) do battle

Background
During the early months of 1781, both pro-British and rebel separatist forces began concentrating in Virginia, a state that had previously not had action other than naval raids. The British forces were led at first by the turncoat Benedict Arnold, and then by William Phillips before General Charles, Earl Cornwallis, arrived in late May with his southern army to take command.

In June he marched to Williamsburg, where he received a confusing series of orders from General Sir Henry Clinton that culminated in a directive to establish a fortified deep-water port (which would allow resupply by sea). In response to these orders, Cornwallis moved to Yorktown in late July, where his army began building fortifications. The presence of these British troops, coupled with General Clinton's desire for a port there, made control of the Chesapeake Bay an essential naval objective for both sides.


Admiral Thomas Graves

On the 21st of May Generals George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau, respectively the commanders of the Continental Army and the Expédition Particulière, met to discuss potential operations against the British and Loyalists. They considered either an assault or siege on the principal British base at New York City, or operations against the British forces in Virginia. Since either of these options would require the assistance of the French fleet, then in the West Indies, a ship was dispatched to meet with French Rear Admiral François Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse who was expected at Cap-Français (now known as Cap-Haïtien, Haiti), outlining the possibilities and requesting his assistance. Rochambeau, in a private note to de Grasse, indicated that his preference was for an operation against Virginia. The two generals then moved their forces to White Plains, New York, to study New York's defenses and await news from de Grasse.

Arrival of the fleets
De Grasse arrived at Cap-Français on 15 August. He immediately dispatched his response to Rochambeau's note, which was that he would make for the Chesapeake. Taking on 3,200 troops, De Grasse sailed from Cap-Français with his entire fleet, 28 ships of the line. Sailing outside the normal shipping lanes to avoid notice, he arrived at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on August 30, and disembarked the troops to assist in the land blockade of Cornwallis. Two British frigates that were supposed to be on patrol outside the bay were trapped inside the bay by de Grasse's arrival; this prevented the British in New York from learning the full strength of de Grasse's fleet until it was too late.


François Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse, coloured engraving by Antoine Maurin

British Admiral George Brydges Rodney, who had been tracking de Grasse around the West Indies, was alerted to the latter's departure, but was uncertain of the French admiral's destination. Believing that de Grasse would return a portion of his fleet to Europe, Rodney detached Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood with 14 ships of the line and orders to find de Grasse's destination in North America. Rodney, who was ill, sailed for Europe with the rest of his fleet in order to recover, refit his fleet, and to avoid the Atlantic hurricane season.

Sailing more directly than de Grasse, Hood's fleet arrived off the entrance to the Chesapeake on 25 August. Finding no French ships there, he then sailed for New York. Meanwhile, his colleague and commander of the New York fleet, Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves, had spent several weeks trying to intercept a convoy organized by John Laurens to bring much-needed supplies and hard currency from France to Boston. When Hood arrived at New York, he found that Graves was in port (having failed to intercept the convoy), but had only five ships of the line that were ready for battle.

De Grasse had notified his counterpart in Newport, the Comte de Barras Saint-Laurent, of his intentions and his planned arrival date. Barras sailed from Newport on 27 August with 8 ships of the line, 4 frigates, and 18 transports carrying French armaments and siege equipment. He deliberately sailed via a circuitous route in order to minimize the possibility of an encounter with the British, should they sail from New York in pursuit. Washington and Rochambeau, in the meantime, had crossed the Hudson on 24 August, leaving some troops behind as a ruse to delay any potential move on the part of General Clinton to mobilize assistance for Cornwallis.

of Barras' departure led the British to realize that the Chesapeake was the probable target of the French fleets. By 31 August, Graves had moved his five ships of the line out of New York harbor to meet with Hood's force. Taking command of the combined fleet, now 19 ships, Graves sailed south, and arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake on 5 September. His progress was slow; the poor condition of some of the West Indies ships (contrary to claims by Admiral Hood that his fleet was fit for a month of service) necessitated repairs en route. Graves was also concerned about some ships in his own fleet; Europe in particular had difficulty manoeuvring.

Battle lines form
French and British patrol frigates each spotted the other's fleet around 9:30 am; both at first underestimated the size of the other fleet, leading each commander to believe the other fleet was the smaller fleet of Admiral de Barras. When the true size of the fleets became apparent, Graves assumed that de Grasse and Barras had already joined forces, and prepared for battle; he directed his line toward the bay's mouth, assisted by winds from the north-northeast.

De Grasse had detached a few of his ships to blockade the York and James Rivers farther up the bay, and many of the ships at anchor were missing officers, men, and boats when the British fleet was sighted. He faced the difficult proposition of organizing a line of battle while sailing against an incoming tide, with winds and land features that would require him to do so on a tack opposite that of the British fleet. At 11:30 am, 24 ships of the French fleet cut their anchor lines and began sailing out of the bay with the noon tide, leaving behind the shore contingents and ships' boats. Some ships were so seriously undermanned, missing as many as 200 men, that not all of their guns could be manned. De Grasse had ordered the ships to form into a line as they exited the bay, in order of speed and without regard to its normal sailing order. Admiral Louis de Bougainville's Auguste was one of the first ships out. With a squadron of three other ships Bougainville ended up well ahead of the rest of the French line; by 3:45 pm the gap was large enough that the British could have cut his squadron off from the rest of the French fleet.


Formation of fleets: British ships are black, French ships are white.

By 1:00 pm, the two fleets were roughly facing each other, but sailing on opposite tacks. In order to engage, and to avoid some shoals (known as the Middle Ground) near the mouth of the bay, Graves around 2:00 pm ordered his whole fleet to wear, a manoeuvre that reversed his line of battle, but enabled it to line up with the French fleet as its ships exited the bay. This placed the squadron of Hood, his most aggressive commander, at the rear of the line, and that of Admiral Francis Samuel Drake in the van.

At this point, both fleets were sailing generally east, away from the bay, with winds from the north-northeast. The two lines were approaching at an angle so that the leading ships of the vans of both lines were within range of each other, while the ships at the rear were too far apart to engage. The French had a firing advantage, since the wind conditions meant they could open their lower gun ports, while the British had to leave theirs closed to avoid water washing onto the lower decks. The French fleet, which was in a better state of repair than the British fleet, outnumbered the British in the number of ships and total guns, and had heavier guns capable of throwing more weight. In the British fleet, Ajax and Terrible, two ships of the West Indies squadron that were among the most heavily engaged, were in quite poor condition. Graves at this point did not press the potential advantage of the separated French van; as the French centre and rear closed the distance with the British line, they also closed the distance with their own van. One British observer wrote, "To the astonishment of the whole fleet, the French center were permitted without molestation to bear down to support their van."

The need for the two lines to actually reach parallel lines so they might fully engage led Graves to give conflicting signals that were interpreted critically differently by Admiral Hood, directing the rear squadron, than Graves intended. None of the options for closing the angle between the lines presented a favourable option to the British commander: any manoeuvre to bring ships closer would limit their firing ability to their bow guns, and potentially expose their decks to raking or enfilading fire from the enemy ships. Graves hoisted two signals: one for "line ahead", under which the ships would slowly close the gap and then straighten the line when parallel to the enemy, and one for "close action", which normally indicated that ships should turn to directly approach the enemy line, turning when the appropriate distance was reached. This combination of signals resulted in the piecemeal arrival of his ships into the range of battle. Admiral Hood interpreted the instruction to maintain line of battle to take precedence over the signal for close action, and as a consequence his squadron did not close rapidly and never became significantly engaged in the action.

Battle
It was about 4:00 pm, over 6 hours since the two fleets had first sighted each other, when the British—who had the weather gage, and therefore the initiative—opened their attack. The battle began with HMS Intrepid opening fire against the Marseillais, its counterpart near the head of the line. The action very quickly became general, with the van and center of each line fully engaged. The French, in a practice they were known for, tended to aim at British masts and rigging, with the intent of crippling their opponent's mobility. The effects of this tactic were apparent in the engagement: Shrewsbury and HMS Intrepid, at the head of the British line, became virtually impossible to manage, and eventually fell out of the line. The rest of Admiral Drake's squadron also suffered heavy damage, but the casualties were not as severe as those taken on the first two ships. The angle of approach of the British line also played a role in the damage they sustained; ships in their van were exposed to raking fire when only their bow guns could be brought to bear on the French.

The French van also took a beating, although it was less severe. Captain de Boades of the Réfléchi was killed in the opening broadside of Admiral Drake's Princessa, and the four ships of the French van were, according to a French observer, "engaged with seven or eight vessels at close quarters." The Diadème, according to a French officer "was utterly unable to keep up the battle, having only four thirty-six-pounders and nine eighteen-pounders fit for use" and was badly shot up; she was rescued by the timely intervention of the Saint-Esprit.

The Princessa and Bougainville's Auguste at one point were close enough that the French admiral considered a boarding action; Drake managed to pull away, but this gave Bougainville the chance to target the Terrible. Her foremast, already in bad shape before the battle, was struck by several French cannonballs, and her pumps, already overtaxed in an attempt to keep her afloat, were badly damaged by shots "between wind and water".

Around 5:00 pm the wind began to shift, to British disadvantage. De Grasse gave signals for the van to move further ahead so that more of the French fleet might engage, but Bougainville, fully engaged with the British van at musket range, did not want to risk "severe handling had the French presented the stern." When he did finally begin pulling away, British leaders interpreted it as a retreat: "the French van suffered most, because it was obliged to bear away." Rather than follow, the British hung back, continuing to fire at long range; this prompted one French officer to write that the British "only engaged from far off and simply in order to be able to say that they had fought." Sunset brought an end to the firefight, with both fleets continuing on a roughly southeast tack, away from the bay.

The center of both lines was engaged, but the level of damage and casualties suffered was noticeably less. Ships in the rear squadrons were almost entirely uninvolved; Admiral Hood reported that three of his ships fired a few shots. The ongoing conflicting signals left by Graves, and discrepancies between his and Hood's records of what signals had been given and when, led to immediate recriminations, written debate, and an eventual formal inquiry

Standoff
That evening, Graves did a damage assessment. He noted that "the French had not the appearance of near so much damage as we had sustained", and that five of his fleet were either leaking or virtually crippled in their mobility. De Grasse wrote that "we perceived by the sailing of the English that they had suffered greatly." Nonetheless, Graves maintained a windward position through the night, so that he would have the choice of battle in the morning. Ongoing repairs made it clear to Graves that he would be unable to attack the next day. On the night of 6 September he held council with Hood and Drake. During this meeting Hood and Graves supposedly exchanged words concerning the conflicting signals, and Hood proposed turning the fleet around to make for the Chesapeake. Graves rejected the plan, and the fleets continued to drift eastward, away from Cornwallis. On 8 and 9 September the French fleet at times gained the advantage of the wind, and briefly threatened the British with renewed action. French scouts spied Barras' fleet on 9 September, and de Grasse turned his fleet back toward Chesapeake Bay that night. Arriving on 12 September, he found that Barras had arrived two days earlier. Graves ordered the Terrible to be scuttled on 11 September due to her leaky condition, and was notified on 13 September that the French fleet was back in the Chesapeake; he still did not learn that de Grasse's line had not included the fleet of Barras, because the frigate captain making the report had not counted the ships. In a council held that day, the British admirals decided against attacking the French, due to "the truly lamentable state we have brought ourself." Graves then turned his battered fleet toward New York, arriving off Sandy Hook on 20 September.

Aftermath

The surrender of Lord Cornwallis, October 19, 1781 at Yorktown.

The British fleet's arrival in New York set off a flurry of panic amongst the Loyalist population. The news of the defeat was also not received well in London. King George III wrote (well before learning of Cornwallis's surrender) that "after the knowledge of the defeat of our fleet .... I nearly think the empire ruined."

The French success left them firmly in control of Chesapeake Bay, completing the encirclement of Cornwallis. In addition to capturing a number of smaller British vessels, de Grasse and Barras assigned their smaller vessels to assist in the transport of Washington's and Rochambeau's forces from Head of Elk to Yorktown.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Chesapeake
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeschlacht_vor_der_Chesapeake_Bay

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake - Order of battle


British fleet
Ship Rate Guns Commander Casualties Notes

Van (rear during the battle)
HMS Alfred - Third rate - 74 - Captain William Bayne
HMS Belliqueux - Third rate - 64 - Captain James Brine
HMS Invincible - Third rate - 74 - Captain Charles Saxton
HMS Barfleur - Second rate - 98 - Rear Admiral Samuel Hood - Captain Alexander Hood
HMS Monarch - Third rate - 74 - Captain Francis Reynolds
HMS Centaur - Third rate - 74 - Captain John Nicholson Inglefield

Centre
HMS America - Third rate - 64 - Captain Samuel Thompson
HMS Bedford - Third rate - 74 - Captain Thomas Graves
HMS Resolution - Third rate - 74 - Captain Lord Robert Manners
HMS London - Second rate - 98 - Rear Admiral Thomas Graves - Captain David Graves - Fleet flag
HMS Royal Oak - Third rate - 74 - Captain John Plumer Ardesoif
HMS Montagu - Third rate - 74 - Captain George Bowen
HMS Europe - Third rate - 64 - Captain Smith Child

Rear (van during the battle)
HMS Terrible - Third rate - 74 - Captain William Clement Finch - scuttled after the battle
HMS Ajax - Third rate - 74 - Captain Nicholas Charrington
HMS Princessa - Third rate - 70 - Rear Admiral Francis Samuel Drake - Captain Charles Knatchbull - Rear flag
HMS Alcide - Third rate - 74 - Captain Charles Thompson
HMS Intrepid - Third rate - 64 - Captain Anthony James Pye Molloy
HMS Shrewsbury - Third rate - 74 - Captain Mark Robinson


The exact order in which the French lined up as they exited the bay is also uncertain. Larrabee notes that many observers wrote up different sequences when the line was finally formed, and that Bougainville recorded several different configurations.


French fleet
Ship Rate Guns Commander Notes

Van
Pluton - Third rate - 74 - Captain François-Hector, Comte d'Albert de Rions
Marseillois - Third rate - 74 - Captain Henri-César, Marquis de Castellane Masjastre
Bourgogne - Third rate - 74 - Captain Charles, Comte de Charitte
Diadème - Third rate - 74 - Captain Louis-Augustin Monteclerc
Réfléchi - Third rate - 64 - Captain Jean-François-Emmanuel de Brune de Boades †
Auguste - Third rate - 80 - Captain Pierre-Joseph, Chevalier de Castellan - Van flag, Admiral Louis Antoine de Bougainville
Saint-Esprit - Third rate - 80 - Captain Joseph-Bernard, Marquis de Chabert
Caton - Third rate - 64 - Captain Framond

Centre
César - Third rate - 74 - Brigadier Jean-Charles-Régis-Coriolis d'Espinouse
Destin - Third rate - 74 - Captain François-Louis-Edme-Gabriel, Comte du Maitz de Goimpy
Ville de Paris - First rate - 110 - Captain Albert Cresp de Sainte-Césaire - Centre flag, chevalier de Vaugiraud - Fleet flag, Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse
Victoire - Third rate - 74 - Captain François d'Albert de Saint-Hyppolyte
Sceptre - Third rate - 74 - Captain Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil
Northumberland - Third rate - 74 - Captain Bon-Chrétien, Marquis de Bricqueville
Palmier - Third rate - 74 - Captain Jean-François, Baron d'Arros d'Argelos
Solitaire - Third rate - 64 - Captain Comte de Cicé-Champion
Citoyen - Third rate - 74 - Captain d'Alexandre, Comte d'Ethy

Rear
Scipion - Third rate - 74 - Captain Pierre-Antoine, Comte de Clavel
Magnanime - Third rate - 74 - Captain Jean-Antoine, Comte Le Bègue
Hercule - Third rate - 74 - Captain Jean-Baptiste Turpin du Breuil
Languedoc - Third rate - 80 - Captain Hervé-Louis-Joseph-Marie, Comte Duplessis-Parscau - Rear flag, Chef d'Escadre François-Aymar, Comte de Monteil
Zélé - Third rate - 74 - Captain Balthazar de Gras-Préville
Hector - Third rate - 74 - Captain Laurent-Emanuel de Renaud d'Aleins
Souverain - Third rate - 74 - Captain Jean-Baptiste, Baron de Glandevès



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1813 - The schooner USS Enterprise captures the brig HMS Boxer off Portland, Maine in a 20-minute battle where both commanding officers die in battle.


The capture of HMS Boxer in 1813 was a sea fight off the coast of Maine in the War of 1812. The United States Navy brig USS Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant William Burrows, defeated the Royal Navy gun-brig HMS Boxer, led by Master Commandant Samuel Blyth. Constructed as a schooner in Maryland in 1799, the victorious American was rebuilt as a brig prior to the war. She met an inglorious end, wrecking in the West Indies in 1823. However, her name carried on. A number of following U.S. Navy warships bore the name. The Boxer was auctioned for $9,775 to benefit her captors, and she served as a local merchantman for some years.



Battle
On 5 September 1813, USS Enterprise with fourteen 18-pound carronades and two 9-pound long guns and 102 men sighted HMS Boxer with twelve 18-pound carronades and two 6-pound long guns and 66 men off Pemaquid Point, Maine. After six hours of maneuvering, the antagonists got down to business. Blyth prepared for a fight to the finish. He ordered a Union Jack nailed to the foremast and two on the mainmast. In Enterprise, Burrows demonstrated similar resolve. He moved one of his two long 9-pounders from the bow to a stern port, and tradition indicates he declared: "We are going to fight both ends and both sides of this ship as long as the ends and the sides hold together." When the firing commenced, the ships were eight miles southeast of Seguin. When it ended, according to William Barnes, a member of the American crew and later a respected mariner from Woolwich, the ships were "some four or five miles east from Pemaquid point, four miles southwest of East Egg Rock . . . and about seven miles west north west of Monhegan." Boxer was in the area, having for a fee escorted an American merchantman with Swedish papers from New Brunswick to the Kennebec River.


Engraving by Abel Bowen

Within half pistol shot, the two brigs opened fire. "Great God, what shots!" exclaimed Blyth an instant before being killed during the initial fusillades. Moments later, while helping his crew run out a carronade, a musket ball tore into Burrow's thigh. He fell to the deck mortally wounded, but refused to be carried below. The fierce contest ended in 30 minutes. Command of Enterprise devolved to Lieutenant Edward McCall, while Lieutenant David McGrery had assumed command of the battered Boxer. Towards the end, McGrery described his ship as a complete wreck with three feet of water in the hold. The flags on the mainmast were shot away, but the Englishman's colors remained nailed to the foremast; "but his tongue was not fastened and he called for quarters. . .." The dying Lieutenant Burrows declined to accept Commander Blyth's sword, directing it be sent to the family of the dead British captain. "I am satisfied, I die contented," Lieutenant Burrows exclaimed. McCall returned to Portland to the southwest with the two ships and the casualties.

An American court-martial charged Sailing Master William Harper and Isaac Bowman, captain's clerk, with cowardice. Captain Isaac Hull dismissed the Bowman complaint, and the court acquitted Harper. However, at Bermuda, a British court martial found its acting master's mate and three seamen "through cowardice, negligence, or disaffection" deserted their quarters during the action.

Aftermath
papers in the United States rejoiced in "another brilliant naval victory." After two days of planning, authorities conducted an impressive state funeral for the two commanders, and they rest side by side in Portland's Eastern Cemetery. Next to them is the comparable grave of Lieutenant Kerwin Waters who suffered mortal wounds as a midshipman during the battle but lived for two more years. The surviving officers placed a tombstone over Blyth's grave. He was 29 years old; Burrows was 28.

Quotation
" The captain of HMS Boxer, Commander Samuel Blyth, was killed early in the action by a cannon ball; had he lived he might have defended his ship more desperately, but it is not probable with more success. He was an officer of distinguished merit; having received a sword from government for his good conduct under Sir James L. Yeo, in the capture of Cayenne. Blyth was also one of the pall-bearers of our lamented James Lawrence, when buried at Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was his fate now to receive like courtesy at the hands of his enemy. His remains, in company with those of the brave Burrows, were brought to Portland, where they were interred with military honours in Eastern Cemetery. It was a striking and affecting sight, to behold two gallant commanders, who had lately been arrayed in deadly hostility against each other, descending into one quiet grave, there to mingle their dust peacefully together. "

This battle was referenced by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem "My Lost Youth":

"I remember the sea-fight far away,
How it thundered o'er the tide!
And the dead captains, as they lay
In their graves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay
Where they in battle died.
And the sound of that mournful song
Goes through me with a thrill:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."​

Medal commemorating the action between USS 'Enterprise' and HMS 'Boxer', 1813. Obverse: A funeral urn upon a tomb chest inscribed: 'W BURROWS', a trophy of various small arms and flags and cannon behind, an anchor (left) and pile of shot (right) in front. Legend: 'VICTORIAM TIBI CLARAM . PATRIAE MAESTAM.' (The Victory meant fame for thee, but for thy country sorrow.) Reverse: Port broadside view of USS 'Enterprise', brig (left), and port-quarter view of HMS 'Boxer', brig (right), her main topmast carried away. Legend: 'VIVERE SAT VINCERE.' (Victory is life enough.) Exergue: 'INTER ENTERPRIZE NAV. AMERI. ET BOXER NAV. BRIT. DIE IV SEPT. MDCCCXIII.' (Between the American ship Enterprize and the English ship Boxer, 4 September 1813.) Fought off Portland, Maine, both captains being killed in action. Signed 'FURST.F.' below the ground line on the obverse and in the exergue on the reverse. One of a series of 27 medals commemorating American successes during the War of 1812, struck by special resolution of Congress. They were awarded to naval commanders in gold and to their officers in silver. The bronze examples are restrikes.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/39931.html#idVz7gjRPxSCQ6y8.99


The Ships

HMS Boxer was a 12-gun Bold-class gun-brig built and launched in July 1812. The ship had a short service history with the British Royal Navy before the 16-gun USS Enterprise captured her near Portland, Maine in September 1813. She then went to have at least a decade-long commercial career.



Design and construction
The Bold class were a revival of Sir William Rule's Confounder-class gun-brig design of 1804. They were armed with ten 18-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder bow chasers. Built by Hobbs & Hellyer, Redbridge, Hampshire, she was launched on 25 July 1812.

Royal Navy service off Maine
Commander George Rose Sartorius commissioned her in August 1812. R. Coote may have briefly commanded her before Commander Samuel Blyth took command in September; on 17 April 1813 she sailed for Halifax and service in the squadron of Sir John Borlase Warren.[1] In Halifax, Blyth added two extra carronades to her armament. She therefore actually carried fourteen guns: twelve 18-pounder carronades and two long 6-pounders.

While coming down from New Brunswick and off the coast of Lubec, Maine, Blyth sighted and captured a small sailing craft crewed by a group of women out for a sail. He brought the women aboard and politely suggested that in the future they sail closer to the shore; he then released them. One of the women was married to the local militia commander who, impressed with Blyth’s courtesy, placed advertisements in local newspapers praising his chivalry.

In Boxer Lieutenant Blyth captured seven small vessels, most of them coasting:

• 6 July, the schooner Two Brothers, of 89 tons, from Tanfield, bound to Eastport;
• 6 July, the sloop Friendship, of 100 tons, from Blackrock bound to Eastport;
• 25 July, the sloop Fairplay;
• 27 July, the schooner Rebecca, of 86 tons, from New York and bound for Cadiz or Halifax;
• 28 July, the schooner Nancy, of 14 tons, taken in the harbour at Little River;
• 3 August, the schooner Rebecca, of 117 tons, from Townsend, bound to Boston;
• 31 August, the schooner Fortune.

Mercantile service
Boxer was sold at auction in Portland, Maine to Thomas Merrill, Jr., for US$5,600. Her guns and ballast were sold at the same time, the whole proceeds amounting to US$9,755. Burrow's heirs received US$1,115; each seaman's share of the prize money was US$55. Some of her spare spars and rigging went to equip the Mercator.

Boxer's guns went to arm the Maine privateer Hyder Ali. Hyder Ali did not have much luck either. She captured two prizes that the British retook before they could reach Maine and was herself then captured in May 1814 near the Nicobar Islands by Owen Glendower.

Initially Boxer was pressed into service to defend Portland harbour. After the war she went on to sail as a merchantman for several years. Her first voyage was in April 1815. Under Captain William McLellan, Jr. (1776–1844), she sailed to Havana, New York, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Marseilles, and back to New York before returning to Portland in early 1816. Subsequent shorter cruises under McLellan, Hall, or William Merrill took her along the coast, or to the West Indies. Around 1818 Merrill sold Boxer to a Portuguese firm that used her as a mail packet between Portuguese Cape Verde and Lisbon. Merrill reported that in 1825 he passed Boxer leaving Praia at dusk as he entered the harbour on his vessel John. It is suggested that Boxer was finally lost on the coast of Brazil


The third ship to be named USS Enterprise was a schooner, built by Henry Spencer at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1799, whose command was given to Lieutenant John Shaw. This ship was overhauled and rebuilt several times, effectively changing from a twelve-gun schooner to a fourteen-gun topsail schooner and eventually to a brig.



In 1799 she was built as a fast-sailing schooner with a complement of 70, mounting twelve 6-pounders.

• Length along the deck: 85 ft. 7 in. (25.8 m)
• Length of the keel: 60 ft. (18.29 m)
• Beam: 22 ft. 6 in. (6.86 m)
• Depth of Hold: 10 ft. (3.0 m)
• Tonnage: 135 tons[1]

The first commanding officer of Enterprise thought that she was too lightly built and that her quarters, in particular, should be bulletproofed. In 1800, her armament was increased to fourteen guns, and at this time her dimensions are given as:

• Length along the deck: 83 ft. 6 in. (25.45 m)
• Length of the keel: 60 ft. (18.29 m)
• Beam: 22 ft. 6 in. (6.86 m)
• Depth of Hold: 11 ft. 6 in. (3.5 m)
• Tonnage: 165 tons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(1799)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Boxer_(1812)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_HMS_Boxer

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1813 - Launch of french Scipion, a 74 gun Téméraire-class ship of the line, at Genoa


Scipion was commissioned in 1813, captained by Louis François Richard Barthélémy de Saizieu. She was refitted in 1823.


Scipion, Dartmouth and Brisk at the Battle of Navarino, 20 October 1827

On 30 September 1827, she collided with Provence, which sustained serious damage and had to return to Toulon for repairs.


Schlacht von Navarino, Nationales Historisches Museum von Athen, Griechenland

On 20 October 1827, she took part in the Battle of Navarino, under Pierre Bernard Milius, sailing behind the Sirène in the line. At the outbreak of the battle, Scipion narrowly escaped destruction by a fireship which became jammed under her bowsprit; her fore sails caught fire and the fire spread into the upper gun-deck, but was eventually put out by the crew. Trident succeeded in attaching a tow-line to the fireship and, with the assistance of HMS Dartmouth and two other British boats, pulling it clear. Sirène, Trident and Scipion then proceeded to silence the batteries of the fort of Navarino.



In 1837 she was refitted with 80 guns, and eventually struck in 1846.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Scipion_(1813)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Téméraire-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 September 1819 – Launch of HMS Seringapatam, a 46 gun Seringapatam frigate, at Bombay


The Seringapatam-class frigates, were a class of British Royal Navy 46-gun sailing frigates. The first vessel of the class was HMS Seringapatam. Seringapatam's design was based on the French frigate Président, which the British had captured in 1806. Seringapatam was originally ordered as a 38-gun frigate, but the re-classification of British warships which took effect in February 1817 raised this rating to 46-gun.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for building Seringapatam (1819), a 36/44-gun Fifth Rate Frigate at Bombay. The plan is described as being an improved draught on the lines of the President (captured 1804). A copy was sent to Bombay on 6 September 1813 onboard the Acorn (1807), an 18-gun Ship Sloop, which had been commissioned in June for the East Indies.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81917.html#c3veY6rUB6Kb6w0G.99



The Admiralty ordered six further ships to this design – including three ships which had originally been ordered as Leda-class frigates, but the Seringapatam design was subsequently altered to produce a Modified version which was labelled the Druid sub-class, and three of the ships formerly ordered to the Seringapatam original design (Madagascar, Nemesis and Jason) were re-ordered to this modified design. Subsequently a further modification of the design was produced, which was labelled the Andromeda sub-class, and the remaining three of the ships formerly ordered to the Seringapatam original design (Manilla, Tigris and Statira) were re-ordered to this modified design. Further vessels were ordered to both modified designs, but the majority of these were subsequently cancelled.
Both modified types are listed below.


Scale: 1:8. Plan showing the side and sectional elevations, and plan from below of a cable chain compressor, as fitted to Seringapatam (1819), a 46-gun Large Frigate, and to Castor (1832), a 36-gun Fifth Rate Frigate. Signed Richard B---iwell [Unknown].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/86501.html#z7rZx16Mlim2pX1W.99

HMS Seringapatam

• Builder: British East India Company, Bombay Dockyard.
• Ordered: 21 August 1813
• Laid down: November 1817
• Launched: 5 September 1819
• Completed: 10 April 1821 at Plymouth Dockyard.
• Fate: Receiving ship at Cape of Good Hope in July 1847; coal hulk 1852, broken up between 1873 and 1883.

Druid sub-class (1st modified version of Seringapatam Class)

• HMS Druid
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 23 July 1817
  • Laid down: August 1821
  • Launched: 1 July 1825
  • Completed: 21 December 1825 at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up in April 1863.
• HMS Nemesis - had first been ordered to Modified Leda class, later to original Seringapatam design
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 23 July 1817
  • Laid down: August 1823
  • Launched: 19 August 1826
  • Completed: never completed; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Broken up in July 1866.
• HMS Madagascar – had first been ordered to original Seringapatam design
  • Builder: East India Company, Bombay Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 5 April 1819
  • Laid down: October 1821
  • Launched: 15 November 1822; 1164 tons (bm)[1]
  • Completed: January 1829 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up at Rio de Janeiro 5 May 1863.
• HMS Leda
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 15 May 1821
  • Laid down: October 1824
  • Launched: 15 April 1828
  • Completed: never completed; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up on 15 May 1906.
• HMS Hotspur
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 15 May 1821
  • Laid down: July 1825
  • Launched: 9 October 1828
  • Completed: never completed; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Renamed Monmouth 1868. Sold to be broken up in 1902.
• HMS Africaine
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 8 January 1822
  • Laid down: September 1825
  • Launched: 20 December 1827
  • Completed: 3 March 1828.
  • Fate: Sold to Trinity House in May 1867.
• HMS Eurotas
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 13 September 1824
  • Laid down: February 1827
  • Launched: 19 February 1829
  • Completed: 20 March 1828.
  • Fate: Sold to be broken up in November 1865.
• A further vessel, HMS Jason, also first ordered to Modified Leda Class, then to the original Seringapatam design, was again re-ordered subsequently, now to the Andromeda design, but was never finally built.

Andromeda sub-Class (2nd modified version of Seringapatam Class)

• HMS Andromeda
  • Builder: East India Company, Bombay Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 5 April 1827
  • Laid down: August 1827
  • Launched: 6 January? 1829; 1166 tons (bm)[1]
  • Completed: not completed – laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Provision hulk November 1846. Sold to be broken up on 24 December 1863.
• HMS Seahorse
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 9 January 1823
  • Laid down: November 1826
  • Launched: 22 July 1830
  • Completed: never completed as sailing frigate; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Converted to a steam/screw-driven frigate 1845–47. Screw mortar frigate 1856. Coal hulk 1870, renamed Lavinia. Sold to be broken up 1902.
• HMS Stag
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 9 January 1823
  • Laid down: April 1828
  • Launched: 2 October 1830
  • Completed: 9 July 1831 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Broken up in August 1866.
• HMS Maeander
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 13 September 1824
  • Laid down: February 1829
  • Launched: 5 May 1840
  • Completed: 17 January 1848.
  • Fate: Hulked 1857. Wrecked at Ascension in July 1870.
• HMS Forth
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard.
  • Ordered: 9 June 1825
  • Laid down: November 1828
  • Launched: 1 August 1833
  • Completed: never completed as a sailing frigate; laid up at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Converted to a steam/screw-driven frigate 1845–47. Screw mortar frigate 1856. Coal hulk 1869, renamed Jupiter. Sold to be broken up 1883.

The remaining ships ordered or re-ordered to this design were never completed:

• HMS Jason – ordered 23 July 1817 from Woolwich Dockyard, firstly to Modified Leda Class design, later altered to original Seringapatam design in October 1820, to Druid design in 1822, and finally to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 7 February 1831.
• HMS Statira – ordered 23 July 1817 from Plymouth Dockyard, originally to Modified Leda Class, later altered to original Seringapatam design in October 1820, to Druid design in 1822, and finally to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 31 August 1832.
• HMS Manilla – ordered 5 April 1819 from East India Company's Bombay Dockyard, firstly ordered to original Seringapatam design, later altered to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 7 February 1831.
• HMS Euphrates – ordered 22 October 1820 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
• HMS Pique – ordered 25 October 1820 from Plymouth Dockyard, cancelled 16 June 1832.
• HMS Tigris – ordered 25 October 1820 from Plymouth Dockyard (utilising teak frames from Bombay Dockyard), firstly to original Seringapatam design, later altered to Andromeda design in 1826; cancelled 31 August 1832.
• HMS Pique – ordered 25 October 1820 from Plymouth Dockyard, cancelled 16 June 1832.
• HMS Spartan – ordered 13 September 1824 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
• HMS Theban – ordered 13 September 1824 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
• HMS Inconstant – ordered 9 June 1825 from Sheerness Dockyard, cancelled 9 March 1832.
• HMS Orpheus – ordered 9 June 1825 from Chatham Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
• HMS Severn – ordered 9 June 1825 from Plymouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.
• HMS Tiber – ordered 9 June 1825 from Portsmouth Dockyard, cancelled 7 February 1831.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seringapatam-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-347533;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 5 September


1776 - The Continental Navy adopts the first uniforms for naval officers. The dress prescribed was extremely somber and reflected the attitude of the Congress to eliminate the ornate trappings evidenced in the Royal Navy and move towards a democratic society. The naval officers quickly rebelled and demanded a more ornate uniform with dark blue coat and tri-corner hat, colored facings, and cuffs with gold buttons and lace, a uniform strikingly similar to that of the Royal Navy.


The official Navy officer uniform of 1776 had red lapels and a red waistcoat. The unofficial uniform of 1777, worn by many officers, had white lapels and a white waistcoat, and in addition non-regulation epaulets.

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

1800 - French at Malta capitulated.

1806 - HMS Wolf (1804 - 16), George Charles Mackenzie, wrecked in the Bahamas

HMS Wolf (1804) was a 16-gun brig-sloop launched in 1804 and wrecked in 1806, with no loss of life, about 1.5 miles off shore on the southwest point of Heneager in the Bahamas. The loss was blamed on a northward current and inaccurate charts.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plans, sheer lines with alterations to the forecastle, and longitudinal half-breadth for Wolf (1804), Martin (1805), Brisk (1805), Star (1805), Kangaroo (1805), Cygnet (1804), Ariel (1806), Helena (1804), Albacore (1804), Fly (1804), Kingfisher (1804), Otter (1805), Rose (1805), and Halifax (1806), all 16-gun Ship Sloops with quarterdeck and forecastles. These ships were to be built similar to the Merlin (1796) and the Pheasant (1798).
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83649.html#uLwSM2XH05jxFqv9.99

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-364512;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=W

1807 - HMS Majestic (74), Cptn. George Hart, and HMS Quebec (32) took Heligoland.

On 4 September 1807, Majestic, flagship of Admiral Thomas Macnamara Russell anchored off Heligoland, effecting the capitulation of the island to the British.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Majestic_(1785)

1810 - Boats of HMS Surveillante (1802 - 36), Cptn. George Ralph Collier, captured a French brig sheltering between the batteries of St. Guildas and St. Jaques near the Loire.

The Surveillante entered service as a 40-gun Virginie class frigate of the French Navy. She was surrendered to the British in 1803, after which she served in the Royal Navy, classed under the British system as a 38 gun vessel, until 1814 when she was decommissioned. HMS Surveillante had a long and active career under two successful and distinguished commanders, from the Baltic to the North-Western coasts of France, Spain and Portugal, and was present at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and throughout the Peninsula War. Her record as a taker of prizes is notable for its success, particularly towards the end of her career.

On 5 September 1810, the Surveillante and the gun-brig HMS Constant, the latter commanded by Lieutenant John Stokes, were reconnoitring the Loire, when they observed a division of a French convoy running south from the Morbihan. The British ships gave chase and forced a single brig to seek shelter between two nearby batteries. Collier attacked the frigate with boats, whilst receiving fire from French troops ashore and succeeded in cutting out the brig without sustaining any casualties

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Surveillante_(1802)

1811 – Launch of French Princesse de Bologne, a 40 gun Pallas-class frigate, in Venice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas-class_frigate_(1808)

1843 - Launch of USS Princeton

The first USS Princeton was a screw steam warship in the United States Navy. Commanded by Captain Robert F. Stockton, Princeton was launched on September 5, 1843.



The ship's reputation in the Navy never recovered from a devastating incident early in her service. On February 28, 1844, during a Potomac River pleasure cruise for dignitaries that included a demonstration of her two heavy guns, one gun exploded killing six people, including Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer, and other high-ranking federal officials. President John Tyler, who was aboard but below decks, was not injured.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princeton_(1843)

1909 – Eduard Bohlen wrecked at coast of Namibia

Eduard Bohlen was a ship that was wrecked on the Skeleton Coast of German Southwest Africa (now Namibia) on 5 September 1909 in a thick fog. The wreck currently lies in the sand 400 metres from the shoreline.


The ship in 1906.

The ship was a 2,272 gross ton cargo ship with a length of 310 feet. In September 1909, she ran aground in thick fog and was wrecked at Conception Bay while on a voyage from Swakopmund to Table Bay.
This wreck is said to symbolize the loneliness of Namibia’s coast best. Her remains lie rusting in the sand, partially buried.
The Bohlen lies near the wrecks of Otavi, which foundered here and sank in 1945, and MV Dunedin Star, amongst the many wrecks of the Skeleton Coast.


Wreck of the Eduard Bohlen on Namibia's Skeleton Coast

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

1914 – HMS Pathfinder sunk by torpedo, the first ship ever by a locomotive torpedo

HMS Pathfinder was the lead ship of the Pathfinder class of scout cruisers, and was the first ship ever to be sunk by a locomotive torpedo fired by submarine (the American Civil War ship USS Housatonic had been sunk by a spar torpedo). She was built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, launched on 16 July 1904, and commissioned on 18 July 1905. She was originally to have been named HMS Fastnet, but was renamed prior to construction.


Loss of HMS Pathfinder, September 5th 1914 image: A painting of the 'Pathfinder' exploding and sinking. The bow of the vessel has already sunk beneath the surface, and the first funnel seems about to break off into the water. There is an enormous cloud of dense smoke all around the ship, with a high jet of water rising into the air on the left.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pathfinder_(1904)

1918 - The transport, USS Mount Vernon (ID# 4508), ex ocean liner SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie, is torpedoed by German submarine U-82 off France. Thirty-six of her crew are killed and another 13 are injured, but damage control efforts contain her flooding and keep her underway.



SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie was an ocean liner built in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland), in 1906 for North German Lloyd that had the largest steam reciprocating machinery ever fitted to a ship.[2][4] The last of four ships of the Kaiser class, she was also the last German ship to have been built with four funnels. She was engaged in transatlantic service between her homeport of Bremen and New York until the outbreak of World War I.


Mount Vernon in a drydock in Brest for repairs after being torpedoed by U-82, September 1918.

On 4 August 1914, at sea after departing New York, she turned around and put into Bar Harbor, Maine, where she later was interned by the neutral United States. After that country entered the war in April 1917, the ship was seized and turned over to the United States Navy, and renamed USS Mount Vernon (ID-4508). While serving as a troop transport, Mount Vernon was torpedoed in September 1918. Though damaged, she was able to make port for repairs and returned to service. In October 1919 Mount Vernon was turned over for operation by the Army Transport Service in its Pacific fleet based at Fort Mason in San Francisco. USAT Mount Vernon was sent to Vladivostok, Russia to transport elements of the Czechoslovak Legion to Trieste, Italy and German prisoners of war to Hamburg, Germany. On return from that voyage, lasting from March through July 1920, the ship was turned over to the United States Shipping Board and laid up at Solomons Island, Maryland until September 1940 when she was scrapped at Boston, Massachusetts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Kronprinzessin_Cecilie_(1906)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1781 - HMS Savage (1778 - 14), Charles Stirling, taken by American privateer Congress (1781 - 24), Cptn. Gedded, off Charleston


The Capture of HMS Savage was a naval battle of the Revolutionary War involving the American privateer Congress and the British unrated sloop-of-war HMS Savage. It occurred in September 1781 off South Carolina and is considered one of the hardest-fought single ship actions of the war.

• Title: American Privateer Congress Captures HMS Sloop Savage
• On 6 September 1781, the American privateer Congress, under Captain Geddes, engaged HMS sloop Savage, under Captain Sterling, in a day-long battle some 10 leagues eastward of Charleston, South Carolina. Congress forced Savage to strike her colors. Savage was recaptured by HMS Solebay before her prize crew could reach a safe American port.
• Black & white photograph of painting.
• Original at Mariners Museum, Newport , Virginia
• Catalog #: NH 56473

Capture
By 1781 the smaller British vessels blockading Chesapeake Bay were raiding the American coast by means of boat expeditions. One commander involved in the operations was Captain Charles Stirling of the sloop Savage, armed with sixteen 6-pounders. Stirling was noted for having plundered Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of General George Washington, who was commander in chief of the Continental Army and later the first American president.

Shortly after the raid of Mount Vernon, Captain Stirling sailed his ship south. In the early morning of September 6, Savage was escorting a convoy when she encountered the sloop-of-war Congress ten leagues from Charleston. Stirling placed Savage between the merchant vessels and the stranger.


American privateers during the Revolutionary War

Congress was under the command of Captain George Geddes of Philadelphia, armed with twenty 12-pounders and four 6-pounders, with a complement of 215 officers and men. Its Marines were under the command of Captain Allan McLane of the Continental Army. Congress was returning from Cap-François, Haiti, where McLane had carried dispatches from George Washington to Comte François Joseph Paul de Grasse, commander of a French fleet, appealing for his aid at Chesapeake Bay.

When Stirling first saw Congress he sailed towards her, in the hope that she was a privateer of twenty 9-pounder guns that had been raiding in the area. However, when he got closer and saw that she was significantly stronger even than the privateer he thought she might be, Stirling attempted an escape.[6][Note 1] However, by 10:30 am the Americans came within range and opened fire with their bow chasers. By 11:00 Congress had closed the distance and her crew engaged with muskets and pistols, to which the British replied with "energy". At this point Captain Geddes observed that his ship was faster than that of the enemy so he maneuvered ahead of Savage until almost abreast, in preparation for a broadside.

A duel then commenced at extreme close range, during which both ships were heavily damaged. Sailors on both sides were also burned by the flashes of their enemy's cannon. Congress's rigging was torn to shreds during the exchange, which compelled the Americans to stand off for quick repairs. After doing so, they resumed the chase. Congress was swiftly alongside the Savage again and another duel began.

The Americans and British fought for about an hour, the combat ending with Savage in ruins. Her quarterdeck and forecastle had been completely cleared of resistance, her mizzenmast was blown away, and her mainmast was nearly gone as well. Geddes felt that this was an opportune time to board the enemy, but just as he was moving his ship in, a boatswainappeared on Savage's forecastle, waving his hat as a sign of surrender.

British forces lost eight men killed and 34 wounded, including Captain Stirling; the Americans had 11 killed and around 30 wounded. In his letter reporting on the action, Captain Stirling noted that after he and his men became prisoners, the Americans had treated them "with great Humanity.

Aftermath
In America, the capture was widely cheered as payback for the looting of George Washington's home by Captain Stirling and Savage's crew.

However, the Americans who boarded Savage never made it back to port. The frigate HMS Solebay (some days ago at 5th September engaged in the Battle of the Chesapeake) recaptured Savage on 12 September, with a prize crew of thirty Americans aboard. Maclay states that the same frigate captured Congress and recaptured Savage. (The London Gazette mentions the recapture of Savage, but not the capture of her captor Congress.)

Further information:

1. Savage had a broadside of 48 pounds; Congress had a broadside of 132 pounds. (The privateer Stirling thought Congress was would have had a broadside of 90 pounds, or almost twice that of Savage.) Savage also had 90 fewer men on board than Congress.
2. Maclay further states that Congress became HMS Duchess of Cumberland, and on 19 September wrecked during the passage to Newfoundland where a prison ship was waiting to take on the American prisoners. Twenty men died in the incident, though the survivors eventually made it to Placentia, where the Americans were put aboard the ship sloop HMS Fairy and taken to Old Mill Prison in England. This appears incorrect. The court martial record for her loss reports she sailed on 21 September from Placentia and was wrecked on 22 September. The nautical distance between Charleston and Halifax, Nova Scotia, is such that a vessel sailing at a steady 10 knots, a fast pace for a sailing vessel, would take four and a half days, and Placentia lies beyond Halifax, making it extremely improbable that a vessel captured on 12 September at Charleston would be sailing again from Placentia on 21 September, let alone 19 September. Furthermore Duchess of Cumberland was a cutter (or sloop; accounts vary) of 125 tons burthen and 16 guns. Lastly, early in his book, Maclay states that Congress/Duchess of Cumberland was built in Beverley, Massachusetts; Geddes's Congress was a Philadelphia privateer. She may have been a Congress, but if so, she may have been Congress, of eighteen 9-pounders guns, and 120 men, that HMS Oiseaux captured sometime between 16 June and 2 July 1781

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_HMS_Savage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Solebay_(1763)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1800 - Loss of HMS Stag (1794 - 32)


HMS Stag (1794 - 32), Cptn. Robert Winthrop, parted her cables in Vigo bay and was laid her on her beam ends by strong winds. She made sail, but hurricane force winds drove her on shore at Point Subudo where she was holed on a rock. After some of her stores had been salvaged the Rear Admiral ordered her to be burnt.
Milbrook (16), Schooner was reported to have saved a great many of the crew of the Stag.

HMS Stag (1794) was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1794 and wrecked in 1800 at Vigo Bay.



The History (from ThreeDecks)
28.6.1794 - Began fitting at Deptford Dockyard
16.8.1794 - Completed fitting at Deptford Dockyard
1795 - On the Irish Station
22.8.1795 - Action of 1795-08-22
22.8.1795 - Took the Fifth Rate Frigate Alliantie (36) in the North Sea
21.2.1797 - Destroyed the L'Hirondelle (6) off Sicily
21.2.1797 - Took the Privateer Brig L'Appocrate (14) off Sicily
30.9.1797 - Destroyed the Le Cocyte (4) off Plymouth
7.10.1797 - Took the Unrated Brig Découverte (10) in the Channel
20.11.1798 - Took the Sixth Rate Corvette L'Hirondelle (20) in the Channel
6.12.1798 - Took the Privateer Brig La Ressource (10)
6.1.1799 - Sailed from Plymouth for Spithead
19.10.1799 - Took the Privateer Corvette L'Heureuse (22)
8.1800 - At Ferrol
25.8.1800 - Attack on Ferrol
6.9.1800 - Wrecked in a storm in Vigo Bay
7.9.1800 - Wreck burnt





The Pallas-class frigates were a series of three frigates built to a 1791 design by John Henslow, which served in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

The trio were all dockyard-built in order to use spare shipbuilding capacity. The orders were originally assigned in December 1790 to the Royal Dockyards at Plymouth and Portsmouth, but in February 1791 the orders were transferred to Chatham and Woolwich Dockyards respectively. They were the first and only 32-gun Royal Navy frigates designed to be armed with the eighteen-pounder cannon on their upper deck, the main gun deck of a frigate.


The capture of the French frigate Tribune by HMS Unicorn (sistership of HMS Stag)

Ships in class

• HMS Stag
  • Builder: Chatham Royal Dockyard
  • Ordered: 9 December 1790
  • Laid down: March 1792
  • Launched: 12 July 1794
  • Completed: 5 October 1794
  • Fate: Wrecked in a storm in Vigo Bay 6 September 1800, and burnt the next day.
• HMS Unicorn
  • Builder: Chatham Royal Dockyard
  • Ordered: 9 December 1790
  • Laid down: March 1792
  • Launched: 12 July 1794
  • Fate: Broken up March 1815 at Deptford Dockyard.
• HMS Pallas
  • Builder: Woolwich Royal Dockyard
  • Ordered: 9 December 1790
  • Laid down: May 1792
  • Launched: 19 December 1793
  • Completed: 5 March 1794.
  • Fate: Wrecked in a storm in Cawsand Bay, Cornwall on 4 April 1798

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-350396;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=6706
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1807 – Launch of French Ville de Berlin, a 74-gun Téméraire class Ship of the Line at Antwerp


Career
Ordered on 24 April 1804 as Thésée, Ville de Berlin was one of the ships built in the various shipyards captured by the First French Empire in Holland and Italy in a crash programme to replenish the ranks of the French Navy. She took her definitive name on 2 July 1807.

She was commissioned on 21 September June 1807 and became a part of the Escaut squadron under Vice-Admiral Missiessy. In 1814, she took part in the defence of Antwerp.

At the Bourbon Restoration, she was renamed Atlas and sailed to Brest. Renamed Ville de Berlin during the Hundred Days, she took her name of Atlas back after Napoléon's second abdication.

Struck from the Navy lists on 23 February 1819, she became a storage hulk in Brest.


Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Ville de Berlin (1807), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

The Téméraire-class ships of the line were class of a hundred and twenty 74-gun ships of the line ordered between 1782 and 1813 for the French navy or its attached navies in dependent (French-occupied) territories. Although a few of these were cancelled, the type was and remains the most numerous class of capital ship ever built.

The class was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané in 1782 as a development of the Annibal and her near-sister Northumberland, both of which had been designed by him and built at Brest during the 1777-1780 period. Some dozen ships were ordered and built to this new design from 1782 to 1785, and then the same design was adopted as a standard for all subsequent 74s during the next three decades as part of the fleet expansion programme instituted by Jean-Charles de Borda in 1786.

The design was appreciated in Britain, which eagerly commissioned captured ships and even copied the design with the Pompée and America class.

Variants from basic design
While all the French 74-gun ships from the mid-1780s until the close of the Napoleonic Wars were to the Téméraire design, there were three variants of the basic design which Sané developed with the same hull form of Téméraire. In 1793 two ships were laid down at Brest to an enlarged design; in 1801 two ships were commenced at Lorient with a slightly shorter length than the standard design (with a third ship commenced at Brest but never completed); and in 1803 two ships were commenced at Toulon to a smaller version (many more ships to this 'small(er) model' were then built in the shipyards controlled by France in Italy and the Netherlands) - these are detailed separately below.

Pluton class – A revised design for Téméraire class, by Jacques-Noël Sané, described officially as "the small model" specially introduced to be constructed at shipyards outside France itself (the first pair were built at Toulon) where they lacked the depth of water required to launch 74s of the Téméraire Class.

Small Variant (Pluton group – 24 ships launched)


Rivoli, fitted with the camels that allowed her to cross the shallow banks before Venice harbour.

Starting with the prototypes Pluton and Borée in 1803, a smaller version of the Téméraire class, officially named petit modèle, was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané to be produced in shipyards having a lesser depth of water than the principal French shipyards, primarily those in neighbouring states under French control and in foreign ports which had been absorbed into the French Empire such as Antwerp. The revised design measured 177 feet 7 inches on the waterline, 180 feet 1 inch on the deck, and 46 feet 11 inches moulded breadth. The depth of hull was 9 inches less than that in the "regular" Téméraire design.

• Pluton

Launched: 17 January 1805
Fate: Captured by the Spanish at Cadiz in June 1808.

• Borée

Launched: 27 June 1805
Fate: Condemned at Toulon in 1827.

• Two more 74s to the "petit modèle" design were ordered in June 1803, one at Marseille and the other at Bordeaux, but these were not built.
• Génois

Launched: 17 August 1805
Fate: Condemned at Rochefort in August 1821, and broken up there by October 1821.

• Royal Hollandais

Launched:
Fate: Captured on the stocks after the fall of Flushing during the Walcheren Campaign in 1809. Frames taken to England, where she was assembled and launched as HMS Chatham in 1812.

• Commerce de Lyon

Launched: 9 April 1807
Fate: Condemned at Brest in February 1819, and broken up there in December 1819.

• Charlemagne

Launched: 8 April 1807
Fate: Ceded to the new Dutch Navy, 1 August 1814, renamed Nassau.

• Anversois, renamed Éole in August 1814, then Anversois in March 1815 and back to Éole in July 1815.

Launched: 7 June 1807
Fate: Condemned at Brest in February 1819 and broken up there in December 1819.

• Duguesclin

Launched: 20 June 1807
Fate: Condemned at Lorient in June 1818, and broken up there in January 1820.

• César

Launched: 1807
Fate:

• Ville de Berlin, renamed Thésée before launch, renamed Atlas after 1814.

Launched: 1807
Fate: Condemned 1819, hulked.

• Pultusk, originally Audacieux, renamed before launch.

Launched: 1807
Fate:

• Dantzig, named Illustre before launching, and renamed Achille in 1814 during the First Restoration. In 1815, during the Hundred Days, reverted to Dantzig, but returned to Achille on the Second Restoration.

Launched: 1807
Fate: Struck, 1815.

• Albanais

Launched: 2 October 1808
Fate: Struck, 1814.

• Breslaw (originally named Superbe, but renamed before launching)

Launched: 3 May 1808
Fate: Struck, 1836.

• Dalmate, renamed Hector in 1814 during the First Restoration. In 1815, during the Hundred Days, reverted to Dalmate, but returned to Hector on the Second Restoration.

Launched: 21 August 1808
Fate: Struck, 1819.

• Rivoli

Launched: 6 September 1810
Fate: Captured by HMS Victorious in the Action of 22 February 1812. Served as HMS Rivoli until broken up in 1819.

• Montebello

Launched: not launched

• Mont Saint-Bernard

Launched: 1811
Fate: Struck, 1814.

• Régénérateur

Launched: 1811
Fate: Struck, 1814.

• Audacieux

Launched: 1815
Fate: Abandoned in 1813, completed by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• Castiglione

Launched: 1812
Fate: Struck, 1814.

• Polyphème

Launched: July 1817
Fate: Abandoned in 1813, completed by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• Royal Italien

Launched: 1812
Fate: Struck, 1814.

• Couronne

Launched: 1817
Fate: Abandoned in 1813, completed by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• Piet Hein

Launched: 1817
Fate: Abandoned in 1813, completed by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• Montenotte

Launched: 1815
Fate: Completed by Lombardy–Venetia.

• Arcole

Launched: not launched

• Lombardo

Launched: not launched

• Semmering

Launched: not launched

• Citoyen

Launched: not launched


A wonderful model of the Rivoli you can find here:



http://www.shipmodels.com.ua/eng/models/elite/le_rivoli/index.htm

or here:


http://www.shipmodels.com.ua/eng/models/elite/le_rivoli_copy/index.htm


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Ville_de_Berlin_(1807)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Téméraire-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1808 - HMS Recruit (1806 - 18), Chas. Napier, engaged French sloop Diligente (1801 - 18) off Antigua.

HMS Recruit was employed in patrolling near the French-held island of Martinique. At 6am on 6th September 1808, she sighted the French brig-corvette Diligente of 18 guns. The Diligente was the sole survivor of a group of three brig-corvettes which had left Lorient with cargoes of flour for the French garrison on Martinique. The group, also comprised of the 16 gun vessels Espiegle and Sylphe had run into the British 18 gun ship-sloop HMS Comet on the 11th August and had been involved in an action in which HMS Comet had taken the Sylphe.


A nice drawing of the sail plan of a Cruizer class brig-sloop. HMS Recruit would have been identical
http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17097.0


On 18th August, the remaining two vessels had come across the British 38 gun frigate HMS Sibylle and in the action which followed, HMS Sibylle had taken the Espiegle.

On sighting the French vessel, HMS Recruit made all sail and gave chase. At 07:30, HMS Recruit fired two shots at the Diligente and hoisted her colours, signifying an intention to fight. At 08:15, the Diligente changed tack and a few minutes later hoisted her colours. Now headed directly for each other, the two vessels passed each other within a pistol-shot at 08:30, exchanging broadside fire as they passed. Commander Napier was wounded in the opening broadside, having his leg broken by a ball from the French vessel which narrowly missed him. Determined to lead his men personally, Napier remained on the main deck despite his injury. Both vessels turned around and passed each other at close range again, exchanging broadside fire as they passed. This time, the Diligente attempted to manoeuvre around HMS Recruit's stern, with potentially devastating consequences. Commander Napier ordered that his vessel follow the Frenchman around and brought the French vessel to close action with her port-side (left hand side) guns. At 09:20, Mr Moses de Willets, HMS Recruit's 2nd Lieutenant, received a mortal wound. The two vessels continued to manoeuvre, each attempting to gain the advantage, but remaining broadside to broadside, continuing to fire into each other at virtually poiint-blank range until 11:30, when HMS Recruit's main mast was hit close to the deck and fell over the stern. This left HMS Recruit crippled. While some of her men were trying to cut away the wreckage of her main mast, Commander Napier ordered the remainder to board the Diligente and fight it out, hand-to-hand on the Frenchman's deck. Each time they attempted to board, the Diligente sheered off.

With HMS Recruit disabled and unable to manoeuvre, the Diligente passed astern of her and raked her through the stern. As the Diligente completed the move and came alongside, HMS Recruit returned fire. Nevertheless, the Diligente sailed around HMS Recruit's bow and raked her again. The battered British ship continued to return fire and as the Diligente came alongside again, intending to board and take her, a lucky shot from HMS Recruit caused an explosion in the Dilgente's stern, destroying her quarter-boat, which was packed with men. This pursuaded the Frenchman to change his mind, and turn and run before the wind. Aboard HMS Recruit, Commander Napier set his men to repairing rigging and remounting some of her carronades which had been knocked over in the action. By 2pm, HMS Recruit was ready to go again and headed in chase of the Diligente. On seeing the battered and bruised British vessel closing the range to continue the fight, the Diligente set more sail. By 16:00, HMS Recruit's men had set up a jury main mast and managed to set sails on it and again, attempted to close the range and bring the French vessel to action. Despite this, the Diligente continued to open the range and by 19:30, had disappeared out of sight. In the action, HMS Recruit had lost six men killed and 23 wounded. Of the 23 wouned men, half were to die of their injuries later, including Mr de Willets. Commander Napier had received a compound fracture, the bone protruding from the flesh. The Diligente's losses are unknown, but suffice to state they must have been serious for her commander to have got away with fleeing the scene at a time when he could have taken HMS Recruit. Despite her losses, the Diligente managed to reach Martinique without further incident.

On 10th September, HMS Recruit dropped anchor in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, where she was fitted with a new main mast.

http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17097.0


The ships:

HMS Recruit was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Sandwich, Kent. She is best known for an act of pique by Cmdr. Warwick Lake, who marooned a seaman, and for an inconclusive but hard-fought ship action under Cmdr. Charles John Napier against the French corvette Diligente. She captured a number of American vessels as prizes during the War of 1812 before being laid up in 1815 and sold for breaking up in 1822.



Napoleonic Wars
Recruit was ordered on 27 January 1806 from the shipwright Andrew Hills, of Sandwich, Kent. She was laid down in April 1806 and launched on 31 August 1806.

The marooning of Seaman Jeffery
Recruit was commissioned under Commander George Ackholm in March 1807. On 28 August, Tromp detained the Danish ships Diamond and Karen Louisa. Recruit, Humber, Cheerful, and experiment were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the seizure.



Next, Recruit sailed to the Caribbean under Commander Warwick Lake, supposedly in July, but clearly later. During the voyage, a young sailor named Robert Jeffery was discovered to have stolen the midshipmen's beer and Lake furiously ordered him to be marooned on the island of Sombrero. (Jeffery had been born at Fowey but moved to Polperro before becoming a merchant seaman and was then pressed into the navy.) Some months later, Lake's commanding officer Sir Alexander Cochrane discovered what had happened and immediately ordered Lake to retrieve Jeffery. When Recruit arrived at Sombrero, Jeffery could not be found. Eventually the story got out and a court martial dismissed Lake from the service for his actions. As it turned out, Jeffery had been picked up by an American ship and was eventually discovered in Massachusetts three years later, working as a blacksmith. He returned to Britain and received compensation.

Captain Charles Napier
Command passed to Commander Charles Napier, who led Recruit into action against the French corvette Diligente, under Jean-François Lemaresquier, on 6 September 1808. The action was fierce and resulted in Recruit losing her mainmast and suffering heavy casualties, including Napier, whose leg was broken by a cannon shot. Diligente was only driven off after a lucky shot from Recruit ignited an ammunition store. Recruitlost six killed and 23 wounded, half of them mortally, out of a crew of 106.


Portrait of Admiral Charles Napier

Following repairs, Recruit participated in the invasion of Martinique in January 1809. Napier observed that Fort Edward at Fort Royal Bay appeared abandoned. He took a gig and with four men, landed, scaled the fort's walls, and hoisted a British flag. Sir Alexander Cochrane immediately landed marines to occupy the fort and turn its mortars, which had not been spiked, against the French. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique" to all survivors of the campaign.

Shortly thereafter, Napier received promotion to Post-captain and appointment to command of Jason, but remained with Recruit for a few more months.

In April 1809, a strong French squadron arrived at the Îles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until 14 April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, invaded and captured the islands. Recruit was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the islands.


Intrepid behaviour of Captn Charles Napier, in H M 18 gun Brig Recruit for which he was appointed to the D' Haupoult. The 74 now pouring a broadside into her. April 15 1809

Recruit participated in the defeat of a French reinforcement squadron in April. During the engagement, Napier was instrumental in maintaining contact with the French force, harrying their flagship D'Hautpoult continuously at some great risk to Recruit that only Napier's skillful ship handling mitigated. Recruit was present at the surrender of the D'Hautpoult and Napier was temporarily appointed to command the captured ship of the line, but then transferred to Jason and sailed her back to Britain. However, on his arrival the Admiralty confirmed his rank but not his appointment, and he was put on half-pay. Jason's new captain was the Hon. Captain King, who had been Napier's passenger on Jason. Napier protested to the Admiralty that had he not stayed on Recruit and contributed to the capture of the D'Hautpoult he would have received a command, but to no avail.

In June 1809 command of Recruit transferred to Commander James Murray, and then in May 1810 Commander John Cookesley replaced Murray.

War of 1812
In December 1810 Commander Humphrey Senhouse took command and later sailed Recruit back to Britain.
In 1811, Recruit was at Spithead. She sailed for North America on 9 November 1811. She was at Halifax, Nova Scotia at the outbreak of the War of 1812. When Rattler captured Romney on 22 September 1812, and Santa Maria on 28 September, Recruit shared the prize money by agreement.
In 1813, Recruit was trapped in ice off Cape Breton where over half her complement were taken ill with sicknesses related to a lack of fresh vegetables. When Lieutenant George Pechell (acting commander) took command of Recruit for his first cruise that summer, she had only half her normal crew.
In May, Recruit drove the letter of marque schooner Inca ashore off Georgia. Inca was armed with six guns and carried a crew of 35 men.
On 10 July Recruit captured the privateer Yorktown, and eight days later she captured the privateer Lavinia. Then on 20 August she captured the American brig King George.
On 4 January 1814 she captured the merchantman Mary Ann. Commander Thomas Sykes assumed command in February, from Indian, and on 10 August she captured the American merchantman Federalist. Sykes' successor in 1815 was Commander John Lawrence.

Fate
On 13 June 1815, Recruit was paid off into ordinary at Plymouth. She was sold to R. Forbes on 7 August 1822 for ₤1,050


Diligente was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. Built at Brest on private plans by Pierre Ozanne, she was particularly fast. The French Navy adopted the design and copied the plans as late as 1848. Originally armed with 6-pounder guns, she was later rearmed with heavier carronades. She continued in service, off and on, until she was struck in 1854.


French corvette Diligente (1801)

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Diligente took part in the Atlantic campaign of 1806 in Leissègues' squadron, culminating in the Battle of San Domingo.

The frigates Comète, Félicité, and Diligente captured and burned the American vessel Lark, Moore, master, which was sailing from Philadelphia to Jamaica.

In August 1808 Diligente, captained by Commander Jean-François Lemaresquier, with the corvettes Sylphe and Espiègle, sailed from France with supplies for the island of Martinique. British ships chased the group through the Bay of Biscay and captured Sylphe and Espiègle. Diligente escaped, only to encounter the British sloop Recruit, under Commander (later to be Admiral) Charles Napier, off Antigua. During a hard-fought action lasting three hours, Recruit's mainmast fell, putting her somewhat at Diligente's mercy. However, a lucky shot ignited Diligente's ammunition store, causing some damage. Diligente withdrew and later Lemaresquier justified his action on the grounds that other British naval vessels were approaching, which they were not, and the weight of Recruit's broadside, which was heavier.

On 3 October, Diligente sank the Mexican brig Juliana. Then on 12 November she returned to Lorient. Here she served from 1811 to 1812 as a school ship. On 12 March she was in the harbour at Brest. On 2 December 1812, she accidentally collided with Nestor in the Roads of Toulon.

She may have cruised in the Channel as Derwent reported that on 20 December 1813 she had retaken and sent in the brig Racehorse, from Newfoundland for Teignmouth, that the French corvette Diligente had captured. In 1814 Diligente was paid off.

Bourbon Restoration
After the Bourbon Restoration, Diligente underwent refitting at Brest between 22 August 1820 and 4 January 1821. She was recommissioned with 18-pounder carronades and was reclassified as a corvette aviso (sloopcorvette). Then on 21 April she left Brest for the Antilles, Guiana and Newfoundland. By 30 August 1822 she was in the Antilles again.

On 2 November 1822 Diligente left Rochefort for Brazil, not returning to Brest until 27 December 1826. Around 1825 or so she was off the coast of Chile where she took a privateer that had fired a broadside at her.

In 1827 Diligente was again decommissioned for refitting. Then in 1828 she was in the Eastern Mediterranean.

July Monarchy
Under Commandant Garibou Diligente took part in the expedition to the mouth of the Tagus River where a French squadron fought the Battle of the Tagus on 11 July 1831. The French vessels fought their way past the Portuguese forts guarding the mouth of the river and sailed up to Lisbon. There they forced the Portuguese king Dom Miguel to accede to French demands, among them that he recognize the July Monarchy. The French also seized all the military and commercial vessels they could find as reparations.

Then in 1835–36 she was on the Livorno station. On 30 January 1836, she was driven ashore and severely damaged at Livorno. On 26 October 1840 she left Toulon for Alexandria, Egypt. She visited Smyrna in March 1841. Lastly, she was present at Athens during the 3 September 1843 Revolution.

Fate
Diligente was struck off on 11 October 1854.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Recruit_(1806)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Diligente_(1801)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Recruit_1806
http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17097.0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Napier_(Royal_Navy_officer)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1810 – Launch of French Rivoli, a 74 gun temeraire class ship of the line


The Rivoli was a Téméraire class ship of the line of the French Navy.

Rivoli was built in Venice, whose harbour was too shallow for a 74-gun to exit. To allow her to depart, she was fitted with seacamels.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showng the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Rivoli' (1812), a captured French Third Rate, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard after fitting as 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. Signed by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1803-1823]
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80999.html#liHwglGiTpJVUThd.99

On her maiden journey, under Jean-Baptiste Barré, the British 74-gun third rate HMS Victorious (1808 - 74) intercepted her on 22 February 1812. Her crew was inexperienced, and in the ensuing Battle of Pirano, the British captured Rivoli after some 400 men of her crew of over 800 were killed or wounded.


HMS 'Victorious' Taking the 'Rivoli', 22 February 1812- Thomas Luny (1759–1837) - National Maritime Museum


The Royal Navy subsequently recommissioned her as HMS Rivoli. On 30 May 1815, under Captain Edward Stirling Dickson, she destroyed the frigate Melpomène (1812 - 44). Northward of the island of Ischia, after a running fight and brave defence of 15 minutes, captured the French 40-gun frigate, from Porto-Ferrajo to Naples, to take on board Napoleon's mother.
January 1816 - Began fitting as a Guardship at Portsmouth Dockyard
February 1816 - Completed fitting as a Guardship at Portsmouth Dockyard
February 1817 - Paid off
January 1819 - Broken up at Portsmouth


Model of Rivoli, fully rigged and fitted with seacamels.


Le Rivoli, vaisseau de 74 canons (3e rang, premier ordre) construit à Venise sur les plans
de Borda-Sané et lancé en 1812. Modèle entièrement gréé. Échelle 1/40.
Le Rivoli est représenté sur les chameaux à l'aide desquels il sortit tout armé du port de Venise
en passant au-dessus des bas-fonds qui obstruaient l'entrée de ce port.







https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Rivoli_(1810)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-343464;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=R
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victorious_(1808)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Melpomène_(1812)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1814 - USS Tigress, captured by british 3 days before, captured schooner Scorpion in Lake Huron


The series of Engagements on Lake Huron left the British in control of the lake and their Native American allies in control of the Old Northwest for the latter stages of the War of 1812.

An American force which had failed to recapture the vital outpost at Fort Mackinac in August 1814 attempted to starve its garrison into surrender by destroying the schooner which carried supplies to Mackinac from the Nottawasaga River and then blockading the island with two gunboats. A party of sailors of the Royal Navy and soldiers from the garrison of Mackinac captured both gunboats by surprise in the first week of September, leaving the British in control of the lake until the end of the war.

I did not find anything visual of the two ships (no painting, drawings etc.) so therefore a nice actual film of schooners at the Lake Huron

Capture of the gunboats
Supplies at Mackinac had run so short that McDouall's soldiers were on half rations, and he had even killed some horses to feed the Native Americans.[13] Worsley asked McDouall for reinforcements to be used to attack the gunboats. He was given four large boats and 60 men of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, all of whom were accustomed to serving as marines. Lieutenants Bulger, Armstrong and Raderhurst of the Royal Newfoundland commanded three of the boats. Worsley commanded the other, which held 17 of his sailors. Bulger's boat was armed with a 3-pounder gun railing gun, removed earlier from Nancy and Worsley's with a 6-pounder gun, also from the Nancy. Two hundred Ojibwa from Manitoulin Island, led by Chief Assiginack, followed them in nineteen canoes in case any warriors were fighting for the Americans.

Late on 2 September, the boats and canoes landed on Drummond Island. Worsley and Livingston went scouting the next day, and spotted Tigress anchored a few miles away. That night, the British and Ojibwa set out towards the gunboat. Except for Lieutenant Robert Dickson of the Indian Department and three chiefs, the Native Americans were told to wait 3 miles (4.8 km) away. In the early hours of 4 September, Worsley's four boats approached Tigress silently. The crew of the gunboat (thirty-one sailors and soldiers under Sailing Master Stephen Champlin) spotted them too late, and their fire missed. Before they could reload, Worsley's and Armstrong's boats were alongside the starboard side of the gunboat, and Bulger's and Raderhorst's boats were to port. The Newfoundlanders and Worsley's sailors swarmed on board the gunboat and overpowered the Americans after a sharp struggle. Three Americans were killed and five wounded (including Champlin and both his junior officers). Three British were killed and seven, including Lieutenant Bulger, wounded.

Livingston set off to find Scorpion, and returned two hours later to report that the gunboat was approaching. The captured Americans were hastily sent ashore. The next day, Scorpion came into view and anchored about 2 miles (3.2 km) away, but appeared not to have heard any of the fight. At dawn on 6 September, Worsley set sail towards Scorpion in Tigress, under American colours and with most of his men below decks or concealed under their greatcoats. The unsuspecting crew of Scorpion could be seen scrubbing the deck. Worsley approached to within few yards of the Scorpion and then fired a volley of muskets and Tigress's 24-pounder cannon. As the vessels came into contact, Worsley's men swarmed aboard the American vessel. The surprised Americans made little resistance. Two Americans were killed and two wounded. There were no British casualties.

Scorpion (but not Tigress) had boarding nettings rigged and might have been able to fight off a boarding attempt from small boats, but not from a vessel of equal size.

Aftermath
The captured Scorpion and Tigress were renamed Confiance and Surprise. They sailed at once for the Nottawasaga. On hearing of the loss of Nancy, Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Drummond, the Governor General of Upper Canada, had urgently dispatched batteaux and extra supplies to the Nottawasaga. Confiance and Surprise returned to Mackinac at the start of October with sufficient provisions to keep the garrison of Mackinac supplied until the end of the war.

The British planned to build a frigate and other vessels at Penetanguishene on Matchedash Bay in 1815, which would have further reinforced the British advantage in the area. The end of the war put a halt to most of this construction (although the armed schooner Tecumseth and the unarmed transport vessel Bee were built in 1816 and a naval base was opened at Penetanguishene in 1817). However, all British shipbuilding efforts on the lakes had to compete for resources against those on Lake Ontario, which were being surpassed by the Americans at Sackets Harbor. Another major problem was lack of additional land transportation for such purposes.

At the end of the war, some British officers (including McDouall) and Canadians objected to handing back Prairie du Chien and especially Mackinac under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. However, the Americans retained the captured post at Fort Malden, near Amherstburg, until the British complied with the treaty.


The Ships

USS Tigress was a schooner of the United States Navy which took part in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. In September 1814, the schooner was captured by the British and subsequently served in the Royal Navy as HMS Surprise.

Battle of Lake Erie
Built at Erie, Pennsylvania, by Adam and Noah Brown, as the schooner Amelia. She was launched in the spring of 1813, probably in April. The ship was then acquired by the Navy for service with Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry's forces on Lake Erie, it was renamed Tigress and was placed under the command of Lt. Augustus H. M. Conkling.

The Tigress took part in the Battle of Lake Erie at Put-in-Bay, Ohio on 10 September 1813, being one of several gunboats which caused heavy damage to HMS Detroit, the flagship of Commander Robert Heriot Barclay, and other British ships.

Battle of the Thames
Perry consequently convoyed American troops into the territory formerly held by the British, investing Malden on 23 September and Detroit (which the British had captured in 1812) four days later. On 2 October, a small naval flotilla, consisting of Tigress, Scorpion and Porcupine, under the command of Lieutenant Jesse Elliott, ascended the Thames River to support an overland expedition under General William Henry Harrison. In the ensuing Battle of the Thames, Harrison's army routed the mixed British and Indian force. The Indian leader Tecumseh was killed in the battle.

Lake Huron
See also: Engagements on Lake Huron
Tigress subsequently sailed for Lake Huron, where she took part in blockading operations into the summer of 1814. She and Scorpion drew the task of standing watch over the entrance to the Nottawasaga River, the sole supply source for the British garrison on Mackinac Island. By early September, the situation in this town was desperate. If the blockade were not lifted within a fortnight, dwindling food supplies would force the British to surrender.

To avert such a development, four boatloads of British and Indians set out from the island on the night of 3 September 1814. Members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, led by Captain Andrew Bulger partook in the operation. They slipped alongside Tigress, which was anchored close inshore, and boarded the schooner. A brief and bloody battle followed and although "warmly received" by the vessel's crew, the British captured the ship in five minutes. "The defense of this vessel," wrote Lieutenant Miller Worsley, in command of the attackers, "did credit to her officers, who were all severely wounded." (This included the vessel's commander, Sailing Master Stephen Champlin.)

While the surviving officers and men were sent ashore as prisoners of war, Worsley retained the greater part of the boarding party on board and kept the ship's American flag flying. Scorpion soon arrived on 6 September and anchored some two miles distant. Worsley, in a daring stroke, ran the captured Tigress alongside Scorpion and captured her, too. Both American vessels and their captured crews were later taken to Mackinac.

Fate
The British renamed their prizes soon thereafter. Tigress became HMS Surprise, an appropriate name in view of the nature of her capture, and Scorpion became HMS Confiance. Both subsequently served the Royal Navy until the end of the war, when they were laid up and allowed to sink at their moorings in the Grand River. One of the wrecks retrieved from Penetanguishene Bay in 1953 was not the Tigress, as was reported in Time Magazine, but was in fact the HMS Tecumseth, which is now housed in the Tecumseth Centre located at the north end of the historical site Discovery Harbour.


USS Scorpion was a schooner of the United States Navy during the War of 1812. She was the second USN ship to be named for the scorpion. The British captured her on 6 September 1814 and took her into service as HMS Confiance. She was placed in Ordinary in 1817 and broken up in 1831.

Career
Scorpion was launched in the spring of 1813 at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania), probably by Noah Brown of New York, for service on the upper Great Lakes during the War of 1812.

Scorpion, commanded by Sailing Master Stephen Champlin, first cousin to Oliver Hazard Perry, operated with Commodore Perry's squadron on Lake Erie during the summer and fall of 1813.

On 10 September 1813, she participated in the battle off Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie, which resulted in the defeat and capture of the British fleet (see Battle of Lake Erie). Scorpion had the distinction of firing the first and last shot in the battle in which she lost two men. At the close of the action, she and Trippe pursued and captured the fleeing British schooners Chippeway and Little Belt.

After Perry's victory, Scorpion assisted General William Henry Harrison's forces operating in the Thames River area, by transporting troops as well as stores and ammunition captured from the enemy.

During the winter of 1813 and 1814, she was laid up at Erie, Pennsylvania. From May 1814 to September 1814, Scorpion cruised on Lake Erie and Lake Huron, cooperating with the army in the Detroit area by transporting troops, staking out the flats through the St. Clair River, and blockading the enemy at the Nottawasaga River and Lake Simcoe.

Capture and fate
On 6 September 1814, while on blockade duty on Lake Huron, Scorpion, under command of Daniel Turner, was surprised and captured by the former American schooner, Tigress, which also had been taken by the British a few days earlier. Both vessels and prisoners were taken to Fort Mackinac.

Scorpion was subsequently taken into the British Navy as the four-gun schooner Confiance, which along with Tigress, according to local legend, was later sunk in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, off Penetanguishene, Ontario. In fact both vessels were laid up and dismantled at Colborne Basin, Ontario.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagements_on_Lake_Huron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tigress_(1813)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Scorpion_(1813)
https://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2015/10/25/action-at-nottawasaga-river/
http://www.alexluyckx.com/blog/index.php/2014/08/05/project1812-battle-of-lake-huron/

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1814 - Beginning of Battle of Plattsburgh (6 – 11 September 1814)


The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final invasion of the northern states of the United States during the War of 1812. A British army under Lieutenant General Sir George Prévost and a naval squadron under Captain George Downie converged on the lakeside town of Plattsburgh, which was defended by New York and Vermont militia and detachments of regular troops of the United States Army, all under the command of Brigadier General Alexander Macomb, and ships commanded by Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough.

Downie's squadron attacked shortly after dawn on 11 September 1814, but was defeated after a hard fight in which Downie was killed. Prévost then abandoned the attack by land against Macomb's defences and retreated to Canada, stating that even if Plattsburgh was captured, any British troops there could not be supplied without control of the lake.


Naval battle on Lake Champlain. Engraving in 1816 by B. Tanner

When the battle took place, American and British delegates were meeting at Ghent in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, attempting to negotiate a treaty acceptable to both sides to end the war. The American victory at Plattsburgh, and the successful defense at the Battle of Baltimore, which began the next day and halted British advances in the Mid-Atlantic states, denied the British negotiators leverage to demand any territorial claims against the United States on the basis of Uti possidetis, i.e. retaining territory they held at the end of hostilities. The Treaty of Ghent, in which captured or occupied territories were restored on the basis of Status quo ante bellum, was signed three months after the battle.

Naval background
The British had gained naval superiority on Lake Champlain on 1 June 1813, when two American sloops pursued British gunboats into the Richelieu River, and were forced to surrender when the wind dropped and they were trapped by British artillery on the banks of the river. They were taken into the British naval establishment at Ile aux Noix, under Commander Daniel Pring. Their crews, and those of several gunboats, were temporarily reinforced by seamen drafted from ships of war lying at Quebec under Commander Thomas Everard who, being senior to Pring, took temporary command. They embarked 946 troops under Lieutenant Colonel John Murray of the 100th Regiment of Foot, and raided several settlements on both the New York and Vermont shores of Lake Champlain during the summer and autumn of 1813. The losses they inflicted and the restriction they imposed on the movement of men and supplies to Plattsburgh contributed to the defeat of Major General Wade Hampton's advance against Montreal, which finally ended with the Battle of the Chateauguay.

Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough, commanding the American naval forces on the Lake, established a secure base at Otter Creek (Vermont), and constructed several gunboats. He had to compete with Commodore Isaac Chauncey, commanding on Lake Ontario, for seamen, shipwrights and supplies, and was not able to begin constructing larger fighting vessels until his second-in-command went to Washington to argue his case to the Secretary of the Navy, William Jones. Naval architect Noah Brown was sent to Otter Creek to superintend construction.

In April 1814, the Americans launched the corvette USS Saratoga of 26 guns and the schooner USS Ticonderoga of 14 guns (originally a part-completed steam vessel). Together with the existing sloop-rigged USS Preble of 7 guns, they gave the Americans naval superiority, and this allowed them to establish and supply a substantial base at Plattsburgh. Only a few days before the Battle of Plattsburgh, the Americans also completed the 20-gun brig USS Eagle.

The loss of their former supremacy on Lake Champlain prompted the British to construct the 36-gun frigate HMS Confiance at Ile aux Noix. Captain George Downie was appointed to command soon after the frigate was launched on 25 August, replacing Captain Peter Fisher, who in turn had superseded Pring. Like Macdonough, Downie had difficulty obtaining men and materials from the senior officer on Lake Ontario (Commodore James Lucas Yeo) and Macdonough had intercepted several spars which had been sold to Britain by unpatriotic Vermonters. (By tradition, Midshipman Joel Abbot destroyed several of these in a daring commando-type raid.) Downie could promise to complete Confiance only on 15 September, and even then the frigate's crew would not have been exercised. Prévost was anxious to begin his campaign as early as possible, to avoid the bad weather of late autumn and winter, and continually pressed Downie to prepare Confiance for battle more quickly.

Naval battle
Prelude


Naval action

Macdonough had sent some of his gunboats to harass Prévost's advance, but he knew that his fleet was outgunned, particularly in long guns. He therefore withdrew into Plattsburgh Bay, where the British would be forced to engage at close range, at which the American and British squadrons would be roughly even in numbers and weight of short-range carronades. He used the time before Downie arrived to drill his sailors, and make preparations to fight at anchor. The ships were anchored in line from north to south in the order Eagle, Saratoga, Ticonderoga and Preble. They all had both bow and stern anchors, with "springs" attached to the anchor cables to allow the ships to be slewed through a wide arc. Macdonough also laid out extra kedge anchors from the quarters of his flagship Saratoga, which would allow him to spin the ship completely around. The ten American gunboats were anchored in the intervals between the larger vessels.

Although the British sloops and gunboats under Commander Pring were already on the Lake and at anchor near Chazy, and had set up a battery on Isle La Motte, Vermont, it took two days to tow the frigate Confianceup the Sorel River from Ile aux Noix, against both wind and current. Downie finally joined the squadron on 9 September. Carpenters and riggers were still at work on the frigate, and the incomplete crew was augmented by a company of the 39th Foot. To Prévost's fury, Downie was unable to attack on 10 September because the wind was unfavourable. During the night the wind shifted to the northeast, making an attack feasible.

The British squadron sailed in the early hours of 11 September, and announced their presence to Prévost's army by "scaling" the guns i.e. firing them without shot to clear scale or rust from the barrels. Shortly after dawn, Downie reconnoitred the American dispositions from a rowing boat, before ordering the British squadron to attack. Addressing his crew, he told them that the British Army would storm Plattsburgh as soon as the ships engaged, "and mind don't let us be behind".

Battle
At about 9 am, the British squadron rounded Cumberland Head close-hauled in line abreast, with the large ships to the north initially in the order Chubb, Linnet, Confiance and Finch, and the gunboats to the south. It was a fine autumn day, but the wind was light and variable, and Downie was unable to manoeuvre Confiance to the place he intended, across the head of Macdonough's line. As Confiance suffered increasing damage from the American ships, he was forced to drop anchor between 300 and 500 yards from Macdonough's flagship, the Saratoga. He then proceeded deliberately, securing everything before firing a broadside which killed or wounded one fifth of Saratoga's crew. Macdonough was stunned but quickly recovered; and a few minutes later Downie was killed, crushed by a cannon flung from its carriage by a shot from Saratoga.


Macomb watches the naval battle. Note that this painting is horizontally reversed; as shown it would mean that the American land forces were on the north side of the Saranac River, but were in fact on the south.

Elsewhere along the British line, the sloop Chubb was badly damaged and drifted into the American line, where her commander surrendered. The brig Linnet, commanded by Pring, reached the head of the American line and opened a raking fire against the USS Eagle. At the tail of the line, the sloop Finch failed to reach station and anchor, and although hardly hit at all, Finch drifted aground on Crab Island, and surrendered under fire from the 6-pounder gun of the battery manned by the invalids from Macomb's hospital.

Half the British gunboats were also hotly engaged at this end of the line. Their fire forced the weakest American vessel, the Preble to cut its anchors and drift out of the fight. The Ticonderoga was able to fight them off, although it was engaged too heavily to support Macdonough's flagship. The rest of the British gunboats apparently held back from action, and their commander later deserted.

After about an hour, the USS Eagle had the springs to one of her anchor cables shot away, and was unable to bear to reply to HMS Linnet's raking fire. Eagle's commander cut the remaining anchor cable and allowed the brig to drift down towards the tail of the line, before anchoring again astern of the USS Saratoga and engaging HMS Confiance, but allowing Linnet to rake Saratoga. Both flagships had fought each other to a standstill. After Downie and several of the other officers had been killed or injured, Confiance's fire had become steadily less effective, but aboard USS Saratoga, almost all the starboard-side guns were dismounted or put out of action.

Macdonough ordered the bow anchor cut, and hauled in the kedge anchors he had laid out earlier to spin Saratoga around. This allowed Saratoga to bring its undamaged port battery into action. Confiance was unable to return the fire. The frigate's surviving Lieutenant, James Robertson, tried to haul in on the springs to his only anchor to make a similar manoeuvre, but succeeded only in presenting the vulnerable stern to the American fire. Helpless, Confiance could only surrender. Macdonough hauled in further on his kedge anchors to bring his broadside to bear on HMS Linnet. Pring sent a boat to Confiance, to find that Downie was dead and the Confiance had struck its colours. The Linnet also could only surrender, after being battered almost into sinking. The British gunboats withdrew, unmolested.

The surviving British officers boarded Saratoga to offer their swords (of surrender) to Macdonough. When he saw the officers, Macdonough replied, "Gentlemen, return your swords to your scabbards, you are worthy of them". Commander Pring and the other surviving British officers later testified that Macdonough showed every consideration to the British wounded and prisoners.

Many of the British dead, not including the officers, were buried in an unmarked mass grave on nearby Crab Island, the site of the military hospital during the battle, where they remain today.

The False Nile


Saratoga (left) and Eagle (right) engaging Confiance

Both commanders would have seen the parallels of Macdonough's anchorage on Lake Champlain to that of the French under Vice Admiral Francois-Paul Brueys, opposing British Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, at the Battle of the Nile in Aboukir Bay on 1 August 1798. A study of Nelson's battles was part of the professional knowledge expected of naval commanders. But Macdonough did all that Brueys did not. He expected to take advantage of the prevailing winds on Lake Champlain that constrained Downie's axis of approach. "Because nearly every circumstance that worked to Nelson's advantage proved disadvantageous to Downie, the Battle of Lake Champlain is sometimes called the False Nile by the English." The British naval historian William Laird Clowes regarded Macdonough's False Nile victory as "a most notable feat, one which, on the whole, surpassed that of any other captain of either navy in this war."


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