Naval/Maritime History 24th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 February 1807 - HMS Lark (1794 - 16), Cptn. Robert Nicholas, and boats at Zispata Bay. Silenced a battery and engaged a convoy with 3 small escorts. 1 enemy was taken but 2 earlier prizes ran aground and were burnt.


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



French Revolutionary Wars
Lark was commissioned in March 1794 under Commander Josias Rowley. Later that year Commander Francis Austen, who would go on to rise to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, served on her when she was part of a fleet that evacuated British troops from Ostend and Nieuwpoort after the French captured the Netherlands. In 1795, the Lark was part of the squadron under Commodore Payne that escorted Princess Caroline of Brunswick to England. That same year she was part of the British naval force that supported the invasion of France by a force of French émigrés.

In January 1795 Commander William Ogilvy recommissioned her. On 21 March 1796, Lark joined the 32-gun frigate Ceres, Captain James Newman-Newman, in providing support to an unsuccessful attack by British troops from Port-au-Prince on the town and fort of Léogane on the island of Hispaniola.

Commander James Hayes was appointed captain of Lark in 1798. In late 1798 or early 1799, while on the Jamaica station, boats from the 98-gun second rate Queen and Lark, under the temporary command of Lieutenant Hugh Cooke, cut out a schooner of four guns from Port Nieu in the West Indies. During this period, Lark, with Jamaica captured two merchant vessels and destroyed one, and Lark alone destroyed another.

In April 1799 Commander John Wentworth Loring took command. Lark then captured another schooner. Between 12 February and 21 May 1799, Larkcaptured two small privateers, a French schooner and a Spanish lateen-rigged vessel of one 6-pounder and two swivel guns, as well as seven merchant vessels. At some point between 26 June and October, Lark captured the American brig Sally, which was sailing from St. Thomas to Havana with 23 "new Negroes".



Between 21 July and October Lark captured six more vessels:

• Spanish schooner La Reyna Louisa, from Truxill bound to Havana, laden with nails, paint, white lime, leather, etc.;
• Schooner Aurora, under American colours, from New York bound to Vera Cruz, laden with single sheet tin, pigs (ingots) of tin, dry goods, etc. (Spanish Property);
• Ship America, under American colours, from Providence in America, to Havana, laden with salt; she had already landed part of her cargo at Turk's Island;
• Schooner Betsy, under American colours, from Charleston bound to Havana, laden with sheet and pig lead;
• Schooner Daphne, under American colours, from Philadelphia bound to Havana, laden with dry goods and iron work for sugar mills (Spanish property); and
• Brig Mary, under American colours, from Baltimore bound to Vera Cruz, laden with dry goods (Spanish property).

At some point after 27 October 1799 Lark captured three more vessels:

• Spanish brig Nostra Senora de los Delores. She was of 140 tons, armed with four guns and had a crew of 30 men. She was from Havana bound to Vera Cruz with a cargo of cocoa. Lark was in company with Greyhound and Stork;
• Spanish brig Santo Domingo y San Juan Nepumaceno, taken off Cape Catouche. She was of 110 tons, armed with two guns, and had a crew of ten men. She was carrying a cargo of brandy, wine, oil, olives, and tin;
• Spanish polacca Londre San Antonio de Padua, also taken off Cape Catouche. She was of 120 tons, armed with six guns, and had a crew of 18 men. She was carrying a cargo dry goods, brandy, wine, oil, olives, and tin.

During the same period, Lark recaptured from a Spanish privateer an English sloop, laden with provisions.

Between 9 and 20 March 1800, Lark took or destroyed six privateers and other small vessels. These included the French schooner Creole de Cuba, in ballast and destroyed on 9 March, a canoe loaded with timber taken on 14 March, the sloop Lively recaptured that same day, a French privateer destroyed on 15 March, a Spanish sloop in ballast, destroyed on 19 March, and a French schooner loaded with salt and taken on 20 March.

The most intense action amongst these six captures occurred off Santiago de Cuba on 14 March when Loring saw a privateer schooner in a bay. He sent boats to bring her out but the enemy had established fortifications on the two heights that guarded the bay. From there, the enemy was able to repulse the attack, killing the lieutenant in command of the boats. Lark then put ashore a landing party some ten miles down the coast. This landing party marched up the coast and attacked the privateer from the rear with the result that when Loring led boats back into the bay he found the landing party had already captured the quarry. The privateer had two carriage guns and Loring destroyed her rather than bring her out.

At some point during or after this, Lark captured or destroyed several more vessels. The list below may, but probably does not, overlap the list for the period 9 to 20 March.

• French brig Voltigeur, which was carrying a cargo of coffee. She was armed with four guns and had a crew of 24 men.
• French schooner Volante in ballast and destroyed;
• French schooner Trompeuse taken while sailing from Jeremie to St. Jago (Santiago de Cuba) with a cargo of salt;
• French schooner Trois Amis taken with a cargo of coffee;
• French sloop of unknown name, taken in ballast;
• French schooner of unknown name taken while sailing from Jeremie to St. Jago with a cargo of salt;
• American schooner Freedom taken while sailing from Turk's Island to St. Jago with a cargo of salt;
• Spanish sloop Fortune, taken while sailing from Porto Bello to Kingston with a cargo of cattle;
• Spanish schooner Misericordia taken while sailing from Old Spain to St. Jago with a cargo of dry goods;
• Two privateer barges; and
• French sloop Hazard, which was in ballast and which Lark destroyed.

While still on the Jamaica station under Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour, between 3 August and 3 January 1801 Lark captured three more merchant vessels:

• French schooner of unknown name with a cargo of cattle;
• Danish schooner Venus, of 35 tons with a cargo of coffee; and
• American schooner Edward and Edmond, of 80 tons and laden with cocoa.

During this period Lark capsized in a hurricane. The crew cut away her masts and rigging and she righted herself. She then had to be towed into Santo Domingo. Loring had her repaired and did so so expeditiously that Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour appointed him as acting captain of Syren, which had just arrived with her crew in a demoralized and mutinous state. In May 1801, Lark was under the command of Commander James Katon (pro tem).

Lark's next action occurred on 13 September 1801. With Lieutenant James Johnstone as acting captain, Lark chased a Spanish privateer schooner along the coast of Cuba until evening, when the schooner took refuge within the Portillo Reefs. Johnstone sent his yawl and cutter, each with sixteen men, including officers, to capture her. The privateer, which was armed with a long 8-pounder and two 4-pounders, opened fire on the boarding party. Still, the British prevailed, though they lost one man killed and a midshipman and 12 sailors wounded. The Spanish lost 21 dead, including their captain Joseph Callie, and six wounded; Lark took the remainder of the 45 man crew prisoner. The privateer was the Esperanza out of Santiago, and in the previous month she had taken the British sloop Eliza and the brig Betsey.

In April 1802 Edward Pelham Brenton took command. In July James Tippet may have been appointed to command, but on 4 July Lark left Jamaica for England. On 15 August, two days before she reached Plymouth, Lark encountered the brig Jane. Jane had apparently run out of food and water so Brenton provided her with some. After reaching Plymouth, Lark sailed the next day to Woolwich to be paid off.


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


Napoleonic Wars
On 31 May 1803 Lark was under the command of John Tower when she captured the French ship Marianne. On 11 April 1804 there was an announcement that when Lark next arrived at Deal that the prize agents would disburse a distribution of £5000 in prize money to those of her captain and crew who had participated in the capture. There was a second disbursement of £1759 in 1804. Lark also shared part of the proceeds of the capture with the English privateers Star and Polecat.

In May 1804 Lark was under the command of Fredrick Langford who in January 1805 took Lark from Portsmouth, headed for West Africa. In late January or early February he found a Spanish merchant vessel at anchor off the Bay of Senegal and captured her. She was the schooner Camerara, with two guns, though she was pierced for 16, and was carrying a cargo of wine. The Camerara was formerly French and had been a successful privateer at Cayenne under the ownership of Victor Hughes. The Governor of Senegal had intended to present her to her former captain, Victor Hughes, with the aim of using her to harass British trade on this part of the coast of Africa.

On 29 May 1805 Lark was in company with Squirrel off the coast of Guinea when they captured the French merchant brigantine Cecile.

Towards the end of 1806, Lark was escorting six merchantmen from Gorée when by the Savage Islands she came upon a French squadron consisting of five sail of the line, three frigates, a razée and two brig-corvettes. The convoy dispersed and Lark was able to escape and made her way to Cadiz to alert the British fleet there. Lark reached Cadiz on 26 November, and Rear Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth immediately took his squadron to try to find the French. The French squadron, under Contre-Admiral Allemand, was part of a French break-out from Brest.

Lark went on to Portsmouth. She then left Portsmouth under the command of Commander Robert Nicholas, bound for the West Indies. On the way, on 19 January 1807, she set off in pursuit of a Spanish schooner. Unfortunately, the schooner was carrying so much sail that a squall capsized her; Lark could not reach the spot where she went down before the schooner's entire crew had already drowned.

Later that January, on the 27th, and after a 14-hour pursuit, Lark captured two Spanish guarda costa (coast guard) vessels sailing from Cartagena to Portobelo. The two vessels were the Postillon (one long 12-pounder gun, two six-pounders, and 76 men), and the Carmen (one 12-pounder, four six pounders, and 72 men).

On 4 February Lark was still in company with the two guarda costas when they encountered two gunboats and an armed schooner escorting a Spanish convoy of several small market boats. Lark was able to drive the vessels of the convoy ashore, but the escorts took refuge under the guns of a 4-gun battery in a creek in Bahia Cispata, Colombia. Lark silenced the battery. Nicholas then took his entire crew, less the 20 men he left to guard the two guarda costas, and put them in boats with the aim of capturing the gunboats and the armed schooner. The Spanish gunboats rowed towards the British boats but then retreated as the British drew nearer. Nicholas and three of his men then were wounded while they were capturing the rearmost vessel, a gun boat with one 24-pounder and two 6-pounder guns. Later, Lark had three more men wounded in the continuing action. Nicholas then attempted to pursue the remaining Spanish vessels up a creek but while he was trying to do so, the pilot ran Postillon and Carmen ashore. This forced Nicholas to order their prize crews to burn them, which they did. Postillion blew up and Carmen was solidly aflame when the British last saw her.

On 23 August, Lark, in the company of the Cruizer class brig sloop HMS Ferret, captured the French privateer schooner Mosquito, out of Santo Domingo. She had eight guns and a crew of 58 men.

In 1807, Nicholas became lieutenant governor of Curaçao shortly after the British captured it. When he left, the merchants there gave him a silver plate in appreciation for his efforts in protection of their trade.

In the summer of 1809, Lark participated in the blockade of San Domingo until the city fell on 11 July to Spanish forces and the British under Hugh Lyle Carmichael. The blockading squadron, under Captain William Pryce Cumby in the 64-gun third rate Polyphemus, also included Aurora, Tweed, Sparrow, Thrush, Griffon, Moselle, and Fleur de la Mer. Payment of prize money occurred in January 1826 and October 1832.

Loss
Unfortunately, on 3 August 1809, Lark foundered in a gale off Cape Causada (Point Palenqua), San Domingo. She was at anchor when the gale struck. She set sail at daybreak to get out to sea but while she was shortening sail a squall struck that turned her on her side. At that point a heavy sea struck her and she filled rapidly with water. She sank within 15 minutes, taking most of her crew with her. Some of her crew survived by hanging on to floating wreckage. However, by evening, when the Cruizer-class brig-sloop Moselle arrived, Commander Nicholas and all but three men of her crew of 120 were dead. Moselle then rescued the three survivors. Nicholas had just been promoted to post-captain with orders to command Garland.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lark_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant-class_ship-sloop
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-324976;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=L
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=5035

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 February 1811 - boats of HMS Cerberus (1794 - 32), Cptn Henry Whitby, and HMS Active (1799 - 38), Cptn. James captured four enemy's vessels off Pestichi, by Alexander Gordon.


On 14 June 1810 Cerberus was cruising in the Mediterranean in company with Active and Swallow. Together, the three British vessels captured three French gun-boats: Vincentina, Modanese, and Elvetica (or Elvetria).

Then on 28 June 1810 Amphion intercepted a convoy from Trieste and chased it into Grao. Amphion and Cerberus sent a number of boats into the harbour and after a brief struggle, captured the town, taking a number of French soldiers prisoner and discovering 25 vessels in the harbour. Boats from Active reinforced the shore parties, enabling them repel, at bayonet point, a counterattack by more French troops. On the evening of 29 June, the British sailed five prizes and a number of prisoners out of the harbour and on to Lissa. The British burnt 11 vessels in the river, and 14 or 15 boats after removing their cargoes. The British had four men killed and eight wounded, with five of the wounded being from Cerberus; the French lost 10 men killed and eight men wounded.

Prize taking continued the following year when Captain Whitby of HMS Cerberus discovered four vessels anchored at Pestichi on 4 February 1811. He dispatched a number of barges from HMS Cerberus and HMS Active to capture them. The British took three trabaccolos, one the Carlo Grimaldi, and sent them off to Lissa, whilst burning a fourth after removing its cargo to Active. In the action Active had one seaman badly wounded.

On 12 February boats from Cerberus and Active set out to secure a number of vessels spotted moored at Ortano. As the boats attempted this, they came under heavy fire from shore positions but cleared all opposition. A party of marines and small arms men under the command of Active's lieutenant of marines landed to secure the shore to protect the cutting out operation. The carronades on Active's launches also provided cover. British casualties amounted to four men wounded. The British captured 11 Venetian vessels in all, most of which were from Ancona, bound for Corfu. The ones the British didn't burn they sent to Lissa.

• trabaccolo Eugenie, armed with six guns and under the command of a lieutenant;
• transport Fortunée, No. 52, burnt after the transfer of her cargo of corn to another transport;
• transport, name unknown, carrying oil:
• transport, name unknown, No. 2, carrying plank and corn;
• transport St. Anongiato, carrying hemp and cordage;
• transport, name unknown, No. 50, carrying wheat;
• transport, name unknown, No. 55, partly laden with sundries;
• transport Anime del Purgatorio, cargo of rice transferred and vessel burnt;
• transport, name unknown, carrying wheat.
• two transports, names unknown, burnt in the port, together with two magazines of oil, soldiers'

clothing, ammunition and naval stores, including cables, blocks, hawsers, hemp, etc.

On 11 March, Cerberus, along with Active, Volage and Amphion engaged an enemy force consisting of five frigates, a corvette, a brig, two schooners and a xebec in what became known as the Battle of Lissa. The result was a British victory with the capture of two French ships and the burning of another. However, the British lost 50 men killed and 150 men wounded. Cerberus alone lost 13 killed and 44 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the NGSM with clasp "Lissa" to all surviving claimants form the action.



Lines (ZAZ2911) of Cerberus

HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.



Cerberus (or Alcmene) class 32-gun fifth rates 1794, designed by John Henslow.

• HMS Cerberus 1794 - sold 1814.
• HMS Alcmene 1794 - wrecked off Nantes on 29 April 1809.
• HMS Galatea 1794 - broken up 1809.
• HMS Lively 1794 - wrecked near Rota Point, Cadiz on 12 April 1798

Pallas class 32-gun fifth rates 1793-94; designed by John Henslow.

• HMS Pallas 1793 - wrecked on Mount Batten Point, Plymouth on 4 April 1798.
• HMS Stag 1794 - wrecked in Vigo Bay, Spain on 6 September 1800.
• HMS Unicorn 1794 - broken up in 1815.

Scale 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for Pallas (1793), a 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate, building at Woolwich Dockyard and later copies sent to Chatham Dockyard for Stag (1793), Unicorn (1734), and later for Galatea (1794), Lively (1794), Alcemene (1794), and Cerberus (1794), all 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the stern board construction profile for Pallas (1793), Stag (1793), and Unicorn (1734), all 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates It was later used in 1793 for Galatea (1794), Lively (1794), Alcemene (1794), Cerberus (1794), and in 1795 for Maidstone (1795), Shannon (1796) all 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates.


HMS Active was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate launched on 14 December 1799 at Chatham Dockyard. Sir John Henslow designed her as an improvement on the Artois-class frigates. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous enemy vessels. Her crews participated in one campaign and three actions that would later qualify them for the Naval General Service Medal. She returned to service after the wars and finally was broken up in 1860.




Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Active (1799), a 38-gun Fifth Rate, Frigate. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].

Active with paddle wheels:
In 1819 she was fitted with man-powered paddles, an experimental design by James Ryder Burton. Burton was promoted to commander November 1819 "as a reward for an invention for propelling ships of war during a calm" (William R O'Byrne, "A Naval Biographical Dictionary", published by John Murray, 1849)


No. 10 of 73 (PAI0889 - PAI0961) Drawing inscribed in the left corner and lower right 'HMS Active – with Captain Burtons wheels/Portsmouth harbour'. HMS 'Active', 38-guns, was launched at Chatham in 14 December 1799 and was in service mainly in the Mediterranean until 1824 when she was put into Ordinary at Portsmouth. In 1819 she was fitted with man-powered paddles, an experimental design by Lieutenant Burton.


Coloured lithograph showing the Active leaving Portsmouth harbour propelled by paddle-wheels devised by James Ryder Burton and fitted in 1819. Burton was promoted to commander November 1819 "as a reward for an invention for propelling ships of war during a calm" (William R O'Byrne, "A Naval Biographical Dictionary", published by John Murray, 1849).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cerberus_(1794)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-301039;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-289168;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 February 1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.


The Capture of Valdivia was a battle in the Chilean War of Independence between Spanish forces commanded by Colonel Manuel Montoya and the Chilean forces under the command of Lord Cochrane, held on 3 and 4 February 1820.


A painting of the fall of Valdivia in the Chilean naval and maritime museum

Background
After failing to capture the Spanish fortress of Real Felipe in El Callao, Cochrane decided to assault the city of Valdivia, the most fortified place in South America at the time. Valdivia was considered a threat to Chilean independence as it was a stronghold and supply base for Spanish troops. Valdivia provided a safe landing site for sending reinforcements to the loyalist guerrilla fighting the Guerra a muerte in the area of La Frontera.

Valdivia was isolated from the rest of Chile by native Mapuche territory, and the only entrance to Valdivia was Corral Bay, at the mouth of Valdivia River. The bay was protected by several forts built to prevent pirate raids or any attack from a foreign nation.



Fortifications
The defenses at Valdivia consisted of a number of forts and defensive positions. On the South side of the harbour were four forts - Fort Ingles, Fort San Carlos, Fort Amargos and Fort Chorocomayo. Further inland was Corral Castle to defend against a landward assault. On the Northern side was the stone walled Fort Niebla. Mancera Island in the centre of the harbour was also heavily garrisoned.


Map of the Valdivian fort system and the development of the battle

Battle
Facing these powerful fortifications, Lord Cochrane decided to attack the forts from the land in an amphibious nighttime operation. The troops landed south of the bay on the Aguada del Ingles (the English Beach). Taken by surprise, the Fort Ingles was captured quickly, with the fugitives running towards the next fort, Fort San Carlos. The attackers got in among the fleeing Spanish troops and in the confusion were able to capture San Carlos and subsequently the other two forts on the south side of the harbour, with only Fort Chorocomayo showing brief resistance before capitulating.

After the success of the attack on the forts of the southern shore, Cochrane called a halt for the night. He anticipated an altogether grimmer fight in the morning to capture the remaining fortifications, as he had lost the element of surprise. However, in the morning the commanders of the other forts unexpectedly decided to surrender without a fight, with the garrisons of Fort Niebla and Mancera Island retreating upstream. The town of Valdivia surrendered soon after.

Aftermath
The Spanish troops inside Valdivia itself sacked the city and then went to Osorno. These troops later moved to reinforce Chiloé Island which was the last Spanish possession in Chile. Lord Cochrane tried to conquer the island without success.

The capture of Valdivia effectively ended the last vestiges of Spanish power in mainland Chile and opened up the way for Chilean and Peruvian independence.




Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM, OSC (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, mercenary and radical politician. He was a daring and successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars, leading Napoleon to nickname him Le Loup des Mers ('The Sea Wolf'). He was successful in virtually all his naval actions.


Engraving of Lord Dundonald, based on a painting by James Ramsay (1866)

He was dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1814 following a controversial conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange. He helped organise and lead the rebel navies of Chile and Brazil during their respective successful wars of independence through the 1820s. While in charge of the Chilean Navy, Cochrane also contributed to Peruvian Independence through the Freedom Expedition of Perú. He was also asked to help the Greek Navy but was prevented by events from having much impact.

In 1832, he was pardoned by the Crown and reinstated in the Royal Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue. After several more promotions, he died in 1860 with the rank of Admiral of the Red, and the honorary title of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.

His life and exploits inspired the naval fiction of 19th- and 20th-century novelists, particularly the figures of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's protagonist Jack Aubrey.


A caricature created in 1815 titled Things as they have been. Things as they now are. The left side of the image depicts Cochrane as a heroic naval officer. The right side depicts him as a disgraced civilian imprisoned within the walls of the King's Bench Prison.

Chilean Navy
See also: First Chilean Navy Squadron


Painting of the First Chilean Navy Squadron commanded by Cochrane

Cochrane left the UK in official disgrace, but that did not end his naval career. Accompanied by Lady Cochrane and their two children, he reached Valparaíso on 28 November 1818. Chile was rapidly organising its new navy for its war of independence.

Cochrane became a Chilean citizen (unrecognized state), on 11 December 1818 at the request of Chilean leader Bernardo O'Higgins. He was appointed Vice Admiral and took command of the Chilean Navy in Chile's war of independence against Spain. He was the first Vice Admiral of Chile. Cochrane reorganised the Chilean navy with British commanders, introducing British naval customs and, formally, English-speaking govern in their warships. He took command in the frigate O'Higgins and blockaded and raided the coasts of Peru, as he had those of France and Spain. On his own initiative, he organised and led the capture of Valdivia, despite only having 300 men and two ships to deploy against seven large forts. He failed in his attempt to capture the Chiloé Archipelago for Chile.

In 1820, O'Higgins ordered him to convoy the Liberation Army of General José de San Martín to Peru, blockade the coast, and support the campaign for independence. Later, forces under Cochrane's personal command cut out and captured the frigate Esmeralda, the most powerful Spanish ship in South America. All this led to Peruvian independence, which O'Higgins considered indispensable to Chile's security. Cochrane's victories in the Pacific were spectacular and important. The excitement was almost immediately marred by his accusations that he had been plotted against by subordinates and treated with contempt and denied adequate financial reward by his superiors. The evidence does not support these accusations, and the problem appeared to lie in Cochrane's own suspicious and uneasy personality.

Loose words from his wife Katy resulted in a rumour that Cochrane had made plans to free Napoleon from his exile on Saint Helena and make him ruler of a unified South American state. This could not have been true because Charles,[clarification needed] the supposed envoy bearing the rumoured plans, had been killed two months before his reported "departure to Europe".[39] Cochrane left the service of the Chilean Navy on 29 November 1822.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Valdivia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdivian_Fort_System
https://web.archive.org/web/20080518032106/http://www.dibam.cl/sdm_msf_niebla/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chilean_Navy_Squadron

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 February 1825 - schooner USS Ferret capsized in a storm off Cuba


USS Ferret was a two masted schooner, the third U.S. Navy vessel to bear this name, and was purchased 20 December 1822 at Baltimore, Maryland and commissioned early in 1823, with Lieutenant R. Henley in command. It was the first U.S. naval ship commanded by the famous naval hero David Farragut. Ferret served transporting U.S. sailors, marines and supplies to the pirate infested waters of the Caribbean and was used to search out and attack pirate ships and pirate strongholds for a little more than two years when her career was cut short when the vessel capsized in a gale force storm off the coast of Cuba.



Fighting piracy in the Caribbean
USS Ferret was part of a naval fleet that sailed to the Caribbean to subdue the occurrence of pirate raids on merchant ships that had increased to almost 3,000 by the early 1820s. The financial losses to the United States was great while murder and the practice of torture were common. Losses to American ships and merchants had increased to such proportions that the situation began making headlines in American newspapers. In little time merchants and shippers along with the American public were demanding that the U.S. Navy take definite action against piracy that was out of control in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. In November 1822 when the captain of the USS Alligator was killed in a battle with the notorious Cuban pirate Domingo that was the last straw. Response was quick and by 22 December President James Monroe authorized the creation of the West Indies squadron for purposes of seeking and routing out pirates and their numerous strongholds about the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They were also directed to suppress the international slave trade which also operated out of this region and outlawed in the United States. Following Monroe's authorization the Secretary of the Navy, Smith Thompson, promoted David Porter to commodore, allocated $500,000 to him and appointed him to take commanded of and outfit the squadron for war against the pirates. British interests in the Caribbean also threatened, the West Indies squadron fought piracy in a concerted effort with the Royal Navy.

Ferret was now part of the largest fleet of American naval ships ever to be assembled during peacetime. Under the leadership of Commodore Porter along with subordinate commanders James Biddle and Lewis Warrington, the U.S. Navy's West Indies Squadron crushed the pirates who were relentlessly ferreted out from the uncharted bays and lagoons throughout the Caribbean by U.S. sailors and the West Indies Squadron of which the USS Ferret played an important role. Within two years piracy was subdued and within ten years, piracy in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico was all but eradicated completely.

Ferret's role


Map of early 1800s West Indies

Ferret sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 14 February 1823, bound for the West Indies, and became part of the West Indies Squadron, also known as the Mosquito Fleet. Smaller vessels like the Ferret were employed for the task because the larger Man-of-war ships were unable to pursue the typically smaller pirate vessels when they retreated into the many lagoons, rivers and creeks that were common to the numerous isles about the Caribbean.

Porter's squadron consisted of sixteen vessels: eight new shallow draft schooners, five large barges, a steam powered riverboat and a storeship schooner and a decoy merchant ship, the USS Decoy, that concealed several large guns. The newly acquired schooners were each armed with three guns and given the names USS Ferret, USS Beagle, USS Fox, USS Greyhound, USS Jackal, USS Terrier, USS Weasel, and the USS Wild Cat. The first day out to sea the fleet encountered a northeasterly gale forcing the fleet to hold up at the naval base at Key West. The Key West base was previously chosen as the base of operation because of its central location in pirate infested waters.

Along with escorting merchantmen, Ferret engaged a pirate barge and seven boats in Bacuna Yeauga bay in Cuba on 18 June 1823. During the battle the vessel received a small boat hole at the water line by a buccaneer's musket ball. Consequently, Ferret had to break off the attack, since a high wind and heavy sea prevented her from entering the channel. Seeking aid, Ferret retreated from the choppy coastal waters to the calmer waters of the open sea. The Ferret returned the next day with a boat loaned by a nearby British ship, only to find that the governor of the Spanish province had already confronted and dispersed the pirates.

David Farragut, a Lieutenant, at the age of 23, was given command of the Ferret by Commodore Porter later in the summer of 1823; it was his first command of a naval ship. Under Farragut, the Ferrettransported sailors, Marines and supplies into the various points of operation along the north coast of Cuba and surrounding isles. During a stopover at Nassau one of his crewmembers, a deserter from the Royal Navy, hitherto unknown by Farragut, hailed a British ship asking to be removed from the Ferret. When Farragut learned of the incident and not tolerating any such foreigners aboard a naval vessel he disciplined the sailor and turned him over to British authorities at Nassau. After Ferret departed Nassau Farragut soon received orders to sail north to Navy yard in Washington for repairs, supplies, sailors and new crew members. Under Farragut Ferret made two such trips.

On 4 February 1825, the Ferret was under the command of Charles H. Bell. While patrolling the waters off the north shore of Cuba the Ferret capsized during a gale-force storm and heavy seas, about 8 miles off the port of Canasi. The next morning Ferret was almost completely under water and was now settling at a faster rate. The surviving sailors fashioned a raft by lashing the foremast and main boom together while several of the best swimmers headed for shore to get help. Commander Bell (and other survivors) remained with the capsized vessel for twenty-one hours before finally being rescued by the USS Jackal. By the time the storm finally subsided five crew members had perished while many others were wounded



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ferret_(1822)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 February 1886 – Launch of Stromboli, a protected cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy)


Stromboli was a protected cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built in the 1880s. She was the second member of the Etna class, which included three sister ships. She was named for the volcanic island of Stromboli, and was armed with a main battery of two 10-inch (254 mm) and six 6-inch (152 mm) guns, and could steam at a speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Her career was relatively uneventful; the only significant action in which she took part was the campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. She returned to Italy in 1901 and spent the rest of her career in reserve or as an ammunition ship, apart from a brief stint in active service in 1904. Stromboli was stricken from the naval register in 1907 and sold for scrapping in 1911.


Stromboli, probably in 1896

Design
Main article: Etna-class protected cruiser
Stromboli was 283 feet 6 inches (86.4 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 42 feet 6 inches (13.0 m). She had a mean draft of 19 feet (5.8 m) and displaced between 3,373–3,474 long tons (3,427–3,530 t). Her crew numbered 12 officers and 296 men. The ship had two horizontal compound steam engines, each driving a single propeller, with steam provided by four double-ended cylindrical boilers. Stromboli was credited with a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) from 6,252 indicated horsepower (4,662 kW). She had a cruising radius of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

The main armament of the ships consisted of two Armstrong 10-inch (254 mm), 30-caliber breech-loading guns mounted in barbettes fore and aft. She was also equipped with six 6-inch (152 mm), 32-caliber, breech-loading guns that were carried in sponsons along the sides of the ship. For anti-torpedo boat defense, Stromboli was fitted with five 57-millimeter (2.2 in) 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and five 37-millimeter (1.5 in) 1-pounder Hotchkiss guns. Stromboli was also armed with four 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes. One was mounted in the bow underwater and the other three were above water. She was protected with an armored deck below the waterline with a maximum thickness of 1.5 inches (38 mm). The conning tower had .5 in (13 mm) worth of armor plating.

Service history
Stromboli was laid down at the Venice shipyard on 27 September 1883 and her finished hull was launched on 4 February 1886. Following the completion of fitting-out work, she was commissioned into the Italian fleet on 21 March 1888. Stromboli and her sisters Vesuvio and Ettore Fieramosca participated in the 1893 naval maneuvers as part of the Active Squadron. The following year, the ship took part in the annual fleet maneuvers in the 1st Division of the Active Squadron, along with the ironclad battleship Re Umberto and the torpedo cruiser Goito. Stomboli and Ettore Fieramosca next participated in the 1896 naval maneuvers as part of the Active Squadron. During this period, she was assigned to the Flying Squadron, along with the armored cruiser Marco Polo and the protected cruiser Liguria. The ships were tasked as a training squadron and were also responsible for responding to any crises that might arise.

In 1899 Stromboli was deployed to the Far East. She was joined by Vesuvio and Ettore Fieramosca, sent there in 1900 to assist the Eight-Nation Alliance in putting down the Boxer Rebellion in China. All three ships were assigned to the Cruising Squadron in Chinese waters in 1901. That year, Stromboli returned to Italy and was placed in reserve, before returning to active service in 1904. That year she was in active service for seven months; she spent the rest of the year with a reduced crew, as was standard practice in the Italian fleet at the time. She later served as an ammunition ship before being struck from the Navy List on 21 March 1907 and sold for scrap in 1911.


The Etna class was a series of protected cruisers that were built in the late 1880s for the Regia Marina (the Royal Italian Navy). The four ships built were slightly enlarged copies of the Elswick Works' design for the protected cruiser Giovanni Bausan. Etna, the lead ship of the class, was the only ship still in service when World War I began, although she served as a stationary headquarters ship for the Navy Commander-in-Chief in Taranto for the duration of the war. The three later ships all participated in putting down the Boxer Rebellion as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance. The three were struck from the Navy List before 1912, but Etna was not sold for scrap until 1921.


Etna at the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, New York, 1909




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cruiser_Stromboli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etna-class_cruiser

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 February 1942 - While the battle for Bataan rages throughout the night, USS Trout (SS-202) loads 20 tons of gold bars and 18 tons of silver coins as ballast to replace the weight of ammunition they had just delivered to US and Philippine forces in Manila.


USS Trout (SS-202) was a Tambor-class submarine of the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific from 1941 to 1944. She received 11 battle stars for World War II service and three Presidential Unit Citations, for her second, third, and fifth war patrols. Trout also delivered ammunition to the besieged American forces on Corregidor and brought out 20 tons of gold bars and silver pesos from the Philippine currency reserve to Pearl Harbor. During 1941, she was used as a target by a series of tests determining the vulnerability of submarines to depth charge attacks.

Trout is credited with sinking 12 enemy ships for 37,144 tons according to JANAC records. During her first ten war patrols she made 32 torpedo attacks, firing 85 torpedoes, including 34 hits, 5 confirmed premature detonations, 5 confirmed duds, and 25 suspected duds. She was also involved in six battle surface actions and was attacked with depth charges eight times.

She was reported overdue on 17 April 1944 and presumed lost on her eleventh war patrol.



2nd patrol — to the Philippines
On 12 January 1942, Trout stood out of Pearl Harbor with 3500 rounds of 3" AAA ammunition to be delivered to the besieged American forces on Corregidor. She topped off with fuel at Midway on 16 January and continued westward. On 27 January, near the Bonin Islands, she sighted a light off her port bow, closed to 1,500 yards (1,400 m) of the vessel, and fired a stern torpedo which missed. She closed to 600 yards (550 m), discovered that her target was a submarine chaser, and, as she had been warned to avoid small ships, resumed her course for the Philippines. On 3 February, Trout rendezvoused with PT-34 off Corregidor and was escorted through its minefields to its South Dock.

Trout unloaded her ammunition cargo, refueled, loaded two torpedoes, and requested additional ballast. Since neither sandbags nor sacks of concrete were available, she was given 20 tons of gold bars and silver pesos to be evacuated from the Philippines. The specie came from twelve Philippine banks emptied of their assets, absent the paper money, all of which had been burned to prevent it from falling into Japanese hands. She also loaded securities, mail, and United States Department of State dispatches before submerging shortly before daybreak to wait at the bottom in Manila Bay until the return of darkness. That evening, the submarine was loaded with more mail and securities before she was escorted to open water. Trout set a course for the East China Sea which she entered on 10 February.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Trout_(SS-202)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 February 1942 - The Battle of Makassar Strait, also known as the Action of Madura Strait


The Battle of Makassar Strait, also known as the Action of Madura Strait, the Action North of Lombok Strait and the Battle of the Flores Sea, was a naval battle of the Pacific theater of World War II. An American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) fleet—under Schout by-nacht (Rear Admiral) Karel Doorman—was on its way to intercept a Japanese invasion convoy reported as bound for Surabaya, (its destination was actually Makassar) when it was attacked by 36 Mitsubishi G4M1 "Betty" and 24 Mitsubishi G3M2 "Nell" medium bombers, which forced the fleet to retreat.

(The battle occurred in the Java Sea, closer to the Kangean Islands than to Makassar Strait. Also, this battle should not be confused with the Naval Battle of Balikpapan on 24 January 1942, which is also sometimes referred to as the "Battle of Makassar Strait".)


USS Marblehead in February 1942, showing bomb damage received in the battle

Background
At the end of January, Japanese forces had conquered the north and west coast of Borneo and large parts of Maluku (Moluccas). On Borneo's east coast, Japanese forces occupied the oil facilities and ports of Balikpapan and Tarakan, and on Celebes the cities of Menado and Kendari had also fallen. To gain full control of Makassar Strait, the Japanese needed to capture the cities of Makassar and Banjarmasin.

On 1 February, Allied commanders received word from a reconnaissance plane: at Balikpapan, a Japanese invasion force—consisting of 20 troop transport ships, three cruisers and 10 destroyers—was preparing to sail. On 2 February, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Vice-Admiraal (Vice Admiral) Conrad Helfrich, Rear Admiral William A. Glassford and (Commodore) John Collins, RAN met at Palembang; Helfrich's suggestion that a strike force be formed was approved. It was formed the following day under Schout by-nacht (Rear Admiral) Karel Doorman, and began taking on supplies at the Gili Islands, south of Madura.

The ABDA force consisted of four cruisers (HNLMS De Ruyter, which was the flagship, Tromp and USS Houston, and Marblehead) escorted by seven destroyers (HNLMS Banckert, Piet Hein, Van Ghent, USS Barker, Bulmer, John D. Edwards, and Stewart).



Battle
On the morning of 3 February, the ABDA strike force was spotted by a squadron of about 30 Japanese bombers reported as heading toward Surabaya. Seven of the bombers showed special interest in the strike force and started circling above the ships. The ships initially dispersed to deeper water, but the planes left without attacking, and the strike force resumed taking on supplies.

At about midnight, the ships sailed for Meinderts Droogte (Meinderts Reef; later Karang Mas), off the north east tip of Java. The last ship arrived around 05:00 on 4 February. At 09:30, the strike force received word that air patrols from Makassar had spotted the Japanese apparently heading for Surabaya. On the morning of 4 February, the ABDA strike force headed out for Makassar Strait, in search of the Japanese invasion force, which was reported to be passing through the straits and was now said to include three cruisers and 18 destroyers, escorting transports and other ships, under Sho-sho (Rear Admiral) Takeo Takagi.

At 09:49, while Doorman's strike force was south of the Kangean Islands, Japanese bombers were sighted to the east by sailors on the ABDA ships. The Japanese planes where flying in four "v"-formations at an altitude of about 16,404 ft (5,000 m).

The planes attacked the Allied cruisers. The first to be targeted was Marblehead, and the bombs landed about 262 ft (80 m) in front of the ship. During a second attack, Marblehead sustained two direct hits and a damaging near miss. The two direct hits penetrated the deck, killed 15 crew directly and destroyed the ship's ability to manoeuver; Marblehead was now able only to sail in circles. The near miss also caused a hole 3 m × 1 m (9.8 ft × 3.3 ft), near the bottom of the ship. However, subsequent attacks on Marblehead were less intense.

Houston initially evaded bombs successfully, but suffered a severe hit during a final attack; a bomb hit the deck near the aft gun turret, and killed 48 crew. The rear guns were rendered useless.

After the hits on Houston and Marblehead, the planes focused on De Ruyter, which evaded four attacks and sustained only minor damage to fire control for its 40 mm guns.

At about 13:00, Doorman ordered his ships to return west and signalled Hart that—without fighter protection—it would not be possible to advance to Makassar Strait, due to the threat from bombers. Houston and Tromp had already gone south through Alas Strait, and were south of the strait. Marblehead and the four U.S. destroyers went south through Lombok Strait. De Ruyter and the three Dutch destroyers also stayed with Marblehead until the Lombok Strait. Both U.S. cruisers headed for Tjilatjap, to get repairs and medical attention for their wounded.

Aftermath
Japanese aircrews reported three cruisers sunk during the attack: one "Augusta class cruiser", one Tromp-class cruiser type and one Java-class cruiser. However, no ships of the latter class were present during the attack, and only Marblehead and Houston were damaged.

At Tjilatjap, Houston and Marblehead transferred their wounded to a hospital and buried their dead. Marblehead would not fit in the dry dock, but the hole in the hull was temporarily repaired, and the ship sailed for the east coast of the U.S.—by way of Ceylon and South Africa—for repairs. Houston was able to continue service with the ABDA fleet.

The retreat of the strike force resulted in the Japanese taking control of Makassar Strait and thereby tightening their grip on the western part of the Dutch East Indies.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Makassar_Strait
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Marblehead_(CL-12)

 

[Uwek]

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


1771 – Death of Admiral Henry Osborn (baptized 27 August 1694 – 4 February 1771)

Admiral Henry Osborn (baptized 27 August 1694 – 4 February 1771) was a British naval officer who served as Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland. He was a younger son of Sir John Osborn, 2nd Baronet.

Naval career
Osborn joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1710. He was promoted lieutenant in 1717, and his first command was HMS Squirrel in 1728.
On 14 May 1729, Osborn was appointed the first commodore-governor of Newfoundland, when Lord Vere Beauclerk, the naval commander of Newfoundland had declined. He visited all of the notable places on the island and divided it into six districts. Within each of the districts he appointed magistrates and constables.[2] He served as Port Admiral at Portsmouth from 1756 to 1757.
In 1757, he was promoted Admiral of the Blue and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet.



Battle of Cartagena
Main article: Battle of Cartagena (1758)
In late 1757 Osborn besieged the neutral port of Cartagena in Spain where a French squadron designed to go to the relief of Louisbourg had taken shelter. While there he attacked a small French squadron under Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville which was coming to the aid of the trapped force. Two French ships were captured, including Duquesne's flagship and it indirectly led to the successful British capture of Louisbourg later that year. The battle helped to restore the Royal Navy's reputation following the failed attempt to relieve Minorca two years earlier which had led to Admiral Byng's execution.

On 1 January 1763, he received the honorific post of Vice-Admiral of Great Britain. He entered Parliament in late 1758 for Bedfordshire in a by-election, sitting until 1761.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Osborn_(Royal_Navy_officer)


1813 - During the War of 1812, the sloop of war USS Hornet, commanded by James Lawrence, captures and burns the British merchant ship Resolute off Pernambuco, Brazil.

The third USS Hornet was a brig-rigged (later ship-rigged) sloop-of-war in the United States Navy. During the War of 1812, she was the first U.S. Navy ship to capture a British privateer.



Design
Hornet was launched 28 July 1805 in Baltimore and commissioned there on 18 October, Master Commandant Isaac Chauncey in command.

Hornet's design was a compromise between the six original U.S. frigates and coastal gunboats championed by President Thomas Jefferson. The fledgling Navy needed a light-draft ship that was fast and maneuverable, but also possessing sufficient firepower to deter or defeat enemy ships. Hornet’s design is attributed to Josiah Fox but her builder, William Price, is said to have altered it based on the successful lines of the Baltimore Clipper, of which he had significant experience.

During his time as captain, Chauncey reported significant problems with Hornet’s rigging, hindering her overall potential. In response to these reports, Hornet's sister ship, Wasp, constructed at the Washington Navy Yard, had her rigging changed to three masts and afterward reported excellent performance at sea.


Artist's depiction of Hornet's foundering

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hornet_(1805)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2509


1944 - Destroyers USS Charrette (DD 581) and USS Fair (DE 35) sink Japanese submarine I 175, 100 miles north of Jaluit, Marshall Islands.

USS Charrette (DD-581) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Lieutenant George Charrette (1867–1938), who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Spanish–American War. Entering service during World War II, she spent her career in the Pacific theatre. Placed in reserve following the war, Charette was transferred to the Kingdom of Greece in 1959 and renamed Velos(D16). Velos remained in service until 1991 and was then turned into a museum ship at Palaio Faliro.


USS Charrette at Boston, Massachusetts on 4 August 1943. NARA # 80G74846.

From 23 January to 5 February 1944, Charrette screened the carriers in a series of strikes on Kwajalein and Eniwetok. On the night of 4–5 February, Charrette left her screening station to investigate a radar contact reported by one of the battleships. After tracking the contact to 3,200 yards (2,900 m), she opened fire on the target, a submarine which dived at once. Charrette pressed home a depth charge attack, then used her radar to coach the destroyer escort Fair in for the sinking of what was probably I-175, the first Japanese submarine to be sunk by the Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar.[1] The next day, Charrettemoored in the newly-won Majuro Lagoon.

USS Fair (DE-35) an Evarts-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was a ship named by the United States Navy for Lieutenant, junior grade Victor Norman Fair, Jr., who was born on 15 August 1921 in Lincoln County, North Carolina, enlisted in the Naval Reserve on 15 August 1940, and was commissioned ensign on 14 March 1941. Serving in USS Gregory (APD-3), Fair was wounded when his ship was sunk by Japanese gunfire in the Solomon Islands on 5 September 1942, and he died four days later.



Fair was launched on 27 July 1943 by Mare Island Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. V. N. Fair, Jr., widow of Lieutenant Fair; and commissioned on 23 October 1943, Lieutenant D. S. Crocker in command.

Fair escorted a convoy from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 9 January 1944. She put to sea nine days later to conduct an antisubmarine patrol off Tarawa, and late on 4 February, joined Charrette to develop a contact previously made by the destroyer. Attacks by both ships led to the sinking of what was probably Japanese submarine I-175 the next morning. Fair returned to Pearl Harbor on 17 February, and sailed on 25 February for Majuro, where from 5 March – 12 June, she patrolled the entrance to the lagoon, and escorted ships to and from ocean rendezvous and Roi Namur. On 14 June, she arrived at Eniwetok with three oilers, and for the next 2 weeks, screened them in the fueling area off the Mariana Islands as they fueled ships serving in the assault and capture of Saipan.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Charrette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Fair_(DE-35)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1744 - HMS Looe (1741 - 44), Cptn. Ashby Utting, foundered off Sable Cape


HMS Looe was a 44-gun fifth rate warship of the Royal Navy. She grounded on Looe Key off the coast of Florida on 5 February 1744, during the War of Jenkins' Ear.



Construction and commissioning
Looe was ordered on 22 December 1740 from the yards of Thomas Snelgrove, Limehouse to the designs of the 1733 Establishment. She was laid down on 26 January 1741 and launched on 29 December 1741. She was by then the fourth ship of the Navy to be named Looe, after the town of Looe, Cornwall.[2] She was completed by 3 April 1742 at Deptford Dockyard, having cost £6,949.10.0d to build with a further £4,403.7.7d spent on fitting out. She was commissioned in January 1742 under the command of Captain George Carnegie, the sixth Earl of Northesk, for service in the Bay of Biscay.

Service
Looe was with HMS Deal Castle off Vigo on 7 July 1742, and took part in an attempt to cut out privateers from Ponta Nova on 19 July 1742. In 1743 Captain Ashby Utting took command.

Looe was lost off the Florida coast early in the morning of 5 February 1744. She had a captured merchant ship commanded by a Spanish crew in tow when, just after midnight, she struck a reef, followed shortly by the merchant ship. With a priority to escape to avoid capture by the Spanish, the three small boats carried by the frigate were inadequate to carry the 274 survivors, however a Spanish sloop was sighted nearby, which was captured after being chased by some of the crew in the frigate's boats. After the grounded ships had been salvaged for provisions, they were set alight and the survivors departed in the sloop and smaller boats.

The sloop managed to reach Port Royal, South Carolina. One of the smaller boats reached New Providence in the Bahamas, and one was rescued near Cuba. Captain Utting was court-martialled, but acquitted.

The wreckage of the ship and her remaining cargo forms part of the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary (named after the ship) in the Florida Keys.


1733 Establishment 40-gun (later 44-gun) fifth rates 1736-1741

• Eltham (1736) – broken up 1763
• Dover (1741) – sold 1763
• Folkestone (1741) – sold 1749
• Faversham (1741) – sold 1749
• Lynn (1741) – sold 1763
• Gosport (1741) – broken up 1768
• Sapphire (1741) – razéed to 32-gun frigate 1756-58, sold 1784
• Hastings (1741) – broken up 1763
• Liverpool (1741) – sold 1763
• Kinsale (1741) – sold 1763
• Adventure (1741) – razéed to 32-gun frigate 1756-58, sold 1770
• Diamond (1741) – sold 1756
• Launceston (1741) – sold 1784
• Looe (1741) – wrecked 1744

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Looe_(1741)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1782 – Spanish defeat British forces and capture Menorca.


The Franco-Spanish reconquest of Menorca (historically called "Minorca" by the British) from its British invaders in February 1782, after the Siege of Fort St. Philip lasting over five months, was an important step in the achievement of Spain's aims in its alliance with France against Britain during the American Revolutionary War. The ultimate result was the devolution of the island to Spain in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.



Prelude
Plans for reconquest


Plan of Fort St. Philip. (1780)

The attempt at recapturing Gibraltar in 1779 led to a protracted siege, and by the end of 1780, Spain's military leaders were accepting that they would have to embark on some of their other projects in parallel with the siege there. An invasion of Menorca was therefore planned during the first few months of 1781, largely by Don Luis Berton de los Blats, Duque de Crillon (or rather, Duc de Crillon, for he was actually French, a descendant of "the man without fear", Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon). In theory, he was working with Spain's War Ministers, and Foreign Minister José Moñino y Redondo, conde de Floridablanca; in practice, the relationship between the two men seems to have been somewhat strained, and de Crillon perhaps did not take as much advice as he should have.

Invasion fleet
On 25 June 1781, a French force of about 20 warships, commanded by Admiral Guichen, left Brest on a coastal patrol, which happened to involve sailing into the Mediterranean. They were going to provide additional protection for the invasion fleet, but, in order to fool the British, they would not be joining their Spanish allies until they were close to the target. The Spanish invasion fleet (51 troop carriers, 18 supply vessels, 3 hospital ships, 3 "viveres", 2 bombardment ships, a fireship, and 13 armed escorts), departed Cadiz on 23 July 1781, initially heading westward to appear as if its destination was America, but turned in the night and passed Gibraltar on 25 July. Facing contrary winds in the Mediterranean, by 29 July the convoy was beginning to break up, and was forced to take shelter at La Subida cove, near Cartagena. At some time over the next few days the Spanish were discreetly joined by the French warships. The combined fleet left La Subida on 5 August, came within sight of Alicante on 14 August, then in the night of 17 August headed away from the Spanish coast and sailed parallel to Formentera. On 18 August, as it passed the little island of Cabrera, south of Majorca, the fleet was joined by another 4 warships, from Palma. That night, the wind blew from the south-east, and the fleet had to take precautions to avoid being blown aground on Majorca, but Menorca was sighted the next morning.

Invasion plan
A main force was to be landed at Mesquida bay, just north of the main target, Port Mahón, and a secondary force at Alcaufar bay, south of the port, while the other two significant harbours on the island, at Ciudadela and Fornells, were to be blockaded. The Mesquida force was to move rapidly to the town of Mahón, where the Governor lived, to capture him and as many British soldiers as possible. The Alcaufar force was to block the road that led from the British residential suburb, Georgetown (now Es Castell), to the fort of St. Philip's Castle. At about the same time, a third force was to land on Degollador beach at Ciudadela, to block the main road across the island. Finally, a detachment would be landed at Fornells, to take the small artillery fort there.

Invasion reality
This plan had one basic flaw – the assumption that the British would believe a vast convoy approaching Menorca had friendly intentions. Additionally, further modifications had to be made because of the wind, which forced the main part of the fleet to sail round the south of the island, rather than the north; the landing at Ciudadela was also temporarily impossible. So, about 10:30 am, the fleet rounded Aire island, at the south-east tip of Menorca, and began the approach to Port Mahón, while the Alcaufar contingent headed for land. A little after 11:30, the leading vessel of the fleet, San Pascual passed St. Philip's Castle, its crew at battle stations (immediate battle was not anticipated, but this was a naval tradition). Finally, around 1:00 pm, San Pascual arrived at Mesquida, and the rest of the fleet gradually caught up, and preparations for landing began. At 6:00 pm, the Spanish flag was raised on the beach, and received a 23-gun salute.

The British had a watchtower on the south coast of Menorca, and had spotted the fleet approaching. An urgent message was immediately sent to Mahón; later reinforced by a more detailed report from the watchtower on Monte Toro, in the centre of the island. By midday, most of the British personnel around Mahón had been moved within the walls of St. Philip's Castle, a chain had been fixed across the entrance to the port, and small vessels were being sunk in the narrow channel, making entry by sea impossible. Some dependants, including the Governor's family, made preparations to sail to safety in Italy aboard a Venetian ship, and a message about the invasion was sent to the British envoy at Florence, ending with an assurance that the garrison was in "high health and Spirits" and would make "a vigorous resistance" (the ship reached Leghorn – Livorno in Italian – on August 31). When the Spanish troops entered the town of Mahón, most of the remaining population was on their side, and greeted them with cheers. At Georgetown only 152 prisoners were taken, and the troops sent to Ciudadela and Fornells on 20 August found only token British forces of about 50 men. While arrangements were made to put the island under a Spanish administration, letters were exchanged between de Crillon and Governor Murray, and the invaders began preparing their own defences against counter-attacks. By 23 August there were over 7,000 Spanish soldiers on Menorca, and 3,000 more soon joined them. The bulk of the fleet left once the troops were securely established, and Guichen arrived back at Brest on 15 September.

When news of the invasion got back to Britain about four weeks later, newspapers reported that the garrison consisted of some 5,660 men. However, of that number, 1,500 were members of the local militia, and 400 were civilian workers. Very few members of those groups actually went into the fort, except for a few members of the international business community the British had welcomed onto Menorca – North Africans, Jews, Greeks, etc. (incidentally, the invaders expelled the remainder of the African and Jewish communities on 11 September 11, and various other foreign nationals shortly afterwards). Also, the number of soldiers included those captured elsewhere on the island by the invaders, so the real total of fighting men in the fort would be closer to 3,000 – and it seems that even that was an exaggeration to discourage the invaders.

Battle
Siege begins


St. Philip's Castle and the surrounding siegeworks

Work soon began on gun emplacements to besiege St. Philip's Castle, the most important being at La Mola, on the opposite side of the harbour mouth, and at Binisaida, near Georgetown. The British did not make this easy; they directed their own guns at the work sites, and also occasionally sent troops out of the fort. The most notable of these sallies took place on 11 October, when between 400 and (as the Spanish newspapers had it) 700 soldiers crossed the harbour to La Mola, and captured eighty soldiers with eight officers. Spanish troops were sent in pursuit, but too late; the officers were later freed after giving their word of honour that they would not enter combat again unless exchanged for captured British officers. Three British soldiers were killed in the action. Although this action was a success for the British, relations between Murray and his deputy, Lieutenant General Sir William Draper, were becoming strained by this time, due to arguments over their respective areas of authority and would later deteriorate much further.

Even before this, there was considerable discontent among de Crillon's troops, comparisons being made with the futile Spanish attack on the city of Argel (Algiers) in 1775. Reinforcements had therefore been ordered, and by coincidence, the first boatload arrived at Fornells from Marseilles the day after the British attack. By 23 October two brigades (one French and one German) totalling 3,886 men had been added to the 10,411 already on the island. Also at this time, de Crillon was requested by the Spanish government to attempt an alternative strategy. Among the rather confused reports which filtered through to Britain from Menorca, delayed by several months, were two letters published in the London papers at the end of January 1782. One is from Murray to de Crillon, dated 16 October 1781, sharply reminding him that the Murray family tree is as noble as the Duc's, and that when a former Duc de Crillon was asked by his King to betray his honour, he refused. The other is de Crillon's reply, indicating that he personally is happy to accept Murray's criticism. The source of this exchange was an offer to the governor of 500,000 pesos (then worth just over £100,000 – but inflated in some sources to £1,000,000) plus a guaranteed rank in the Spanish or French army, in return for surrender.

Great bombardment
On 11 November the besiegers' mortar batteries began operation. In the first couple of days the only item damaged within the Castle was the carriage of a small 6-pound gun. One mortar battery was destroyed when a shell fired from the Castle blew up its powder magazine. The Castle gunners also succeeded in sinking a supply vessel attempting to unload at the Georgetown quay. This information was reported in two letters from General Murray, dated 12 and 13 November, which somehow got back to England by 4 December. Letters were also being sent from the British government to Murray, praising the bravery of the garrison and promising help as soon as possible. In practice, with Gibraltar also under siege, the British were relying on the elaborate improvements which had been made at St. Philip's Castle after the 1756 embarrassment – which included the provision of food for over a year.

After nearly two months spent weakening the fort with artillery, 6 January 1782 was the date set for the beginning of a final assault. In the first days of this attack, intensified bombardments from 100 cannons and 35 mortars did such damage to the outer defences that Murray had to pull all his troops back within the inner citadel. However, when firing slackened the defenders would begin their own bombardments of the attackers' positions, with over 200 cannons and 40 mortars – they also sank another supply vessel on 12 January. Three days later the attackers got their revenge, setting fire with a well-aimed incendiary grenade to a key storehouse, containing, among other things, much of the fort's supply of salted meat, which burned for four days. About this time, also, the relationship between Governor Murray and Lieutenant-Governor Draper broke down completely, and after an unpleasant incident the latter was suspended from duty.

British defeat
To the garrison, the loss of meat was a relatively minor problem. The improvements at the fort had not included artillery-resistant vegetable gardens, so the occupants had no access to fresh vegetables, the most reliable medicine to combat the disease scurvy, now known to be caused by vitamin deficiency. Gradually, more and more of the soldiers showed serious symptoms, and at the beginning of February the number in hospital was growing by more than 50 per day. To keep watch at all points of the complex defences, 415 men were required. With only 660 men able to perform any duties at all by 3 February, the garrison was therefore 170 men short of the 830 necessary to maintain two shifts of guards in a day. Of those 660 men, 560 showed symptoms of scurvy, and several men died while on sentry duty, having chosen not to report their condition to the medical officers.

Following a series of urgent reports by his medical team, on 4 February 1782 General Murray sent a list of ten surrender terms to the Duc de Crillon, based on the principle that the garrison should be provided with transport back to Britain, which would be paid for by the British government. These had to be rejected, as de Crillon had been instructed to insist on the garrison being declared prisoners of war, but he hinted strongly that a compromise should be possible. The final agreement, accepted by both sides on 5 February and signed on 6 February, allowed the men to become temporary prisoners of war while they waited for the transport ships, and even stipulated that "in Consideration of the Constancy and Valour which General Murray and his Men have shewn in their brave Defence, they shall be permitted to go out with their Arms shouldered, Drums beating, lighted Matches, and Colours flying, till having marched through the Midst of the Army, they shall lay down their Arms and Colours". This the 950 or so who could walk duly did, the ranks of Spanish and French troops stretching all the way along both sides of the road from St. Philip's Castle to Georgetown, where the defenders laid down their arms in surrender "to God alone". Though he looked straight ahead as he marched, Murray was informed by de Crillon and his deputy the Baron de Falkenhayn that many of the French and Spanish wept at what they saw. In some respects, De Crillon and his subordinates went far beyond the agreement, and Murray noted that they provided "every Thing which can contribute to our Recovery".

Aftermath
The Gaceta de Madrid estimates of Spanish casualties (22 February 1782) were 184 killed and 380 wounded. According to the London Gazette report of the end of the siege, 59 of the British garrison were killed. This left 2481 military personnel, including 149 wounded, to surrender, suggesting either that a large number of deaths from scurvy were ignored, or that the earlier British claims about the size of the garrison were significantly exaggerated. Also emerging from the fort after the surrender were 43 civilian workers, 154 wives, and 212 children. The castle itself, after some discussion among Spanish military planners, was later damaged beyond easy repair, so that it could not be seized in the sort of surprise attack de Crillon had intended, and used against the Spanish.

Following his success, the Duc de Crillon was awarded the title "duque de Mahón" and put in charge of the attempt to recapture Gibraltar, where he embarked upon a bold plan to storm the citadel – for the result, see Great Siege of Gibraltar. Lieutenant General James Murray was court-martialled in November 1782, on charges brought by Sir William Draper. Murray was found guilty of only two offences (the more serious of which was the issuing of an order derogatory to his deputy – the spark which had led to Draper's suspension in January). In January 1783 he was sentenced to a reprimand, and shortly afterwards, by the direct intervention of King George III, he received an apology from Draper for certain words spoken out of court, which might otherwise have led to a duel. In February he was promoted to full General, but having passed his 60th birthday during the siege, he never returned to active service, though he became colonel of the 21st Fusiliers in 1789.

Britain captured Menorca again in 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars, but returned it permanently to Spain in 1802 following the Treaty of Amiens.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Minorca_(1781)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1800 - HMS Fairy (1778 - 16) and HMS Harpy (1796 - 18), Henry Bazely, engaged French frigate Pallas (1798 - 38) off Cape Frehel.
She struck to Harpy when HMS Loire (1796/1798 - 38), HMS Danae (1796/1798 - 20) and HMS Railleur (1797 - 14) came up.


Early in the morning of 5 February 1800, the sloops HMS Fairy and HMS Harpy left Saint Aubin's Bay, where they were attached to the Jersey squadron under the command of Captain Philippe d'Auvergne, (Prince of Bouillon), and reconnoitered the coast around Saint-Malo. In late morning they were some five or six miles from Cap Fréhel when they sighted a large vessel, which turned out to be a French frigate.


A representation of His Majesty's Sloops Fairy of 16 Guns... and Harpy of 18 Guns... engaging the French National Frigate La Pallas mounting 44 Guns... off St Maloes, 6th Feby 1800 (PAH7968)


The sloops were able to lure the frigate away from the coast and an action developed that lasted from 1pm to 2:45pm before the French vessel sailed away. The sloops had a lot of damage to their rigging but once this was repaired they set out in pursuit. At 4pm they encountered the British frigate HMS Loire, the sixth-rate post ship HMS Danae, and the ship-sloop HMS Railleur, which joined the chase. That evening, after a close action of more than two hours, Loire succeeded in getting the 42-gun French frigate Pallas to strike. Pallas was on her maiden voyage and the Royal Navy took her into service as Pique. The next day, Danae was able to capture a French naval cutter.

The British vessels suffered some casualties. Fairy had four men killed and seven wounded, among them her captain. Harpy had one man killed and three wounded. Loire had two men killed and 17 wounded, one of them mortally. Lastly, Railleur had two men killed and four wounded. Captain James Newman Newman of Loire did not report the French casualties.

The action resulted in promotions to post captain for both Captain Joshua Sidney Horton of Fairy and for Bazely. Horton was promoted on 18 February, but Bazely was not promoted until 8 April due to some ambiguity about Harpy's role in the capture of Pallas. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service medal with clasps "Fairy" and "Harpy" to the surviving claimants from the action. Captain William Birchall, of the troopship Hebe replaced Bazely on Harpy


Pallas, (design by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait and modified by François Pestel; originally intended as a "Frégate bombarde" armed with 24-pounders but was then changed to an 18-pounder frigate with 26 x 18-pounder and 14 x 8-pounder guns plus two "obusiers", naval howitzers) - launched 1798 at Saint-Malo; Captured by Britain in February 1800 and taken into service as HMS Pique.

HMS Fairy (1778), a 16-gun Swan-class ship sloop, built in 1778 at Sheerness, and broken up in 1811.

HMS Harpy was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1796 and sold in 1817. She was the longest lived vessel of her class, and the most widely travelled. She served in both the battle of Copenhagen and the British invasion of Java, took part in several actions, one of which won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured numerous privateers.

Loire was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured following the Battle of Tory Island by a Royal Navy frigate squadron and subsequently taken into British service as HMS Loire.


This hand-coloured aquatint depicts the 'Anson' fighting broadside to broadside with the French ship 'Loire', with the 'Kangaroo' offering support from her stern quarter. 'Loire' was captured by the two Royal Navy vessels. The print is inscribed: "Capture of La Loire: Octr 18th 1798."


Capture of Loire

Vaillante was a 20-gun French Bonne-Citoyenne-class corvette, built at Bayonne and launched in 1796. British naval Captain Edward Pellew in Indefatigable captured her off the Île de Ré on 7 August 1798. The Admiralty took her into the Royal Navy as the post ship HMS Danae. Some of her crew mutinied in 1800 and succeeded in turning her over to the French. The French returned her to her original name of Vaillante, and sold her in 1801. As a government-chartered transport she made one voyage to Haiti; her subsequent history is unknown at this time.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Harpy_(1796)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Loire_(1796)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Danae_(1798)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1803 – Last seen - George Bass (30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.


George Bass (/bæs/; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.



Early years
Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah (née Newman). His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6. He had attended Boston Grammar School and later trained in medicine at the hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire. At the age of 18 he was accepted in London as a member of the Company of Surgeons, and in 1794 he joined the Royal Navy as a surgeon.

He arrived in Sydney in New South Wales on HMS Reliance on 7 September 1795.

Also on the voyage were Matthew Flinders, John Hunter, Bennelong, and his surgeon's assistant William Martin.



The voyages of the Tom Thumb and Tom Thumb II
Bass had brought with him on the Reliance a small boat with an 8-foot (2.4 m) keel and 5-foot (1.5 m) beam, which he called the Tom Thumb on account of its size. In October 1795 Bass and Flinders, accompanied by William Martin sailed the Tom Thumb out of Port Jackson to Botany Bay and explored the Georges River further upstream than had been done previously by the colonists. Their reports on their return led to the settlement of Banks' Town.

In March 1796 the same party embarked on a second voyage in a larger small boat, which they called the Tom Thumb II.[5][6] During this trip they travelled as far down the coast as Lake Illawarra, which they called Tom Thumb Lagoon. They discovered and explored Port Hacking.

Later that year Bass discovered good land near Prospect Hill, found lost cattle brought out with the First Fleet, and failed in an attempt to cross the Blue Mountains.

Whaleboat voyage to Western Port


Voyages of George Bass


Memorial (1912) to the discovery of Western Port on 4 January 1798, at Flinders, Victoria.

In 1797, without Flinders, in an open whaleboat with a crew of six, Bass sailed to Cape Howe, the farthest point of south-eastern Australia. From here he went westwards along what is now the coast of the Gippsland region of Victoria, to Western Port, almost as far as the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, on the north shore of which is the site of present-day Melbourne. His belief that a strait separated the mainland from Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was backed up by his astute observation of the rapid tide and the long south-western swell at Wilson's Promontory.

Bass discovered the Kiama area and made many notes on its botanical complexity and the amazing natural phenomenon, the Kiama Blowhole, noting the volcanic geology around the Blowhole and contributed much to its understanding.

Circumnavigation of Tasmania in the Norfolk
In 1798, this theory was confirmed when Bass and Flinders, in the sloop Norfolk, circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land. In the course of this voyage Bass visited the estuary of the Derwent River, found and named by Captain John Hayes in 1793, where the city of Hobart would be founded on the strength of his report in 1803. When the two returned to Sydney, Flinders recommended to Governor John Hunter that the passage between Van Diemen's Land and the mainland be called Bass Strait.

"This was no more than a just tribute to my worthy friend and companion," Flinders wrote, "for the extreme dangers and fatigues he had undergone, in first entering it in a whaleboat, and to the correct judgement he had formed, from various indications, of the existence of a wide opening between Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales."

Bass was an enthusiastic naturalist and botanist, and he forwarded some of his botanical discoveries to Sir Joseph Banks in London. "In this voyage of fourteen weeks I collected those few plants upon Van Diemen's Land which had not been familiar to me in New South Wales," he wrote to Banks, "and have done myself the honour of submitting them to your inspection." He was made an honorary member of the Society for Promoting Natural History, which later became the Linnean Society. Some of his observations were published in the second volume of David Collins's An Account of the English colony in New South Wales. He was one of the first to describe the Australian marsupial, the wombat.

Marriage and trading
On 8 October 1800, George married Elizabeth Waterhouse at St James's Church, Westminster. She was the sister of Henry Waterhouse, Bass's former shipmate, and captain of the Reliance. In January 1801 Bass set sail again for Port Jackson, leaving Elizabeth behind, and though the couple wrote to each other, they did not meet again, as Bass never returned from this journey.

Bass and a syndicate of friends had invested some £10,000 in the copper-sheathed brig the Venus, and a cargo of general goods to transport and sell in Port Jackson. Bass was the owner-manager and set sail in early 1801. (Among his influential friends and key business associates in the Antipodes was the principal surgeon of the satellite British colony on Norfolk Island, Thomas Jamison, who was subsequently appointed Surgeon-General of New South Wales.)

On passing through Bass Strait on his 1801 voyage he recorded it simply as Bass Strait, like any other geographical feature. It seems, as Flinders' biographer Ernest Scott observed, that Bass's natural modesty meant he felt no need to say "discovered by me" or "named after me".

On arrival Bass found the colony awash with goods and he was unable to sell his cargo. Governor King was operating on a strict programme of economy and would not take the goods into the government store, even at a 50% discount. What King did though was contract with Bass to ship salt pork from Tahiti. Food was scarce in Sydney at that time and prices were being driven up, yet pigs were plentiful in the Society Islands and King could contract with Bass at 6 pence a pound where he'd been paying a shilling (12 pence) previously. The arrangement suited King's thrift, and was profitable for Bass. With his partner Charles Bishop, Bass sailed from Sydney in the Venus for Dusky Sound in New Zealand where they spent 14 days stripping iron from the wreck of Captain Brampton's old ship the Endeavour. This was made into axes which were used to trade for the pork in Tahiti before returning with the latter to Sydney by November 1802.

In January 1803 Bass applied to King for a fishing monopoly extending from a line bisecting the lower South Island of New Zealand from Dusky Sound to Otago Harbour – now the site of the city of Dunedin– and including all the lands and seas to the south, notably the Antipodes Islands, probably on the basis of information from his brother-in-law Waterhouse, the discoverer of the Antipodes archipelago. He expected much from it, but before he heard it had been declined he sailed south from Sydney never to return. Bass and Flinders were both operating out of Sydney during these times, but their stays there did not coincide.


Bass and Flinders Centre, George Town, Tasmania

Final voyage
What became of Bass is unknown. He set sail on his last voyage in the Venus on 5 February 1803 and he and his crew were never seen again. His plan was to go to Tahiti and perhaps on to the Spanish colonies on the coast of Chile to buy provisions and bring them back to Sydney.

It has been suspected Bass may also have planned to engage in contraband trade in Chile. Spain reserved the import of goods into her colonies for Spanish ships and Spanish merchants. But the colonists needed more than they could supply and shortages and heavy taxation caused high prices, encouraging an extensive illegal trade with foreign vessels. Port Jackson was described by some 19th-century historians as a base for such smuggling (Britain had no great friendship with Spain at that time so British authorities were unconcerned).

Bass still had much of the general cargo he had brought to Sydney in 1801 and he may well have been tempted to take some to Chile. Two of his last letters have hints at a venture which he could not name. But in any case he set off in 1803, with a diplomatic letter from Governor King attesting his bona-fides and that his sole purpose if he were on the West coast of South America would be in procuring provisions.

As many months passed with no word of his arrival Governor King and Bass's friends in Sydney were forced to accept that he had met some misfortune. In England in January 1806 Bass was listed by the Admiralty as lost at sea and later that year Elizabeth was granted an annuity from the widows' fund, back dated to when Bass's half-pay had ended in June 1803. (Bass had made the usual contributions to the fund from his salary.)

Speculation on Bass's fate
A good deal of speculation has taken place about Bass's fate. One story, attributed to William Campbell of the brig Harrington has it that Bass was captured by the Spanish in Chile and sent to the silver mines. The Harrington was engaged in smuggling and returned to Sydney some three months after Bass's departure. However, this story dates from 1811 in a report by William Fitzmaurice. There are good records of Campbell in 1803, and then in 1805 when he captured a Spanish ship, but Bass is not mentioned at those times. (Three months also seems a little short for Bass to reach Chile and then the Harrington to get back to Sydney.)

Another factor against the South American story is that all British prisoners held by the Spanish in Chile and Peru were freed in 1808 and returned to Europe. If the crew of the Venus had indeed been captured then none of the 25 survived.

Adventurer Jorgen Jorgenson wrote about Bass in his 1835 autobiography, claiming Bass had attempted forced trade at gunpoint in Chile, and was captured when he let his guard down. Jorgenson probably met Bass, but this account is almost certainly an invention. Jorgenson's writing, though entertaining, was often far from factual.

A search of Spanish archives in 1903 by scholar Pascual de Gayangos and a search of Peruvian archives in 2003 by historian Jorge Ortiz-Sotelo found no mention of Bass. His ultimate fate remains a mystery.


Bass and Flinders Point, Cronulla, NSW


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1805 - the East Indiaman Earl of Abergavenny sank shortly after striking Shambles Bank near Portland Bill.
Of the 402 people aboard 263 were lost, including her captain John Wordsworth Jr, brother of the poet William Wordsworth.


Earl of Abergavenny was an East Indiaman launched in 1796 that was wrecked in Weymouth Bay, England in 1805. She was one of the largest ever built. The English poet William Wordsworth's brother John was her captain during her last two successful voyages to China. He was also her captain on her fifth voyage and lost his life when she wrecked. Earl of Abergavenny was built in Northfleet, Kent to carry cargo for the British East India Company(EIC). In 1804 she was one of the vessels at the Battle of Pulo Aura, though she did not participate in the action. She sank, with great loss of life, within days of leaving Portsmouth on the outward leg of her fifth voyage.


The Earl of Abergavenny East Indiaman, off Southsea, 1801, by Thomas Luny



Precautions
East Indiamen traveled in convoys as much as they could. Frequently vessels of the British Royal Navy escorted these convoys, though generally not past India, or before on the return leg. Even so, the Indiamen were heavily armed so that they could dissuade pirates and even large privateers.

Like many other East Indiamen during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Earl of Abergavenny sailed under letters of marque. These authorized her to take prizes should the opportunity arise.

Voyages
Voyage #1 (1797–1798)
Earl of Abergavenny's first letter of marque was issued on 26 January 1797. Under the command of Captain John Wordsworth, Snr., she left Portsmouth on 18 March and reached Bombay on 5 July. By 17 November she was at Malacca and she arrived at Whampoa on 8 January 1798. On her return leg she crossed the Second Bar on 2 March and reached St Helena on 5 August. She arrived at the Downs on 18 October.

Voyage #2 (1799–1800)
Earl of Abergavenny, under the command of Captain John Wordsworth, Snr., left Portsmouth on 13 June 1799, reached Penang on 28 October, and Whampoa on 16 January 1800.

While she was at Canton, Wordsworth became involved in the "Providence Affair" when British sailors brought a wounded Chinese aboard her for medical care. A sentry on the schooner Providence, tender to HMS Madras, had fired on some men in a sampan attempting to cut Providence's cables, wounding one man. Eventually the Chinese authorities dropped the "Providence Affair".

On her return trip Earl of Abergavenny crossed the Second Bar on 28 March and reached St Helena on 15 July. She then entered the Downs on 23 September.

Voyage #3 (1801–1802)
Earl of Abergavenny's second letter of marque was issued on 5 March 1801. She then left Portsmouth on 19 May 1801 under the command of Captain John Wordsworth, Jnr. nephew to her previous captain. She reached Santa Cruz on 31 July, Penang on 31 October, Malacca on 24 November, and Whampoa on 30 January 1802. On her return she crossed the Second Bar on 11 March and reached St Helena on 10 July. She arrived in the Downs on 5 September.


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


Voyage #4 (1803–1804)
Earl of Abergavenny's third letter of marque was issued on 20 June 1803, after she had already left on her fourth voyage. When she left Britain, the Peace of Amiens was still in effect; war broke out on 18 May, almost two weeks after she left the Downs on 6 May 1803, again under the command of Captain John Wordsworth, Jnr.

She reached Whampoa on 8 September. For her return voyage she crossed the Second Bar on 13 November.

Main article: Battle of Pulo Aura
The battle of Pulo Aura was a minor naval engagement fought on 14 February 1804, in which a fleet of East Indiamen, including Earl of Abergavenny, intimidated, drove off, and chased a powerful French naval squadron, although the French squadron was much stronger than they. Commodore Nathaniel Dance's aggressive tactics persuaded Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois to retire after only a brief exchange of shot. Dance, in Warley, together with several of the other vessels, then chased the French warships until his convoy was out of danger. The British lost only one man killed.[6] Earl of Abergavenny did not actually take part in the exchange of fire.

Earl of Abergavenny reached Malacca five days later, on 19 February 1804 and Penang on 1 March. She arrived at St Helena on 9 June and the Downs on 8 August.

Voyage #5 (1805–wreck)


"Part of the Crew of the Abergavenny East Indiaman, delivered", Thomas Tegg, 1808, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Earl of Abergavanney left on her fifth voyage, this one to Bengal and China, under the command of Captain John Wordsworth, Jnr. She sailed with four other Indiamen and two whalers from Portsmouth on 1 February 1805. The four Indiamen were Royal George, Henry Addington, Wexford, and Bombay Castle. Captain William Stanley Clarke of Wexford was the senior EIC commander. Captain John Draper and HMS Weymouth, herself a former merchantman, provided the naval escort.

On 5 February Earl of Abergavenny struck on the Shambles off the Isle of Portland and then sank in Weymouth Bay with the loss of 263 lives, including Wordsworth, out of 402 people on board. Her complement for this voyage consisted of 160 officers and crew. She also carried 159 troops, from both the British Army and East India Company. Forty passengers were listed as being at the Captain's table, while 11 were listed as being at the Third Mate's table. In addition, there were 32 Chinese passengers.


Monochrome print from an engraving by Richard Corbould. In 1805 the East Indiaman, the Earl of Abergavenny (1796), captained by John Wordsworth, the brother of the poet, William Wordsworth, had travelled from Gravesend in convoy of ships bound for Bombay and China. She was heavily laden with over 400 passengers and a valuable cargo of porcelain and sterling worth £20,000. After various misadventures in the Chanel including a collision, the Abergavenny, having left Portsmouth and while being piloted through the Portland Roads on the 5th February during worsening weather and failing light, was driven onto the Shambles, a bank of sand and gravel about 1.9 miles (3km) out from Weymouth beach. The image depicts the top-masts of the Abergavenny exposed against dark storm clouds with figures desperately clinging to the shrouds and rigging as the rest of the ship is engulfed by fierce waves. At about midnight two small sloops arrived (one shown in the print) and sent out boats to rescue the remaining men from the rigging and carry them to the mainland. However over 260 lives were lost in the disaster including that of Captain John Wordsworth, last seen hanging onto a shroud.

Her loss was due to the pilot's incompetence. After she struck on the Shambles she was got off, but sank as Wordsworth attempted to sail her onto the beach. Wordsworth stayed at his post and went down with his ship. About 90 to 100 people survived the sinking.

The total value of Earl of Abergavenny's cargo was estimated to be £200,000. It consisted of porcelain and some £70,000 in specie.[8] The EIC put the value of the cargo it had lost at £79,710.

Subsequent salvage attempts recovered the specie, which was in the form of 62 chests of dollars. By October 1807 almost all the valuable property had been recovered, including 30 pipes of wine. In September 1812 the wreck was blown up under water to prevent her forming a dangerous shoal.


Print depicting exploration of the wreck of Earl of Abergavenny, with key and the image of Tonkins diving machine. Inscribed: "The present state of the Abergavenny in 10 fathoms of water & sunk 5' 6'' in sand & Means using in recovering the property on board. Septr. 29th 1805." Below this inscription is a key describing numbered items in the picture: "1. Men on board the Boyne Sloop raising a box of copper. 2. Do [as above] - Raising a cable. 3. Men on a scaffold sawing the gun deck. 4. The Diver directing & sending up the passengers chest out of gun room. 5. Men on a scaffold holding the saw. 6. a Man on board the Ketch attending to the directions of the Diver which are conveyed to him through an air tube. 7. men holding the rope by which the Diver is suspended. 8. Part of the upper deck and end of the beams where sawn off. 9. Remaining part of the Gun Deck. 10. Opening to the after hold. 11. an opening thro' the poop deck quarter deck and gun deck 21 feet by 16, having taken the goods out of gun room and now about making way thro' orlope deck to the money". Below this is a dedication: "dedicated by permission to their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of Cumberland and Sussex". The image of Tonkins Diving Machine is in the top right corner, and has its own key: "1. The body of coppers. 2. Iron boots with joints of mail, covered with strong leather and canvas over it to prevent the leather being cut, the whole painted white. 3. The arms of strong leather. 4. The glass eye, size of a dessert plate 1 inch thick. 5 . The air tube. 6. An iron with joints and rope by which let down. 7. Lead weights to sink him." The Earl of Abergavenny was heavily laden with over 400 passengers and a valuable cargo of porcelain and sterling worth £20,000. After various misadventures in the Chanel including a collision, the Abergavenny, having left Portsmouth and while being piloted through the Portland Roads on the 5th February during worsening weather and failing light, was driven onto the Shambles, a bank of sand and gravel about 1.9 miles (3km) out from Weymouth beach. The Commander John Wordsworth, brother of the poet William Wordsworth, was among those lost. The inscription details attempts to recover property using the latest diving technology.


Archaeology
Earl of Abergavenny lies in 16 m (50 ft) of water and less than 3 km (1.9 mi) from the beach at Weymouth. There are several rows of wooden posts sticking out of the sand. Visibility is rarely more than 5 m (16 ft). The temperature ranges from 6 to 22 °C depending on the season.

In 2005 the Weymouth LUNAR Society received the Nautical Archaeology Society's Adopt-a-Wreck award for their underwater archaeology work in surveying, monitoring and interpreting this shipwreck.

The ship featured in the Channel 4 series Wreck Detectives.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Abergavenny_(1796_EIC_ship)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-308946;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1807 – HMS Blenheim (1761 - 90) and HMS Java (1806 - 32) disappear off the coast of Rodrigues.


HMS Blenheim was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 July 1761 at Woolwich. In 1797 she participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. In 1801 Blenheim was razeed to a Third Rate. She disappeared off Madagascar with all hands in February 1807.



Service
Blenheim was first ordered to be built in November 1755 as part of an Admiralty program to expand the Royal Navy fleet ahead of the onset of the Seven Years' War with France. Construction was assigned to the Navy dockyard at Woolwich with an intended completion date of September 1759. However there were major delays arising from a lack of skilled workmen in the yard, and by Navy Board attempts to reduce waste and misuse in dockyard practices. In April 1757 Blenheim's shipwrights walked out in protest against a Navy Board reform that impacted on their traditional entitlement to remove spare timbers for personal use. Construction had fallen further behind schedule by the time they returned to work, with Blenheim not finally completed until July 1761.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile proposed (and approved) for Sandwich (1759) and Blenheim (1761), both 90-gun Second Rate, three-deckers.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the above waterline profile for altering the sheer of 'London' (1766), and later for 'Prince' (1788), 'Windsor Castle' (1790), 'Impregnable' (1786), all 90/98-gun Second Rate, three-deckers. The plan includes the 'as-built' outline of the 'Blenheim' (1761), a 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker, and alterations for forming the quarterdeck gun ports but not cutting them out on 'Prince', 'Windsor Castle' and 'Impregnable'.

The newly built vessel was commissioned into the Royal Navy in August 1761, for the final year of the Seven Years' War, but paid off in June 1762. She was recommissioned in March 1777 under Captain Broderick Hartwell, but paid off again in September 1784.

She was recommissioned for her third war in August 1794 under Captain Charles Calmady. Under the command of John Bazely from December 1794, she took part in the Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795. Blenheim then fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. By 1801, this by now 40-year-old ship had become so badly hogged as to be unsafe for sea. However, she was razeed to a 74-gun Third Rate in 1801–1802, and set sail for Barbados under the command of Captain Peter Bover at the end of the year, carrying Captain Samuel Hood and other commissioners to Trinidad.



Scale 1:48. Plan showing the outboard profile of 'Blenheim' (1761), a 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker, illustrating her as cut down (razeed) to a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker at Chatham Dockyard. This was approved by Admiralty Order dated 31 January 1801.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Blenheim' (1761), a 90-gun Second Rate, three-decker. The plan also includes pencil alterations dated 1801 for when she was cut down to a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker at Chatham Dockyard.

On 14 November 1803 the French privateer Harmonie entered the harbour at Le Marin, together with a prize that she had taken. Captain Thomas Graves, in Blenheim, determined to cut her out. He beat around Diamond Rock but was not able to get into position until the 16th. He then decided to put 60 seamen in four boats, and 60 marines into another four. The seamen were to go into the harbour to cut out Harmonie, while the marines were to attack a battery of nine guns at Fort Dunkirk on the starboard side of the bay to block French reinforcements from massing there. Drake arrived on the scene and Graves had Captain William Ferris lead the seamen in the attack, together with 16 men from her. Drake towed the cutting out party, whilst the hired armed cutter Swift towed the marines. The two parties set out at 11p.m., and at 3a.m. the two attacks succeeded. The marines captured the fort, which was only guarded by 15 men, who they took prisoner. They spiked six 24-pounder guns and three 18-pounders, and blew up the magazine. The cutting out party met with resistance from Harmonie and suffered the only British casualties. Hermione, of eight guns, had had a crew of 66 men under the command of Citizen Noyer at the start of the British attack. Some 12 escaped overboard and some may have drowned. Two were killed and 14 wounded. Blenheim had one man killed and two wounded, and Drake had three wounded, one dangerously so. The inhabitants of Grenada purchased and donated Harmonie to the Royal Navy, which named her HMS Grenada.

Captain Loftus Bland sailed Blenheim back to Portsmouth in 1804.

In 1805, Blenheim sailed for Madras under the command of Captain Austin Bissell, as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, Bt.

On 7 August 1805, Blenheim was escorting a fleet of East Indiamen consisting of Castle Eden, Cumberland, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Exeter, Hope, and Preston. They were at 19°3′S 17°15′E when they encountered the French ship of the line Marengo and frigate Belle Poule. There was a brief exchange of fire before both sides sailed on. Troubridge reprimanded the captains of Cumberland and Preston for having acted too boldly in exchanging fire with the French.

By the time Troubridge received orders to take command at the Cape of Good Hope, at the beginning of 1807, Blenheim was in alarming condition, and required constant pumping to keep her afloat. Despite the request of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Edward Pellew, that he transfer his flag to another ship, Troubridge determined to take her to the Cape. Bissell also warned Troubridge of Blenheim's condition, but received in return the taunt that he might go ashore if he liked. Unable to shake Troubridge's confidence, Bissell composed a last letter to his wife before sailing, convinced the ship would founder.

Loss
Blenheim left Madras on 12 January 1807, in the company of the sloop HMS Harrier (Capt. Justice Finley) and the frigate HMS Java (Capt. George Pigot), the latter recently captured from the Dutch. The two parted company from Harrier in a gale on 5 February 1807. When Harrier last saw them at 22°44′S 66°11′E they were flying signals of distress.

The French frigate Sémillante later reported having seen Blenheim off Rodrigues in a gale on 18 February.[9] Another frigate later reported in Calcutta that ships answering to the descriptions of Blenheim and Java had been seen in distress off Réunion after the gale, had put in for repairs at Île Sainte-Marie in February 1807 and had sailed again.

No further trace of the ships was ever found, despite an extensive search by Troubridge's son Captain Edward Troubridge in Greyhound and the co-operation of the French. Blenheim and Java are presumed to have foundered somewhere off Madagascar. A painting depicting their loss was created by Thomas Buttersworth. There is speculation that Java was lost while trying to rescue crew from the sinking Blenheim

About 280 men were lost aboard Java and 590 aboard Blenheim.

Those lost aboard Blenheim included Troubridge, Bissell, Captain Charles Elphinstone (nephew of Admiral Lord Keith), the midshipmen George, Lord Rosehill (eldest son and heir of Rear-Admiral the Earl of Northesk) and William Henry Courtenay (illegitimate son of Admiral the Duke of Clarence). Also lost was former HMS Bounty mutineer James Morrison.


Second rates of 90 guns [later 98 guns] (three-deckers)
The Sandwich class ships of the line were a class of three 90-gun second rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade.

• Sandwich class (Slade)
  • Sandwich 90 (1759) – floating battery 1780, harbour service 1790, broken up 1810
  • Blenheim 90 (1761) – reduced to 74 in 1800; foundered, presumably off Madagascar, with all hands 1807[6]
  • Ocean 90 (1761) – Modified version of the Sandwich class, sold 1793

The first HMS Java (1806) was a 32-gun fifth rate, originally the Dutch Maria Reijersbergen built at Amsterdam in 1800, and captured from the Dutch on 18 October 1806. The ship was lost, presumed foundered with the loss of all hands, off Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean in March of the following year.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Blenheim_(1761)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-296542;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1898 - The United States Coast Survey Schooner Hassler was the first iron-hulled steamship used in the service of the U.S. Coast Survey sunk


The United States Coast Survey Schooner Hassler was the first iron-hulled steamship used in the service of the U.S. Coast Survey.



Ship history
Plans for a new ship to chart the waters of U.S. Pacific Coast were drawn up in early 1870 by Carlile Patterson, the Hydrographic Inspector of the U.S. Coast Survey. Patterson called for an iron-hulled ship of about 325 tons, with a draft of no more than 9 feet (2.7 m) and a top speed of 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph). He required that the ship used no more than 2½ tons of coal per day, and could hold two months provisions for a crew of 37. The resulting ship was built in 1871 at the River Iron Works in Camden, New Jersey, under the supervision of John H. Dialogue. She was a three-masted schooner, equipped with a 125 hp (93 kW) steeple compound engine, and cost $62,000 to build.



In 1871-72 the ship sailed on the Hassler Expedition, under Commander Philip Carrigan Johnson, brother of the artist Eastman Johnson. This was the first important scientific expedition sent by the government for marine exploration. The expedition included Professor Louis Agassiz and his wife Elizabeth Agassiz; Mrs. Johnson; Dr. Franz Steindachner, ichthyologist; Dr. Thomas Hill, botanist; and Count L. F. de Pourtalès, J. A. Allen, and others.

The steamer left Boston December 4, 1871, and reached San Francisco in August 1872. On the way to St. Thomas surface observations were made. Deep-sea dredging was done at Barbados and along the Brazilian coast. At the Straits of Magellan frequent stops were made, and at particularly interesting places several days were spent, and inland excursions undertaken, especially to examine glaciers. Throughout the route collections were made, with much of this material deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Some of the zoological results of the expedition were published by Agassiz, Lyman, and Pourtalès.

After nearly 25 years in service, mostly around the Alaskan coast, the Hassler was finally decommissioned on May 25, 1895. In August 1897 she was sold to the McGuire Brothers for $15,700, and renamed Clara Nevada. She sailed from Seattle on January 26, 1898, with a crew of 40 men, bound for Skagway, Alaska with 165 passengers heading for the Klondike gold fields. Late on February 5, 1898, the Clara Nevada left Skagway with between 25 and 40 passengers aboard. During the night she struck an uncharted rock several hundred yards north of Eldred Rock and sank immediately. There were no survivors.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassler_(vessel)
https://www.islapedia.com/index.php?title=Hassler

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1918 – SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.


SS Tuscania was a luxury liner of the Cunard Line subsidiary Line, named after Tuscania, Italy. In 1918 the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat UB-77 while transporting American troops to Europe with the loss of 210 lives



Operations
Tuscania carried passengers between New York City and Glasgow while in service with the Line, on a route that had previously been assigned to her sister ship Transylvania. She continued to run this route even as World War I broke out in Europe in August 1914 and Germany initiated a submarine campaign against merchant shipping in waters near the United Kingdom.

Tuscania made international headlines for rescuing passengers and crew from the burning Greek steamer SS Athinai on 20 September 1915. In 1916, Tuscania was refitted and pressed into service as a troopship. She made the news again in March 1917 by evading a submarine and a suspected Imperial German Navy armed merchant cruiser.



Final voyage
On 24 January 1918, Tuscania departed Hoboken, New Jersey, with 384 crew members and 2,013 United States Army personnel aboard. On the morning of 5 February 1918, she turned south for the North Channel en route Liverpool. The German submarine UB-77 sighted Tuscania′s convoy during the day, and stalked it until early evening. Under the cover of darkness around 6:40 pm, the submarine′s commanding officer, Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Meyer, ordered two torpedoes fired at Tuscania. The second of these struck home, sending her to the bottom of the Irish Sea within about four hours. Tuscania sank nearly three years to the day after her maiden voyage as a passenger liner. About 210 of the troops and crew were lost, while many others were rescued by the Royal Navy destroyers Mosquito and Pigeon.

The wreck of Tuscania lies between Scotland's Islay and Northern Ireland′s Rathlin Island, about 7 nautical miles (13 km) north of Rathlin lighthouse, at roughly 55.41°N 06.185°W under 100 m (330 ft) of water.

Many of the bodies of the drowned servicemen washed up on the shores of Islay and were buried there. After the First World War, many were reinterred in Brookwood Military Cemetery or repatriated to the United States. Just one grave is left on the island today. In 1919, the American government unveiled a memorial to the dead on the southernmost tip of the island.



Notable passengers

• Harry R. Truman, who later died in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
• Sydney Brooks, British critic (survived sinking)
• Leonard Read, founder of Foundation for Economic Education (survived sinking)

Army units on board

• 100th Aero Squadron
• 158th Aero Squadron
• 213th Aero Squadron
• 32nd Infantry Division (United States)
• 20th Engineer Battalion
• 357th Infantry
• 165th Depot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Tuscania_(1914)
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~carmita/history/gallery/foto_gallery.html
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscania_(Schiff,_1915)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 February 1933 – Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.


HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën was a Royal Netherlands Navy coastal defence ship in service from 1910 until 1942. It was a small cruiser-sized warship that sacrificed speed and range for armor and armament. She was armed with two 283 mm, four 150 mm, ten 75 mm, four 37 mm guns, in addition to a 75 mm mortar. She was 101.5 metres (333 ft) long, had a beam of 17.1 metres (56 ft) and a draft of 6.15 metres (20.2 ft), and displaced 6,530 tons. She had a crew of 448 and was able to reach 16 knots.



She served part of her career in the Dutch East Indies, from 1911 to 1918 and from 1921 onwards. During the 1920s, her crew included the future Rear Admiral Karel Doorman. She suffered a high-profile mutiny on 5 February 1933, which had far-reaching implications for politics in the Netherlands. She was renamed Soerabaja in 1936.

On 18 February 1942, Soerabaja was sunk by Japanese bombers. The Japanese raised her and used her as a battery ship; one report is that she was sunk again by Allied aircraft in 1943; a second report is that she was raised two years after being sunk by the Japanese but was wrecked five miles north of Djamoenjan Reef, Indonesia.


Service history


De Zeven Provinciën leaving the port of Den Helder

The ship was launched and christened at the Rijkswerf in Amsterdam by, Prince Henry on 15 March 1909. She was commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 6 October 1910. On 21 November that year she left the port of Den Helder for the Dutch East Indies. The route she took led by South Africa and she arrived at Surabayaon 25 January 1911.

On 23 January 1912 De Zeven Provinciën hit a cliff while making a trip around Sumatra. After offloading coal and ammunition she pulled loose. After this she docked at Singapore. She returned 25 April to Surabaya.

On 4 April 1918, during the final stages of World War I, the ship and Koningin Regentes escorted the passenger ships Vondel, Kawi, Rindjani and Grotius to the port of Tanjung Priok. The ships were intercepted in the eastern parts of the Indian archipelago by the two warships after Dutch merchant ships had been confiscated by British and American naval forces, exercising the Angary right.

After eight years in the Dutch East Indies the ship left on 20 November 1918, going from Tanjung Priok through the Panama Canal and by New York to Den Helder. She arrived on 1 April 1919 and then left for maintenance at Amsterdam.

On 9 November 1921 the ship left for the second and last time for the Dutch East Indies. After arriving, she served as artillery instruction ship.

Mutiny


De Zeven Provinciën with a Van Berkel W-A floatplane above

While off the northwest tip of Sumatra, mutiny broke out on 5 February 1933. Part of the mixed Dutch and Indonesian crew seized control of the ship, keeping it in operation and sailing it southwards along the Sumatran coast. After six days during which the mutineers remained defiant, the Dutch Defence Minister Laurentius Nicolaas Deckers authorized an attack by military aircraft. One of the bombs dropped struck the ship, killing 23 mutineers, whereupon the others immediately surrendered. In the fierce controversy which broke out immediately afterwards, it was asserted that this outcome was not deliberate, and that the only intention was to intimidate the mutineers. Incidentally, this was an early demonstration of the vulnerability of surface ships to aerial bombardment, of which this ship itself was to be a victim 10 years later. However, at the time naval experts in the Netherlands and elsewhere paid little attention to this aspect, the whole event being mainly discussed in terms of the putting down of a mutiny.

Cause
The cause and motivation of the mutiny was the focus of considerable debate, both in the Dutch public opinion and political system at the time, and among historians up to the present. Dutch researchers such as Loe de Jong believe that an active communist cell had been among the sailors—which was asserted in a highly inflammatory manner by nationalist right-wingers at the time, while in later periods Dutch and Indonesian communists were happy enough to be credited with what became a heroic myth in left-wing circles. However, J. C. H. Blom asserts that the mutiny was essentially spontaneous and unplanned, resulting from protest at pay cuts and bad working conditions, as well as generally poor morale in the Dutch Royal Navy at the time.[8] From that point of view, the case of De Zeven Provinciën is reminiscent of the Invergordon Mutiny of sailors in the Royal Navy a year and half earlier, which ended without the use of lethal force. Indeed, Dutch sailors may have been inspired by their British counterparts' mutiny, which had been international news at the time.

The harsher stance of the Dutch government in relation to the mutineers might be partially attributed to the British mutiny taking place in Britain itself, while the Dutch one happened in the context of a restive colony where an independence movement was already active, but which the Dutch contemporary political establishment was absolutely determined to retain. Peter Boomgaard links the mutiny with a relatively high level of social unrest and strikes in the Dutch Indies during the 1932–1934 period, which the colonial authorities attempted to suppress by force.



Political consequence
In the Netherlands, the mutiny and its bloody conclusion had a deep impact, a blot on the record of Defence Minister Deckers and Prime Minister Ruijs de enbrouck. Historian Louis de Jong accounts it as among one of the most significant Dutch events in the 1930s. As J. C. H. Blom notes, the main effect of the spectacular incident – at least in the short term – was to cause a shift to the right, clearly manifest in the general elections two months later, in April 1933. The government proceeded to root out social-democratic influences among naval unions and civil servants, since "such 'unreliable elements' threatened the loyalty of the armed forces and with it the nation's hold on its seemingly indispensable overseas possessions". In this it was supported, as Blom notes, by the officer corps as well as by the predominantly burgerlijk sociopolitical groups in the country (Calvinist, Catholic, and liberal). Apprehensive of appearing "unpatriotic", the Social Democratic Workers' Party was unable to offer an effective defence, and in the April elections lost two seats, setting back—as it turned out only temporarily—their march towards strength and respectability in the political mainstream.

Conversely, the Anti Revolutionary Party which ran a strong law-and-order campaign gained two seats and its leader Hendrikus Colijn – himself with a bloody past in the colonial army at the Indies – became the next Prime Minister. Moreover, in the direct aftermath of the mutiny a new party known as the Alliance for National Reconstruction (Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel) suddenly emerged, with firm defence of the eastern colonial empire as its main elections plank, and with only two months' existence won thirty-thousand votes and a seat in parliament. Moreover, a report by the Dutch Intelligence Service quoted by Blom attributes the meteoric rise of Anton Mussert's National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, from one thousand members in January 1933 to 22,000 a year later to the both Hitler's coming to power in neighbouring Germany and to the uprising on De Zeven Provinciën – the two events being virtually simultaneous. The effect turned out to be short-term, however, with the Dutch Nazi Party politically moribund by 1937.

The single voice in Dutch politics to clearly and outspokenly support the De Zeven Provinciën mutineers was the left-communist Revolutionary Socialist Party (Dutch: Revolutionair Socialistische Partij), whose leader Henk Sneevliet had been among the founders of what was to become the Indonesian Communist Party, and who was sentenced to five months prison term for hailing the mutiny as "the beginning of the anti-colonial revolution".[citation needed] Sneevliet's outspoken position was used in the aforementioned right-wing campaign. However, for its constituency – mainly left-leaning intellectuals, especially in the more cosmopolitan capital Amsterdam – the RSP raised a large and effective campaign with such slogans as: "From the Cell to Parliament", "Make Sneevliet the public prosecutor in the Second Chamber" and "I accuse" (a clear reference to Émile Zola's "J'accuse"). The campaign worked and the party won a single parliamentary seat, the only such success in its history, and thus got Sneevliet released from prison.

Name change
The ship was taken out of service in July that year and was modified to serve as a training ship. In 1936 she was renamed HNLMS Soerabaja. It might be no accident that the purely Dutch name De Zeven Provinciën was changed to the name of a major city of the Indies.

Loss
On 18 February 1942, a few days before the outbreak of the Battle of the Java Sea, Soerabaja was sunk by Japanese G4M bombers in the harbour of city whose name she bore – Surabaya, headquarters of the Dutch Navy in the Indies.

Unlike most other Dutch ships sunk February and March 1942 far from shore, Soerabaja lay in shallow enough waters that the Japanese, once they were in control, were able to salvage and raise her up. In Japanese service she was used as a battery ship. Her name in this period is not on record.

In the following year, 1943, she was hit by Allied aerial bombardment and sank to the bottom, this time permanently.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNLMS_De_Zeven_Provinciën_(1909)

 

[Uwek]

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


1804 - HMS Eclair (10), Lt. Carr, engaged French privateer Grand Decide (22) off Tortola.

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


1809 - HMS Carrier Cutter (10), Lt. Robert Ramsey, was wrecked on the French coast.

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=3508


1813 - During the War of 1812, the frigate Chesapeake chases the British merchant brig Earl Percy ashore on Long Island. Chesapeakes crew saves the Earl Percys crew and the 58 prisoners who are on board.

Chesapeake was a 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young navy's capital ships. Chesapeake was originally designed as a 44-gun frigate but construction delays, material shortages, and budget problems caused builder Josiah Fox to alter her design to 38 guns. Launched at the Gosport Navy Yard on 2 December 1799, Chesapeake began her career during the Quasi-War with France and saw service in the First Barbary War.



On 22 June 1807 she was fired upon by HMS Leopard of the Royal Navy for refusing to comply with a search for deserters. The event, now known as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, angered the American populace and government and was a precipitating factor that led to the War of 1812. As a result of the affair, Chesapeake's commanding officer, James Barron, was court-martialed and the United States instituted the Embargo Act of 1807 against Great Britain.

Early in the War of 1812 she made one patrol and captured five British merchant ships before returning. She was captured by HMS Shannon shortly after sailing from Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 June 1813. The Royal Navy took her into their service as HMS Chesapeake, where she served until she was broken up and her timbers sold in 1819; they are now part of the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, England.

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


1821 – Launch of French Clorinde, at Cherbourg – deleted 26 October 1833.

Clorinde class (58-gun type, 1819 design by Louis-Jean-Baptiste Bretocq, with 30 x 24-pounder and 2 x 18-pounder guns, and 26 x 36-pounder carronades):
Clorinde, (launched 5 February 1821 at Cherbourg) – deleted 26 October 1833.


1836 HMS Pike (1813 - 14) wrecked on Pelican Reef in Jamaica.

HMS Pike (1813) was a 14-gun schooner, previously the American Dart. She was captured in 1813 and was wrecked in 1836.


1854 - The dedication of the first chapel built on Naval property was held at Annapolis, Md.


1895 - Laiyuan – In the Battle of Weihaiwei on 5 February 1895 the Chinese cruiser was attacked by two Japanese torpedo boats and struck by a torpedo fired by Kotaka. Laiyuan rolled over and capsized with a loss of about 170 of her crew of 270.



The Battle of Weihaiwei (Japanese: Ikaiei-no-tatakai (威海衛の戦い) was a battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. It took place between 20 January and 12 February 1895 in Weihai, Shandong Province, China between the forces of the Japan and Qing China. In early January 1895, the Japanese landed forces in eastern Shandong positioning forces behind the Chinese naval base at Weihaiwei. Through a well coordinated offensive of both naval and land forces, the Japanese destroyed the forts and sank much of the Chinese fleet. With the Shandong and Liaoning peninsulas under Japanese control, the option for a pincer attack against the Chinese capital, Beijing, was now a possibility. This strategic threat forced the Chinese to sue for peace and led to the war's end in April 1895.


Ukiyo-e, by Toshihide Migita, depicting Chinese forces surrendering to Admiral Ito at the Battle of Weihaiwei.In reality, Ding had committed suicide after his defeat and never surrendered.

Zhenyuan (Chinese: 鎮遠; Wade-Giles: Chen Yuen) was a German-built Chinese Beiyang Fleet turret ship of the 19th century. Her sister ship was Dingyuan. Built with 356-millimetre (14 in) thick armour and modern Krupp guns, they were superior to any in the Imperial Japanese Navy at the time.


Zhenyuan in Japanese service as Chin'en.

Dingyuan (simplified Chinese: 定远; traditional Chinese: 定遠; pinyin: Dìngyǔan; Wade–Giles: Ting Yuen or Ting Yuan) was an ironclad battleship and the flagship of the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. Her sister ship was Zhenyuan.


Dingyuan/Ting Yuen photographed in 1884 in Germany, waiting for delivery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Weihaiwei
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_ironclad_Zhenyuan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_ironclad_Dingyuan


1944 - USS Flasher (SS 249) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Taishin Maru off Mindoro. Also on this date, USS Narwhal (SS 167) lands 45 tons of ammunition and cargo to support Filipino guerrilla operations at Libertad, Panay, Philippines.

USS Flasher (SS-249) was a Gato-class submarine which served in the Pacific during World War II. She received the Presidential Unit Citation and six battle stars, and sank 21 ships for a total of 100,231 tons of Japanese shipping, making her one of the most successful American submarines of the War.



She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flasher. Her keel was laid down 30 September 1942 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 20 June 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Saunders, wife of LCDR Willard Saunders, Commanding Officer of USS Muskallunge) and commissioned 25 September 1943, Lieutenant Commander Reuben T. Whitaker (Class of 1934) in command.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Flasher_(SS-249)


1962 - USS Stoddard (DD 566) and USS Surfbird (ADG-383) rescue 29 crewmen from the sinking Greek merchant vessel Yanix off Luzon, Philippine Islands.

USS Stoddard (DD-566) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Master's Mate James Stoddard, who was decorated for heroism during the Civil War. She was the last Fletcher to be stricken from the U.S. Navy, in 1975.



Stoddard was laid down at Seattle, Washington, by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. on 10 March 1943; launched on 19 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Mildred Gould Holcomb; and commissioned on 15 April 1944, Commander Horace Meyers in command.

USS Surfbird (AM-383) was an Auk-class minesweeper built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was the only U.S. Navy ship named for the surfbird.



Surfbird was laid down on 15 February 1944 by the American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio; launched on 31 August 1944, sponsored by Mrs. F. W. Chambers; and commissioned on 25 November 1944 with Lt. R. H. Nelson, Jr., USNR, in command.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Stoddard_(DD-566)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Surfbird

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 February 1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.


The Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between the United States and France, was the first of two treaties between the United States and France, signed on February 6, 1778, at the Hôtel de Coislin [fr] in Paris. Its sister treaty, the Treaty of Alliance (as well as a separate and secret clause related to the future inclusion of Spain into the alliance) were signed immediately thereafter. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce recognized the de facto independence of the United States and established a strictly commercial treaty between the two nations as an alternative to, and in direct defiance of, the British Acts of Trade and Navigation; the Treaty of Alliance, for mutual defense, was then signed "particularly in case Great Britain in Resentment of that connection and of the good correspondence which is the object of the [first] Treaty, should break the Peace with France, either by direct hostilities, or by hindering her commerce and navigation, in a manner contrary to the Rights of Nations, and the Peace subsisting between the two Crowns". These were the first treaties ever negotiated by the fledgling United States and signed in the midst of the American Revolutionary War. Due to later complications with the alliance treaty, America would not sign another military alliance until the Declaration by United Nations in 1942.


A depiction of the signing by Charles E. Mills

Background

John Adams, an early supporter and initial author of an alliance with France

Early in 1776, as the members of the American Continental Congress began to move closer to declaring independence from Britain, leading American statesmen began to consider the benefits of forming foreign alliances to assist in their rebellion against the British Crown.[4] The most obvious potential ally was France, a long-time enemy of Britain and a colonial rival who had lost much of their lands in the Americas after the French and Indian War. As a result, John Adams began drafting conditions for a possible commercial treaty between France and the future independent colonies of the United States, which declined the presence of French troops and any aspect of French authority in colonial affairs. On September 25 the Continental Congress ordered commissioners, led by Benjamin Franklin, to seek a treaty with France based upon Adams's draft treaty that had later been formalized into a Model Treaty which sought the establishment of reciprocal trade relations with France but declined to mention any possible military assistance from the French government. Despite orders to seek no direct military assistance from France, the American commissioners were instructed to work to acquire most favored nation trading relations with France, along with additional military aid, and also encouraged to reassure any Spanish delegates that the United States had no desire to acquire Spanish lands in the Americas, in the hopes that Spain would in turn enter a Franco-American alliance.

Despite an original openness to the alliance, after word of the Declaration of Independence and a British evacuation of Boston reached France, the French Foreign Minister, Comte de Vergennes, put off signing a formal alliance with the United States after receiving news of British victories over General George Washington in New York. With the help of the Committee of Secret Correspondence, established by the Continental Congress to promote the American cause in France, and his standing as a model of republican simplicity within French society, Benjamin Franklin was able to gain a secret loan and clandestine military assistance from the Foreign Minister but was forced to put off negotiations on a formal alliance while the French government negotiated a possible alliance with Spain.


Benjamin Franklin's celebrity like status in France helped win French support for the United States during the American Revolutionary War.

With the defeat of Britain at the Battle of Saratoga and growing rumors of secret British peace offers to Franklin, France sought to seize an opportunity to take advantage of the rebellion and abandoned negotiations with Spain to begin discussions with the United States on a formal alliance.[5] With official approval to begin negotiations on a formal alliance given by King Louis XVI of France, the colonies turned down a British proposal for reconciliation in January 1778 and began negotiations that would result in the signing of the Treaty of Alliance and Treaty of Amity and Commerce.

Signers

Silas Deane, c. 1781


Conrad-Alexandre Gérard

United States

• Benjamin Franklin
• Silas Deane
• Arthur Lee

France

• Conrad Alexandre Gérard de Rayneval

Provisions

• Peace and friendship between the U.S. and France
• Mutual most favored nation status with regard to commerce and navigation
• Mutual protection of all vessels and cargo when in U.S. or French jurisdiction
• Ban on fishing in waters possessed by the other with exception of the Banks of Newfoundland
• Mutual right for citizens of one country to hold land in other's territory
• Mutual right to search a ship of the other's coming out of an enemy port for contraband
• Right to due process of law if contraband is found on an allied ship and only after being officially declared contraband may it be seized
• Mutual protection of men-of-war and privateers and their crews from harm from the other party and reparations to be paid if this provision is broken
• Restoration of stolen property taken by pirates
• Right of ships of war and privateers to freely carry ships and goods taken for their enemy
• Mutual assistance, relief, and safe harbor to ships, both of War and Merchant, in crisis in the other's territory
• Neither side may commission privateers against the other nor allow foreign privateers that are enemies of either side to use their ports
• Mutual right to trade with enemy states of the other as long as those goods are not contraband
• If the two nations become enemies six months protection of merchant ships in enemy territory
• To prevent quarrels between allies all ships must carry passports and cargo manifests
• If two ships meet ships of war and privateers must stay out of cannon range but may board the merchant ship to inspect her passports and manifests
• Mutual right to inspection of a ship's cargo to only happen once
• Mutual right to have consuls, vice consuls, agents, and commissaries of one nation in the other's ports
• France grants one or more ports under its control to be free ports to ships of the United States

The Treaty of Alliance with France or Franco-American Treaty was a defensive alliance between France and the United States of America, formed in the midst of the American Revolutionary War, which promised mutual military support in case fighting should break out between French and British forces, as the result of signing the previously concluded Treaty of Amity and Commerce. The alliance was planned to endure indefinitely into the future. Delegates of King Louis XVI of France and the Second Continental Congress, who represented the United States at this time, signed the two treaties along with a separate and secret clause dealing with future Spanish involvement, at the hôtel de Coislin (4, place de la Concorde) in Paris on February 6, 1778. The Franco-American alliance would technically remain in effect until the 1800 Treaty of Mortefontaine, despite being annulledby the United States Congress in 1793 when George Washington gave his Neutrality Proclamation speech saying that America would stay neutral in the French Revolution.


The end of the Treaty of Alliance
Despite the deteriorated relations, and the previously stated official and mutual public sentiment against the alliance, it would not be until September 30, 1800, that the treaty would officially be absolved by both signing parties with the signing of the Treaty of Mortefontaine, or Convention of 1800, and the Franco-American Alliance that began in 1778 was ended.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Alliance_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amity_and_Commerce_(United_States–France)

 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 February 1799 - HMS Argo (1781 - 44), Capt James Bowen, captured Spanish frigate Santa Teresa (1787 - 34) off Majorca.


The Action of 6 February 1799 was a minor naval action that took place during the French Revolutionary Wars off the island of Majorca between two Royal Navy ships and two Spanish naval frigates.



By the end of 1798 the situation had changed in the Mediterranean with the destruction of the French fleet at Aboukir and the capture of the Spanish island of Menorca in November 1798 by British forces. The Royal Navy were using the island as a place to launch raids and conduct further operations.

On 6 February 1799, HMS Argo and HMS Leviathan surprised two Spanish frigates at anchor near the south point of the Bahia de Alcudia on Majorca. The Spanish set sail with the British in pursuit but a violent westerly gale came up that took away Leviathan's main top-sail. After dark the Spanish frigates separated but Leviathan had fallen behind and saw neither the separation nor Argo's signal that she had chased the one to port.

Leviathan had nearly caught up with Argo, who had fired bow chasers damaging the Santa Teresa 's smaller sails, slowing her down. More damage was inflicted but this time from the gale damaging more sails and rigging. At about midnight Argo got alongside the Santa Teresa and fired a broadside that wounded two men and badly damaged Santa Teresa's rigging. At this point the Spanish captain of Santa Teresa Don Pablo Perez realized that further resistance was futile and after a conference with his men struck her colours. Santa Teresa was upwards of 950 tons burthen, carrying 42 guns plus coehorns and swivel guns and in addition to her crew of 280 seamen and marines, she had 250 soldiers on board. Santa Teresa had recently been completely refurbished and provisioned for a four-month cruise. Her consort Proserpine, which had escaped, though smaller, was equally well armed. The Santa Theresa was bought into British service and kept the name.

Operations continued from Menorca, 16 February Argo and Leviathan attacked the town of Cambrils.


Santa Teresa




HMS Argo was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1781 from Howdon Dock. The French captured her in 1783, but 36 hours later the British recaptured her. She then distinguished herself in the French Revolutionary Wars by capturing several prizes, though she did not participate in any major actions. She also served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was sold in 1816.


During the course of 1798 and 1799, the 'Argo', under the command of Captain James Bowen, captured two Spanish ships and recaptured from the Spanish the British sloop 'Petrel'. The Russian ship on the right must be one of the frigates which joined the British blockading force in the Mediterranean at this time. The drawing is signed and dated 1799. On the verso side it is inscribed in pencil: 'Gibraltar Bay. Argo and Russian line of Battle Ships 1799 with French and Spanish Fleets passing the Straits after having been up the Mediterranean.' Buttersworth joined the navy aged 27 in 1795. He was rated an able seaman, but shortly afterwards was appointed master-at-arms, and in 1800 a midshipman. In the Museum's collection there are a number of Mediterranean naval subjects (1797-1800) by Buttersworth which strongly suggest that he was there.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, longitudinal half - breadth for building the unknown (and unnamed) 44 - gun Fifth Rate two-decker of the Roebuck Class. Note: The name of the builder and date of the drawing have been erased. Signed by J[ohn] Williams. [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784] This plan is not for Guardian (1784) because she was built with one layer of stern windows - see ZAZ2218



The Roebuck-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of the Royal Navy. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds. Most were constructed for service during the American Revolutionary War but continued to serve thereafter. By 1793 five were still on the active list. Ten were hospital ships, troopships or storeships. As troopships or storeships they had the guns on their lower deck removed. Many of the vessels in the class survived to take part in the Napoleonic Wars. In all, maritime incidents claimed five ships in the class and war claimed three.

Classification
The Royal Navy classed the Roebuck class as fifth rates like frigates but did not classify them as frigates. Although sea officers sometimes casually described them and other small two-deckers as frigates, the Admiralty officially never referred to them as frigates. By 1750, the Admiralty strictly defined frigates as ships of 28 guns or more, carrying all their main battery (24, 26 or even 28 guns) on the upper deck, with no guns or openings on the lower deck (which could thus be at sea level or even lower). A frigate might carry a few smaller guns - 3-pounders or 6-pounders, later 9-pounders - on their quarterdeck and (perhaps) on the forecastle. The Roebuck-class ships were two-deckers with complete batteries on both decks, and hence not frigates.


Combat entre les fregates francaises la Nymphe et l' Amphitrite contre le vaisseau anglais l' Argo, u Fevrier 1783. Galrie Histque de Versailles Sie IV (PAF4671)

Design and construction
The Admiralty assigned the contract for Roebuck to Chatham Dockyard on 30 November 1769. Some seven years after the design was first produced, the Admiralty re-used it for a second batch of nineteen ships. The Admiralty ordered them to meet the particular requirements of the American War of Independence for vessels suitable for coastal warfare in the shallow seas off North America (where deeper two-deckers could not sail). The first five vessels of the class, and the later Guardian, had two rows of stern lights (windows), like larger two-deckers though actually there was just the single level of cabin behind. Most, if not all, of the other ships of the class - from Dolphin onwards - had a 'single level' frigate-type stern.

Roebuck class 1774-83 (Thomas Slade)

• HMS Roebuck 1774 - hospital ship 1790, troopship 1799, floating battery 1803, broken up 1811
• HMS Romulus 1777 - taken by France 1781
• HMS Actaeon 1778 - hulked 1793
• HMS Janus 1778 - troopship 1789, wrecked 1800
• HMS Charon (I) 1778 - sunk 1781
• HMS Dolphin 1781 - hospital ship 1781, troopship 1800, storeship 1804, broken up 1817
• HMS Ulysses 1779 - sold 1816
• HMS Serapis (I) 1779 - taken by John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard 1779
• HMS Endymion 1779 - lost 1790
• HMS Assurance 1780 - troopship 1791, transport 1796, hulked 1799
• HMS Argo 1781 - troopship 1791, sold 1816
• HMS Diomede 1781 - lost 1795
• HMS Guardian 1784 - sold 1791
• HMS Mediator 1782 - storeship and renamed Camel 1788, broken up 1810
• HMS Regulus 1785 - troopship 1800, broken up 1816
• HMS Resistance 1782 - blown up 1798
• HMS Serapis (II) 1782 - storeship 1798, broken up 1819
• HMS Gladiator 1783 - hulked 1807
• HMS Experiment 1784 - troopship, 1793, hulked 1805
• HMS Charon (II) 1783 - hospital ship 1794, troopship 1800, broken up 1805

HMS Leviathan was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy, launched on 9 October 1790. At the Battle of Trafalgar under Henry William Bayntun, she was near the front of the windward column led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard his flagship, HMS Victory, and captured the Spanish ship San Augustin. A flag said to have been flown by the Leviathan at Trafalgar is to be sold at auction by Arthur Cory in March 2016 - Bayntun is thought to have given it to his friend the Duke of Clarence (later William IV), who then gave it to Arthur Cory's direct ancestor Nicholas Cory, a senior officer on William's royal yacht HMS Royal Sovereign, in thanks for helping the yacht win a race and a bet.

Leviathan, Pompee, Anson, Melpomene, and Childers shared in the proceeds of the capture on 10 September 1797 of the Tordenskiold.


Attack on convoy of eighteen French merchant ships at Laigrelia, 1812

On 27 June 1812, Leviathan, HMS Imperieuse (1793), HMS Curacoa (1809) and HMS Eclair (1807); four British ships attacked an 18-strong French convoy at Laigueglia and Alassio in Liguria, northern Italy.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Colossus' (1787), 'Leviathan' (1790), 'Carnatic' (1783), and 'Minotaur' (1793), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers based on the lines for the captured French Third Rate 'Courageux' (captured 1761). Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784] and Edward Hunt [Surveyor of the Navy 1778-1784].

Fate
In 1816, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, she was converted into a prison ship and in 1848 was sold and broken up.




The Courageux-class ships of the line were a class of six 74-gun third rates of the Royal Navy. Their design was a direct copy of the French ship Courageux, captured in 1761 by HMS Bellona. This class of ship is sometimes referred to as the Leviathan class. A further two ships of the class were built to a slightly lengthened version of the Courageux draught. A final two ships were ordered to a third modification of the draught

Carnatic class built to the lines of the French Courageux (capture of 1761)

• Leviathan 74 (1790) – hulked 1816
• Carnatic 74 (1783) – hulked 1805
• Colossus 74 (1787) – wrecked 1798
• Minotaur 74 (1793) – wrecked 1810

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_6_February_1799
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Argo_(1781)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roebuck-class_ship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Leviathan_(1790)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courageux-class_ship_of_the_line
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=6337
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=6336