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

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1781 - HMS Culloden (1776 - 74), Cptn. Balfour, wrecked on the east end of Long Island in a gale.


HMS Culloden was a 74-gun Culloden-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard, England, and launched on 18 May 1776. She was the fourth warship to be named after the Battle of Culloden, which took place in Scotland in 1746 and saw the defeat of the Jacobite rising.




Inscribed in black ink 'Culloden man of war', lower left, and signed 'D Serres', lower right, in a browner ink. The particular interest of this drawing is that it is clearly modelled on the similar studies of the van de Veldes, especially Willem the Elder, a century earlier. Serres' considerable collection of other artists' drawings included a number by the van de Veldes of which the Museum has at least two (Robinson I: 294 and Robinson II, 1026). The Navy had three 74-gun ships called 'Culloden' in rapid succession, the name commemorating the defeat of the Scottish Jacobites there by the 'Butcher' Duke of Cumberland in 1746. The first was built in 1747 and sold in 1770; the second built in 1776 and wrecked on Long Island in 1781, and the third built in 1783 and broken up in 1813. The Museum has a detailed drawing of the stern of the 1776 ship as part of her sheer draught (ZAZ0978) which shows that she had eight stern windows to her great cabin, two arched ones on each side on the open quarter-deck gallery above and separate quarter carvings on each level at either side. That is not what is shown here: there are only seven great cabin windows, no arched ones above and the quarter figures - apparently of contemporary soldiers- bracket both deck levels. The ship shown is therefore the 'Culloden' of 1783, of which the Museum also has a few plans but none showing the stern detail.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration and name on the counter, sheer lines with inboard detail and stern quarter decoration and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Culloden' (1776), a 74-gun, Third Rate, two-decker as built at Deptford Dockyard.

She served with the Channel Fleet during the American War of Independence, seeing action at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, before being sent out to the West Indies. Her stay there was brief, sailing for New York City with Admiral Rodney in August 1780 to join the North American station. The ship's specific duties were to blockade the French at Newport, Rhode Island where a French army of 6,000 had disembarked in July 1780.[citation needed]


Diorama of Culloden wreck at the Marine Museum

On 23 January 1781, while trying to intercept French ships attempting to run the blockade at Newport, Rhode Island, Culloden encountered severe weather and ran aground at North Neck Point (Will's Point) in Montauk. All attempts to refloat the vessel were unsuccessful,[citation needed] but all the crew were saved, and Culloden's masts were taken aboard HMS Bedford. The area is today known as Culloden Point.



Salvage operations
The British conducted salvage operations on the ship throughout March, retrieving all 28 eighteen-pounder guns from the upper deck, and all 18 nine-pounders from the quarterdeck. The larger cannons were pushed into the sea and the ship was then burned to the waterline and abandoned.

On 24 July 1781, Joseph Woodbridge of Groton, Connecticut sent a letter to George Washington offering to sell him sixteen 32-pounders from the wreck, and on 14 July 1815, Samuel Jeffers arrived in Newport, Rhode Island with 12 tons of pig iron and a 32-pounder from the wreck.

In 1971 Henry W. Moeller, an undersea archaeologist associated with Dowling College, discovered the keel and large wooden beams resting in between 10 ft (3.0 m) and 15 ft (4.6 m) of water 150 ft (46 m) off Culloden Point. A gudgeon imprinted with the name Culloden was recovered. Subsequent recovery efforts brought up another 32-pounder cannon as well as copper sheathing. A sketch of the outline of the ruins showed the ship resting on a large boulder.


Cannon retrieved from Culloden on display at the East Hampton Marine Museum in Amagansett, New York

National Register of Historic Places
Since 1979 the wreck site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which prohibits SCUBA divers from taking artifacts from, or otherwise disturbing the wreck. The designated area is a 'circle with a radius of approximately 200 feet (61 m) and a centre at the point formed by UTM co-ordinates 19/2 51 370/45 50 810.

The application notes that in addition to Revolutionary War connections, the shipwreck is important for showing the British state-of-the-art copper sheathing of the ship as well as the possibility that it may reveal problems about corruption in the British shipyards at the time. The application notes:

Finally, the Culloden shipwreck site may provide material insight into the political conditions existent in the British Admiralty during this period. James [1926:7-18) has written describing the strength and organization of the Royal Navy at the end of the Seven Years' War (1755–1762) and its subsequent dissipation between 1771 and 1778 through mismanagement and corruption under Lord Sandwich's control of the Admiralty. Construction of the Culloden occurred during the period that Admiralty corruption was at its height. Therefore, the Culloden may reflect in material terms corrupt practices plaguing England's shipyards at the time. Construction shortcuts and the manufacturing of parts that do not meet specifications have long characterized the defense industry of all nations. The Culloden shipwreck site may provide data illustrating this activity.​

The Culloden-class ships of the line were a class of eight 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade. The Cullodens were the last class of 74 Slade designed before his death in 1771.

Ships

• HMS Culloden

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 30 November 1769
Launched: 18 May 1776
Fate: Wrecked, 1781

• HMS Thunderer

Builder: Wells, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 23 August 1781
Launched: 13 November 1783
Fate: Broken up, 1814

• HMS Venerable

Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 9 August 1781
Launched: 19 April 1784
Fate: Wrecked, 1804

• HMS Terrible

Builder: Wells, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 13 December 1781
Launched: 28 March 1785
Fate: Broken up, 1836

• HMS Victorious

Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 28 December 1781
Launched: 27 April 1785
Fate: Broken up, 1803

• HMS Ramillies

Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 19 June 1782
Launched: 12 July 1785
Fate: Broken up, 1850

• HMS Hannibal

Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 19 June 1782
Launched: 15 April 1786
Fate: Captured, 1801

• HMS Theseus

Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 11 July 1780
Launched: 25 September 1786
Fate: Broken up, 1814


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Culloden_(1776)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culloden-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-305581;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1790 - The mutineers of the HMS Bounty burned the ship while she was moored at Pitcairn Island.


HMS Bounty, also known as HM Armed Vessel Bounty, was a small merchant vessel that the Royal Navy purchased for a botanical mission. The ship was sent to the Pacific Ocean under the command of William Bligh to acquire breadfruit plants and transport them to British possessions in the West Indies. That mission was never completed due to a mutiny led by acting lieutenant Fletcher Christian. This incident is now popularly known as the mutiny on the Bounty. The mutineers later burned Bounty while she was moored at Pitcairn Island. An American adventurer rediscovered the remains of the Bounty in 1957; various parts of it have been salvaged since then.



Origin and description
Bounty was originally the collier Bethia, built in 1784 at the Blaydes shipyard in Hull, Yorkshire in England. The Royal Navy purchased her for £1,950 on 23 May 1787 (equivalent to £209,000 in 2016), refit, and renamed her Bounty. The ship was relatively small at 215 tons, but had three masts and was full-rigged. After conversion for the breadfruit expedition, she was equipped with four 4-pounder (1.8 kg) cannon and ten swivel guns.


Plan and section of the Bounty Armed Transport showing the manner of fitting and stowing the pots for receiving the bread-fruit plants, from William Bligh's 1792 account of the voyage and mutiny, entitled A Voyage to the South Sea, available from Project Gutenberg.

1787 breadfruit expedition
Main article: Mutiny on the Bounty
Preparations
The Royal Navy had purchased Bethia for a single mission in support of an experiment: the acquisition of breadfruit plants from Tahiti, and the transportation of those plants to the West Indies in the hope that they would grow well there and become a cheap source of food for slaves. Sir Joseph Banks had proposed the experiment and had recommended William Bligh as commander. Bligh in turn was promoted through a prize offered by the Royal Society of Arts.

In June 1787, the Bounty was refitted at Deptford. The great cabin was converted to house the potted breadfruit plants, and gratings were fitted to the upper deck. William Bligh was appointed Commanding Lieutenant of the Bounty on 16 August 1787 at the age of 33, after a career that included a tour as sailing master of James Cook's Resolution during Cook's third and final voyage (1776–80). The ship's complement was 46 men: a single commissioned officer (Bligh), 43 other Royal Navy personnel, and two civilian botanists.



Scale: 1:48. A modern exhibition model of His Majesty’s Armed Vessel ‘Bounty’ (1787). A highly detailed plank on frame and fully rigged model, it is complete with scale figures and shows the vessel moored alongside a quay. Originally built as the merchantman ‘Bethia’, it was purchased by the navy in 1787. Under the supervision of the eminent botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, it was converted for use to transport breadfruit trees from the East Indies to the West Indies thus providing a cheap source of food for plantation slaves. Measuring 91 feet overall, 85 feet along the lower deck by 24 feet in the beam, and of 220 tons burthen, the ‘Bounty’ was under the command of Lt. William Bligh and set sail from Spithead on 23 December 1787, eventually arriving at Tahiti on 26 October 1788. However, it is the mutiny that took place on board during April 1789 that this ship is famously known for. The mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, took over the ‘Bounty’ and cast Bligh and 18 of his crew adrift in the 23 foot launch. From May to September, Christian, now in command of the ‘Bounty’, searched for refuge in the South Seas, eventually finding Pitcairn Island on 15 January 1790.The ‘Bounty’ was being stripped when, to forestall any second thoughts and prevent discovery, Matthew Quintal set it on fire on 23rd. It burned to the waterline and sank in what became Bounty Bay, where its site is known and items have been retrieved since the 1930s.



Voyage out
On 23 December 1787, the Bounty sailed from Spithead for Tahiti. For a full month, the crew attempted to take the ship west, around South America's Cape Horn, but adverse weather prevented this. Bligh then proceeded east, rounding the southern tip of Africa (Cape Agulhas) and crossing the width of the Indian Ocean. During the outward voyage, Bligh demoted Sailing Master John Fryer, replacing him with Fletcher Christian. This act seriously damaged the relationship between Bligh and Fryer, and Fryer later claimed that Bligh's act was entirely personal.

Bligh is commonly portrayed as the epitome of abusive sailing captains, but this portrayal has recently come into dispute. Caroline Alexander points out in her 2003 book The Bounty that Bligh was relatively lenient compared with other British naval officers. Bligh enjoyed the patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, a wealthy botanist and influential figure in Britain at the time. That, together with his experience sailing with Cook, familiarity with navigation in the area, and local customs were probably important factors in his appointment.

The Bounty reached Tahiti on 26 October 1788, after ten months at sea.

Bligh and his crew spent five months in Tahiti, then called "Otaheite", collecting and preparing 1,015 breadfruit plants to be transported. Bligh allowed the crew to live ashore and care for the potted breadfruit plants, and they became socialized to the customs and culture of the Tahitians. Many of the seamen and some of the "young gentlemen" had themselves tattooed in native fashion. Master's Mate and Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian married Maimiti, a Tahitian woman. Others of the Bounty's warrant officers and seamen were also said to have formed "connections" with native women.

After five months in Tahiti, the Bounty set sail with her breadfruit cargo on 4 April 1789.

Mutiny and destruction of the ship


Mutineers turning Bligh and crew adrift, by Rober Dodd, 1790

Some 1,300 miles (2,100 km) west of Tahiti, near Tonga, mutiny broke out on 28 April 1789. Despite strong words and threats heard on both sides, the ship was taken bloodlessly and apparently without struggle by any of the loyalists except Bligh himself. Of the 42 men on board aside from Bligh and Christian, 22 joined Christian in mutiny, two were passive, and 18 remained loyal to Bligh.

The mutineers ordered Bligh, two midshipmen, the surgeon's mate (Ledward), and the ship's clerk into the ship's boat. Several more men voluntarily joined Bligh rather than remain aboard. Bligh and his men sailed the open boat 30 nautical miles (56 km) to Tofua in search of supplies, but were forced to flee after attacks by hostile natives resulted in the death of one of the men.

Bligh then undertook an arduous journey to the Dutch settlement of Coupang, located over 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) from Tofua. He safely landed there 47 days later, having lost no men during the voyage except the one killed on Tofua.

The mutineers sailed for the island of Tubuai, where they tried to settle. After three months of bloody conflict with the natives, however, they returned to Tahiti. Sixteen of the mutineers – including the four loyalists who had been unable to accompany Bligh – remained there, taking their chances that the Royal Navy would find them and bring them to justice.

HMS Pandora was sent out by the Admiralty in November 1790 in pursuit of the Bounty, to capture the mutineers and bring them back to England to face a court martial. She arrived in March 1791 and captured fourteen men within two weeks; they were locked away in a makeshift wooden prison on the Pandora's quarterdeck. The men called their cell "Pandora's box". They remained in their prison until 29 August 1791 when the Pandora was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef with the loss of 35 lives; four of them (Stewart, Sumner, Skinner and Hildebrand) were mutineers.

Immediately after setting the sixteen men ashore in Tahiti in September 1789, Fletcher Christian, eight other crewmen, six Tahitian men, and 11 women, one with a baby, set sail in the Bounty hoping to elude the Royal Navy. According to a journal kept by one of Christian's followers, the Tahitians were actually kidnapped when Christian set sail without warning them, the purpose of this being to acquire the women. The mutineers passed through the Fiji and Cook Islands, but feared that they would be found there.

Continuing their quest for a safe haven, on 15 January 1790 they rediscovered Pitcairn Island, which had been misplaced on the Royal Navy's charts. After the decision was made to settle on Pitcairn, livestock and other provisions were removed from the Bounty. To prevent the ship's detection, and anyone's possible escape, the ship was burned on 23 January 1790 in what is now called Bounty Bay.


Bounty Bay, where the Bounty was grounded and set alight

The mutineers remained undetected on Pitcairn until February 1808, when sole remaining mutineer John Adams and the surviving Tahitian women and their children were discovered by the Boston sealer Topaz, commanded by Captain Mayhew Folger of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Seventeen years later, in 1825, HMS Blossom, on a voyage of exploration under Captain Frederick William Beechey, arrived on Christmas Day off Pitcairn and spent 19 days there. Captain Beechey later recorded this in his 1831 published account of the voyage, as did one of his crew, John Bechervaise, in his 1839 Thirty-Six Years of a Seafaring Life by an Old Quarter Master. Beechey wrote a detailed account of the mutiny as recounted to him by the last survivor, Adams. Bechervaise, who described the life of the islanders, says he found the remains of the Bounty and took some pieces of wood from it which were turned into souvenirs such as snuff boxes.

Discovery of the wreck of the Bounty


Rudder in the Fiji Museum

Luis Marden discovered the remains of the Bounty in January 1957. After spotting remains of the rudder (which had been found in 1933 by Parkin Christian, and is still displayed in the Fiji Museum in Suva), he persuaded his editors and writers to let him dive off Pitcairn Island, where the rudder had been found. Despite the warnings of one islander – "Man, you gwen be dead as a hatchet!" – Marden dived for several days in the dangerous swells near the island, and found the remains of the ship: a rudder pin, nails, a ships boat oarlock, fittings and a Bounty anchor that he raised. He subsequently met with Marlon Brando to counsel him on his role as Fletcher Christian in the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty. Later in life, Marden wore cuff links made of nails from the Bounty. Marden also dived on the wreck of HMS Pandora and left a Bounty nail with Pandora.

Some of the Bounty's remains, such as the ballast stones, are still partially visible in the waters of Bounty Bay.

The last of Bounty's four 4-pounder cannon was recovered in 1998 by an archaeological team from James Cook University and was sent to the Queensland Museum in Townsville to be stabilised through lengthy conservation treatment, i.e. nearly 40 months of electrolysis. The gun was subsequently returned to Pitcairn Island where it has been placed on display in a new community hall.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bounty
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...9;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B;start=0

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1795 – After an extraordinary charge across the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of a battle between ships and cavalry.


The Capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder on the night of 23 January 1795 presents a rare occurrence of a "naval" battle between warships and cavalry, in which a French Revolutionary Hussar regiment surprised a Dutch Republican fleet frozen at anchor between the 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) stretch of sea that separates the mainland port of Den Helder and the island of Texel. After a charge across the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns. A capture of ships by horsemen is an extremely rare feat in military history.


Capture of the Dutch fleet by the French hussars

The French units were the 8th Hussar Regiment and the 15th Line Infantry Regiment of the French Revolutionary Army. Jean-Charles Pichegru was the leader of the French army that invaded the Dutch Republic. The Dutch fleet was commanded by captain Hermanus Reintjes. The actual capture was accomplished by Louis Joseph Lahure. The action happened during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars.



Background
Den Helder is at the tip of the North Holland peninsula, south of the island of Texel, by an inlet to what was then the shallow Zuiderzee bay (Southern Sea). The Zuiderzee has been closed off and partly pumped out in the 20th century, and what is left of it now forms the freshwater IJsselmeer.

In the fall of 1794, during the War of the First Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars, general Jean-Charles Pichegru commanded the French Army forces during the conquest of the Netherlands. The French entered Amsterdam on the 19 January 1795 to stay there over winter. Well informed, the general found out that a Dutch fleet was anchored at Den Helder, approximately eighty kilometers north from Amsterdam.

The winter of 1794–1795 was exceptionally cold, causing the Zuiderzee to freeze. Pichegru ordered General of Brigade Jan Willem de Winter to lead a squadron of the 8th Hussar. De Winter had been serving with the French since 1787, and would later command the Dutch fleet in the Battle of Camperdown.

Capture


The prize of the Dutch fleet, stopped by ice in the Texel sea in the winter of 1795, by Charles Louis Mozin

General de Winter arrived at Den Helder with his troops during the night of the 23 January 1795. The Dutch fleet was there as expected, trapped by ice. Each hussar carried an infantryman of the 15th Line Infantry Regiment on his horse. After a careful approach to avoid awakening the Dutch sailors (the hussars had covered the horses' hooves with fabric), Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Joseph Lahure launched the assault. The ice did not break, and the hussars and infantrymen were able to board the Dutch ships. The French captured the Dutch admiral and the vessels' crews; the French suffered no casualties.

Outcome
With the capture of 14 warships, 850 guns, and several merchant ships, the French conquest of the Netherlands was brought to an end. It is one of the few times in recorded military history wherein cavalry captured a fleet, José Antonio Páez's cavalry attack across the Apure River in 1818 is another example.



Prizes
The ships of the line, frigates, and corvettes received French crews in February 1795. France returned all her prizes to the Batavian Republic in May 1795 under the Treaty of The Hague; one of its provisions being an indemnity of ƒ100 million.

Ships of the line

• Admiraal De Ruyter – built 1776–1778; captured by British in 1799
• Gelderland – built 1781; captured by British in 1799
• Frederik Willem – built 1788; captured by British in 1797
• Princes Louisa – captured by the British in 1799
• Admiraal Piet Heyn – built 1774; sold to be broken up in 1799

Frigates

• Monnikendam – built in 1782; captured by the British 1797
• Argo – launched in 1791; captured by the British in 1796
• Alliantie – launched in 1788; captured by the British in 1795

Hulks

• Admiraal-Generaal – built in 1763–1764; sold 1795
• Amsterdam – built in 1763; sold 1795

Corvettes

• Enkhuizen – built in 1778–1780; broken up 1800
• Venus – built in 1768; captured by the British 1796
• Echo – built in 1789; wrecked and wreck sold 1796
• Dolphijn – completed in 1780; burnt or captured by British 1799
• Pallas – built in 1781; captured by the British 1797
• Zeepard – launched in 1782; wrecked or broken up 1805

Cutters

• Lynx – built in 1784; prize to HMS Circe October 1799
• Snelheid – built in 1782; captured by the British 1795
• Valk – built in 1770; captured 1799
• Twee – 8 guns

Subsequent events
In the Vlieter Incident on 30 August 1799, a squadron of the navy of the Batavian Republic under the command of Rear-Admiral Samuel Story surrendered to the British Royal Navy. The incident occurred during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. It took place in a tidal trench in the channel between Texel and the mainland that was known as De Vlieter, near Wieringen. Two of the vessels the British seized were Admiral de Ruyter and Gelderland.

Factual authenticity
The traditional narrative of French cavalry storming and capturing the ships at Den Helder is primarily based on French sources. Dutch historian Johannes Cornelis de Jonge states that the Dutch fleet had already received orders on 21 January to offer no resistance, based of documentary sources. Instead, a couple French hussars merely crossed the ice to negotiate a handover by the Dutch officers.

Captain Hermanus Reintjes, the Dutch commanding officer, stayed aboard the Admiraal Piet Heyn to await the arrival of general De Winter, who was scheduled to arrive in three days. De Winter subquently had the officers and crews of the ships pledge an oath that they would peacefully surrender — similar to the oath administered at the surrender of the fleet at Hellevoetsluis several days earlier. De Jonge states that the misconception stems from an 1819 publication by Swiss general Antoine-Henri Jomini, whose account was subsequently cited by French historians.

100 years before, but the view was similar

In the background, there is a port-broadside view of the Dutch fleet lying at anchor, which seems to lie facing the wind. In the foreground is a stern view of a boeier yacht. The work is inscribed with ‘den 12 meij 1665’. In ink, on the back of the drawing, it is inscribed, ‘Drawn on the Helder, our States fleet May 12 with a fresh gale’ [purportedly translating an illegible Dutch inscription]. The drawing has been signed by Van de Velde the Younger, ‘W.V.V.J’. This signature is probably genuine although it is likely to have been added years later.



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1798 - HMS Melampus (1785 - 36), Cptn. Graham Moore, captured French corvette Volage (1795 - 22), M. Desageneaux.


HMS Melampus was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes before the British sold her to the Dutch navy in 1815. With the Dutch she participated in a major action at Algiers, and then in a number of colonial punitive expeditions in the Dutch East Indies.


Detail from the painting by Bristol artist Chris Woodhouse of the 36-gun Bristol-built frigate HMS Melampus, commissioned and purchased in 1990 by Bristol City Museum



The action:
Melampus was in company with Seahorse when they captured the Belliqueux, off the Irish coast on 16 January 1798. She was originally a corvette, but was now a privateer. Belliqueuxwas pierced for 20 cannon but was armed with fourteen 8-pounder guns and four carronades, and had a crew of 120 men. She was out of St. Malo, and on 11 January had captured His Majesty's packet Prince Ernest, which had been sailing from Tortola. The captain of the packet and all but four of her crew were on board Belliqueux.

A few days later, on 23 January, Melampus captured the Volage, after a short, intense engagement. She was a corvette that the French navy had lent to merchants. She was armed with twenty 9-pounder guns and two 18-pounders, and had a crew of 195 men under the command of Citizen Delageneaux, a capitaine de frégate. In the engagement Melampus had two men mortally wounded and three men dangerously wounded; Volage had four men killed and eight wounded. Volage was three weeks out of Nantes, provisioned for a three-month cruise. By the time of her capture, Volage had herself only captured an American ship and destroyed an English brig sailing from Belfast to Lisbon with coal. The Captain and all the officers on Volage were officers in the French navy, but on a three-month leave.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Melampus_(1785)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=19396

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1807 - HMS Orpheus (1780 - 32), Cptn. Thomas Briggs, wrecked on a coral reef in the West Indies


HMS Orpheus was a 32–gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1780, and served for more than a quarter of a century, before she was wrecked in 1807.



American War of Independence
On 14 April 1781, Orpheus and HMS Roebuck captured the USS Confederacy off the Delaware. The Royal Navy briefly took her into service as HMS Confederate.[3]

French Revolutionary Wars
On 5 May 1794, Orpheus captured the French frigate Duguay Trouin, the former East Indiaman Princess Royal, which the French had captured on 27 September 1793.

On 22 June 1796 Orpheus was in the Straits of Banca, where she captured the Dutch brig Harlingen. The British took Harlingen into service as HMS Amboyna.

In August 1797 Orpheus was reported as being in Madras and Captain William Hill was appointed commander.

Napoleonic Wars
On 16 April 1806, Orpheus, Captain Thomas Briggs, was in company with the revenue cutter Badger. They shared in the proceeds of the capture of two merchant vessels, Vrou Fingina and Vyf Gesusters.

Fate
Orpheus, under the command of Captain Thomas Briggs, arrived off Jamaica from England in the evening of 22 January 1807. Being short of water, Briggs decided to try to sail her into Port Royal, rather than wait for a pilot. Around midnight Orpheus grounded on a reef that was not accurately marked on her charts. Efforts to lighten her failed and she took on water. When the water reached her main deck, the crew took to the boats, abandoning her.





Scale 1:32. Built at this slightly larger and unusual scale, the model is a fine example of the Georgian style of modelling, with a fully planked hull and partially planked decks. The hull is constructed 'bread-and-butter’ fashion, of wooden planks glued together horizontally and then shaped externally to fit templates taken from the building plans. The wooden core is then gouged out internally to produce a shell of about an inch thick, over which the planking, deck beams and decoration are applied. The model has been made to a high standard of workmanship and includes some fittings not always shown, such as the compass binnacle just forward of the wheel, shot racks between the guns, the hammock-netting stanchions and swivel guns on the ship's side.


Amazon (Thetis) class 32-gun fifth rates 1773-87; 18 ships, designed by John Williams.

• HMS Thetis 1773 - ran onto a rock and sank near Saint Lucia on 12 May 1781.
• HMS Amazon 1773 - broken up in 1794.
• HMS Ambuscade 1773 - taken by the French corvette Bayonnaise in 1798, retaken by HMS Victory in 1803, broken up 1810.
• HMS Cleopatra 1779 - broken up 1814.
• HMS Amphion 1780 - accidentally caught fire and blew up at Portsmouth on 22 September 1796.
• HMS Orpheus 1780 - wrecked on a coral reef in the West Indies on 23 January 1807.
• HMS Juno 1780 - broken up 1811.
• HMS Success 1781 - taken by the French in the Mediterranean on 13 February 1801, retaken seven month later by HMS Pomone on 2 September, converted to troopship in 1812, hulked as prison ship at Halifax in 1813, broken up in 1820.
• HMS Iphigenia 1780 - hulked as prison hospital ship at Plymouth in 1798, converted to troopship in 1801, accidentally burnt in the same year.
• HMS Andromache 1781 - broken up 1811.
• HMS Syren (or Siren) 1782 - hulked as lazaretto at Pembroke in 1805, broken up in 1822.
• HMS Iris 1783 - on lease to Trinity House between 1803 and 1805, hulked as receiving ship at Yarmouth in 1811, presented to the Marine Society as a training ship, broken up in 1833.
• HMS Greyhound 1783 - wrecked in the Philippines on 4 October 1808.
• HMS Meleager 1785 - wrecked on Triangle Bank in the Gulf of Mexico on 9 June 1801.
• HMS Castor 1785 - sold 1819.
• HMS Solebay 1785 - on lease to Trinity House from 1803 to 1806, wrecked in action with a Senegalese fort on 11 June 1809.
• HMS Terpsichore 1785 - hulked as receiving ship at Chatham in 1811, broken up 1813.
• HMS Blonde 1787 - hulked for stationary service at Portsmouth in 1803, sold 1805.

Scale: 1:48. A Georgian full hull model of a 38-gun frigate (1780). The model is decked. The name ‘Amazon’ has been associated with the model, but its dimensions do not suit any ship of that name. From the model the vessel measured 141 feet in length (lower deck) by 39 feet in the beam, displacing 940 tons, builders own measurement. It was armed with twenty eight 18-pounders on the upper deck and ten 9-pounders on the quarterdeck. This model represents a proposed design for a 38-gun frigate, probably of the ‘Minerva’ class (see SLR0317). The use of bone for the deadeyes, stanchions, steering wheel and small items of decoration was a feature of some official models of the late 18th century. G. W. French of Chatham made the model in about 1800 for Sir Evan Nepean (1751–1822), First Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795–1804. Frigates were fifth-or sixth-rate ships and so not expected to lie in the line of battle. With the advantage of superior sailing qualities over the larger ships of the line, they were used with the fleet for such tasks as lookout or, in battle, as repeating ships to fly the admiral’s signals. They also cruised independently in search of privateers.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Orpheus_(1780)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=amazon_class;start=0

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1814 - Batlle of Maio
HMS Astrea (36) and HMS Creole (36) engaged Etoile and Sultane off the island of Maio.


What happened before:
On 18 January 1814 - HMS Severn (40), Cptn. Joseph Nourse, escorting a convoy engaged French frigates Etoile (40), Cptn. Pierre-Henri Phillibert, and Sultane (40), Cptn. Georges Du-Petit-Thouars.

https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/...ime-events-in-history.2104/page-95#post-51178


Battle of Maio
The French squadron then sailed southwest, arriving at Maio in the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands on 22 January. The squadron anchored at Porto Inglês, and was discovered there at 09:55 the following morning by a British frigate squadron of the 36-gun ships HMS Astrea under Captain George Charles Mackenzie and HMS Creole under Captain John Eveleigh. The British ships were en route to Porto Inglês from Fuerteventura and first spied the French ships, with two small prizes, at anchor from across a promontory, assuming them to be Spanish or Portuguese ships. When the French failed to respond to the coded signals however the British captains realised that the strangers must be enemy vessels and resolved to attack them where they were anchored.



At 12:00 the French ships sailed for the open sea southeast along the coast of Maio, pursued by the British. Astrea suffered in the high winds, losing several topsails which impeded her speed. With Creole in the lead, the British ships succeeded in cutting ahead of the French by 12:45, Eveleigh firing his bow guns ahead of the French and exchanging broadsides with Sultane at 13:00. As Creole and Sultane engaged one another, Mackenzie took his repaired ship through the gap between them, exchanging two broadsides at close range with Sultane and advancing on Etoile which had pulled ahead of the combat. Astraea's intervention was timely, allowing Eveleigh to extinguish a small fire which had broken out in his rigging before Creolere joined the combat at 14:30. Another fire broke out almost immediately, and although it was extinguished Astraea was badly damaged by fire from Sultane. Deciding that his ship could no longer effectively compete against the French warship, Mackenzie withdrew from combat, retreating towards the island of Santiago.

Astrea reached Etoile at 14:30, exchanging broadsides before raking the starboard bow of Philibert's ship. In the course of the manoeuvre, Astrea's helmsman lost control of the ship, and Philibert seized the opportunity to steer Etoile across the stern of Astrea. Pouring raking fire into the British ship from point blank range, Philibert inflicted severe damage to Astrea's quarterdeck, tearing away fittings and detonating a loaded carronade. Eveleigh desperately pulled his ship back alongside Etoile, but in doing so was struck in the chest and killed by pistol fire from the deck of Etoile. Lieutenant John Bulford assumed command, continuing to fight Philibert at close range. By 15:05 however it was clear that there was no prospect of victory: Creole could be seen retreating from the battle while Sultane was rapidly approaching the combat, threatening to overwhelm the stricken frigate even as a fire broke out on the main topsail. The fire was soon extinguished, and Bulford contemplated an attempt to board Etoile but was thwarted by rough seas. At 15:30 Sultane raked Astrea before pulling away, Du Petit-Thouars considering that Philibert needed no assistance against the damaged British frigate.

At 16:15 the mizenmast of Astrea, on fire once more, crashed over the side, leaving Bulford's ship unmaneuverable. Apparently content with reducing the British ship to a crippled state, Philibert withdrew Etoile to the southwest, joining Sultane, which was struggling with a collapsed main topmast. Thus reprieved, Bulford followed Creole towards Santiago, both British ships arriving soon afterwards in the port of Praia. British losses were heavy, Creole losing ten killed and 26 wounded while Astrea lost nine killed, including Captain Eveleigh, and 37 wounded. Both ships were badly damaged and Astrea was subsequently considered to have been lucky not to have been captured: William James wrote that Astrea was "in a state not less of surprise than of joy at her extraordinary escape".


Etoile and Sultane, although the ostensible victors in the engagement, were both badly damaged themselves, with all masts suffering severely from the British bombardment and combined casualties of between 20–40 killed and 30–60 wounded. The damage to the masts was serious, as the frigates were thousands of miles from a friendly port and unable to effect any but the most basic repairs. Sultane in particular needed substantial temporary repairs and was forced to erect jury masts as the damage was too severe for regular service. Unable to continue their cruise, the frigates turned north towards Europe.


HMS Astraea (frequently spelled HMS Astrea) was a Royal Navy 36-gun fifth rate Apollo-class frigate, launched- in 1810 at Northam. She participated in the Battle of Tamatave and in an inconclusive single-ship action with the French frigate Etoile. Astrea was broken up in 1851.





Indian Ocean
Astraea's first deployment was to the Cape of Good Hope under Captain Charles Marsh Schomberg. Shortly after his arrival, Schomberg was ordered to join the squadron of Captain Philip Beaver on the newly captured Mauritius. When Beaver sailed for the Seychelles in March 1811, the command of the naval forces on the island devolved to Schomberg.

On 6 May 1811, a French squadron of frigates under the command of Commodore François Roquebert in Renommée approached Grand Port, not realizing that Isle de France (now Mauritius) had fallen to the British. A squadron under James Hillyar chased them off. They also escaped an encounter with squadron under Captain Schomberg.

Schomberg took command of Hillyar's squadron and pursued the French to Tamatave on Madagascar. Between 7 and 9 May the frigates Galatea and Phoebe, under James Hillyar, and the brig-sloop Racehorse, sighted the French 40-gun frigates Renommée, Clorinde and Néréide off the Isle de France, whilst Astraea was lying in Port Louis.


Battle of Tamatave (Action of 20 May 1811)

On 14 May Astraea, Phoebe, Galatea, and Racehorse sailed from Port Louis for Tamatave, Madagascar and arrived on 20 May. The British squadron sighted the French squadron and made chase. A severe engagement, the Battle of Tamatave, ensued. During the battle, Renommée and Clorinde badly battered Galatea, with the result that she lost 16 men killed and 46 wounded - the largest number of casualties of any vessel in the squadron. Astraea too was heavily engaged and the British captured Renommée. Roquebert had sacrificed his flagship and ultimately his life to allow the frigates Clorinde and the badly damaged Néréide to escape. Astrea lost two men killed and 16 men wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Off Tamatave 20 May 1811" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Five days later, Schomberg's squadron rediscovered Néréide at Tamatave. The British persuaded the town's commander to surrender the town and Néréide without any further fight. The British took Néréide as Madagascar. The battle was the last action of the Mauritius campaign.

On 19 September she and Racehorse captured the French slaver brig Eclair.

After Beaver died in April 1813, Schomberg moved to Beaver's flagship, HMS Nisus. Captain John Eveleigh then took command of Astraea.

Astrea vs. Etoile
Main article: Battle of Maio
In early 1814 Astrea was in company with Creole, which was under the command of Captain George Charles Mackenzie, who was Eveleigh's senior. The two frigates sailed for the Cape Verde Islands; they reached Maio early on 23 January 1814.

Off the Cape Verde Islands they encountered two frigates and two merchant ships, one a brigantine and the other a schooner, all at anchor. The French frigates did not respond to the Portuguese and Spanish flags that the British set and instead set sail as the British frigates approached; the British frigates then pursued them. Astrea had problems with her sails so Creole pulled ahead. She exchanged some shots and eventually four broadsides with the rearmost French frigate, which would turn out to be Sultane. Astraea then sailed between Creole and her opponent, coming alongside the French frigate. Two broadsides from Astrea then temporarily silenced the French frigate as fires aboard Creole took her out of the action for a while. She re-engaged Sultane, but then disengaged and sailed towards Santiago.

Astraea went ahead in pursuit of the first French frigate, which turned out to be the Etoile. Astraea exchanged a broadside and then crossed Etoile's bow and raked her. At this moment a shot took away Astraea's wheel and killed both quartermasters, causing Astraea to lose direction and momentum. Now the situation reversed, with French guns nearly touching Astraea's taffrail. She received broadsides that tore away her lower rigging, scarred her deck and destroyed one of her carronades. However, she suffered no damage forward. Astrea was able to get starboard to starboard with her opponent. The two vessels exchanged broadsides at close range for two hours until Etoile sailed off. During the engagement a pistol shot hit Eveleigh below the heart, mortally wounding him. Sultane came up and also exchanged a broadside with Astrea. Astrea, much damaged, broke off the engagement as the two French frigates too sailed away. Creole had suffered ten men dead and 26 wounded; Astrea lost nine men dead and 37 wounded.

That evening the two British ships anchored in Porto Praya on Santiago to effect repairs. (Hebrus later captured Etoile.[6]) Command of Astraea passed to Captain William Black.

On 6 June, Astrea and Creole were in company when they captured the Spanish slave ship Gestruydis la Preciosa, and her cargo of slaves. At this time Astrea was under the command of Captain Benjamin Askley.

Fate
Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Astraea spent seven years in ordinary. In 1823 the Navy converted her into hospital ship, in which state she remained until she was broken up in 1851.




The Apollo-class sailing frigates were a series of twenty-seven ships that the British Admiralty commissioned be built to a 1798 design by Sir William Rule. Twenty-five served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, two being launched too late.



Of the 25 ships that served during the Napoleonic Wars, only one was lost to enemy action. Of the entire class of 27 ships, only two were lost to wrecking, and none to foundering.

The Admiralty ordered three frigates in 1798–1800. Following the Peace of Amiens, it ordered a further twenty-four sister-ships to the same design between 1803 and 1812. The last was ordered to a fresh 38-gun design. Initially, the Admiralty split the order for the 24 vessels equally between its yards and commercial yards, but two commercial yards failed to perform and the Admiralty transferred these orders to its own dockyards, making the split 14–10 as between the Admiralty and commercial yards.

Apollo class, 27 ships, 36-gun fifth rates 1799–1819, designed by William Rule.

• HMS Apollo 1799
• HMS Blanche 1800
• HMS Euryalus 1803
• HMS Semiramis 1808
• HMS Owen Glendower 1808
• HMS Curacoa 1809
• HMS Saldanha 1809
• HMS Malacca 1809
• HMS Orpheus 1809
• HMS Theban 1809
• HMS Leda 1809
• HMS Manilla 1809
• HMS Belvidera 1809
• HMS Hotspur 1810
• HMS Astraea 1810
• HMS Galatea 1810
• HMS Havannah 1811
• HMS Maidstone 1811
• HMS Stag 1812
• HMS Magicienne 1812
• HMS Barrosa 1812
• HMS Dartmouth 1813
• HMS Creole 1813
• HMS Tartar 1814
• HMS Brilliant 1814
• HMS Pallas 1816
• HMS Blonde 1819 - completed to fresh 46-gun design

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jobourg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Astraea_(1810)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...5;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E;start=0

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1904 – Ålesund Fire
Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, burnt down 850 houses, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. German Kaiser Wilhelm II dispatched four ships loaded with personnel, food, medicine, materials for shelters, and equipment. He funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.


The Ålesund fire happened in the Norwegian city of Ålesund on 23 January 1904. It destroyed almost the whole city centre, built mostly of wood like the majority of Norwegian towns at the time


Ålesund in 1900 before the fire. The view is from the east looking west as seen from the local mountain Aksla. The bulk of the island Aspøya can be seen in the foreground; the near channel is demarked by the harbor to the right. The fire began on the island, near the last buildings on the island in the upper left. Note that a west wind would push the fire toward the more densely built up areas. The fire was finally controlled at a point to the left, behind the point from which this picture was taken; most of the buildings seen here were destroyed.

Fire
The fire started around 2 AM on the island of Aspøya, in the Aalesund Preserving Co.’s factory, which was located where Lower Strand Street 39 (Nedre Strandgate 39) is located today. It is actually stated that the fire started because a cow kicked a torch. In spite of valiant роforts at suppression, the wind-driven fire destroyed much of the town. The fire burned to a point just west of what today is called Brusdalshagen, going at least as far as Borgundvegen 39. The last and easternmost house which burned stood where Borgundvegen 37 stands today. In total, the fire destroyed nearly 850 houses, leaving approximately 230 houses remaining within the town borders. There was only one fatality from the fire.

Initial alarm
At 2:15 AM on Saturday, 23 January 1904, the initial alarm was received from a manual pull station. Shortly afterwards the fire watchtower observed an open fire in the lower part of the Strandgate. Almost simultaneously another manual pull station signal alarm was received from the Kråsbys area. Two fire crews were dispatched immediately.

Initial response
Although fire crews responded immediately the sky brightened rapidly in the direction of the Aalesund Preserving Co.’s factory. The weather was unfavorable; a strong gale blew out of the southwest. When the fire engines proceeded through the lower part of the Strandgate to the fire, they encountered heavy smoke and a rain of sparks, such that the horses panicked and had to be blindfolded and led to the fire.

When the fire engines arrived on the scene, they found the Aalesund Preserving Co. engulfed in flames and the nearest neighbouring buildings also burning. The two nearest buildings were in flames and before the crew could begin fighting these fires, two more were burning as well.

The storm blew so strongly that people had difficulty standing. The draft caused buildings to burn vehemently generating both radiant heat and windblown sparks which spread the fire. Soon a house on the north side of Stradgate was ignited; a ladder was erected and fire hoses were directed at the fire, but the firefighters were ineffective in slowing the rapidly spreading fire.



Evacuation
The fire started late and spread quickly, leading to a hurried evacuation of people at very short notice into the cold January night. As the fire spread it became clear there was little local shelter to be had and the population of over 10,000 was forced to seek shelter elsewhere. A fortunate few were able to flee by boat. The old and the sick were loaded on wagons and carts, but most fled on foot with only what they could carry.

Most fled along Volsdalsvegen (today named Borgundvegen), proceeding to Volsdalen and Nørve. Others took the path on the north side of Aksla, which also led to safety Volsdalen. The regional governor Alexander Kielland, reported that over two hundred people spent the night after the fire in Borgund church.

Only one person was known to die. That was an old lady who went back into her house to get her purse.


Kaiser Wilhelm II and Germany 1890–1914 Head and shoulders portrait of the Kaiser by Court Photographer T. H. Voigt of Frankfurt, 1902.

Reconstruction
Liberal aid was provided to Ålesund both from within Norway and from abroad. Kaiser Wilhelm II had been a frequent visitor to the area and expressed a personal concern for the plight of the population. As a result, much of the international help was from Germany, sent in Kaiser Wilhelm’s name. His first telegram was received while the fire was still being extinguished.

Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany had often been on vacation to Sunnmøre. After the fire, he sent four warships with materials to build temporary shelters and barracks. After a period of planning, the town was rebuilt in stone, brick, and mortar in Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), the architectural style of the time. The structures were designed by approximately 20 master builders and 30 Norwegian architects, most of them educated in Trondheim and Charlottenburg, Berlin, drawing inspiration from all over Europe. To honor Wilhelm, one of the most frequented streets of the town is named after him.

The town has an unusually consistent architecture, most of the buildings having been built between 1904 and 1907. Jugendstilsenteret is a national interpretation centre, visitors can learn more about the town fire, the rebuilding of the town and the Art Nouveau style. Ålesund is a partner in the Art nouveau network, a European network of co-operation created in 1999 for the study, safeguards and development of the Art nouveau.
Modern historians have concluded that the fire was actually positive in terms of city development. The pre-fire city centre was extremely crowded, consisting mostly of old and cramped wood housing with only rudimentary sanitary facilities.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ålesund_fire
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadtbrand_von_Ålesund
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ålesund
https://www.alesund.kommune.no/fakta-om-alesund/new-in-alesund

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.


RMS Republic was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and lost at sea in a collision in 1909 while sailing for the White Star Line. The ship was equipped with a new Marconi wireless telegraphy transmitter, and issued a CQD distress call, resulting in the saving of around 1,500 lives. Known as the "Millionaires' Ship" because of the number of wealthy Americans who traveled by her, she was described as a "palatial liner" and was the flagship of White Star Line's Boston service. This was the first important marine rescue made possible by radio, and brought worldwide attention to this new technology.



History
White Star acquisition
The ship was originally built in Belfast, Ireland for the International Mercantile Marine's Dominion Line (a sister company to the White Star Line) and was named Columbus. She was launchedon 26 February 1903 and made her maiden voyage in October 1903 from Liverpool to Boston.[2] After two voyages with the Dominion Line, Columbus, along with three other Dominion liners; New England, Commonwealth and Mayflower were sold to the White Star Line for use on their new service between Liverpool and Boston. Columbus was renamed Republic, the second ship under White Star livery to hold the name (White Star's original Republic of 1872 had been sold to the Holland America Line in 1889 and renamed Maasdam), while her three fellow former Dominion liners were renamed Romanic, Canopic and Cretic respectively.



Career
Republic made her first crossing under White Star from Liverpool to Boston on 17 December 1903, arriving in Boston 27 December. In January 1903, she made her first crossing from Boston to the Mediterranean via Gibraltar, making calls at Sao Miguel in the Azores, followed by the Italian ports of Naples and Genoa, and ending at Alexandria, a voyage which often took up to three weeks to complete one-way.

In November 1904, she inaugurated White Star's Mediterranean-New York service. White Star intended this route for two purposes; first, they sought to establish a market for cruising opportunities for wealthy American passengers, as her spacious and luxurious accommodations in first and second class attracted scores of wealthy vacationers, thus earning her the nickname "The Millionaire's Ship". Second, and more predominantly on her westbound crossings, White Star sought to tap into the massive Italian immigrant trade. Republic, with a third class capacity of 2,000, proved to be immensely profitable on this route, as when she sailed for the United States on any given trip, third class was often booked to capacity, and sometimes beyond. A vast majority of Italian immigrants who sailed by White Star boarded Republic and the other ships at Naples, along with smaller groups of Greeks, Austrians, Slavs, Turks and Syrians. White Star's placement of Sao Miguel on their Mediterranean services opened them up to traffic from Portuguese immigrants as well.

Over the next four years, Republic spent the winter and spring months running on White Star's Mediterranean-New York service alongside the Cretic, while during the summer and fall months she sailed on the Liverpool-Boston route together with Cymric and Arabic.

Collision with SS Florida
In early morning of 23 January 1909, while sailing from New York City to Gibraltar and Mediterranean ports with 742 passengers and crew and Captain Inman Sealby (1862–1942) in command, Republic entered a thick fog off the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Amongst the passengers were plenty of illustrious people such as Mrs. Sophie Mansfield Curtis, wife of George Munson Curtis (treasurer of the International Silver Company), Mrs. Mary Harriman Severance, wife of Cordenio A. Severance, Professor John M. Coulter with wife and children, General Brayton Ives, St. Louis millionaire Samuel Cupples, historian Alice Morse Earle, and Mildred Montague, Countess Pasolini. Travelling in first class were also Mr. Leonard L. McMurray, who, in 1915, would survive the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania, and Mrs. Bessie Armstead Davis, daughter-in-law of senator Henry G. Davis of West Virginia with two children.


This picture of SS Florida was taken by Martin & Ottaway, a New Jersey marine consulting firm, after Floridacollided with Republic. Florida survived the collision and was repaired in 24 days.

Taking standard precautions and maintaining her speed, the steamer regularly signaled her presence in the outbound shipping traffic lane by whistle. At 5:47 a.m., another whistle was heard and Republic's engines were ordered to full reverse, and the helm put "hard-a-port". Out of the fog, the Lloyd Italiano liner SS Florida appeared and hit Republic amidships on her portside, at about a right angle. Two passengers asleep in their cabins on Republic were killed when Florida's bow sliced into her, including liquor wholesale manager Eugene Lynch's wife Mary and banker W. J. Mooney. Eugene Lynch was critically injured and died as a result of his injuries at Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, 26 January. On Florida, three crewmen were also killed when the bow was crushed back to a collision bulkhead. Six people died in total.

The engine and boiler rooms on Republic began to flood, and the ship listed. Captain Sealby led the crew in calmly organizing the passengers on deck for evacuation. Republic was equipped with the new Marconi wireless telegraph system, and became the first ship in history to issue a CQD distress signal, sent by John R. Binns. Florida came about to rescue Republic's complement, and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service cutter Gresham responded to the distress signal as well. Passengers were distributed between the two ships, with Florida taking the bulk of them, but with 900 Italian immigrants already on board, this left the ship dangerously overloaded.

The White Star liner Baltic, commanded by Captain J. B. Ranson, also responded to the CQD call, but due to the persistent fog, it was not until the evening that Baltic was able to locate the drifting Republic. Once on-scene, the rescued passengers were transferred from Gresham and Florida to Baltic. Because of the damage to Florida, that ship's immigrant passengers were also transferred to Baltic, but a riot nearly broke out when they had to wait until first-class Republic passengers were transferred. Once everyone was on board, Baltic sailed for New York.

At the time of Republic's sinking, ocean liners were not required to have a full capacity of lifeboats for their passengers, officers and crew. It was believed that on the busy North Atlantic route, assistance from at least one ship would be ever-present and that lifeboats would be needed only to ferry all aboard to their rescue vessels and back until everyone was safely evacuated. That scenario, unlike during the RMS Titanic sinking, played out flawlessly during the ship's sinking, and the six people who died were lost in the collision, not the sinking itself.


Republic sinking by the stern after being hit by the Lloyd Italiano liner Florida.

Captain Sealby and a skeleton crew remained on board Republic to make an effort to save her. Crewmen from the Gresham tried using collision mats to stem the flooding but to no avail. By this time the steamers New York and Lucania (from Cunard) had also arrived and waited while a futile attempt was made by Gresham to take Republic under tow. On 24 January, Republic sank stern first at 15,378 tons, she was the largest ship to have sunk until then. All the remaining crew were evacuated before she sank.

Rumoured cargo
There are many rumours that Republic was carrying gold and/or other valuables when she went down. One rumour is that she was carrying gold worth $250,000 in American gold coins to be used as payroll for the US Navy's Great White Fleet

Rediscovery
The wreck of Republic was found by Captain Martin Bayerle in 1981. She lies upright approximately 50 miles (80 km) south of Nantucket Island at 40°26′0″N 69°46′0″W in approximately 270 feet (82 m) of water.







https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Republic_(1903)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQD
http://www.rms-republic.com/exec_sum_pub.html
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Republic_(Schiff,_1903)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1945 – World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.


Operation Hannibal was a German naval operation involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from Courland, East Prussia, and the Polish Corridor from mid-January to May 1945 as the Red Army advanced during the East Prussian and East Pomeranian Offensives and subsidiary operations.

The Soviet East Prussian Offensive by the Red Army's 3rd Belarusian Front under General Ivan Chernyakhovsky commenced on January 13, 1945 and, with Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front, subsequently cut off East Prussia between January 23 and February 10, 1945. German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz ordered General Admiral Oskar Kummetz, as Naval High Commander, Baltic, and Rear Admiral Konrad Engelhardt, head of the Kriegsmarine's shipping department, to plan and execute the Rettungsaktion (evacuation operation). Dönitz radioed a message to Gdynia in occupied Poland on January 23, 1945, to begin evacuations to ports outside of the Soviet area of operations. The operation was codenamed Hannibal. Dönitz stated in his post-war memoirs that his aim had been to evacuate as many people as possible away from the Soviets.

Right up until his suicide, Adolf Hitler insisted that the war go on. The flood of military personnel and German civilians eventually turned the operation into one of the largest evacuations by sea in history. Over a period of 15 weeks, somewhere between 494 and 1,080 merchant vessels of all types, including fishing boats and other craft, and utilizing Germany's largest remaining naval units, carried between 800,000 and 900,000 German civilians and 350,000 soldiers across the Baltic Sea to Germany and German-occupied Denmark. This was more than three times the number of people evacuated in the nine-day operation at Dunkirk.


Evacuation boats crossing the Baltic Sea

Operations
Operations commenced on January 23, 1945. On January 30, Wilhelm Gustloff, Hansa, and the whaling factory ship Walter Rau left the harbor at Gdynia in occupied Poland, bound for Kiel. Hansa was forced to return to port with mechanical trouble, but the Gustloff, with more than 10,000 civilians and military personnel aboard, continued. She was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13 off the Pomeranian coast, with possibly as many as 9,500 fatalities. Those on Walter Rau eventually made it to Eckernförde.



On February 9, Steuben sailed from Pillau with between 3,000 and 4,000 mostly military personnel on board, heading for Swinemünde. She was also sunk by S-13, just after midnight; only 300 survived.

In early March, a task force composed of the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer accompanied by three destroyers and the Elbing-class torpedo boat T36 were giving cover to a German bridgehead near Wollin. During that operation, naval small craft evacuated over 75,000 soldiers and civilians who had been isolated in that area. They were taken to larger warships and other transports lying offshore. While a number of these transports were sunk, large liners such as Deutschland got through and carried up to 11,000 soldiers and civilians each.

During the night of April 4–5, a flotilla of small boats and landing craft evacuated over 30,000 soldiers and civilians from Oxhöfter Kämpe and took them to Hela. It is estimated that nearly 265,000 people were evacuated from Danzig (modern Gdańsk) to Hela during the month of April alone.

On April 15, another large convoy consisting of four liners and other transports left Hela with over 20,000 soldiers and civilians. On April 16, the Goya was torpedoed and sunk by L-3, with the loss of over 6,000 lives; 183 survived.


Evacuees arriving at a western harbor, already occupied by British troops

Initially, on his becoming Reich President on May 1, Karl Dönitz was determined to continue the war, going so far as to instruct Colonel General Carl Hilpert that combat troops would have priority in evacuation to Germany from the Courland Pocket. It wasn't until the afternoon of May 6, with British troops practically on his doorstep, that he gave up on that plan.

From May 1 to May 8, over 150,000 people were evacuated from the beaches of Hela. At 21:00 on May 8, 1945, the last day of the war, a convoy consisting of 92 large and small vessels left the Latviancity of Liepāja (German: Libau) with 18,000 soldiers and civilians.[8] While several hundred of those who had boarded small ships on the last day of the war or after were captured by Soviet MTBs, evacuations to the west continued for at least a week after all such movements were prohibited by the terms of the German surrender.

Shortages
Shortages plagued the Operation with food and medicine being seen as primary issues for the Nazi administration, causing a trend of elderly and very young children to die on board the rescue ships.[5]Other shortages included only a three-week supply of coal remaining for the sea transport tasks and only a ten-day supply for rail transports to move troops to the front, with fuel being at its lowest levels since the war began.

Losses
In addition to the Goya, Wilhelm Gustloff, and General von Steuben, 158 other merchant vessels were lost during the 15-week course of Operation Hannibal (January 23 – May 8, 1945).


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.


Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe, which with its crew of two reached a record maximum depth of about 10,911 metres (35,797 ft), in the deepest known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam in the Pacific. On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard (son of the boat's designer Auguste Piccard) and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh achieved the goal of Project Nekton.

Trieste was the first manned vessel to have reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep.



Design
Trieste consisted of a float chamber filled with gasoline (petrol) for buoyancy, with a separate pressure sphere to hold the crew. This configuration (dubbed a "bathyscaphe" by the Piccards), allowed for a free dive, rather than the previous bathysphere designs in which a sphere was lowered to depth and raised again to the surface by a cable attached to a ship.


General arrangement drawing, showing the main features

Trieste was designed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard and originally built in Italy. His pressure sphere, composed of two sections, was built by the company Acciaierie Terni. The upper part was manufactured by the company Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, in the Free Territory of Trieste (on the border between Italy and Yugoslavia, now in Italy); hence the name chosen for the bathyscaphe. The installation of the pressure sphere was done in the Cantiere navale di Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples. Trieste was launched on 26 August 1953 into the Mediterranean Sea near the Isle of Capri. The design was based on previous experience with the bathyscaphe FNRS-2. Trieste was operated by the French Navy. After several years of operation in the Mediterranean Sea, the Trieste was purchased by the United States Navy in 1958 for $250,000 (equivalent to $2.2 million today).

At the time of Project Nekton, Trieste was more than 15 m (50 ft) long. The majority of this was a series of floats filled with 85,000 litres (22,000 US gal) of gasoline, and water ballast tanks were included at either end of the vessel, as well as releasable iron ballast in two conical hoppers along the bottom, fore and aft of the crew sphere. The crew occupied the 2.16 m (7.09 ft) pressure sphere, attached to the underside of the float and accessed from the deck of the vessel by a vertical shaft that penetrated the float and continued down to the sphere hatch.

The pressure sphere provided just enough room for two people. It provided completely independent life support, with a closed-circuit rebreather system similar to that used in modern spacecraft and spacesuits: oxygen was provided from pressure cylinders, and carbon dioxide was scrubbed from breathing air by being passed through canisters of soda-lime. Power was provided by batteries.


Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard aboard Trieste

Trieste was subsequently fitted with a new pressure sphere, manufactured by the Krupp Steel Works of Essen, Germany, in three finely-machined sections (an equatorial ring and two caps).

To withstand the enormous pressure of 1.25 metric tons per cm2 (110 MPa) at the bottom of Challenger Deep, the sphere's walls were 12.7 centimetres (5.0 in) thick (it was overdesigned to withstand considerably more than the rated pressure). The sphere weighed 14.25 metric tons (31,400 pounds) in air and eight metric tons (18,000 pounds) in water (giving it an average specific gravity of 13/(13−8) = 2.6 times that of sea water). The float was necessary because of the sphere's density: it was not possible to design a sphere large enough to hold a person that could withstand the necessary pressures, yet also have metal walls thin enough for the sphere to be neutrally buoyant. Gasoline was chosen as the float fluid because it is less dense than water, and also less compressible, thus retaining its buoyant properties and negating the need for thick, heavy walls for the float chamber.


Close-up of pressure sphere, with forward ballast silo at left

Observation of the sea outside the craft was conducted directly by eye, via a single, very tapered, cone-shaped block of acrylic glass (Plexiglas), the only transparent substance identified which would withstand the external pressure. Outside illumination for the craft was provided by quartz arc-light bulbs, which proved to be able to withstand the over 1,000 standard atmospheres (15,000 pounds per square inch) (100 MPa) of pressure without any modification.

Nine metric tons (20,000 pounds) of magnetic iron pellets were placed on the craft as ballast, both to speed the descent and allow ascent, since the extreme water pressures would not have permitted compressed air ballast-expulsion tanks to be used at great depths. This additional weight was held in place at the throats of two hopper-like ballast silos by electromagnets, so in case of an electrical failure the bathyscaphe would automatically rise to the surface.

Transported to the Naval Electronics Laboratory's facility in San Diego, California, Trieste was modified extensively by the Americans, and then used in a series of deep-submergence tests in the Pacific Ocean during the next few years, culminating in the dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep during January 1960.[2]


23 January 1960: Trieste just before the record dive. The destroyer escort USS Lewis is in the background.

The Mariana Trench dives
Trieste departed San Diego on 5 October 1959 for Guam aboard the freighter Santa Maria to participate in Project Nekton, a series of very deep dives in the Mariana Trench.

On 23 January 1960, she reached the ocean floor in the Challenger Deep (the deepest southern part of the Mariana Trench), carrying Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh. This was the first time a vessel, manned or unmanned, had reached the deepest known point of the Earth's oceans. The onboard systems indicated a depth of 11,521 metres (37,799 ft), although this was revised later to 10,916 metres (35,814 ft); fairly recently, more accurate measurements have found Challenger Deep to be between 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) and 10,994 metres (36,070 ft) deep.

The descent to the ocean floor took 4 hours 47 minutes at a descent rate of 0.9 metres per second (3.2 km/h; 2.0 mph). After passing 9,000 metres (30,000 ft), one of the outer Plexiglas window panes cracked, shaking the entire vessel. The two men spent barely twenty minutes on the ocean floor. The temperature in the cabin was 7 °C (45 °F) at the time. While at maximum depth, Piccard and Walsh unexpectedly regained the ability to communicate with the support ship, USS Wandank (ATA-204), using a sonar/hydrophone voice communications system. At a speed of almost 1.6 km/s (1 mi/s) – about five times the speed of sound in air – it took about seven seconds for a voice message to travel from the craft to the support ship and another seven seconds for answers to return.

While at the bottom, Piccard and Walsh reported observing a number of small sole and flounder (both flatfish). The accuracy of this observation has later been questioned and recent authorities do not recognize it as valid. The theoretical maximum depth for fish is at about 8,000–8,500 m (26,200–27,900 ft), beyond which they would become hyperosmotic. Invertebrates such as sea cucumbers, some of which potentially could be mistaken for flatfish, have been confirmed at depths of 10,000 m (33,000 ft) and more. Walsh later said that their original observation could be mistaken as their knowledge of biology was limited. Piccard and Walsh noted that the floor of the Challenger Deep consisted of "diatomaceous ooze". The ascent took 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Other deep dives by Trieste
Beginning in April 1963, Trieste was modified and used in the Atlantic Ocean to search for the missing nuclear submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593). Trieste was delivered to Boston Harbor by USS Point Defiance (LSD-31) under the command of Captain H. H. Haisten. In August 1963, Trieste found the wreck off the coast of New England, 2,600 m (8,400 ft) below the surface. Trieste was changed, improved and redesigned so many times that almost no original parts remain. It was transported to the Washington Navy Yard where it was exhibited along with the Krupp pressure sphere in the National Museum of the U.S. Navy at the Washington Navy Yard in 1980. Its original Terni pressure sphere was incorporated into the Trieste II.


The Trieste at the National Museum of the United States Navy


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1961 – The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by opponents of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar is overthrown.


The Santa Maria hijacking was carried out on 22 January 1961 when Portuguese and Spanish political rebels seized control of a Portuguese passenger ship, aiming to force political change in Portugal. The action was also known as Operation Dulcinea, the code name given by its chief architect and leader, Portuguese military officer, writer and politician Henrique Galvão, who had been exiled in Caracas, Venezuela since 1959. After United States naval intervention, the ship arrived in Brazil, and the hijacking ended on 2 February when the rebels were given political asylum there

The ship
Owned by the Lisbon-based Companhia Colonial de Navegação, the 609-foot-long (186 m) 20,900-ton ship was the second largest ship in the Portuguese merchant navy at the time, and along with her sister ship, Vera Cruz was among the most luxurious Portuguese-flag liners.

The ship was primarily used for colonial trade to the Portuguese overseas provinces of Angola and Mozambique, in Africa, and migrant transportation to Brazil. The ship's mid-Atlantic service was also viewed as rather out of the ordinary: Lisbon to Madeira, to Tenerife, to La Guaira, to Curaçao, to Havana (later San Juan), and lastly Port Everglades. The average trade for this gray-hulled ship was mostly migrants to Venezuela and the general passenger traffic.



Hijacking
On 22 January 1961, the ship had 600 passengers and 300 crew members. Among the passengers were men, women, children, and 24 Iberian leftists led by Henrique Galvão.

Henrique Galvão was a Portuguese military officer and political opponent of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, the head of the Estado Novo regime. Galvão had carefully planned the hijacking in Caracas with the intention of waging war until Salazar was overthrown in Portugal and the overseas territories were subsequently offered independence. He planned on using the hijacking as a way to bring attention to the Estado Novo in Portugal and the related fascistregime in Francoist Spain.

The rebels had boarded the ship in La Guaira (Venezuela) and in Willemstad (Curaçao), disguised as passengers, bringing aboard suitcases that had secret compartments to hide their weapons. In the early hours of 22 January, rebels, along with Henrique Galvao, seized the ship and shut down all communication. One officer (3rd Pilot Nascimento Costa) was killed and several others wounded in the process of taking control of the ship. The rebels forced Captain Mário Simões Maia and his crew to divert the ship eastwards. The next day they called at Saint Lucia, then a British possession, to drop off some injured crewmen in a launch. Speaking only Portuguese, the sailors were unable to successfully communicate what had happened to their ship until after it had left.

The whereabouts of the ship remained unknown for several days, until an extensive air and sea search by the Americans, British, and Dutch discovered her and established communication in mid-Atlantic. Subsequently, a United States Navy fleet, including four destroyers and USS Hermitage, which carried a detachment of Marines from "G" Company, 2nd Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina) under the overall command of Rear Admiral Allen E. Smith. The force cut short Galvão's plans, when they surrounded Santa Maria some 50 miles (80 km) off Recife, Brazil. The following day, Admiral Smith left his flagship, USS Gearing, and proceeded via launch to Santa Maria to begin negotiations with Galvão.

Because of an anticipated change of presidency in Brazil (the incoming President [[J�nio Quadros]] being more sympathetic to Galvão's political interests), it was not until the next day that Santa Maria, surrounded by United States naval vessels, entered the harbor of Recife. There, on 2 February, Galvão and his 24 activists surrendered Santa Maria, 600 passengers and crew of 300 to Brazilian authorities in exchange for political asylum.

Galvão later announced that his intention had been to sail to Angola, to set up a rebel Portuguese government in opposition to Salazar.

Legacy
Henrique Galvão wrote his account of the hijacking as A Minha Cruzada Pró-Portugal. Santa Maria (São Paulo, Livraria Martins, 1961), translated as Santa Maria: my crusade for Portugal (Cleveland OH, World Publishing/London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1961).

The story of the hijacking was told in the 2010 Portuguese feature film Assalto ao Santa Maria.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_hijacking
http://solantamity.com/Solant/SantaMaria.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 January 1968 - USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is seized by North Korean forces in Sea of Japan. The crew is released on Dec. 23, 1968.


USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is a Banner-class environmental research ship, attached to Navy intelligence as a spy ship, which was attacked and captured by North Korean forces on 23 January 1968, in what is known today as the "Pueblo incident" or alternatively, as the "Pueblo crisis".

The seizure of the U.S. Navy ship and her 83 crew members, one of whom was killed in the attack, came less than a week after President Lyndon B. Johnson's State of the Union address to the United States Congress, a week before the start of the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and three days after 31 men of North Korea's KPA Unit 124 had crossed the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and killed 26 South Koreans in an attempt to attack the South Korean Blue House (executive mansion) in the capital Seoul. The taking of Pueblo and the abuse and torture of her crew during the subsequent 11-month prisoner drama became a major Cold War incident, raising tensions between the western powers, and the Soviet Union and China.


Pueblo in North Korea, 2012

North Korea stated that Pueblo deliberately entered their territorial waters 7.6 nautical miles (14 km) away from Ryo Island, and that the logbook shows that they intruded several times. However, the United States maintains that the vessel was in international waters at the time of the incident and that any purported evidence supplied by North Korea to support its statements was fabricated.

Pueblo, still held by North Korea today, officially remains a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy. Since early 2013, the ship has been moored along the Potong River in Pyongyang, and used there as a museum ship at the Pyongyang Victorious War Museum. Pueblo is the only ship of the U.S. Navy still on the commissioned roster currently being held captive

Pueblo incident
On 5 January 1968, Pueblo left U.S. Navy base Yokosuka, Japan, in transit to the U.S. naval base at Sasebo, Japan; from there she left on 11 January 1968, headed northward through the Tsushima Strait into the Sea of Japan. She left with specific orders to intercept and conduct surveillance of Soviet Navy activity in the Tsushima Strait and to gather signal and electronic intelligence from North Korea. The declassified SIGAD for the National Security Agency (NSA) Direct Support Unit (DSU) from the Naval Security Group (NSG) on Pueblo during the patrol involved in the incident was USN-467Y. AGER (Auxiliary General Environmental Research) denoted a joint Naval and National Security Agency (NSA) program.

On 16 January 1968, Pueblo arrived at the 42°N parallel, in preparation for the patrol. The patrol area was to transit down the North Korean coast from 41°N to 39°N, then to transit back, with the objective of not getting closer than 13 nautical miles to the North Korean coast, and at night moving out to a distance of 18 to 20 nautical miles. This was challenging as only two sailors had good navigational experience, with the captain later reporting "I did not have a highly professional group of seamen to do my navigational chores for me".


U.S. Army Cargo Vessel FP-344(1944). Transferred to the Navy in 1966, she became USS Pueblo(AGER-2)

At 17:30 on 20 January 1968, a North Korean modified SO-1 class Soviet style submarine chaser passed within 4,000 yards (3.7 km) of Pueblo, which was about 15.4 nautical miles (28.5 km) southeast of Mayang-do at a position 39°47'N and 128°28.5'E.[8] In the afternoon of 22 January 1968, the two North Korean fishing trawlers Rice Paddy 1 and Rice Paddy 2 passed within 30 yards (27 m) of Pueblo. That day, a North Korean unit made an assassination attempt in the "Blue House" executive mansion against the South Korean President Park Chung-hee, but the crew of Pueblo were not informed.

According to the American account, the following day, 23 January, Pueblo was approached by a submarine chaser and her nationality was challenged; Pueblo responded by raising the U.S. flag. The North Korean vessel then ordered Pueblo to stand down or be fired upon. Pueblo attempted to maneuver away, but was considerably slower than the submarine chaser. Several warning shots were fired. Additionally, three torpedo boats appeared on the horizon and then joined in the chase and subsequent attack.

The attackers were soon joined by two MiG-21 fighters. A fourth torpedo boat and a second submarine chaser appeared on the horizon a short time later. The ammunition on Pueblo was stored belowdecks, and her machine guns were wrapped in cold weather tarpaulins. The machine guns were unmanned, and no attempt was made to man them. An NSA report quotes the sailing order:

( ... ) Defensive armament (machine guns) should be stowed or covered in such manner so that it does not cause unusual interest by surveyed units. It should be used only in the event of a threat to survival ( ... )​

and notes

In practice, it was discovered that, because of the temperamental adjustments of the firing mechanisms, the .50-caliber machine guns took at least ten minutes to activate. Only one crew member, with former army experience, had ever had any experience with such weapons, although members of the crew had received rudimentary instructions on the weapons immediately prior to the ship's deployment.​

Chart showing the 17 locations North Korea reported Pueblo had entered their 12 nautical mile territorial waters


Positions of Pueblo reported by the US Navy

U.S. Navy authorities and the crew of Pueblo insist that before the capture, Pueblo was miles outside North Korean territorial waters. North Korea says the vessel was well within North Korean territory. The mission statement allowed her to approach within a nautical mile (1,852 m) of that limit. North Korea, however, describes a 50-nautical-mile (93 km) sea boundary even though international standards were 12 nautical miles (22 km) at the time.

The North Korean vessels attempted to board Pueblo, but she was maneuvered to prevent this for over two hours. A submarine chaser then opened fire with a 57 mm cannon, killing one member of the crew. The smaller vessels fired machine guns into Pueblo, which then signaled compliance and began destroying sensitive material. The volume of material on board was so great that it was impossible to destroy it all. An NSA report quotes Lieutenant Steve Harris, the officer in charge of Pueblo's Naval Security Group Command detachment:

( ... ) we had retained on board the obsolete publications and had all good intentions of getting rid of these things but had not done so at the time we had started the mission. I wanted to get the place organized eventually and we had excessive numbers of copies on board ( ... )​

and concludes

Only a small percentage of the total classified material aboard the ship was destroyed.​

Radio contact between Pueblo and the Naval Security Group in Kamiseya, Japan, had been ongoing during the incident. As a result, Seventh Fleet command was fully aware of Pueblo's situation. Air cover was promised but never arrived. The Fifth Air Force had no aircraft on strip alert, and estimated a two to three-hour delay in launching aircraft. USS Enterprise was located 510 nautical miles (940 km) south of Pueblo, yet her four F-4B aircraft on alert were not equipped for an air-to-surface engagement. Enterprise's captain estimated that 1.5 hours (90 minutes) were required to get the converted aircraft into the air.


The U.S. Navy signal intelligence gatering ship USS Pueblo (AGER-2) off San Diego, California (USA), on 19 October 1967.

Pueblo followed the North Korean vessels as ordered, but then stopped immediately outside North Korean waters. She was again fired upon, and a sailor, fireman Duane Hodges, was killed. The ship was finally boarded at 05:55 UTC (2:55 pm local) by men from a torpedo boat and a submarine chaser. Crew members had their hands tied and were blindfolded, beaten, and prodded with bayonets. Once Pueblo was in North Korean territorial waters, she was boarded again, this time by high-ranking North Korean officials.

The first official confirmation that the ship was in North Korean hands came five days later, 28 January 1968. Two days earlier a flight by a CIA A-12 Oxcart aircraft from the Project Black Shield squadron at Kadena, Okinawa flown by pilot Ronald Layton made three high altitude high speed flights over North Korea. When the aircraft's films were processed in the United States they showed Pueblo to be in the Wonsan harbor area surrounded by two North Korean vessels.

There was dissent among government officials in the United States, regarding how to handle the situation. Congressman Mendel Rivers suggested that President Johnson issue an ultimatum for the return of Pueblo on penalty of nuclear attack, while Senator Gale McGee said the United States should wait for more information and not make "spasmodic response to aggravating incidents". According to Horace Busby, Special Assistant to President Johnson, the president's "reaction to the hostage taking was to work very hard here to keep down any demands for retaliation or any other attacks upon North Koreans", worried that rhetoric might result in the hostages being killed.


North Korean Propaganda Photograph of prisoners of USS Pueblo. Photo and explanation from the Time article that blew the Hawaiian Good Luck Sign secret. The sailors were flipping the middle finger, as a way to covertly protest their captivity in North Korea, and the propaganda on their treatment and guilt. The North Koreans for months photographed them without knowing the real meaning of flipping the middle finger, while the sailors explained that the sign meant good luck in Hawaii.

The day following the incident on Wednesday 24 January 1968, following extensive cabinet meetings Washington decided upon that their initial response should be to:

• • Deploy air and naval forces to the immediate area.
  • Make reconnaissance flights over the location of the Pueblo.
  • Call up military reserves and extending terms of military service.
  • Protest the incident within framework of the United Nations
  • President Johnson should personally cable Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin.

The Johnson administration also considered a blockade of North Korean ports, air strikes on military targets, and an attack across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

Although American officials at the time assumed the seizure of Pueblo had been directed by the Soviet Union, it has emerged in recent years that North Korea acted alone and the incident actually harmed North Korea's relations with most of the Eastern Bloc.


Crew of USS Pueblo upon release on 23 December 1968


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 23 January


1793 - HMS Providence, Cptn. William Bligh, and HMS Assistant arrive St Vincent, West Indies, on 2nd breadfruit voyage.

Second breadfruit voyage
After his exoneration by the court-martial inquiry into the loss of Bounty, Bligh remained in the Royal Navy. From 1791 to 1793, as master and commander of HMS Providence and in company with HMS Assistant under the command of Nathaniel Portlock, he undertook again to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. He also transported plants provided by Hugh Ronalds, a nurseryman in Brentford. The operation was generally successful, and breadfruit is a popular food in Puerto Rico; however, its immediate objective, which was to provide a cheap and nutritious food for the African slaves in the West Indies islands around the Caribbean Sea was not made, as most slaves refused to eat the new food. During this voyage, Bligh also collected samples of the ackee fruit of Jamaica, introducing it to the Royal Society in Britain upon his return. The ackee's scientific name Blighia sapida in binomial nomenclature was given in honour of Bligh.

HMS Providence was a sloop of the Royal Navy, famous for being commanded by William Bligh on his second breadfruit voyage between 1791 and 1794.
The Admiralty purchased Providence on the stocks from Perry & Co, Blackwall Yard in February 1791. She was launched on 23 April 1791 and commissioned under Bligh that month. She was coppered at Woolwich for the sum of £1,267, and then again at Deptford for £3,981.

Assistant was a brig of 110 tons burden, armed with four 4-pounders and eight swivel guns, and carrying a complement of twenty-seven.
She accompanied HMS Providence (1791) as tender on William Bligh's second breadfruit expedition from August 1791 to August 1793. Her commander was Lieutenant Nathaniel Portlock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bligh#Second_breadfruit_voyage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Providence_(1791)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Assistant


1801 The company of HMS Active (38), in a Spanish prize, captured Sta. Maria.

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].


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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Active_(1799)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-289168;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A


1807 HMS Felix Schooner (14), Lt. Robert William Clarke (2), wrecked in St. Andero Bay, near Santander.

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=4239


1833 – Death of Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (b. 1757)

Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother Israel Pellew also pursued a naval career.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Pellew,_1st_Viscount_Exmouth


1854 - The sloop of war USS Germantown captures the slaver R.P. Brown off Porto Praya.

USS Germantown was a United States Navy sloop-of-war in commission for various periods between 1847 and 1860. She saw service in the Mexican–American War in 1847–1848 and during peacetime operated in the Caribbean, in the Atlantic Ocean off Africa and South America, and in East Asia. Scuttled at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, she was captured and refloated by the Confederate States of America and placed in service with the Confederate States Navy as the floating battery CSS Germantown before again being scuttled in 1862.


Model of the sloop USS Germantown. Property of The Germantown Historical Society, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Germantown_(1846)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86299.htm


1943 - Submarine USS Guardfish (SS 217) sinks the Japanese destroyer Hakaze off New Ireland.

USS Guardfish (SS-217), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the guardfish.
Guardfish was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut. She was launched there on 20 January 1942 (sponsored by Mrs. Edward J. Marquart), and commissioned at New London, Conn., 8 May 1942, Lt. Comdr. Thomas B. Klakring in command.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Guardfish_(SS-217)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 January 1709 – Death of George Rooke, English admiral and politician (b. 1650)


Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke (1650 – 24 January 1709) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and again at the Battle of Schooneveld during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. As a captain, he conveyed Prince William of Orange to England and took part in the Battle of Bantry Bay during the Williamite War in Ireland.



As a flag officer, Rooke commanded a division of the Royal Navy during their defeat at the Battle of Beachy Head. He also commanded a division at the Battle of Barfleur and distinguished himself at the Battle of La Hogue. He was later defeated while escorting a convoy at the Battle of Lagos.


The Battle of Barfleur at which Rooke commanded the vanguard division of the rear squadron

Rooke commanded the unsuccessful allied expedition against Cádiz but on the passage home he destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet at the Battle of Vigo Bay in the opening stages of the War of the Spanish Succession. He also commanded the allied naval forces at the capture of Gibraltar and attacked the French fleet at the Battle of Málaga.


The Battle of Vigo Bay at which Rooke captured the Spanish treasure fleet

Years of service 1672–1705
Rank Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held
HMS Holmes
HMS Nonsuch
HMS Hampshire
HMS St David
HMS Deptford
Mediterranean Fleet
Battles/wars
Third Anglo-Dutch War
Nine Years' War
Great Northern War
War of the Spanish Succession



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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 January 1761 - HMS Richmond (32), Cptn. Elphinstone, destroyed Felicite (32), Cptn. Donell (Killed in Action), off Flanders.


HMS Richmond was the name ship of the six-vessel, 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served throughout the American Revolutionary War until the French 74-gun Bourgogne and the frigate Aigrette captured her on 11 September 1781 in the Chesapeake. She then served as Richemont.



Fate
The French burned her at Sardinia on 19 May 1793 to prevent the Spanish from capturing her.





Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of a ‘Richmond’-class 32-gun frigate (circa 1757), built in the Georgian style. The model is decked. Taken from the model, the vessel measured 129 feet along the gun deck by 34 feet in the beam, displacing 660 tons burden. It was armed with twenty-six 12-pounders on the upper deck, four 6-pounders on the quarterdeck and two 6-pounders on the forecastle. This type of vessel, an early ‘true frigate’, is similar to SLR0496. Although not identified with a particular ship, the dimensions represented are very close to those of the ‘Tweed’ (1759), but that ship probably had a round bow. A noticeable feature is the new style of figurehead. The familiar lion, which had been the standard form of bow decoration for smaller warships since about 1600, began to disappear after about 1750. It was commonly replaced by a human figure in classical dress. Frigates were fifth- or sixth-rate ships and so not expected to lie in the line of battle. With the advantage of superior sailing qualities over the larger ships of the line, they were used with the fleet for such tasks as lookout or, in battle, as repeating ships to fly the admiral’s signals. They also cruised independently in search of privateers.


The Richmond-class frigates were 32-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1756 by the Navy's Surveyor, William Bately, and were his equivalent of the Southampton-class frigates designed by Bately's co-Surveyor, Thomas Slade. They were faster ships than the Southamptons, and were weatherly craft, remaining dry even in high seas. Three ships were ordered to this design between 1756 and 1757, while a second batch of three ships was ordered between 1761 and 1762 to a slightly modified design.


Lines & Profile (ZAZ3075) of Thames


Deck (ZAZ2940)


Ships in class
First batch

• Richmond
  • Ordered: 12 March 1756
  • Built by: John Buxton, Deptford.
  • Keel laid: April 1756
  • Launched: 12 November 1757
  • Completed: 7 December 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt at Sardinia to avoid capture on 19 May 1793.
• Juno
  • Ordered: 1 June 1756
  • Built by: William Alexander, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: June 1756
  • Launched: 29 September 1757
  • Completed: 6 November 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt at Rhode Island to avoid capture on 5 August 1778.
• Thames
  • Ordered: 11 January 1757
  • Built by: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard.
  • Keel laid: February 1757
  • Launched: 10 April 1758
  • Completed: 29 May 1758 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Woolwich Dockyard in September 1803.

Second (modified) batch

• Lark
  • Ordered: 24 March 1761
  • Built by: Elias Bird, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 5 May 1761
  • Launched: 10 May 1762
  • Completed: 9 July 1762 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt at Rhode Island to avoid capture on 5 August 1778.
• Boston
  • Ordered: 24 March 1761
  • Built by: Robert Inwood, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 5 May 1761
  • Launched: 11 May 1762
  • Completed: 16 July 1762 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Plymouth Dockyard in May 1811.
• Jason
  • Ordered: 30 January 1762
  • Built by: Robert Batson, Limehouse.
  • Keel laid: 1 April 1762
  • Launched: 13 June 1763
  • Completed: 19 September 1765 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold at Chatham Dockyard on 10 February 1785.

Scale model of the Vestale (sistership of Felicite) on display at the Musée de la Marine in Toulon


Félicité, (launched 1756 at Le Havre) – captured and burnt by British Navy 24 January 1761 with 100 casualties,

Blonde class, (32-gun design by Jean-Joseph Ginoux, with 26 x 8-pounder and 6 x 4-pounder guns).

• Blonde, (launched 23 August 1755 at Le Havre) – captured by British Navy 28 February 1760, becoming HMS Blonde.
• Brune, (launched 7 September 1755 at Le Havre) – captured by British Navy 30 January 1761, becoming HMS Brune.
• Aigrette, (launched 1756 at Le Havre) – condemned at Brest 1789.
• Vestale, (launched March 1756 at Le Havre) – captured by British Navy 8 January 1761, becoming HMS Flora, scuttled at Rhode Island to prevent capture by the Americans in 1778, an attempt to burn her failed and so she was refloated by the US; after the War of Independence she was either presented to or repurchased by the French in 1784, renamed Flore Americaine, fitted as a privateer in 1793, taken by HMS Phaeton (1782) in 1798, not recommissioned.
• Félicité, (launched 1756 at Le Havre) – captured and burnt by British Navy 24 January 1761.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Richmond_(1757)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Richmond_(1757
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=11121

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 January 1761 - HMS Minerva (32), Cptn. Alexander Hood, took french Warwick (34), M. la Verger de Belair, 30 leagues west of Cape Pinas


HMS Minerva was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1759 and served through the Seven Years' War, but was captured in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War and served as the French Minerve until being recaptured in 1781 and renamed HMS Recovery. She was broken up in 1784.



Service history
The frigate was built at Rotherhithe between 1756 and 1759 and was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Minerva during the Seven Years' War. Under the command of Captain Alexander Hood, she took part in the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759. In mid-1761 prize money was paid to the crews of ships taking part in the battle, and also to the crews of Intrepidand Minerva, for the capture of the St. Simon.


Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the quarter deck, forecastle, upper deck, lower deck, and fore & aft platforms for Minerva (1759), a 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate as taken off/fitted at Sheerness Dockyard. Signed by Edward Hunt [Master Shipwright, Sheerness Dockyard, 1767-1772].

At daybreak on 24 January 1761 Minerva, still under the command of Captain Hood, encountered a large two-decker ship about 90 nautical miles north-west of Cabo de Peñas in northern Spain. Minerva gave chase and finally caught her at 10.20 a.m. During a brisk engagement lasting no more than 40 minutes the enemy ship lost her main and fore top-mast, while soon after Minerva lost her bowsprit and fore-mast. Both ships were obliged to break off the action to clear the wreckage, but Minerva was ready to resume the fight first and closed with the enemy again at 4 p.m., forcing her to strike her colours after an hour. She proved to be the French ship Warwick (formerly HMS Warwick, captured in 1756), a 60-gun ship, but armed with only 34 guns, under the command M. le Vegerde Belair. She had sailed from Rochfort on 20 January, bound for the Isle de France (now Mauritius) loaded with provisions, ammunition, and stores, and also transporting a detachment of 74 soldiers and six other passengers. Warwick had 14 killed and 32 wounded, while aboard Minerve 14 were killed, and 34 wounded, three of whom later died.

On 15 February 1762 at the Downs, prize money was paid to the crews of Minerva and Edgar, for the capture of the French privateer Ecureuil and the recapture of the brig Elizabeth. Prize money for the Warwick was paid from 19 July 1762 at Portsmouth.

During the American Revolutionary War Minerva was part of the West Indies Squadron under Admiral Peter Parker. On 14 August 1778 she captured the American 50-ton schooner Fanny off Hispaniola, sailing from Connecticut with a cargo of timber.

On 22 August 1778, Minerva, under the command of Captain John Stott, and unaware that France had declared war on Britain met the French 32-gun frigate Concorde, under Capitaine de Tilly. Stott, mistaking her for a harmless merchantman, approached to speak to her, but Concorde fired two broadsides into her before Minerva could reply. The British were caught off guard, and suffered further misfortune when a powder explosion under the half-deck dismounted three guns, and killed or wounded eighteen men. Captain Stott was also severely wounded in the head and was carried below. After two and a half hours, Minerva surrendered, her mizzen-mast having gone overboard and her other masts tottering, her wheel destroyed, and having lost her Captain and First Lieutenant.

She was commissioned into the French Navy as Minerve, and commanded by Nicolas Henri de Grimouard. On 4 January 1781 the 74s HMS Courageux and Valiant recaptured her; the Royal Navy recommissioned her under the name HMS Recovery, as another HMS Minerva had been commissioned after she was lost. She was laid up in 1783 and sold the following year.


The Southampton-class frigates were 32-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade, and were the first 'true' fifth-rate frigates produced to the new single-deck concept (that is, without any gunports on the lower deck). They were, however, designed with sweep ports (for rowing) along the lower deck.

Unlike the contemporary sixth-rate frigates of 28 guns, which were derived from French designs by Slade, the Southampton class were fully British-designed. Unlike the French models, these ships had considerably more height on the lower deck, and were originally intended to work their cables here.

A total of four ships were built in oak during the Seven Years’ War, all ordered from private shipyards. The initial design was approved on 12 March 1756, and provided for a ship of 648 37/94 tons burthen, and the contract with Robert Inwood to build the prototype reflected this. On 25 May the design was modified by Slade to lengthen the ship on the lower deck by 3 inches, and along the keel by 10½ inches, thus raising the tonnage to 652 51/94 burthen; on the same date, the name Southampton was approved for the prototype, and two further ships were ordered to be built to this design, with a fourth vessel being ordered one week later.


HMS Warwick was a 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1719 Establishment at Plymouth by P. Lock. The keel was laid down on 1 April 1730, and the ship was launched on 25 October 1733, and completed on 24 August 1734.



Service history
Warwick was commissioned under the command of Captain Edmund Brooke. She proved to be an inferior design; top-heavy and with a tendency to heel over in strong winds. In 1735 she was with the fleet of Admiral John Norris in the Tagus. In October 1736 she returned to England and was paid off.

She was recommissioned in June 1739 under the command of Captain John Toller, and served with Admiral Nicholas Haddock's fleet in the Mediterranean. Command had passed to Captain Temple West by 1743, under whom she was present at the Battle of Toulon on 11 February 1744.

She was recommissioned in January 1746 under the command of Captain Robert Erskine.[2] On 14 July 1747, Warwick was off the Azores in company with the 40-gun Lark, Captain John Crookshanks, when she encountered the Spanish 74 Glorioso, sailing from the Spanish Main with 3 million dollars in treasure. Warwick attacked but, left unsupported, was beaten to a standstill, and the Glorioso escaped. Crookshanks, who was the senior officer, was cashiered.

In 1748, under the command of Captain Thomas Innes, Warwick was part of the squadron under Sir Charles Knowles in the Caribbean, and took part on the attacks on Fort Saint Louis de Sud and Santiago de Cuba in March and April, and in the Battle of Havana on 12 October 1748.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with some decoration detail, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Warwick (1733), a 1719 Establishment 60-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. Signed by Peirson Lock [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1726-1742]

Capture by France
She was recommissioned in March 1755 under the command of Captain Molyneux Shuldham and sailed for the Leeward Islands.[2]On 21 December 1755 Warwick was detached by Commodore Thomas Frankland to cruise in the neighbourhood of Martinique. At daybreak on 11 March 1756, three French ships were sighted, and Warwick attempted to escape. The ships were the 74-gun Prudent, Captain d'Aubigny, and frigates Atalante and Zéphyr. In the heavy seas Warwick was unable to bring her lower deck guns into action, and also her crew had been depleted by illness, with less than 300 from her crew of 400 fit. Atalante (34), Captain Du Chaffault, came up on her quarter, and kept up a steady fire, cutting up her rigging. The Prudent then also drew in close and opened fire. Shuldham ordered his guns to fire on the larger ship, firing at Atalante with small-arms only. After half an hour, in a hopeless position, Warwick surrendered. Shuldham was held as a prisoner of war for two years. On his return to England he was court-martialled for the loss of his ship, but found to have "done his duty."

Recapture by Great Britain
On 20 January 1761 Warwick sailed from Rochefort, mounting only 34 guns, and loaded with provisions, ammunition, stores, and a detachment of troops bound for the Isle de France (now Mauritius). On the 24th she was recaptured by HMS Minerva, under the command of Captain Alexander Hood, in the Bay of Biscay.[7] She proved unfit for further service and was broken up later that year.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Minerva_(1759)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warwick_(1733)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 + 25 January 1794 - Action at Sunda Strait


The Sunda Strait campaign of January 1794 was a series of manoeuvres and naval actions fought between warships and privateers of the French Republic and a squadron of vessels sent by the British East India Company to protect trade in the region, later augmented by Dutch warships. The campaign developed as French forces based on Île de France reacted more quickly than the British forces in the Indian Ocean to the expansion of the French Revolutionary Wars on 1 February 1793. French privateers rapidly spread along the British trade routes in the Far East, becoming concentrated around the narrow Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. These ships were soon joined by French Navy frigates and began to inflict losses on shipping in the region. The Royal Navy forces in the Indian Ocean were deployed elsewhere and so the East India Company, the private enterprise that ruled much of British India in the 1790s and maintained their own fleet and navy, raised a squadron of armed merchant ships to patrol the Strait and drive off the raiders.

The arrival of this British force on 2 January 1794 was initially a success, the squadron over-running and capturing two large and well-armed privateers on 22 January, not long after the French vessels had been beaten off during an attack on the British trading post at Bencoolen. On 24 January an action against a larger French squadron was fought in the Strait itself, but ended inconclusively and the squadrons divided, the British receiving the Dutch frigate Amazone as reinforcements. The French subsequently turned southwards out of the Strait and attacked Bencoolen again on 9 February, capturing an East Indiaman in the harbour before returning to Île de France with their prize.



Background
On 1 February 1793, the French Republic declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, extending the already existing French Revolutionary Wars. It took several months for news of the outbreak of war to reach British India, messages arriving at Calcutta from Consul George Baldwin at Alexandria on 11 June. The Royal Navy commander in the region, Commodore William Cornwallis, immediately set about demanding the surrender of the French trading posts in India. Most fell within a few days, but the major port of Pondicherry refused, and was besieged from 1 August. The siege lasted a month before the French commander capitulated under bombardment from British land and naval forces. With the French presence eliminated from India, Cornwallis was ordered to return to Europe, leaving minimal naval forces in the Indian Ocean.

The Indian Ocean formed a vital part of Britain's trade links with the wider British Empire. India was controlled by the East India Company, a commercial organisation that maintained its own army and navy in Indian waters and owned a fleet of large merchant ships known as East Indiamen. These vessels ranged in size between 400 and 1500 tons burthen (bm), carried up to 30 cannons and were capable in certain conditions of fighting warships, although a frigate was usually more than a match for an individual East Indiaman. These ships sailed on an annual route from China, the East Indies or India carrying trade goods such as spices, tea or silk to Britain. There the goods were sold, and replaced with general cargo including military equipment and troops for the journey back to the Indian Ocean.

One of the most vital parts of the Indian trade route was through the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java in the Dutch East Indies, through which most of the China and East Indies trade passed on its journey to the Indian Ocean. French ships, both Navy warships and commercially owned privateers, operated along the Indian trade routes from their base at the isolated island of Île de France and recognised the strategic importance of the Sunda Straits. As soon as news of war arrived at Île de France French ships spread out into the Indian Ocean in search of British and Dutch merchant shipping, gathering in significant numbers off the Sunda Straits.

On 27 September 1793 French cruisers achieved their first major victory when three privateers mounting more than 20 guns each attacked the East Indiaman Princess Royal, under Captain James Horncastle, off Anjier (or Anjere or Anger) Point in the Sunda Strait. Although Horncastle resisted, the privateers outgunned him and eventually forced him to strike.


Cybèle and Prudente fighting HMS Centurion and HMS Diomede during the Battle of Île Ronde on 22 October 1794

East India Company deployment
With the Royal Navy unable to provide forces to protect trade in the East Indies, the East India Company authorities in India decided to form a squadron from their own ships to patrol the region. Two East Indiamen, William Pitt and Britannia, and the country ship Nonsuch, were diverted from their regular route for the service, accompanied by the brig Nautilus (or possibly Viper), and under the overall command of Commodore Charles Mitchell, captain of William Pitt.[6] On 2 January 1794 this force passed Singapore and entered the Malacca Strait, sailing eastwards in search of French raiders. As the British squadron travelled along the northern coast of Sumatra, two French privateers attacked the East India Company's trading post at Bencoolen on the southern coast. The privateers were the 30-gun Vengeur under Captain Corosin and the 26-gun Résolue under Captain Jallineaux, and on 17 January they approached the mouth of Rat Island Basin close to Bencoolen where the 32-gun East Indiaman Pigot lay at anchor. Pigot, under Captain George Ballantyne, had a crew of 102 men, but was completely unprepared for action. At 08:15 Vengeur opened fire at 150 yards (137 m), maintaining the battle for an hour and 45 minutes before hauling off so that Résolu could continue the combat. Ballantyne defended his vessel intelligently, positioning Pigot so that the French could only approach one at a time through the narrow mouth of the bay. This allowed him to drive off each ship in turn, the privateers falling back together at 10:20 with damaged rigging.[8] Pigot too had suffered, with one man killed and sufficient damage to the rigging to require several weeks of repairs. After immediate repairs had been completed, Corosin abandoned Bencoolen and retreated to the Sunda Strait in search of weaker targets.

Early on 22 January, Mitchell's squadron, reinforced by the East Indiaman Houghton, stopped a merchant ship for inspection and as the ship was searched two new sails appeared to the southwest near Shown Rock in the Zuften Islands. Suspicious of the identity of the new arrivals, Mitchell sent Britannia and Nonsuch in pursuit and the ships turned away. As the East Indiamen closed with the fleeing ships, they were identified as Vengeur and Résolu. The British vessels soon outran the French and the French opened fire to which the larger British vessels responded. Captain Thomas Cheap of Britannia engaged Vengeur while Captain John Canning of Nonsuch attacked Résolu at 10:45 and were soon supported by William Pitt and Houghton. The overwhelming numbers and size of the British squadron soon convinced Corosin and Jallineaux that further resistance was pointless and 45 minutes after the first shots were fired both surrendered. Corosin died in the aftermath of the battle after losing a leg and another 11 French sailors were killed and 25 wounded, while British losses were one killed and two wounded on Britannia. French records report that Résolu has sustained heavy casualties. The British then manned both raiders with crews from the East Indiaman squadron.

Orders of battle



Battle of the Sunda Strait
On the morning of 24 January, most of Mitchell's squadron lay at anchor off the island of Pulau Panjang in Bantam Bay on the northwestern tip of Java, with Nonsuch and the new prizes remaining in the Zuften Islands about 15 miles (24 km) distant. At 06:00, sails were sighted in the northern part of the Sunda Strait passing the small island of Dwars in de Weg that were rapidly identified as three frigates and a brig. These were in fact the French naval squadron from Île de France, consisting of the frigates Prudente and Cybèle, the brig Vulcain and the captured Princess Royal, now renamed Duguay-Trouin, under the overall command of Captain Jean-Marie Renaud. Canning attempted to communicate with the strange vessels, but by 13:00 it was obvious from their lack of response that these were enemy ships, and the greatly outnumbered Canning made all sail northeast with his prizes to avoid destruction.

During the evening heavy rain squalls reduced visibility and prevented any decisive movement by either side, but on 25 January the French squadron had rounded St. Nicholas Point at the northwestern tip of Java and was in full pursuit of Canning's ships, which had been joined by Houghton. Resolu in particular was struggling to escape the advancing enemy, but Mitchell had realised the danger and was sailing to intercept the French. At 06:30 Houghton, Nonsuch and Vengeur joined with the remainder of Mitchell's force and two hours later Renaud's ships met the British line, Resolu just managing to reach safety in the shelter of the large East Indiamen despite being hit repeatedly in the latter stages of the chase. For an hour the two squadrons continued a general exchange of fire at long-range, before Mitchell turned William Pitt, Houghton and Nonsuch towards the French at 09:30, the latter two both managing to hit Cybèle with destructive broadsides. Firing continued for another 18 minutes as Renaud withdrew, eventually anchoring off the island of Pulau Baby. Neither commander was keen to continue the action, Mitchell fearing that his undermanned ships would not be able to properly engage the better armed French vessels. Casualties among the French squadron are not known, but the only loss on the British ships was on Nonsuch, which had a man killed in combat with Cybèle.

Final operations
In need of reinforcement and resupply, Mitchell drew his squadron back to Batavia and was there joined by the 36 gun Dutch frigate Amazone under Captain Kerwal and an armed merchant ship. Mitchell's ships then cruised the Sunda Strait for another two weeks without discovering any enemy vessels, before concluding the operation on 8 February and returning to the Indian Ocean via Bencoolen. Cheap died of an illness in June, but Mitchell survived and on his return to Britain in 1796 was knighted by King George III, and presented with £8,000 (the equivalent of £843,000 as of 2019)[14] as reward and compensation for his diversion to the Straits.

The Dutch meanwhile retained their warships for a raid on Sourabaya where two French corvettes were sheltering. Both were captured without a fight and sent back to France as cartels carrying French prisoners. Alternatively, Royal Charlotte reported in August 1794 on her return to England that the Dutch at Batavia had purchased the French prizes Vengeur and Resolve and would send them in July to Mauritius as cartels with the French prisoners.

The French squadron under Renaud had used the retreat of Mitchell's force to also withdraw into the Indian Ocean via Bencoolen, reaching the British trading post on 9 February. There Pigot was still undergoing repairs and was taken by surprise and captured. As the merchant ship was manoeuvred out of the bay, Renaud demanded the surrender of the small Fort Marlborough nearby and was informed that the fort was well armed and that the arrival of Mitchell's squadron was expected at any moment. Unwilling to continue the engagement with Mitchell, Renaud withdrew immediately without assaulting the fort. The French squadron subsequently returned to Île de France where, in the Action of 22 October 1794, they drew away two British warships that blockaded the island.

The Sunda Strait and surrounding waters remained an important strategic location throughout the war, although the subsequent organisation of East Indiamen into convoys and the return of a Royal Navy presence in the region assisted in limiting losses to French privateers and smaller warships. On more than one occasion convoys of East Indiamen successfully discouraged large squadrons from attempting attacks on the valuable merchant craft with their size and power.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunda_Strait_campaign_of_January_1794

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 January 1805 – Four Repulse class 74 gun ships of the line were ordered
These were the HMS Valiant, HMS Elizabeth, HMS Cumberland and the HMS Venerable


The Repulse-class ships of the line were a class of eleven 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir William Rule. The first three ships to this design were ordered in 1800, with a second batch of five following in 1805. The final three ships of the class were ordered towards the end of the Napoleonic War to a modified version of Rule's draught, using the new constructional system created by Sir Robert Seppings; all three were completed after the war's end.



The Four ships







Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with modified gun ports, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Cumberland' (1807), a 74-gun Third Rate, two-decker. It is likely that this plan also relates to 'Venerable' (1808), as she was also built by William Pitcher at Northfleet. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for 'Cumberland' (1807) and 'Venerable' (1808), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers building at Northfleet by Mr Thomas Pitcher. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) for 'Cumberland' (1807) and 'Venerable' (1808), both 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers building at Northfleet by Mr Thomas Pitcher. Initialled by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].




Ships

• HMS Sceptre

Builder: Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 4 February 1800
Laid down: December 1800
Launched: 11 December 1802
Fate: Broken up, 1821

• HMS Repulse

Builder: Barnard, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 4 February 1800
Laid down: September 1800
Launched: 22 July 1803
Fate: Broken up, 1820

• HMS Eagle

Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 4 February 1800
Laid down: August 1800
Launched: 27 February 1804
Fate: Burnt, 1926

• HMS Magnificent

Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard
Ordered: 31 January 1805
Laid down: April 1805
Launched: 30 August 1806
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1843

• HMS Valiant

Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: April 1805
Launched: 24 January 1807
Fate: Broken up, 1823

• HMS Elizabeth

Builder: Wells, Blackwall
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: August 1805
Launched: 23 May 1807
Fate: Broken up, 1820

• HMS Cumberland

Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: August 1805
Launched: 19 August 1807
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1870

• HMS Venerable

Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 24 January 1805
Laid down: December 1805
Launched: 12 April 1808
Fate: Broken up, 1838

• HMS Talavera

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 15 February 1814
Laid down: July 1814
Launched: 15 October 1818
Fate: Burnt, 1840

• HMS Malabar

Builder: Bombay Dockyard
Ordered: 7 March 1815
Laid down: April 1817
Launched: 28 December 1818
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1905

• HMS Belleisle

Builder: Pembroke Dockyard
Ordered: 17 November 1812
Laid down: February 1816
Launched: 26 April 1819
Fate: Broken up, 1872


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulse-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Venerable_(1808

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 January 1807 – Launch of HMS Valiant, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, exactly two years after the order


HMS Valiant was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 24 January 1807 at Blackwall Yard.



She took part in the attack on Copenhagen in 1807 and in the action against French warships in the Basque Roads 11-25th April 1809 (Battle of Aix Roads) under Lord Gambier and Admiral Cochrane.

On 17 June 1813, Valiant was in company with Acasta when they came upon HMS Wasp in pursuit of an American brig off Cape Sable. The three British ships continued the chase for another 100 miles before they finally were able to capture the brig. She was the letter of marque Porcupine, of more than 300 tons, and was carrying a valuable cargo of brandy, wine, silks, dry goods and other merchandise from Bayonne to Boston. Captain Robert Dudley Oliver of Valiant described Porcupine as being only eight months old and an uncommonly fast sailer. After the capture, Wasp, which had recaptured a prize that the privateer Young Teazer had taken, sailed in search of the privateer.

She was broken up in 1823.



Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines illustrating the awning stantions, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Magnificent' (1806), 'Valiant' (1807), 'Elizabeth' (1807), and 'Cumberland' (1807), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The plan has been drawn on an unused printed 'Observations of the Qualities of His Majesty's Ship', and illustrates the ships when they were in ordinary having been paid off with awnings erected. Note that 'Elizabeth' was broken up in 1820.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Valiant_(1807)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulse-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 January 1808 – Capture of HMS Carrier, a cutter of 10 guns, the ex-mercantile Frisk, by the french


HMS Carrier was a cutter of 10 guns, the ex-mercantile Frisk, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1805. She captured two privateers, with one action earning her crew a Naval General Service Medal. She grounded in 1808, which enabled the French to capture her. She became a French privateer that the Royal Navy recaptured in 1811, but apparently did not take back into service.



Origins
Bools & Good, of Bridport, built Frisk in 1803. The Admiralty purchased her in 1805 and registered her on 28 May.



Service
Lieutenant John Gedge commissioned her in May 1805 for the North Sea. Lieutenant Robert Ramsey replaced him in 1806.

On 18 January 1807, Carrier was in company with Dictator, Flora and Forester when they captured the American brig Eliza. Nine days later, Carrier recaptured and sent into Yarmouth the Courier, which had been sailing from Memel to Hull when the French privateer Revenge had captured her on the 27th.

On 19 February Carrier chased the French privateer cutter Chasseur into the hands of Ariadne. At the time, Carrier was also in company with the hired armed cutters Princess Augusta and Princess of Wales, the latter under the command of Lieutenant Edward Southcott.

As Carrier was returning to her station, together with Princess Augusta, at 9am she sighted a suspicious sail ten leagues from Goree. After a chase of five hours she caught up with the French privateer schooner Ragotin. Ragotin, under the command of Jaques Jappie, carried eight guns, which she had thrown overboard during the chase, and a crew of 29 men. She was eight days out of Dunkirk, on her first cruise, and had not made any captures.

Carrier was one of several vessels that shared in the prize money for the Yonge Klaas, captured on 31 July 1806.

Carrier was in company with Crescent when they captured the St. Peter on 26 July . Two days later Carrier was still in company with Crescent when they captured Swedish brig Christiana Elizabeth, Louis Raberg, Master.

The gun-brig Constant and Carrier captured the Danish vessel Minerva on 20 August 1807. Four days later Carrier captured the Danish vessel Wenskabet, O. Paus, master. Both of these captures however, occurred prior to hostilities.

Then on 11 September Carrier brought to the Admiralty the despatches from Admiral Thomas McNamara Russell announcing the capitulation of the island of Heligoland to the British. William Milne took command at some point after Heligoland. He had been a sub-lieutenant on Carrier at Heligoland and at the seizure of Copenhagen in September 1807.

On 14 November, off Cromer, Carrier was under the command of Acting Lieutenant William Milne when she captured a French cutter-rigged privateer. Milne had steered towards what he though was a fishing boat from which he wished to ask about how far they were from land, but when he got close she hoisted French colours and opened fire. Because of a gale, heavy seas, and the fact that she had a crew of only 16 men aboard, Carrier could not make use of her four 12-pounder carronades. Once Carrier had shot away the French vessel's colours and halyards she surrendered. She proved to be the Actif, commissioned for eight guns, but with only two on board at the time Carrier captured her. She had a crew 32 men under the command of Norbat Corcenwinder and had suffered four wounded. Actif had left Dunkirk three weeks earlier and had captured two vessels, a galiot that Sybille recaptured, and the Lord Keith, an English sloop. Milne put a prize crew aboard Actif and sent her to Yarmouth. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Carrier 14 Novr. 1807" to all surviving claimants from this action.

Capture
At this point her history becomes confusing. Accounts differ on when and where the French captured Carrier. The best account, based on court martial records, reports that on 24 January 1808 Carrier grounded off Étaples, on the coast of France. This occurred during the night and in the morning shore batteries opened fire. Unable to get her off, Carrier's crew abandoned her after trying, unsuccessfully, to set her on fire.

The New Navy List reports that Milne was involved in an attack on Boulogne, and that later in 1808 he was involved in an attack on two batteries at Étaples, where he was wounded twice, and that Carrier subsequently was wrecked. This may represent a garbled version of the above account. A third account has Carrier grounding on 5 February 1809 on a sandbank off Boulogne.

By all accounts, the French captured her and her crew, who would be prisoners for five years. Their court martial took place some six years after the grounding and the board blamed the master's mate and the pilot. However, by that time the master's mate had died while a prisoner in France and the pilot "showed signs of madness".

After her capture, Carrier became a French privateer under the name of Anacreon.

Recapture
Lieutenant Edward Southcott, commander of the hired armed cutter Princess of Wales captured Anacreon on 11 December 1811, off the Dogger Bank. She had a crew of 37 men and had thrown her guns overboard while trying to outrun Princess of Wales. She was 24 days out of Groningen but had not taken any prizes.[20]

There are no indications that the Admiralty took Anacreon/Carrier back into service.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Carrier_(1805)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=3508