Naval/Maritime History 18th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 December 1798 - HMS Kingfisher (1782 - 18), Lt. Frederick Maitland, wrecked on the bar at the mouth of the Tagus.


HMS Kingfisher was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy which saw service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.

Type: 18-gun sloop
Tons burthen: 36957⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 95 ft 1 in (28.98 m) (gundeck)
• 75 ft 3.5 in (22.949 m) (keel)

Beam: 30 ft 9 in (9.37 m)
Depth of hold: 7 ft 6.25 in (2.2924 m)
Complement: 120
Armament: 18 × short 6-pounder guns

Career
Kingfisher was one of a number of small sloops and brigs purchased on the stocks while under construction during the American War of Independence. Though built at Rochester on the River Medway, It is uncertain which yard Kingfisher was purchased from. Greaves & Nicholson is one possibility. Her name is often given as King’s Fisher. Kingfisher was fitted at Chatham Dockyard, and commissioned for service in May 1783 under Commander William Albany Otway.

Commander George Lumsdaine took over in November 1786, and was in turned superseded by Commander Henry Warre in April 1788. Kingfisher went on to serve under a succession of commanders during the last years of peace and the early years of the French Revolutionary War. Commander Charles Jones was captain from May 1791, succeeded by Commander William Brown in June 1792, and Brown in turn by Commander Thomas Graves in November that year. From April 1794 she was under Commander Thomas Gosselyn, though he was replaced by Commander Alexander Wilson in August 1795. Wilson's command was short-lived, in September Kingfisher was under Commander Edward Marsh, who took her out to the West Indiesin March 1796, and then to the Lisbon station in January 1797. Marsh was soon superseded by Commander John Bligh, who had distinguished himself at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797, and been rewarded with a promotion to commander on 8 March 1797 and the command of Kingfisher. While cruising off Oporto he was able to capture the 14-gun French privateer Général on 29 March.

In April 1797 Commander John Maitland took command. On 1 August he was almost the victim of a mutiny. Taking a direct approach he gathered his officers and marines and attacked the mutineers with swords and cutlasses, killing and wounding several. This decisive action quashed the mutiny, and was approved of by his commanding officer, Admiral John Jervis. Jervis described Maitland's actions as 'Doctor Maitland's recipe', and advised that it should be adopted in future instances of attempted mutiny. Maitland was promoted to post-captain on 11 August 1797 and was given command of HMS San Nicolas, one of the prizes captured by Nelson at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. Before his transfer he had time to repeat Kingfisher's success against privateers, capturing the 2-gun privateer Espoir on 15 September that year. Maitland was replaced by Commander Charles Pierrepoint, who had even more success. The 16-gun privateer Betsey was captured on 8 January 1798, followed by the 10-gun privateer Lynx on 15 March 1798. Also serving aboard Kingfisher at this time was Lieutenant Frederick Lewis Maitland. Maitland had gained a reputation for courage, so much so that the ship's company subscribed £50 to present him with a sword.

Disaster struck when Kingfisher was bilged on the Portuguese coast after running onto the Lisbon Bar while leaving the Tagus on 3 December 1798, and was lost. Maitland had been temporarily in command at the time, and faced a court-martial, which honourably acquitted him


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Kingfisher_(1782)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 December 1807 - HMS Curieux (18), John Sheriff (Killed in Action), engaged privateer Revanche (25) off Barbados.


HMS Curieux was a French corvette named Curieux, launched in September 1800 at Saint-Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique. In her five-year British career Curieux captured several French privateers and engaged in two notable single-ship actions, also against privateers. In the first she captured Dame Ernouf; in the second, she took heavy casualties in an indecisive action with Revanche. In 1809 Curieux hit a rock; all her crew were saved but they had to set fire to her to prevent her recapture.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board decoration and name across the counter, the sheer lines with inboard detail and quarter gallery [figurehead missing], and longitudinal half-breadth for Curieux (captured 1804), a captured French Brig as taken off and fitted as an 18-gun Brig Sloop. The ship was at Plymouth to have defects made good between 17 July and 17 October 1805. Signed by Joseph Tucker [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1802-1813]. The top right corner is missing, including the area around the figurehead.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84038.html#kmJh2aLdcsB68edb.99

Design
Curieux was a prototype, and the only vessel of her class. Construction on the subsequent Curieux-class brigs started in 1803.

Type: Corvette
Displacement: 290 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 329 5⁄94 (bm)
Length: 97 ft 0 in (29.57 m) (overall); 77 ft 3 in (23.55 m) (keel)
Beam: 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 0 in (3.96 m)
Complement:

• French service: 94
• British service: 67

Armament:

• French service: 16 x 6-pounder guns
• British service: 8 x 6-pounder guns + 10 x 24-pounder carronades

The French brig sloop ‘Curieux’ was fitted out at Martinique in order to attack British interests. As she was a threat to British West Indian commerce, the British Commodore Hood gave orders for her capture. Under the command of Lieutenant Robert Carthew Reynolds four boats with 60 seamen and 12 marines set out on a moonlit night from the British ship ‘Centaur’. This meant a 20-mile row to reach the ‘Curieux’ lying under the protection of the guns of Fort Edward. When Reynolds’s barge came in under the stern of the ‘Curieux’ he found that, providentially, a rope ladder hung down the side. He scaled it and cut a hole in the anti-boarding nets to enable his men to pour on board. Before she was taken the French lost nearly 40 killed and wounded. The British had nine wounded and Reynolds, who was one of them, subsequently died of his wounds. On the right side of the picture the ‘Curieux’ is shown just before her capture. Her anti-boarding netting is clearly visible. The sailors can be seen loosing her sails and cutting her cable, while the guns of Fort Edward are firing. A moon shines between her masts and in the left foreground another battery is in action. The painting is signed and dated ‘F. Sartoruis 1805’.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12029.html#hyYlUStZhiJyPXrc.99

Capture
On 4 February 1804, HMS Centaur sent four boats and 72 men under Lieutenant Robert Carthew Reynolds to cut her out at Fort Royal harbour, Martinique. The British suffered nine wounded, two of whom, including Reynolds, later died. The French suffered ten dead and 30 wounded, many mortally. Cordier, wounded, fell into a boat and escaped. The British sent Curieux under a flag of truce to Fort Royal to hand the wounded over to their countrymen.

The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Curieux, a brig-sloop. Reynolds commissioned her but he had been severely wounded in the action and though he lingered for a while, died in September.

Reynold's successor was George Edmund Byron Bettesworth, who had been a lieutenant on Centaur and part of the cutting out expedition. Curieux's first lieutenant was John George Boss who had been a midshipman on Centaur and also in the cutting out expedition.

In June 1804, Curieux recaptured the English brig Albion, which was carrying a cargo of coal. Then, on 15 July, she captured the French privateer schooner Elizabeth of six guns. That same day she captured the schooner Betsey, which was sailing in ballast.

In September Curieux recaptured the English brig Princess Royal, which was carrying government stores. Then in January 1805 Curieux recaptured an American ship, from St. Domingo, that was carrying coffee. The American had been the prize of a French privateer.


HMS 'Curieux' Captures 'Dame Ernouf', 8 February 1805, by Francis Sartorius Jr., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Curieux and Dame Ernouf
Then on 8 February 1805, Curieux chased the French privateer Dame Ernouf (or Madame Ernouf) for twelve hours before she able to bring her to action. After forty minutes of hard fighting Dame Ernouf, which had a crew almost double in size relative to that of Curieux, maneuvered to attempt a boarding. Bettesworth anticipated this and put his helm a-starboard, catching his opponent's jib-boom so that he could rake the French vessel. Unable to fight back, the Dame Ernouff struck. The action cost Curieux five men killed and four wounded, including Bettesworth, who took a hit in his head from a musket ball. Dame Ernouf had 30 men killed and 41 wounded. She carried 16 French long 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 120. This was the same armament as Curieux carried, but in a smaller vessel. Bettesworth opined that she had fought so gallantly because her captain was also a part-owner. She was 20 days out of Guadeloupe and had taken one brig, which, however, Nimrod had recaptured. The British took Dame Ernouf into service as Seaforth, but she capsized and foundered in a gale on 30 September 1805. There were only two survivors.

On 25 February Curieux, under Bettesworth, captured a Spanish launch, name unknown, which she took into Tortola.

Lieutenant Boss was on leave at the time of the action but later took over as acting commander while Bettesworth recuperated. At Cumana Gut, Boss cut out several schooners and later took a brig from St. Eustatia. Curieux and the schooner Tobago cooperated in capturing two merchantmen lying for protection under the batteries at Barcelona, on the coast of Caraccas.

On 7 July, Curieux arrived in Plymouth with dispatches from Lord Nelson. On her way, she had spotted Admiral Villeneuve's Franco-Spanish squadron on its way back to Europe from the West Indies and alerted the Admiralty. Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, with 15 ships of the line, intercepted Villeneuve on 22 July, but the subsequent Battle of Cape Finisterre was indecisive, with the British capturing only two enemy ships.


The last, but seventh in order of events, in series of ten drawings (PAF5871–PAF5874, PAF5876, PAF5880–PAF5881 and PAF5883–PAF5885) of mainly lesser-known incidents in Nelson's career, apparently intended for a set of engravings. Pocock's own description of this drawing in a letter of 9 July 1810 calls it 'a view of St Johns Harbour Antigua taken on the spot by myself with the Fleet at – the "Curieux" Brig (in the foreground) making sail with dispatches for England. Here though there is no fighting I thought the anxiety and promptitude of Lord Nelson wou'd be exemplified, and with a Correct View of Antigua wou'd give the Whole [set] a Variety.' Nelson's 'Victory' is in stern view to the right of 'Curieux', beyond the intervening rowing boat. Pocock's personal knowledge and drawing(s) of Antigua of course dated from his time as a Bristol sea captain, ending about 1778, not that of the incident shown. This was during the pre-Trafalgar chase to the West Indies, in early summer 1805, where Nelson failed to find Villeneuve's Franco-Spanish Fleet, which had already sailed again for Europe. On 12 June he sent home the 'Curieux' from Antigua with dispatches, to update the Admiralty, before his fleet pursued. By chance, 'Curieux' distantly sighted and overtook the enemy near the Azores, realized they were heading for Ferrol in north-western Spain, not Cadiz, and brought that vital news back to Lord Barham at the Admiralty, ahead of Nelson's return. For the rather complex circumstances of the commissioning of these ten drawings, and Pocock's related letters, see 'View of St Eustatius with the '"Boreas"' (PAF5871). Signed by the artist and dated in the lower left. Exhibited: NMM Pocock exhib. (1975), no. 52.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/100711.html#yer2eas4oVlbFwEd.99

James Johnstone took command of Curieux in July 1805. After refitting she sailed for the Lisbon station. On 25 November 1805 Curieux captured the Spanish privateer Brilliano, under the command of Don Joseph Advis, some 13 leagues west of Cape Selleiro. She was a lugger of five carriage guns and a crew of 35 men. Brilliano, which had been out five days from Port Carrel and two days before Cureux captured her, had taken the English brig Mary, sailing from Lynn to Lisbon with a cargo of coal. Brilliano had also taken the brig Nymphe, which had been sailing from Newfoundland with a cargo of fish for Viana. The next day Curieux apparently captured San Josef el Brilliant.

On 5 February 1806, two years after her own capture, Curieux captured the 6-gun privateer Baltidore (alias Fenix) and her crew of 47 men. The capture occurred 27 leagues west of Lisbon after a chase of four hours. Baltidore had been out of Ferrol one month, during which time she had captured Good Intent, which had been sailing from Lisbon for London. About a month earlier, on 3 January, Mercury had recaptured Good Intent, which had been part of a convoy that Mercury had been escorting from Newfoundland to Portugal.

Curieux and Revanche
In March 1806 John Sheriff took over as captain of Curieux. On 3 December 1807, off Barbados, Curieux, now armed with eight 6-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades, engaged the 25-gun privateer Revanche, commanded by Captain Vidal. Revanche, which had been the slaver British Tar, was the more heavily armed (chiefly English 9-pounders, and one long French 18-pounder upon a traversing carriage on the forecastle) and had a crew of 200 men. Revanche nearly disabled Curieux, while killing Sheriff. Lieutenant Thomas Muir wanted to board Revanche, but too few crewmen were willing to follow him. The two vessels broke off the action and Revanche escaped. Curieux, whose shrouds and back-stays were shot away, and whose two topmasts and jib-boom had been damaged, was unable to pursue.

In addition to the loss of her captain, Curieux had suffered another seven dead and 14 wounded. Revanche, according to a paragraph in the Moniteur, lost two men killed and 13 wounded. Curieux, as soon as her crew had partially repaired her, made sail and anchored the next day in Carlisle Bay, Barbados. A subsequent court martial into why Muir had not taken or destroyed the enemy vessel mildly rebuked Muir for not having hove-to repair his vessel's damage once it became obvious that Curieux was in no condition to overtake Revanche.

Further service
In February 1808 Commander Thomas Tucker assumed command, to be succeeded by Commander Andrew Hodge. Lieutenant the Honourable Henry George Moysey, possibly acting, then took command. Under his command Curieux was engaged in the blockade of Guadaloupe, where she cut out a privateer from St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica.

On 18 February 1809, Latona captured the French frigate Felicité. Curieux shared in the prize money, together with all the other vessels that been associated in the blockade of the Saintes.

Loss
On 22 September 1809, at about 3:30am, Curieux struck a rock off Petit-Terre off the Îles des Saintes. The rock was 30 yards from the beach in 11 feet of water. At first light, Hazard came to her assistance and her guns and stores were removed. Hazard then winched Curieux off a quarter of a cable but she slipped back and ran directly onto the reef. There she bilged. All her crew was saved but the British burned her to prevent her recapture. A court martial board found Lieutenant John Felton, the officer of the watch, guilty of negligence and dismissed him from the service. Moysey died the next month of yellow fever.

Post script
On 30 August 1860, the Prince of Wales was visiting Sherbrooke, where he met John Felton, who had emigrated to Canada after being dismissed the service. The Prince of Wales exercised his royal prerogative and restored Felton to his erstwhile rank in the Navy.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the upper deck and lower deck with platforms for Curieux (captured 1804), a captured French Brig as taken off and fitted as an 18-gun Brig Sloop. The ship was at Plymouth to have defects made good between 17 July and 17 October 1805. Signed by Joseph Tucker [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1802-1813].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84039.html#A2U1SvE7cuSX9sXj.99


British Tar was built in 1797 in Plymouth (probably Plymouth, Massachusetts). She never enters Lloyd's Register under that name, suggesting that she may have been an American vessel that only came to Bristol, and was renamed, shortly before she sailed from Bristol in 1805. In 1805 she made a slave trading voyage during which the French captured her. She became the privateer Revanche, out of Guadeloupe. Revanche fought an inconclusive single-ship action in 1806 with HMS Curieux. The British captured Revanche in 1808.

Tons burthen: 230, or 232 (bm)
Complement:

• 1805: 30, or 35
• 1807: 200
• 1808: 44

Armament:

• 1805:12 × 6-pounder guns
• 1807:1 × 12-pounder + 6 × 4-pounder guns
• 1808:6 × 12-pounder guns

Slaver
British Tar appears in the Bristol Presentments for 1805 and 1806, but not before or later. Captain James Gordon received a letter of marque on 14 November 1805.

British Tar, Gordon, master, sailed from England on 30 December 1805, bound for West Africa. She was reported "well" in the River Gambia on 13 May 1806 and was expected to leave in a few days. A second report has her "all well" at Goree on 26 July, and expected to sail for the West Indies on 26 July. However, the next report has a privateer of ten guns and 70 men capturing British Tar, of Bristol, on 18 July and taking her into Guadeloupe.

She had gathered 279 slaves from Gambia and Goree and her captors landed 310, for a loss rate of 10%.

French privateer Revanche
The French commissioned British Tar as the privateer Revanche in Guadeloupe in September 1807 under Captain Alexis Grassin. She made a second cruise between November 1807 and January 1808 under Captain Vidal.

On 3 December 1807 Revanche encountered HMS Curieux. Rather than fleeing, Revanche, which was more heavily armed than Curieux (British records) or less heavily armed (French records) decided to give battle. The ensuing engagement was sanguinary but inconclusive. Revanche suffered two men killed and 13 wounded; Curieux seven killed and 14 wounded.

Fate
Revanche made a third cruise in 1808. On 5 December 1808 HMS Belette captured Revanche, of six 12-pounder guns and 44 men, and described as a letter of marque brig. Revanche was taking provisions from Bordeaux to Guadeloupe when she encountered Belette. Captain Sanders described Revanche as having been "a very successful Privateer all this War, and was intended for a Cruizer in those Seas. Belette sent Revanche into Antigua.

British Tar was still listed in Lloyd's Register and the Register of Shipping until at least 1812, but with long stale data.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Curieux_(1804)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Curieux
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Tar_(1797_ship)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 December 1810 - Capture of Ile de France (Mauritius) by the British – the ending of the Mauritius Campaign


The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of amphibious operations and naval actions fought to determine possession of the French Indian Ocean territories of Isle de France and Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign lasted from the spring of 1809 until the spring of 1811, and saw both the Royal Navy and the French Navy deploy substantial frigate squadrons with the intention of disrupting or protecting trade from British India. In a war in which the Royal Navy was almost universally dominant at sea, the campaign is especially notable for the local superiority enjoyed by the French Navy in the autumn of 1810 following the British disaster at the Battle of Grand Port, the most significant defeat for the Royal Navy in the entire conflict. After their victory, the British used the original Dutch name of Mauritius for Isle de France. In 1814, Île Bonaparte was returned to France, who eventually renamed it La Réunion.

The Royal Navy had been planning an operation against Isle de France since neutralizing the threats from Cape Town and Java in the Dutch East Indies in 1806, but was forced to act earlier than expected following the despatch from France of a powerful frigate squadron under Commodore Jacques Hamelin in late 1808. This French force was able to capture a number of East Indiamen and disrupt trade routes across the Indian Ocean by raiding the convoys in which the merchant ships travelled. Forced to confront this enemy, Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope ordered Commodore Josias Rowley to blockade the French islands and prevent their use as raiding bases.


Battle of Grand Port Visible are, from left to right: HMS Iphigenia striking her colours (actually happened the next day) HMS Magicienne being scuttled by fire HMS Sirius being scuttled by fire HMS Nereide surrendered French frigate Bellone French frigate Minerve Victor (background) Ceylon Oil on canvas

For the next two years, the British raided ports and anchorages on the French islands while the French attacked trade convoys in the wider ocean. The British were able to slowly reduce the French presence by eliminating their bases through limited invasions, but suffered a major setback at Grand Port in August 1810 and were forced onto the defensive in the autumn. Hamelin was eventually defeated only after being personally captured on his flagship Vénus by Rowley, shortly before substantial reinforcements arrived under Bertie to seize Isle de France. Throughout the campaign Hamelin was unable to secure reinforcement from France—almost all attempts to break through the British blockade of French ports proved futile and only one frigate successfully reached the Indian Ocean before the surrender of Isle de France. The final such attempt arrived off Mauritius in May 1811, only to discover that the island was in British hands. On the return journey, the force was attacked by a British squadron off Madagascar and defeated, leaving the British in complete control of the Indian Ocean.

Background

Jacques Hamelin

The Indian Ocean was a vital part of the chain of trade links that connected the British Empire. Merchant ships from China, Arabia and East Africa crossed it regularly and at its centre was the British-held continent of India, from which heavily laden East Indiamen brought millions of pounds worth of trade goods to Britain every year. Trade with India was vital to the financial security of Britain and consequently the trade routes across the Indian Ocean were a high priority for protection from the Royal Navy and at serious risk from French raiders. The outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803, following the brief Peace of Amiens that had ended the French Revolutionary Wars, placed the Indian Ocean trade routes under threat from Dutch cruisers operating from Cape Town and the Dutch East Indies and French ships based on Isle de France and the newly renamed Île Bonaparte. By 1808, most of the Dutch colonies had been neutralised in a series of brief but successful campaigns; the Cape by Sir Home Riggs Popham in January 1806 and the Dutch island of Java by Sir Edward Pellew in a campaign that ended in December 1807. The French Indian Ocean islands were however far more defensible: heavily fortified, garrisoned by regular French soldiers and several months voyage from the nearest British port, they presented a much greater challenge to the limited British forces available in the region.

At the beginning of the war, as in the preceding conflict, French privateers operated from the islands, including a fleet of small vessels run by Robert Surcouf. Supplementing these ships were occasional French naval vessels, principally the frigate Piémontaise (captured in March 1808) and the old frigates Sémillante and Canonnière. These ships operated independently of one another and achieved minor successes against smaller British warships and merchant vessels but were not powerful enough to have a serious effect on the Indian Ocean trade routes. In August 1808, Sémillante and Canonnière were downgraded to armed storeships and sent back to France. To replace these ships, four large frigates under Jacques Hamelin were sent to Governor Charles Decaen on Isle de France in the late autumn of 1808. These vessels, Vénus, Manche, Caroline and Bellone were large and powerful ships under orders to operate from Isle de France and Île Bonaparte against British trade in the Indian Ocean. Based on Isle de France, these frigates had access to large numbers of unemployed sailors and several fortified anchorages from which to launch raids on the British trade routes. A fifth frigate, Niémen, was to have joined the force in the summer of 1809, but was intercepted and captured within hours of leaving France at the Action of 6 April 1809.

To counteract the French deployment to the region, a small British force was organised by Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie at Cape Town under the command of Commodore Josias Rowley, with orders to blockade Isle de France and Île Bonaparte and seize or destroy any French ships that operated from the islands. To perform this task, Rowley was given the old ship of the line HMS Raisonnable, the fourth rate HMS Leopard, frigates HMS Nereide, HMS Sirius and HMS Boadicea and a number of smaller ships. Both the British and the French squadrons reached the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1809.

First exchanges (see wikipedia)
Invasion of Île Bonaparte (see wikipedia)
Battle of Grand Port (see wikipedia)


Seeschlacht von Grand Port 1810 (A. D'Etroyer, 1812)

Capture of Isle de France


Isle de France, 1791

In September, October and November 1810, British forces arrived from Madras, Bombay and the Cape of Good Hope, warships joining Rowley's squadron off Isle de France and soldiers gathering at Rodriguez. The buildup of forces was prompted by the defeat at Grand Port combined with the heavy losses of East Indiamen during 1809 and 1810; the British authorities were determined to end the threat posed by the French squadron on Isle de France before the hurricane season made travel in the region too dangerous. In fact, the threat from Isle de France was already substantially reduced: the damage suffered by the French frigates in the engagements at Grand Port and during September could not be repaired with the available naval supplies on Isle de France. In addition, food supplies were running low due to the large number of British prisoners on the island and morale had collapsed in the aftermath of Hamelin's defeat.

By late November 1810, the invasion force was assembled and Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie assumed command at Rodriguez. Upon consultation with his commanders, Bertie decided to land at Grand Baie to the north of the island's capital. The landing itself would be commanded by Captain Philip Beaver in HMS Nisus and the first troops ashore would be a specially selected vanguard under Keating and a naval brigade under Captain William Augustus Montagu. These forces would advance on Port Napoleon with subsequent reinforcement by the main force under General John Abercromby over the following days. This force, nearly 7,000 in number, was significantly larger than the reliable troops available to Decaen, which numbered approximately 1,300, and were intended to achieve a quick resolution to the campaign before the hurricane season began in December.

Sailing from Rodriguez on 22 November, the 70 vessels of the invasion fleet reached Grand Baie on 29 November. Part of the fleet were f.e. HMS Cornwallis, HMS Nisus, HMS Menelaus, HMS Phoebe, HMS Doris, HMS Clorinde and HMS Psyché and additional Boadicea, Africaine, Ceylon und Néréide with several small warships and appr. 60 transport vessels.

The French made no attempt to resist the landing either at sea or on land and Keating was able to rapidly advance on the capital, hastily mobilised militia units falling back before the British advance. On 30 November, Keating crossed the Rivière du Tombeau after the militia garrison withdrew and in the evening his forward units were skirmishing with Decaen's garrison of Port Napoleon a few miles from the capital. The following morning, Decaen's field commander, Edmé-Martin Vandermaesen made a stand, forming a line on a rise outside the town that blocked Keating's advance. Engaging the centre, Keating used his superior numbers to outflank and defeat the French garrison and Port Napoleon fell. A ceasefire was agreed on 2 December and the following day Decaen surrendered, although he and his men were repatriated to France with their standards and personal weapons.

End of the campaign
The fall of Isle de France marked the end of the active British campaign and saw six frigates and over 200 cannon fall into British hands, in addition to the island itself, which was returned to its original Dutch name of Mauritius, and has been known as such ever since. The island remained under British control until granted independence in 1968. The British forces in the region were scaled back, command passing to Beaver, who sent ships to eliminate French ports on Madagascar and in the Seychelles. Due to the length of time it took for communications to travel between the Indian Ocean and Europe however, the French government were still unaware of the fall of the island in February 1811, when a squadron of reinforcements under François Roquebert, with the supplies needed to repair Hamelin's squadron, was despatched to the Indian Ocean. The squadron arrived on 6 May and was almost brought to battle by a British force off Grand Port, before escaping into the western Indian Ocean. Stopping at Tamatave on Madagascar, the French squadron was caught by a British force under Captain Charles Marsh Schomberg on 20 May and defeated. The Battle of Tamatave was characterised by very light winds, which left the combatants becalmed for much of the day, engaging in periodic fighting as the breeze increased.

Two French frigates were lost at Tamatave, taking the number of frigates lost by the French Navy during the campaign to ten. The defeat marked the end of the campaign and the end of French hopes of seriously disrupting British trade with India: the only remaining safe harbours in the region were a few Dutch colonies on Java, which became the next target of the Royal Navy forces in the region. The Mauritius campaign also had an effect on British post-war strategy in the Indian Ocean, demonstrated by the retention of Mauritius as a colony. Bourbon was returned to France in 1814 after Napoleon's abdication. With strategic bases placed along their trade routes, British convoys were assured a greater degree of safety and the Royal Navy provided with the infrastructure to operate worldwide.

Île Bonaparte was known as Île Bourbon until 1789 and Réunion from the French Revolution until 1801. British sources never acknowledged either of these changes in name and in 1810 restored the name Île Bourbon. This was retained by the island's British governors, and from 1814, French governors until the Revolution of 1848, when the name became Réunion (French: La Réunion) once more.


Inscription of the Battle of Grand Port in the Arc de Triomphe.

Culturally, the campaign captured the public imagination in Britain and France: the Battle of Grand Port is the only naval battle that appears on the Arc de Triomphe, while in Britain Rowley and Bertie were both made baronets for their services in the Indian Ocean.

In history
The campaign has been studied extensively, by British naval historians such as William James in 1827 and William Laird Clowes in 1900.

In literature
Alexandre Dumas features the campaign from a French perspective in his 1843 novel Georges. The 1977 novel The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian closely follows the British campaign with Rowley replaced by the fictional Jack Aubrey




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius_campaign_of_1809–11
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritiusfeldzug

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 December 1899 – SS Ismore wrecked


Ismore was a steam cargo ship built in 1899 by the Barclay, Curle & Co. of Glasgow for Edward Bates & Sons of Liverpool and operated by the Johnston Line on their trade routes between North America and the United Kingdom.



Design and construction
In mid-1890s Johnston Line considered employing two extra ships of approximately 9,500 deadweight for their North American cattle trade between Montreal and Baltimore and Liverpool. Ismore was the second of theses ships, and was laid down at Barclay, Curle & Co.'s Clydeholm Yard in Whiteinch and launched on 12 April 1899 (yard number 419), with Mrs. Maclean of Ardgour being the sponsor. During her construction the vessel received extra strengthening with the view of North Atlantic trading, and had a continuous sheltered deck constructed both fore and aft to carry large quantities of cattle or light cargo. Ismore also had a water ballast placed aft to improve stability when travelling light. She had all the modern machinery fitted for quick loading and unloading of the cargo, including several powerful steam winches and a large number of derricks. Ismore had also accommodations built allowing her to carry a large number of first and second class passengers.

The ship departed Glasgow for sea trials on May 23, 1899 with a large number of guests present on board. The sea trials were held on May 24 on the Firth of Clyde and lasted for six hours, during which the ship could easily maintain an average speed of 15 knots despite rough seas and strong winds. The steamer returned to Greenock on the same day and was transferred to her owners and left for Montreal on May 27.

As built, the ship was 459 feet 0 inches (139.90 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 52 feet 5 inches (15.98 m) abeam, a mean draft of 31 feet 1 inch (9.47 m). Insmore was assessed at 7,744 GRT and 5,042 NRT and had deadweight of approximately 9,500. The vessel had a steel hull, and a single 607 nhp triple-expansion steam engine, with cylinders of 28-inch (71 cm), 47 1⁄2-inch (121 cm) and 78-inch (200 cm) diameter with a 60-inch (150 cm) stroke, that drove a single screw propeller, and moved the ship at up to 12.0 knots (13.8 mph; 22.2 km/h).

To operate the vessel, a holding company, Ismore Steamship Company, Ltd. was registered in Liverpool on April 19, 1899 with capital of £30,100.

Operational history
Upon delivery Ismore was chartered to the Johnston Line, and departed Glasgow for Montreal in ballast on May 27, 1899 and reached her destination on June 10. After loading a large general cargo and 805 oxen she departed for her return trip on June 15 and arrived at Liverpool on July 1, concluding her maiden voyage.

On her next trip she left Montreal on July 20 with a cargo consisting of 805 heads of cattle, 10,355 sacks of flour, 84,239 bushels of corn and 14,779 boxes of cheese and arrived at Liverpool on July 30. When entering the port, Ismore collided with steamer SS Dunconnell, with both vessels receiving only minor damage. On her third trip, Ismore arrived at Hampton Roads on August 17, and got grounded at Pinners Point on August 18 when the hurricane struck the city. She was pulled off the mud with the help of several tugs and proceeded to Norfolk to load her cargo of 5,254 bales of cotton, grain and other general cargo. She again visited Norfolk in early October and left with 477 heads of cattle, 4,492 bales of cotton and other general cargo arriving in Liverpool on October 18.

On October 16 it was announced that Ismore with a number of other vessels was chartered by the Imperial government to transport troops and stores to South Africa as the war against the Boers got under way.

In the Imperial Government Service
After unloading her cargo, Ismore had to be modified into a transport, which was done in eleven days. On November 4, the vessel embarked 455 men of the 63rd Field Battery, No.9 Company of R.A.M. Corps, "A" Squadron of 10th Hussars, and one troop of "B" Squadron, plus 6 field guns, 334 horses and 22 vehicles, stores and ammunition, and sailed for South Africa in the early morning of November 6 under command of captain Frederick Crosby.

Sinking
On leaving the port the ship encountered rough seas and high wind and had to put into Moelfre Bay to wait out the weather, where she remained until the evening of November 8. She only was able to proceed as far as Milford Haven as the rough weather persisted and the horses became sick. Finally, the weather improved and Ismore departed Milford on November 11. The steamer coaled at Tenerife on November 16, and from there continued directly to Cape Town. The journey was largely uneventful. On December 2 at around noon, the ship's position was determined by observation to be approximately 30°41′S 15°30′E, and the course was set to pass the Dassen Island Lighthouse about 13 miles distant. At around 02:38 on December 3, Ismore struck on submerged rocks just off Columbine Point and got stranded. She immediately started to take on water filling her engine room and extinguishing the fires. The lifeboats were lowered and the ship was abandoned. The area where the ship went ashore was littered with rocks and it took a considerable effort to reach land, but, fortunately, the wrecked steamer was only about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) from the shore, and the military men were able to go back to the ship during the day to retrieve some clothing, ammunition and weapons as well as release some horses. Around 02:30 on December 4 Ismore broke amidships with only her stern remaining afloat. Only about twenty horses managed to get ashore with the rest going down with the ship.

An inquiry into the wrecking was held in December 1899 at Cape Town, which found both the captain and the second mate to be at fault and negligent in their conduct, as they failed to use the lead to ascertain the ship's position, disregarded a strong northeast current present in the area which carried the ship closer to the shore, and failure to act when land was spotted on the port side about 8 minutes before the disaster. Captain Crosby had his license suspended for six month, and the second mate was severely censured.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ismore
http://thecasualobserver.co.za/jr-montgomery-survivor-ss-ismore-ship-wreck-1899/

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
3 December 1906 – HMS Dreadnought commissioned


HMS Dreadnought was a Royal Navy battleship that revolutionised naval power. Her name and the type of the entire class of warships that was named after her stems from archaic English in which "dreadnought" means "a fearless person". Dreadnought's entry into service in 1906 represented such an advance in naval technology that its name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships, the "dreadnoughts", as well as the class of ships named after it. Likewise, the generation of ships she made obsolete became known as "pre-dreadnoughts". Admiral Sir John "Jacky" Fisher, First Sea Lord of the Board of Admiralty, is credited as the father of Dreadnought. Shortly after he assumed office, he ordered design studies for a battleship armed solely with 12-inch (305 mm) guns and a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). He convened a "Committee on Designs" to evaluate the alternative designs and to assist in the detailed design work.



Dreadnought was the first battleship of her era to have a uniform main battery, rather than having a few large guns complemented by a heavy secondary armament of smaller guns. She was also the first capital ship to be powered by steam turbines, making her the fastest battleship in the world at the time of her completion. Her launch helped spark a naval arms race as navies around the world, particularly the German Imperial Navy, rushed to match it in the build-up to World War I.

Ironically for a vessel designed to engage enemy battleships, her only significant action was the ramming and sinking of German submarine SM U-29, becoming the only battleship confirmed to have sunk a submarine. Dreadnought did not participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 as she was being refitted. Nor did Dreadnought participate in any of the other World War I naval battles. In May 1916 she was relegated to coastal defence duties in the English Channel, not rejoining the Grand Fleet until 1918. The ship was reduced to reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later.


Background
Gunnery developments in the late 1890s and the early 1900s, led in the United Kingdom by Percy Scott and in the United States by William Sims, were already pushing expected battle ranges out to an unprecedented 6,000 yards (5,500 m), a distance great enough to force gunners to wait for the shells to arrive before applying corrections for the next salvo. A related problem was that the shell splashes from the more numerous smaller weapons tended to obscure the splashes from the bigger guns. Either the smaller-calibre guns would have to hold their fire to wait for the slower-firing heavies, losing the advantage of their faster rate of fire, or it would be uncertain whether a splash was due to a heavy or a light gun, making ranging and aiming unreliable. Another problem was that longer-range torpedoes were expected to soon be in service and these would discourage ships from closing to ranges where the smaller guns' faster rate of fire would become preeminent. Keeping the range open generally negated the threat from torpedoes and further reinforced the need for heavy guns of a uniform calibre.


Cuniberti's "ideal battleship"

In 1903, the Italian naval architect Vittorio Cuniberti first articulated in print the concept of an all-big-gun battleship. When the Italian Navy did not pursue his ideas, Cuniberti wrote an article in Jane's Fighting Shipsadvocating his concept. He proposed an "ideal" future British battleship of 17,000 long tons (17,000 t), with a main battery of a dozen 12-inch guns in eight turrets, 12 inches of belt armour, and a speed of 24 knots(44 km/h; 28 mph).


"Semi-dreadnought" Satsuma

The Royal Navy (RN), the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States Navy all recognised these issues before 1905. The RN modified the design of the Lord Nelson-class battleships to include a secondary armament of 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns that could fight at longer ranges than the 6-inch (152 mm) guns on older ships, but a proposal to arm them solely with 12-inch guns was rejected. The Japanese battleship Satsuma was laid down as an all-big-gun battleship, five months before Dreadnought, although gun shortages allowed her to be equipped with only four of the twelve 12-inch guns that had been planned. The Americans began design work on an all-big-gun battleship around the same time in 1904, but progress was leisurely and the two South Carolina-class battleships were not ordered until March 1906, five months after Dreadnought was laid down, and the month after it was launched.

The invention by Charles Algernon Parsons of the steam turbine in 1884 led to a significant increase in the speed of ships with his dramatic unauthorised demonstration of Turbinia with her speed of up to 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at Spithead in 1897. After further trials of two turbine-powered destroyers, HMS Viper and HMS Cobra, coupled with the positive experiences of several small passenger liners with turbines, Dreadnought was ordered with turbines.

The Battle of the Yellow Sea and Battle of Tsushima were analysed by Fisher's Committee, with Captain William Pakenham's statement that "12-inch gunfire" by both sides demonstrated hitting power and accuracy, whilst 10-inch shells passed unnoticed. Admiral Fisher wanted his board to confirm, refine and implement his ideas of a warship that had both the speed of 21 knots (39 km/h) and 12-inch guns, pointing out that at the Battle of Tsushima, Admiral Togo had been able to cross the Russians' "T" due to speed. The unheard of long-range (13,000 metres (14,000 yd)) fire during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, in particular, although never experienced by any navy prior to the battle, seemed to confirm what the RN already believed.

Development of Dreadnought


3-view drawing of HMS Dreadnought in 1911, with QF 12 pdr guns added

Admiral Fisher proposed several designs for battleships with a uniform armament in the early 1900s, and he gathered an unofficial group of advisors to assist him in deciding on the ideal characteristics in early 1904. After he was appointed First Sea Lord on 21 October 1904, he pushed through the Board of Admiralty a decision to arm the next battleship with 12 inch guns and that it would have a speed no less than 21 knots (39 km/h). In January 1905, he convened a "Committee on Designs", including many members of his informal group, to evaluate the various design proposals and to assist in the detailed design process. While nominally independent it served to deflect criticism of Fisher and the Board of Admiralty as it had no ability to consider options other than those already decided upon by the Admiralty. Fisher appointed all of the members of the committee and he was President of the Committee.

The committee decided on the layout of the main armament, rejecting any superfiring arrangements because of concerns about the effects of muzzle blast on the open sighting hoods on the turret roof below, and chose turbine propulsion over reciprocating engines to save 1,100 long tons (1,100 t) in total displacement on 18 January 1905. Before disbanding on 22 February, it decided on a number of other issues, including the number of shafts (up to six were considered), the size of the anti-torpedo boat armament, and most importantly, to add longitudinal bulkheads to protect the magazines and shell rooms from underwater explosions. This was deemed necessary after the Russian battleship Tsesarevich was thought to have survived a Japanese torpedo hit during the Russo–Japanese War by virtue of her heavy internal bulkhead. To avoid increasing the displacement of the ship, the thickness of her waterline belt was reduced by 1 inch (25 mm).

The Committee completed its deliberations on 22 February 1905 and reported their findings in March of that year. It was decided due to the experimental nature of the design to delay placing orders for any other ships until the "Dreadnought" and her trials had been completed. Once the design had been finalised the hull form was designed and tested at the Admiralty's experimental ship tank at Gosport. Seven iterations were required before the final hull form was selected. Once the design was finalized a team of three assistant engineers and 13 draughtsmen produced detailed drawings.

To assist in speeding up the ship's construction, the internal hull structure was simplified as much as possible and an attempt was made to standardize on a limited number of standard plates, which varied only in their thickness.


Cross-section amidships showing the armour layout


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 3 December


1747 - HMS Portsmouth storeship (1742 - 24) Foundered off the North Foreland near the Long Sands

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=5904


1798 - sloop HMS Victorieuse (1795 -14), Edward Stirling Dickson, and HMS Zephyr fireship / sloop brig (1795 - 10), took surrender of Spanish forts and destroyed dutch privateer “La Prosperine” (1798 – 2) of Cape Three Points at Trinidad.

HMS Zephyr (1795), launched in 1795, was a 10-gun fireship. She was sold in 1808.

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=7320
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2834


1863 - The armed steamer USS Cambridge captures schooner J.C. Roker off the coast of North Carolina and the schooner Emma Tuttle off Cape Fear.

USS Cambridge (1861) was a heavy (868 long tons (882 t)) steamship purchased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War.
She was outfitted as a gunboat, with two powerful 8 in (200 mm) rifled guns, and assigned to the blockade of ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America.



Built in Massachusetts in 1861
Cambridge — an armed steamer — was built in 1860 by Paul Curtis, Medford, Massachusetts; purchased at Boston, Massachusetts on 30 July 1861; and commissioned on 29 August 1861, Commander W. A. Parker in command.

Civil War blockade duties
Assigned to the North Atlantic blockade
Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron from 9 September 1861-5 October 1864, and to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron from 9 February 1865 until the close of the war, Cambridge helped tighten the stranglehold on the Confederacy as she cruised off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina and South Carolina.
Determined vigilance and alert action won her 11 prizes, some of them taken under the guns of Confederate shore batteries. In a brief five days, she and two other ships in company took four blockade runners, and chased a fifth ashore.

Shore party captured
In one of her most daring exploits, Cambridge's guns drove a schooner ashore near Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina on 17 November 1862. Boat parties from Cambridge rowed through boiling surf, which swamped one of the boats, to burn the schooner, only to be made prisoner themselves by a party of armed Confederate men who sprang out of the brush.

Decommissioning
Cambridge was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and sold there on 20 June 1865.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cambridge_(1860)


1956 - The first ship converted to support the Fleet Ballistic Missile program, USS Compass Island (EAG 153), is commissioned.

Compass Island (EAG-153) was launched 24 October 1953 as Garden Mariner by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey and sponsored by Mrs. H. A. Smith. Acquired by the Navy 29 March 1956 and commissioned 3 December 1956, Commander J. A. Dare in command.



Compass Island was one of two ships, the other being USS Observation Island (E-AG-154), converted and classified as navigational research test vessels under the Polaris Missile system budget. Compass Island's conversion was at an estimated cost of $19,600,000. The ship's mission was to assist in the development and evaluation of a navigation system independent of shore-based and celestial aids, a necessary adjunct of the ballistic missile program. She operated along the eastern seaboard testing equipment and training personnel until 13 March 1958 when she sailed from New York for experiments in the Mediterranean, returning to New York 17 April to resume her east coast operations. A dramatic example of her work was provided when USS Nautilus (SSN-571), using the Shipboard Inertial Navigation System (SINS) first tested by Compass Island in 1957, made a submerged cruise beneath the Arctic ice pack, touching exactly at the North Pole on 3 August 1958. The INS hardware was the N6A-1 built by North American Aviation, a naval modification of the N6A designed for the Navaho cruise missile. It had also been installed on the USS Skate (SSN-578), along with the Nautilus, following successful sea trials on the Compass Island. USS Skate reached the North Pole the week after Nautilus, and in the following year became the first vessel to surface at the North Pole.


North Pole navigation succeeded after initial INS testing on the Compass Island.

On 10 September 1958, Compass Island entered New York Naval Shipyard for overhaul and installation of additional navigational equipment to be tested. With this new equipment, she continued her east coast and Caribbean cruising through 1960.

In 2003, Compass Island and three other decommissioned US Navy ships, USS Caloosahatchee (AO-98), USS Canopus (AS-34), and USS Canisteo (AO-99), were towed to a dry dock site at Graythorp near the port city of Hartlepool in the United Kingdom to be scrapped, but UK environmentalists protested their arrival at Able UK, the salvage company.

Work to dismantle a controversial fleet of former US warships was slated to begin in the summer of 2008, five years after the company originally won the scrapping contract.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Compass_Island_(AG-153)


1992 - The Aegean Sea tanker oil spill was a spill that occurred on 3 December 1992 when the double-bottomed Greek-flagged oil tanker, Aegean Sea, en route to the Repsol refinery in A Coruña, Spain, suffered an accident off the Galician coast.



The Aegean Sea tanker oil spill was a spill that occurred on 3 December 1992 when the double-bottomed Greek-flagged oil tanker, Aegean Sea, en route to the Repsol refinery in A Coruña, Spain, suffered an accident off the Galician coast. The ship had successfully passed all required tests and revisions. The accident occurred during extreme weather conditions and affected the Galician coast resulting in ecosystem damage, as well as damage to the fishing and tourist industries in A Coruña. The captain and pilot were found to be criminally liable and the shipowner took on much of the monetary liability.

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


1983 - Two F-14s are fired upon off Lebanon. The next day, USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) and USS Independence (CV 62) launch a strike against Syrian anti-aircraft positions. During the strike, two U.S. Navy planes, A-6E and A-7E, are shot down. In the A-6E, Lt. Mark A Lange is killed while Lt. Robert O. Goodman is captured. Goodman is released Jan. 1984.

USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) (formerly CVA-67) is the only ship of her class (a variant of the Kitty Hawk class of aircraft carrier) and the last conventionally powered carrier built for the United States Navy. The ship is named after the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and is nicknamed "Big John." Kennedy was originally designated a CVA (fixed wing attack carrier); however, the designation was changed to CV to denote that the ship was capable of anti-submarine warfare, making her an all-purpose carrier.

After nearly 40 years of service in the United States Navy, Kennedy was officially decommissioned on 1 August 2007. She is berthed at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance facility in Philadelphia and, until late 2017, was available for donation as a museum and memorial to a qualified organization. In late 2017, the Navy revoked her "donation hold" status and designated her for dismantling. The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).



The fifth USS Independence (CV/CVA-62) was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. She was the fourth and final member of the Forrestal class of conventionally powered supercarriers. She entered service in 1959, with much of her early years spent in the Mediterranean Fleet.

Independence was decommissioned in 1998 after 39 years of active service. Stored in recent years at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, the ex-Independence was towed beginning on 10 March 2017 to Brownsville, Texas for scrapping. She arrived on 1 June 2017 and is currently being dismantled.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_John_F._Kennedy_(CV-67)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Independence_(CV-62)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1695 – Launch of Adventure Galley, also known as Adventure, an English sailing ship captained by William Kidd, the notorious privateer.


Adventure Galley, also known as Adventure, was an English sailing ship captained by William Kidd, the notorious privateer. She was a type of hybrid ship that combined square rigged sails with oars to give her manoeuvrability in both windy and calm conditions. The vessel was launched at the end of 1695 and was acquired by Kidd the following year to serve in his privateering venture. Between April 1696 and April 1698, she travelled thousands of miles across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in search of pirates but failed to find any until nearly the end of her travels. Instead, Kidd himself turned pirate in desperation at not having obtained any prizes. Adventure Galley succeeded in capturing two vessels off India and brought them back to Madagascar, but by the spring of 1698 the ship's hull had become so rotten and leaky that she was no longer seaworthy. She was stripped of anything movable and sunk off the north-eastern coast of Madagascar. Her remains have not yet been located.

Class and type: oared frigate
Tons burthen: 287
Length: 124 ft (38 m) (keel)
Beam: 28 ft (8.5 m)
Draught: 9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion: Sails, one bank of oars
Sail plan: Ship rig
Speed:

• 14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h) under full sail
• 3 knots (3.5 mph; 5.6 km/h) under oar, without wind

Complement: 160 men
Armament: 34 light cannon


The Charles galley - similar in principles to the Adventure Galley

Design and purchase
The vessel was acquired for Kidd by a consortium of investors who backed a scheme to hunt down pirates, recover their booty and redistribute it among the investors. He had enlisted the support of Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont and governor-general of the British Province of New York and the ambitious Robert Livingston the Younger, who later became the mayor of Albany, New York. With Coote's backing, Kidd obtained a commission from King William III to operate as a privateer. The other investors who came aboard the scheme after it met with the king's approval were the Earl of Oxford, the Earl of Romney, the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Lord Chancellor, Sir Edmund Harrison and John Somers. The king himself was not an investor but was nonetheless entitled to one tenth of the proceeds.




The Charles Galley, a contemporary vessel of a comparable design to Adventure Galley


This ship portrait is viewed from the port quarter. The ship has twenty small, rectangular sweep-ports illustrated low on the gundeck. On the ship’s tafferel are two robust cherubs, collectively supporting a crowned coat of arms. The same ship is shown in a drawing of the ‘Charles Galley’ of 1688 by Jeremy Roch, this time with three guns on the quarterdeck and twenty-one sweeps.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/157873.html#WbyamjCdHaDzBCkI.99

The vessel was purchased for £8,000 (£968,571 today) in August 1696. She had been launched on 4 December 1695 from Captain William Castle's dockyard in Deptford on the outskirts of London. Her design combined sails and oars, an unusual combination for warships at that time, that incorporated three ship-rigged masts and two banks of oars. This allowed her to make 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) under full sail and 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) under oar. Although rowing was slow it enabled the ship to manoeuvre against the wind, or in calm conditions where other vessels that relied on sails alone could not make any progress. A number of British warships had been built to similar designs following the lessons learned from the wars against the Barbary pirates of North Africa, whose galleys had proved formidable opponents, and trading companies such as the East India Company (EIC) also built oared frigates. Castle's yard, where Adventure Galley was built, was one of the largest private shipyards in England and was a supplier of vessels to the EIC.

Adventure Galley was well-armed with a complement of 32 guns (saker or light cannon). It is not clear whether she was in fact a new vessel or had originally been intended for the navy; she may have been a commercial vessel under refit at Castle's yard before she was acquired by Kidd's consortium. She does not appear to have been particularly well-built, to judge from the problems that Kidd faced with her seaworthiness during her short career in his service. It was not uncommon for shipyards to cut corners and use sub-standard materials, and to pocket the difference in costs as extra profit. Although no picture has survived of Adventure Galley, HMS Charles Galley, which was recorded in contemporary paintings, provides a good example of how the English adapted the oared frigate design for warfare.

Voyages of Adventure Galley

Map of Adventure Galley's voyages

After leaving Deptford on 6 April 1696, Kidd brought Adventure Galley along the coast to Plymouth in south-western England. He set sail from there on 23 April, bound for New York, and reached the city around 4 July. The ship was accompanied by a French fishing vessel that Kidd captured during the Atlantic crossing. He had the French boat condemned in New York as prize, and recruited more crewmen and set sail again on 6 September, heading for the Indian Ocean. Adventure Galley called at Madeira (reached on 8 October) and Boa Vista, Cape Verde (on 19 October) to pick up supplies en route. The long voyage down the western coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope took the rest of the year and it was not until 27 January 1697 that Adventure Galley made landfall at Tuléar (now Toliara), Madagascar.

By this time Adventure Galley was in need of fresh sail and rigging. The fact that the ship's existing supplies had barely lasted eight months suggests that the dockyard may have installed substandard equipment. After staying a month in Tuléar, Adventure Galley sailed on to Johanna (now Anjouan) in the Comoros on 18 March, where East India Company ships often refitted. However, Kidd was unable to obtain credit from local merchants to buy new rigging or sails, and chose instead to take Adventure Galley to another island – either Mayotte or Mohéli – for careening, to clean her hull of encrusted barnacles and weeds. This was accomplished successfully over the course of a month but up to a third of her crew died in an outbreak of an epidemic disease, possibly malaria or yellow fever. Kidd sailed back to Johanna to find replacement crewmen and this time was able to raise the credit for new sails and rigging.

According to Kidd's testimony, he "steered for India" on 25 April 1697. By now he was a year out of London and had no prize money to show for his efforts. He had failed to find any pirates and turned his own hand to piracy. Adventure Galley did not go immediately to India but travelled to the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, where she is said to have unsuccessfully tried to attack a Mughal convoy. In September 1697, Adventure Galley arrived on the Malabar Coast of India, where Kidd finally managed to capture two ships travelling under French passes – a pair of merchantmen, Rouparelle and Quedah Merchant. Unfortunately for Kidd, the latter ship was captained by an Englishman and when news of her capture reached London he was publicly condemned as a pirate.

Adventure Galley's next and final stage of her voyage took her to the Île Sainte-Marie, a pirate haven off the north-east coast of Madagascar. By now, according to Kidd's narrative, "his gally was very leaky", probably because of a rotten hull. The ship arrived there about 1 April, accompanied by the Rouparelle (renamed November) and Quedah Merchant (renamed Adventure Prize). On arrival, most of the crew promptly deserted to another pirate captain, Robert Culliford and sank November. Kidd was left with only thirteen men to crew Adventure Prize and the now-unseaworthy Adventure Galley. According to one of her crew, William Jenkins, after the rest of the crew had deserted Kidd "run Adventure Galley on shoar in Madagascar. They stript her furnishings and set her on fire to get her iron worke." This is contradicted by Kidd's own account, which stated that his skeleton crew "could not keep the galley from sinking, and went on board of the prize."

No more is currently known about the ship's fate and last position.

William Kidd, also Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd (c. 1654 – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean.

Preparing his expedition

On 11 December 1695, Bellomont was governing New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and he asked the "trusty and well beloved Captain Kidd" to attack Thomas Tew, John Ireland, Thomas Wake, William Maze, and all others who associated themselves with pirates, along with any enemy French ships. It would have been viewed as disloyalty to the crown to turn down this request, carrying much social stigma, making it difficult for Kidd to say no. The request preceded the voyage which established Kidd's reputation as a pirate, and marked his image in history and folklore.

Four-fifths of the cost for the venture was paid for by noble lords, who were among the most powerful men in England: the Earl of Orford, the Baron of Romney, the Duke of Shrewsbury, and Sir John Somers. Kidd was presented with a letter of marque, signed personally by King William III of England. This letter reserved 10% of the loot for the Crown, and Henry Gilbert's The Book of Pirates suggests that the King may have fronted some of the money for the voyage himself. Kidd and his acquaintance Colonel Robert Livingston orchestrated the whole plan, they sought additional funding from a merchant named Sir Richard Blackham. Kidd also had to sell his ship Antigua to raise funds.

The new ship, Adventure Galley was well suited to the task of catching pirates, weighing over 284 tons burthen and equipped with 34 cannon, oars, and 150 men. The oars were a key advantage, as they enabled Adventure Galley to manoeuvre in a battle when the winds had calmed and other ships were dead in the water. Kidd took pride in personally selecting the crew, choosing only those whom he deemed to be the best and most loyal officers.

As the Adventure Galley sailed down the Thames, Kidd unaccountably failed to salute a Navy yacht at Greenwich, as custom dictated. The Navy yacht then fired a shot to make him show respect, and Kidd’s crew responded with an astounding display of impudence – by turning and slapping their backsides in.​

Because of Kidd's refusal to salute, the Navy vessel's captain retaliated by pressing much of Kidd's crew into naval service, despite rampant protests. Thus short-handed, Kidd sailed for New York City, capturing a French vessel en route (which was legal under the terms of his commission). To make up for the lack of officers, Kidd picked up replacement crew in New York, the vast majority of whom were known and hardened criminals, some undoubtedly former pirates.

Among Kidd's officers was his quartermaster Hendrick van der Heul. The quartermaster was considered "second in command" to the captain in pirate culture of this era. It is not clear, however, if van der Heul exercised this degree of responsibility, because Kidd was nominally a privateer. Van der Heul is also noteworthy because he may have been African or of African descent.

Hunting for pirates
In September 1696, Kidd weighed anchor and set course for the Cape of Good Hope. A third of his crew died on the Comoros due to an outbreak of cholera, the brand-new ship developed many leaks, and he failed to find the pirates whom he expected to encounter off Madagascar.

As it became obvious that his ambitious enterprise was failing, Kidd became desperate to cover its costs. But, once again, he failed to attack several ships when given a chance, including a Dutchman and a New York privateer. Some of the crew deserted Kidd the next time that Adventure Galley anchored offshore, and those who decided to stay on made constant open threats of mutiny.


Howard Pyle's fanciful painting of Kidd and his ship, Adventure Galley, in New York Harbor

Kidd killed one of his own crewmen on 30 October 1697. Kidd's gunner William Moore was on deck sharpening a chisel when a Dutch ship appeared. Moore urged Kidd to attack the Dutchman, an act not only piratical but also certain to anger Dutch-born King William. Kidd refused, calling Moore a lousy dog. Moore retorted, "If I am a lousy dog, you have made me so; you have brought me to ruin and many more." Kidd snatched up and heaved an iron bound bucket at Moore. Moore fell to the deck with a fractured skull and died the following day.

Seventeenth-century English admiralty law allowed captains great leeway in using violence against their crew, but outright murder was not permitted. Yet Kidd seemed unconcerned, later explaining to his surgeon that he had "good friends in England, that will bring me off for that".

Accusations of piracy
Acts of savagery on Kidd's part were reported by escaped prisoners, who told stories of being hoisted up by the arms and "drubbed" (thrashed) with a drawn cutlass. On one occasion, crew members ransacked the trading ship Mary and tortured several of its crew members while Kidd and the other captain, Thomas Parker, conversed privately in Kidd's cabin. When Kidd found out what had happened, he was outraged and forced his men to return most of the stolen property.

Kidd was declared a pirate very early in his voyage by a Royal Navy officer, to whom he had promised "thirty men or so". Kidd sailed away during the night to preserve his crew, rather than subject them to Royal Navy impressment.

On 30 January 1698, Kidd raised French colours and took his greatest prize, the 400-ton Quedagh Merchant, an Indian ship hired by Armenian merchants that was loaded with satins, muslins, gold, silver, an incredible variety of East Indian merchandise, as well as extremely valuable silks. The captain of Quedagh Merchant was an Englishman named Wright, who had purchased passes from the French East India Company promising him the protection of the French Crown. After realising the captain of the taken vessel was an Englishman, Kidd tried to persuade his crew to return the ship to its owners, but they refused, claiming that their prey was perfectly legal, as Kidd was commissioned to take French ships, and that an Armenian ship counted as French, if it had French passes. In an attempt to maintain his tenuous control over his crew, Kidd relented and kept the prize. When this news reached England, it confirmed Kidd's reputation as a pirate, and various naval commanders were ordered to "pursue and seize the said Kidd and his accomplices" for the "notorious piracies" they had committed.

Kidd kept the French sea passes of the Quedagh Merchant, as well as the vessel itself. While the passes were at best a dubious defence of his capture, British admiralty and vice-admiralty courts (especially in North America) heretofore had often winked at privateers' excesses into piracy, and Kidd may have been hoping that the passes would provide the legal fig leaf that would allow him to keep Quedagh Merchant and her cargo. Renaming the seized merchantman Adventure Prize, he set sail for Madagascar.

On 1 April 1698, Kidd reached Madagascar. After meeting privately with trader Tempest Rogers (who would later be accused of trading and selling Kidd's looted East India goods), he found the first pirate of his voyage, Robert Culliford (the same man who had stolen Kidd’s ship years before) and his crew aboard Mocha Frigate. Two contradictory accounts exist of how Kidd reacted to his encounter with Culliford. According to The General History of the Pirates, published more than 25 years after the event by an author whose identity remains in dispute, Kidd made peaceful overtures to Culliford: he "drank their Captain's health", swearing that "he was in every respect their Brother", and gave Culliford "a Present of an and some Guns". This account appears to be based on the testimony of Kidd's crewmen Joseph Palmer and Robert Bradinham at his trial. The other version was presented by Richard Zacks in his 2002 book The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd. According to Zacks, Kidd was unaware that Culliford had only about 20 crew with him, and felt ill-manned and ill-equipped to take Mocha Frigate until his two prize ships and crews arrived, so he decided not to molest Culliford until these reinforcements came. After Adventure Prize and Rouparelle came in, Kidd ordered his crew to attack Culliford's Mocha Frigate. However, his crew, despite their previous eagerness to seize any available prize, refused to attack Culliford and threatened instead to shoot Kidd. Zacks does not refer to any source for his version of events.

Both accounts agree that most of Kidd's men now abandoned him for Culliford. Only 13 remained with Adventure Galley. Deciding to return home, Kidd left the Adventure Galley behind, ordering her to be burnt because she had become worm-eaten and leaky. Before burning the ship, he was able to salvage every last scrap of metal, such as hinges. With the loyal remnant of his crew, he returned to the Caribbean aboard the Adventure Prize. Some of his crew later returned to America on their own as passengers aboard Giles Shelley's ship Nassau.

Trial and execution

Captain Kidd, gibbeted, following his execution in 1701


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Galley
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=14437
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2900
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-301615;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kidd

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1770 – Launch of HMS Intrepid, a 64-gun Intrepid-class third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 December 1770 at Woolwich


HMS Intrepid was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 December 1770 at Woolwich. She was sold in 1828.

Class and type: Intrepid-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1374 65⁄94
Length:

• 159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (keel)
• 131 ft 0 in (39.9 m) (gundeck)

Beam: 44 ft 5 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft 0 in (5.8 m)
Sail plan:Full rigged ship
Armament:

• Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns
• Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns
• QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns
• Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Intrepid (1770), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The plan includes a table of mast and yard dimensions. The later alterations to the quarterdeck and forecastle roughtree rails are dated 1805. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81277.html#3Dil1sezzrOWSj6q.99


Initial service
In 1772 Intrepid sailed to the Dutch East Indies. The ship's master on this journey was John Hunter, later an admiral and the second Governor of New South Wales.
She took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781.

French Revolutionary Wars
In February 1796, Intrepid was patrolling near Cap-François looking for reinforcements expected from Cork when she encountered a French corvette. After a chase of ten hours, the corvette ran ashore in a cove to the east of Porto Plata, where her crew abandoned her, enabling the British to retrieve her. She turned out to be Perçante, armed with twenty 9-pounder guns and six brass 2-pounders, with a crew of 200 men under the command of Citoyen Jacque Clement Tourtellet. She had left La Rochelleon 6 December 1795 under orders from the Minister of Marine and Colonies not to communicate with any vessel on the way. The British took her into service as the sixth-rate HMS Jamaica. Musquito must have been in company or in sight as she shared in the proceeds of the capture.

Captain Sir William Hargood took command of Intrepid and convoyed a fleet of nine East Indiamen to China. One was Malabar.

Hargood remained and Intrepid remained in China until the Peace of Amiens in 1802, defending Macau at the Macau Incident of January 1799.

On 4 April 1801, Intrepid captured Chance. The prize agent failed and what prize money could be recovered from his estate was not paid until 1828.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the framing profile (disposition) with alterations for Intrepid (1770), a 64-gun Third Rate, two-decker. The shaded areas illustrate the gaps between the frames, which would have allowed air to circulate.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81278.html#fMxc6Jw0m3wpfzyj.99



Scale: 1:48. A contemporary ful hull skeleton model of the Intrepid (1770), a third rate 64 gun two-decker ship of the line. Numerous hand written labels attached to inner and outer surfaces of frame identifying specific parts. The ‘Intrepid’ model was almost certainly the one referred to in the following letter from King George III to Lord Sandwich in September 1773: ‘I shall be very curious to receive the model you mean to send tomorrow, and doubt not from the ingenuity of Mr Williams that it will thoroughly explain the construction of a ship, which the more I reflect on it the more it shows the perfection to which mechanics has arrived.’
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66486.html#m0g5IszyMh9WQ2eU.99


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

Fate
The Navy fitted Intrepid as a receiving ship in May 1810. She then went into Ordinary until 1815.

On 26 March 1828, the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered for sale at Plymouth "Intrepid, of 50 guns and 1374 tons". The Navy sold Intrepid for £3,030 on that day to D. Beatson


The Intrepid-class ships of the line were a class of fifteen 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir John Williams. His design, approved on 18 December 1765, was slightly smaller than Sir Thomas Slade's contemporary Worcester class design of the same year, against which it was evaluated competitively. Following the prototype, four more ships were ordered in 1767–69, and a further ten between 1771 and 1779.


HMS Diadem at the capture of the cape Good Hope

Ships

• HMS Intrepid

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 16 November 1765
Laid down: January 1767
Launched: 4 December 1770
Completed: 31 January 1771
Fate: Sold to be broken up at Plymouth, 26 March 1828

• HMS Monmouth

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 10 September 1767
Laid down: May 1768
Launched: 18 April 1772
Completed: 9 May 1778
Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth, January 1818

• HMS Defiance

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 9 June 1768
Laid down: October 1768
Launched: 31 August 1772
Completed: July 1778 at Portsmouth Dockyard
Fate: Wrecked in the Savannah River, 15 February 1780

• HMS Nonsuch

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 30 November 1769
Laid down: January 1770
Launched: 17 December 1774
Completed: 25 April 1776
Fate: Broken up at Sheerness, June 1802

• HMS Ruby

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 30 November 1769
Laid down: 9 September 1772
Launched: 26 November 1776
Completed: 27 February 1778
Fate: Broken up at Bermuda, April 1821

• HMS Vigilant

Builder: Henry & Anthony Adams, Bucklers Hard
Ordered: 14 January 1771
Laid down: February 1771
Launched: 6 October 1774
Completed: 11 July 1778 at Portsmouth Dockyard
Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth , April 1816

• HMS Eagle

Builder: John & William Wells, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 14 January 1771
Laid down: April 1771
Launched: 12 May 1774
Completed: 30 July 1776 at Woolwich Dockyard
Fate: Broken up at Chatham, October 1812

• HMS America

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 18 June 1771
Laid down: October 1771
Launched: 5 August 1777
Completed: 29 March 1778
Fate: Broken up, 1807

• HMS Anson

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Ordered: 24 April 1773
Laid down: January 1774
Launched: 4 September 1781
Completed: 15 October 1781
Fate: Wrecked in Mounts Bay, 29 December 1807

• HMS Polyphemus

Builder: Sheerness Dockyard
Ordered: 1 December 1773
Laid down: January 1776
Launched: 27 April 1782
Completed: 24 July 1782
Fate: Broken up at Chatham, September 1827

• HMS Magnanime

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 16 October 1775
Laid down: 23 August 1777
Launched: 14 October 1780
Completed: 29 December 1780 at Woolwich Dockyard.
Fate: Broken up at Sheerness, July 1813

• HMS Sampson

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 25 July 1776
Laid down: 20 October 1777
Launched: 8 May 1781
Completed: 29 June 1781
Fate: Sold to be broken up, 30 May 1832

• HMS Repulse

Builder: Robert Fabian, East Cowes
Ordered: 5 February 1777
Laid down: 12 January 1778
Launched: 28 November 1780
Completed: 15 February 1781 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
Fate: Wrecked off Ushant, 10 March 1800

• HMS Diadem

Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 5 December 1777
Laid down: 2 November 1778
Launched: 19 December 1782
Completed: 19 July 1783
Fate: Broken up at Plymouth, September 1832

• HMS Standard

Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 5 August 1779
Laid down: May 1780
Launched: 8 October 1782
Completed: 19 December 1782 at Woolwich Dockyard
Fate: Broken up at Sheerness, October 1816



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Intrepid_(1770)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrepid-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-320896;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=I

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1799 - HMS Racoon (1795 - 16) captured lugger Intrepide (16) in the Channel


HMS Racoon (or Raccoon) was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.

Design
The Diligence-class were built to a design by John Henslow. They were quickly ordered and built, with the last three, including Racoon, being built of fir (pine), which made for quicker construction, but at the price of durability.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Diligence (1795), Harpy (1795), Hound (1795), Seagull (1795), and later for Racoon (1795), Kangaroo (1795), Camelion/Cameleon (1795) and Curlew (1795), all 16-gun, later 18-gun brig sloops.

French Revolutionary Wars
In April 1796, Racoon, under Commander Edward Roe, captured the French privateer lugger Furet with a crew of 13 men armed with blunderbusses and muskets. The privateer had been out of Dunkirk five days but had captured nothing. On 29 April Racoon recaptured the Sincerity, John Ingham, master, which a rowboat privateer had captured. Racoon sent Sincerity, of Guernsey, into The Downs. Then on 19 July Racoon captured the Aurora.

Roe and Racoon were off Dungeness on 29 September when they captured the French privateer cutter Actif. Actif was armed with six 3-pounder guns and several swivel guns and had a crew of 23 men. Actif was one day out of Boulogne and had taken nothing, but was in the process of boarding a vessel when Racoon arrived.

Racoon also shared in the capture of two more privateers, Furet and Hazard. The sloop Fly captured the French privateer lugger Furet of five swivels and 27 men, on 22 August, seven leagues from the Isle of Portland. The armed cutter Lion captured the French privateer cutter Hazard, of two guns and two swivels, off the Owers on 14 December 1796. Hazard and her crew of 17 men had been out from Fecamp for two days but had captured nothing.


Capture of French brig Lodi by HMS Racoon

Commander Robert Lloyd
In December 1796 Commander Robert Lloyd assumed command of Racoon. He was already captain on 16 December when she captured the galiot Concordia. Eurydice, Fairy, and hired armed cutter Grace were in sight. Racoon and Harpy were in company when they captured the Hoop.

Racoon was some five or six leagues SSW of Fairlight at 1 a.m. on 20 April 1797 when she encountered a cutter to which she gave chase. At 3 a.m. Racoon captured the French privateer Les Amis, which was armed with two 4-pounder guns and six swivels, and had a crew of 31 men. Les Amis had left Boulogne at 7 p.m. the evening before and had captured one vessel. Racoon was able to recapture the prize, Good Intent, James Marshall, master, as well. Racoon shared the capture and recapture with Grace. On 15 November, Racoon and Grace recaptured the cutter Mary.

On 11 January 1798, Racoon was seven leagues south-west of Beachy Head when she encountered a cutter. Racoon gave chase and after a running fight of two hours captured the French privateer Policrate. Policrate was armed with 16 guns (of which she threw five overboard during the chase), and had a crew of 72 men. She was an entirely new vessel that had left Dunkirk for the West Indies. Grapeshot from Policrate's stern chase guns and small arms fire killed Racoon's master, and wounded four men, two severely.

Eleven days later, again off Beachy Head, Racoon captured the French privateer schooner Pensėe, of two 4-pounder guns and nine swivel guns. Pensėe had a crew of 32 men and had left Dieppe a few days earlier but had not captured anything.

Racoon captured another privateer on 20 October, but it sank shortly after capture. Racoon was about three leagues NW by W of Blackness at 6 a.m. in the morning when she sighted three luggers ahead. She immediately sailed towards them and after a two-hour running fight was able to capture one. The captive was the Vigilante, of twelve 4-pounder and two 6-pounder guns. She had a crew of some 50 men on board, all under the command of Citizen Muirbassse. When the prize crew went on board Vigilante they found that he was taking on water rapidly due to shot holes in her hull. Racoon tried to stop the leaks, which took up so much time that the other two privateers were able to make their escape. Lloyd was able to get all his prisoners aboard Racoon, leaving only the dead behind, and watched Valiante sink at 9 a.m. Valiante was new and had been out only once before and had not captured anything. One of the luggers that escaped had taken a prize that another British warship recaptured two hours later.

On 1 July 1799, Racoon recaptured the West Indiaman Benjamin and Elizabeth, which had been sailing from Grenada to London, and which two French privateers had just captured. Benjamin and Elizabeth was about four leagues off Dungeness during a foggy night, when two French privateer luggers came up and boarded her. The captain, mate, and two seaman resisted but were overwhelmed. The privateers threw the captain overboard, though he was already severely wounded. One lugger picked him up. The privateers also shot the mate and one seaman at point-blank range after they were already wounded and had surrendered (both were expected to survive). Racoon, which had been escorting the West India convoy, heard the shooting and came up after the privateer vessels had left. She was able to recapture Benjamin and Elizabeth within minutes. Shortly afterwards the fog cleared slightly and Racoon saw the privateers, one of which was about 3-400 yards away. Racoon immediately fired a broadside, and when the smoke cleared, the lugger had disappeared completely, apparently sunk. The second privateer disappeared as the fog came back in.

Then on the morning of 2 December Racoon was WSW of Portee when she encountered a French lugger. After an hour's chase Racoon captured her quarry, which proved to be the Vrai Decide, of 14 guns and four swivel guns. Vrai Decide had 41 men on board, under the command of Citizen Defgardi. The lugger was from Boulogne, had been out 30 hours in company with three other privateers, and had taken no prizes. Cormorant was in sight and joined the chase.

The next day, Racoon captured another privateer, in this case after a fight. At 10 p.m. Racoon was about five or six miles south of Dover when she sighted a lugger boarding a brig. Racoon set off in pursuit and after 40 minutes of a running fight came alongside and exchanged further fire with the quarry. The French vessel sustained so much damage that he had to strike. The privateer was the Intrepide, of 16 guns and 60 men under the command of Citizen Suillard. He had sailed from Boulogne at 4 p.m. the previous day. In the engagement the French had thirteen men killed and wounded; Racoon had two men slightly wounded, one of them being Lloyd, who was wounded in the head by a half-pike, though not dangerously. Racoon was too damaged for Lloyd to be able to pursue the brig the privateer had captured. The brig was the Welcombe, and she had been sailing from London to Plymouth with malt. Lloyd stated that he "derived particular Pleasure to have deprived the Enemy of a Vessel which they considered the largest and best Sailer from Calais".

Two days later Lloyd received his promotion to post captain. His replacement, in December, was Commander Wilson Rathborne (sometimes reported as "Rathbone").

Commander William Rathborne
On 2 September 1800, Racoon arrived at Portsmouth with 170 kegs of liquor that she had picked up at sea. Then one month later, on 3 October, Racoon brought into Portsmouth a smuggler that she had captured off Beachy Head. Raccoon, under "Wilson Rathborne", then recaptured the Portlandon 30 November.

In November 1801 Rathborne convoyed the Straits fleet to Gibraltar, arriving there on 16 November. On the way they encountered dreadful weather in the Bay of Biscay. While Racoon was near Brest, she observed Hannibal, which the French had captured at the Battle of Algeciras Bay on 5 July 1801, and Speedy, which the French had captured two days earlier in a separate engagement. Both former Royal Navy vessels were under jury-masts and French colours.

By early February 1802 Racoon was at Malta. From there she sent a letter reporting that the sloop Mondovi had arrived there with the news that the Turks and Mamelukes were at war in upper Egypt, with heavy casualties on both sides. On 2 July Racoon returned to Portsmouth from Malta, via Gibraltar. She left Portsmouth about three weeks later with a squadron to sail to Lymington and Jersey, to convey Dutch troops there to Cuxhaven. She was back at Plymouth by 1 September. On 22 October, Racoon received orders to sail immediately to the West Indies.

Rathborne was promoted in Jamaica from Racoon to post captain, with the promotion being dated 18 October 1802.

Napoleonic Wars
In 1803 Commander Austin Bissell took command of Racoon. Between 5 July 1803 and 10 July she captured or destroyed four French vessels.

Then, within about a month Racoon participated in two single-ship actions. First, on 11 July 1803, Racoon was sailing between Guanaba and St. Domingo when she sighted a French naval brig anchored in Léogâne Roads. As Racoon sailed towards her Bissell saw that the French had springs on their cables and were ready to engage. At 2:45 p.m. Racoon anchored, also with springs, 30 yards from the brig. The two vessels exchanged fire for half an hour before the French vessel cut his cables and tried to sail away. Racoon followed and after about another 10 minutes of fire from Racoon, the French brig surrendered.

The Frenchman was the Lodi, pierced for 20 guns but with only 10 mounted, and under the command of Capitaine de fregate M. Pierre Isaac Taupier. The French had lost one man killed and 13 or 14 men wounded; Racoon had only one man wounded.

In August, Having received information that French privateers were operating out of Cuban ports, Bissell sailed along the east end of the Jamaican coast and then crossed to Santiago de Cuba. There he saw four schooners, which appeared to be armed. Within a few days Racoon was able to encounter three of them early in the morning. Racoon captured two after tedious chases, as they separated. They were the Deux Amis and the Trois Freres, both of three guns. Racoon was also able to drive the third, of two guns, on shore, where she was wrecked


HMS Racoon engaging with French navy corvette Mutine,

The second notable action occurred on 17 August off the coast of Cuba. At 1 p.m. Racoon sighted a brig coming along shore and that met up with a schooner that had been avoiding the British all day. At 3 p.m. the two came up together, but Racoon held back. Then at 4:15 the brig hoisted French colours and opened fire on Racoon. Racoon and the brig exchanged broadsides, with Racoon's fire bringing down most of the brig's rigging. The brig ran on shore on the rocks in a small bay, where she struck her colours. After some maneuvering, Racoon fired a broadside from her other side to try to destroy the brig. After about half an hour, the brig raised her colours again. Racoon made several passes, firing on the brig, which lost her mainmast near sunset, and fell on her side. The brig sent her crew ashore in boats while Racoon watched all night. In the morning it was clear that the brig was a complete wreck, having lost her masts and being full of water. Bissell decided not to permit Racoon's master to take a boat and some men to the brig to burn her because there were too many armed men on shore who would fire on any boarding party. Also, Racoon had her two lieutenants and 42 men away in the prizes she had taken the previous month.

The brig turned out to be the French navy's corvette Mutine, of eighteen 18-pounder guns. She had been full of men and had been sailing from Port-de-Paix to Santiago de Cuba. During the engagement, the schooner made her escape despite the efforts of Lieutenant Wright, in one of the prizes, to capture her. Mutine, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Reybaud, had sailed from Gibraltar and Malaga.

Between 13 and 14 October Racoon captured four French schooners and a cutter. The schooners were the Jeune Adelle and Liza, plus two others whose names were not recorded. The cutter was the Amitie, of four guns and six swivel guns. All were mostly in ballast, but also carrying some dry goods or ironmongery. Jeune Adele and Amitie (or Amelie) were part of a group of three naval vessels, including the brig Petite Fille.

On the afternoon of 13 October, Racoon had observed several vessels sail along the coast of Cuba and enter Cumberland Harbour before sunset. Bissell believed that they were French and part of the evacuation of Port-au-Prince. He anchored in a nearby small bay until morning. At 6:30 a.m. Racoon chased nine vessels, and came to engage a brig, schooner, and cutter. After a broadside or two from Racoon, the brig struck. Bissell sent aboard a small prize crew comprising an officer and some men and then turned his attention to the other two vessels. At 11 they approached Racoon with an intent to board. Bissell maneuvered Racoon to block this attempt and continued to engage the two with broadsides, receiving cannon and extensive small-arms fire in return. After about an hour Racoon had battered the cutter into a wreck. He had many casualties and struck. Bissell sent a prize crew to him, and then set off after the schooner, which had started to flee when the cutter struck. At 1 p.m., Racoon caught up with him, fired a few shot, and he too struck. Racoon then chased a brig, which proved to be American, before returning to the French brig that she had captured in the morning.


HMS Racoon capturing French schooner Jeune Adele and cutter Amelie,

Bissell discovered that while Racoon was engaged the cutter and schooner, the Frenchmen on the brig Petite Fille had overpowered the prize crew Bissell had put aboard him and had run the brig onshore, where they escaped with their weapons. Petite Fillehad been under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau M. Piquet (the elder), and had had on board 180 troops, in addition to crew. Bissell was able to recover his prize crew unharmed. Petite Fille had been stationed at Port-au-Prince, where she had carried supplies to Saint-Marc. When captured, she was evacuating troops and civilians from Port-au-Prince to Cuba. The British were able to refloat her and she was sold at Santiago de Cuba.

The schooner Jeune Adele was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau M. Serin, and had 80 troops aboard. The cutter Amelie was under the command of Ensign de Vaisseau M. Puy and had on board over 70 troops.

The French commanders disclosed that they knew that Racoon was in the area and that the three French vessels had sortied from Cumberland Harbour with the intent to take Racoon by boarding, using their superiority in numbers. Bissell was of the opinion that had the wind remained as calm as it was early in the morning, they might have succeeded, though at great cost. As it was, the French had over forty dead and wounded. Racoon had only one man injured. Though Racoon had little damage, only some shot to her sails, Bissell returned to port, stating that "the very disabled State of the Prizes, and having expended nearly all the Shot on board, will, I hope, plead my excuse for returning to Port before I was regularly recalled." The Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded Bissell an honour sword worth 100 guineas. Head money for 37 men, pronounced to have been aboard the Amitiė, was paid in December 1824.

Soon after this Bissell received promotion to post captain and command of Creole, which the British had captured in July. James Alexander Gordon, first lieutenant of Racoon, replaced Bissell on 22 October.

James Alexander Gordon was promoted to Commander in the Racoon on 3 March 1804. On 16 March 1804 Racoon captured the French navy transport Argo, of six guns and some 30 men, not including the 50 soldiers she was transporting. Argo was under the command of a Lieutenant de vaisseau, and was sailing in ballast. She was sailing from New Orleans to France, and had been out 22 days.

Two weeks later, on 2 April, Racoon captured the privateer felucca Jean Baptiste, of 28 men. Three days later, Racoon captured another privateer felucca, this the Aventure, of one gun and 28 men. At about the same time Racoon recaptured the Elizabeth.

On 1 August, seven or eight leagues from Sand Key, Gordon and Racoon were able to lure a large French privateer to within 3-400 yards. After Racoon had fired on the privateer for about three quarters of an hour she struck. The privateer was the Alliance, of 12 guns, but with only six mounted – four 6-pounder and two 9-pounders. She had a crew of 68 men under the command of M. Jacques Dunoque, only one of whom was wounded. The privateer was three days out of Samaria and had taken nothing. Racoonsent Alliance into Jamaica.

At some point between 1 March and 1 June 1805, Racoon, still under Gordon's command, captured a French sloop with a cargo of fustic. Gordon received his promotion to post captain on 16 May, but appears to have left Racoon before then, but after the capture of the sloop.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Racoon_(1795)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1811 - HMS Saldanha (1809 - 36), Cptn. William Packenham, lost in Lough Swilly, Donegal . There were no survivors out of the estimated 253 aboard.


HMS Saldanha was a 36-gun Apollo-class frigate of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1809 and wrecked on the coast of Ireland in 1811. Before she was wrecked she participated in the capture of a noted French privateer.

Class and type: Apollo-class fifth rate
Type:Frigate
Tonnage: 951 29⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 144 ft 8 in (44.1 m) (overall)
• 121 ft 4 5⁄8 in (37.0 m) (keel)

Beam: 38 ft 4 3⁄4 in (11.7 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 2 1⁄2 in (4.0 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Complement: 264
Armament:

• Upper deck:
• 26 × 18-pounder guns
• QD:2 x 9-pounder guns + 10 x 32-pounder carronades
• Fc:2 x 9-pounder guns + 4 x 32-pounder carronades

Service
Saldanha was first commissioned in April 1810 under Captain John Stuart, who died on 19 March 1811. Captain William Pakenham then was assigned to command her, though in the Spring, Saldanha was temporarily under the command of Captain Reuben Mangin.

On 11 October 1811, Fortunee and Saldanha, under Pakenham, took the French privateer Vice-Amiral Martin. The privateer carried 18 guns and a crew of 140 men. On this cruise Vice-Amiral Martin was four days out of Bayonne and had not taken anything. Captain H. Vansitart of Fortunee remarked that Vice-Amiral Martin had superior sailing abilities that in the past had helped her escape British cruisers, and that though this time each of the British vessels was doing 11 knots, she would have escaped if the British had not had two vessels.

Loss
Saldanha and the sloop-of-war Talbot were based together in Lough Swilly, Donegal when on 30 November they set out on a cruise to the west. Saldanha shipwrecked in a gale on the night of 4 December 1811 in the Lough while possibly attempting to return to her anchorage. There were no survivors out of the estimated 253 aboard, and some 200 bodies washed up on the shore at Ballymastocker Bay on the west side of the Lough. (Actually, one man did make it to the shore alive but he died almost immediately thereafter.) Initial reports suggested that Talbot too had been wrecked but as it turned out these reports were mistaken. In August a servant at a house some 20 miles from the wreck site shot a bird that turned out to be a parrot with a collar engraved with "Captain Packenham of His Majesty's Ship Saldanha".

Earlier, Pakenham had been captain of Greyhound when she wrecked off the coast of Luzon in the Philippines on 4 October 1808. In that wrecking only one seaman died and the survivors reached Manila.

Postscript
On Sunday 4 December 2011 a special ceremony was held to mark the 200th anniversary of sinking in Lough Swilly of the HMS Saldanha. It was the first commemorative event recalling what is one of Ireland’s worst ever marine disasters. Until then there had been no permanent memorial to their deaths.


Lines (ZAZ2341)

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/HMS_Saldanha_(1809)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.


Mary Celeste (/səˈlɛst/; often misreported as Marie Celeste) was an American merchant brigantine, discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores Islands, on December 5, 1872. The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition, under partial sail, and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7, and on discovery was still amply provisioned. Her cargo of denatured alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again.


Mary Celeste as Amazon in 1861

Mary Celeste was built in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia, and launched under British registration as Amazon, in 1861. She transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868, when she acquired her new name, and thereafter sailed uneventfully until her 1872 voyage. At the salvage hearings in Gibraltar, following her recovery, the court's officers considered various possibilities of foul play, including mutiny by Mary Celeste's crew, piracy by the Dei Gratia crew or others, and conspiracy to carry out insurance or salvage fraud. No convincing evidence supported these theories, but unresolved suspicions led to a relatively low salvage award.

The inconclusive nature of the hearings helped to foster continued speculation as to the nature of the mystery, and the story has repeatedly been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the cargo, submarine earthquakes (seaquakes), waterspouts, attack by a giant squid, and paranormal intervention.

After the Gibraltar hearings, Mary Celeste continued in service under new owners. In 1885, her captain deliberately wrecked her off the coast of Haiti, as part of an attempted insurance fraud. The story of her 1872 abandonment has been recounted and dramatized many times, in documentaries, novels, plays and films, and the name of the ship has become a byword for unexplained desertion.

As Amazon

Spencer's Island, photographed in 2011

The keel of the future Mary Celeste was laid in late 1860 at the shipyard of Joshua Dewis in the village of Spencer's Island, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The ship was constructed of locally felled timber, with two masts, and was rigged as a brigantine; she was carvel-built, with the hull planking flush rather than overlapping. She was launched on May 18, 1861, given the name Amazon, and registered at nearby Parrsboro on June 10, 1861. Her registration documents described her as 99.3 feet (30.3 m) in length, 25.5 feet (7.8 m) broad, with a depth of 11.7 feet (3.6 m), and of 198.42 gross tonnage. She was owned by a local consortium of nine people, headed by Dewis; among the co-owners was Robert McLellan, the ship's first captain.

For her maiden voyage in June 1861, Amazon sailed to Five Islands to take on a cargo of timber for passage across the Atlantic to London. After supervising the ship's loading, Captain McLellan fell ill; his condition worsened, and Amazon returned to Spencer's Island where McLellan died on June 19. John Nutting Parker took over as captain, and resumed the voyage to London, in the course of which Amazon encountered further misadventures. She collided with fishing equipment in the narrows off Eastport, Maine, and after leaving London ran into and sank a brig in the English Channel.

Parker remained in command for two years, during which Amazon worked mainly in the West Indies trade. She crossed the Atlantic to France in November 1861, and in Marseille was the subject of a painting, possibly by Honoré de Pellegrin, a well-known maritime artist of the Marseilles School. In 1863 Parker was succeeded by William Thompson, who remained in command until 1867. These were quiet years; Amazon's mate later recalled that, "We went to the West Indies, England and the Mediterranean—what we call the foreign trade. Not a thing unusual happened." In October 1867, at Cape Breton Island, Amazon was driven ashore in a storm, and was so badly damaged that her owners abandoned her as a wreck. On October 15, she was acquired as a derelict by Alexander McBean, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.

New owners, new name
Within a month, McBean sold the wreck to a local businessman, who in November 1868, sold it to Richard W. Haines, an American mariner from New York. Haines paid US$1,750 for the wreck, and then spent $8,825 restoring it. He made himself her captain, and in December 1868 registered her with the Collector of Customs in New York as an American vessel, under a new name, Mary Celeste.

In October 1869, the ship was seized by Haines's creditors, and sold to a New York consortium headed by James H. Winchester. During the next three years, the composition of this consortium changed several times, although Winchester retained at least a half-share throughout. There is no record of Mary Celeste's trading activities during this period. Early in 1872, the ship underwent a major refit, costing $10,000, which enlarged her considerably. Her length was increased to 103 feet (31 m), her breadth to 25.7 feet (7.8 m) and her depth to 16.2 feet (4.9 m). Among the structural changes, a second deck was added; an inspector's report refers to extensions to the poop deck, new transoms and the replacement of many timbers. The work increased the ship's tonnage to 282.28. On October 29, 1872, the consortium was made up of Winchester with six-twelfths and two minor investors with one-twelfth apiece, with the remaining four-twelfths held by the ship's new captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs.

Captain Briggs and crew
Benjamin Briggs was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, on April 24, 1835, one of five sons of sea captain Nathan Briggs. All but one of the sons went to sea, two becoming captains. Benjamin was an observant Christian who read the Bible regularly and often bore witness to his faith at prayer meetings. In 1862, he married his cousin Sarah Elizabeth Cobb, and enjoyed a Mediterranean honeymoon on board his schooner Forest King. Two children were born: son Arthur in September 1865, and daughter Sophia Matilda in October 1870.

By the time of Sophia's birth, Briggs had achieved a high standing within his profession. Nevertheless, he considered retiring from the sea to go into business with his seafaring brother Oliver, who had also grown tired of the wandering life. They did not proceed with this project, but instead each invested his savings in a share of a ship: Oliver in Julia A. Hallock, and Benjamin in Mary Celeste. In October 1872, Benjamin took command of Mary Celeste for her first voyage following her extensive New York refit, which was to take her to Genoa in Italy. He arranged for his wife and infant daughter to accompany him, while his school-aged son was left at home with his grandmother.

Briggs chose the crew for this voyage with care. First mate Albert G. Richardson was married to a niece of Winchester and had sailed under Briggs before. Second mate Andrew Gilling, aged about 25, was Danish in origin although born in New York. The steward, newly married Edward William Head, was signed on with a personal recommendation from Winchester. The four general seamen were all Germans from the Frisian Islands: the brothers Volkert and Boz Lorenzen, Arian Martens, and Gottlieb Goodschaad. A later testimonial described them as "peaceable and first-class sailors." In a letter to his mother shortly before the voyage, Briggs declared himself eminently satisfied with ship and crew. Sarah Briggs informed her mother that the crew appeared to be quietly capable, "... if they continue as they have begun."

Abandonment
New York


A painting by George McCord of New York harbor in the 19th century

On October 20, 1872, Briggs arrived at Pier 50 on the East River, New York City, to supervise the loading of the ship's cargo for Genoa: 1,701 barrels of poisonous denatured alcohol. A week later, Briggs was joined by his wife and baby daughter. On Sunday, November 3, Briggs wrote to his mother, telling her that he intended to leave on Tuesday, adding that, "Our vessel is in beautiful trim and I hope we shall have a fine passage."

On Tuesday morning, November 5, Mary Celeste left Pier 50 and moved into New York Harbor. The weather was uncertain, and Briggs decided to wait for better conditions. He anchored the ship just off Staten Island, where Sarah used the delay to send a final letter to her mother-in-law, in which she wrote: "Tell Arthur I make great dependence on the letters I shall get from him, and will try to remember anything that happens on the voyage which he would be pleased to hear." On November 7, when the weather eased, Mary Celeste left the harbor and went out into the Atlantic.

While Mary Celeste prepared to sail, another brigantine, the Canadian Dei Gratia, lay in nearby Hoboken, New Jersey, awaiting a cargo of petroleum destined for Genoa via Gibraltar. Her captain, David Morehouse, and his first mate Oliver Deveau, were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen. As captains with common interests, it is likely that Morehouse and Briggs knew each other, if only casually. Some accounts assert that they were close friends who, on the evening before Mary Celeste's departure, dined together, but the evidence for this is limited to a recollection by Morehouse's widow, 50 years after the event. Dei Gratia departed for Gibraltar on November 15, eight days after Mary Celeste, following the same general route.

Derelict
Dei Gratia had reached a position of 38°20′N 17°15′W, midway between the Azores and the coast of Portugal at about 1 pm on Wednesday, December 4, 1872, land time (Thursday, December 5, sea time). As Captain Morehouse came on deck, the helmsman reported a vessel about 6 miles (9.7 km) distant, heading unsteadily towards Dei Gratia. The ship's erratic movements and the odd set of her sails led Morehouse to suspect that something was wrong. As the vessels drew close, he could see nobody on deck, and he received no reply to his signals, so he sent Deveau and second mate John Wright in a ship's boat to investigate. From the name on her stern the pair established that this was the Mary Celeste; they then climbed aboard, where they found the ship deserted. The sails, partly set, were in a poor condition, some missing altogether, and much of the rigging was damaged, with ropes hanging loosely over the sides. The main hatch cover was secure, but the fore and lazarette hatches were open, their covers beside them on the deck. The ship's single lifeboat, a small yawl that had apparently been stowed across the main hatch, was missing, while the binnacle housing the ship's compass had shifted from its place, its glass cover broken. There was about 3.5 feet (1.1 m) of water in the hold, a significant but not alarming amount for a ship this size. A makeshift sounding rod (a device for measuring the amount of water in the hold) was found abandoned on the deck.

The last entry on the ship's daily log, found in the mate's cabin, was dated at 8:00 am on November 25, nine days earlier. It recorded Mary Celeste's position then as 37°01′N 25°01′W, off Santa Maria Island in the Azores—nearly 400 nautical miles (740 km) from the point where Dei Gratia encountered her. Deveau saw that the cabin interiors were wet and untidy from water that had entered through doorways and skylights, but were otherwise in reasonable order. In Briggs's cabin, Deveau found personal items scattered about, including a sheathed sword under the bed, but most of the ship's papers were missing, together with the captain's navigational instruments. Galley equipment was neatly stowed away; there was no food prepared or under preparation, but there were ample provisions in the stores. There were no obvious signs of fire or violence; the evidence indicated an orderly departure from the ship, by means of the missing lifeboat.

Deveau returned to report these findings to Morehouse, who decided to bring the derelict into Gibraltar, 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) away. Under maritime law, a salvor could expect a substantial share of the combined value of rescued vessel and cargo, the exact award depending on the degree of danger inherent in the salvaging. Morehouse divided Dei Gratia's crew of eight between the two vessels, sending Deveau and two experienced seamen to Mary Celeste, while he and four others remained on Dei Gratia. The weather was relatively calm for most of the way to Gibraltar, but with each ship seriously undermanned, progress was slow. Dei Gratia reached Gibraltar on December 12, 1872, and Mary Celeste, which had encountered fog, arrived on the following morning. She was immediately impounded by the vice admiralty court, preparatory to salvage hearings. Deveau wrote to his wife that the ordeal of bringing the ship in was such that "I can hardly tell what I am made of, but I do not care so long as I got in safe. I shall be well paid for the Mary Celeste."

Gibraltar salvage hearings


Gibraltar in the 19th century

The salvage court hearings began in Gibraltar on December 17, 1872, under Sir James Cochrane, the chief justice of Gibraltar. The hearing was conducted by Frederick Solly-Flood, Attorney General of Gibraltar who was also Advocate-General and Proctor for the Queen in Her Office of Admiralty. Flood was described by a historian of the Mary Celeste affair as a man "whose arrogance and pomposity were inversely proportional to his IQ", and as "... the sort of man who, once he had made up his mind about something, couldn't be shifted." The testimonies of Deveau and Wright convinced Flood unalterably that a crime had been committed, a belief picked up by the New York Shipping and Commercial List on December 21: "The inference is that there has been foul play somewhere, and that alcohol is at the bottom of it."

On December 23, Flood ordered an examination of Mary Celeste, which was carried out by John Austin, Surveyor of Shipping, with the assistance of a diver, Ricardo Portunato. Austin noted cuts on each side of the bow, caused, he thought, by a sharp instrument, and found possible traces of blood on the captain's sword. His report emphasized that the ship did not appear to have been struck by heavy weather, citing a vial of sewing machine oil found upright in its place. Austin did not acknowledge that the vial might have been replaced since the abandonment, nor did the court raise this point. Portunato's report on the hull concluded that the ship had not been involved in a collision or run aground. A further inspection by a group of Royal Naval captains endorsed Austin's opinion that the cuts on the bow had been caused deliberately. They also discovered stains on one of the ship's rails that might have been blood, together with a deep mark possibly caused by an axe. These findings strengthened Flood's suspicions that human wrongdoing rather than natural disaster lay behind the mystery. On January 22, 1873, he sent the reports to the Board of Trade in London, adding his own conclusion that the crew had got at the alcohol (he ignored its non-potability) and murdered the Briggs family and the ship's officers in a drunken frenzy. They had cut the bows to simulate a collision, then fled in the yawl to suffer an unknown fate. Flood thought that Morehouse and his men were hiding something, specifically that Mary Celeste had been abandoned in a more easterly location, and that the log had been doctored. He could not accept that Mary Celeste could have traveled so far while unmanned.

James Winchester arrived in Gibraltar on January 15, to inquire when Mary Celeste might be released to deliver its cargo. Flood demanded a surety of $15,000, money Winchester did not have. He became aware that Flood thought he might have deliberately engaged a crew that would kill Briggs and his officers as part of some conspiracy. On January 29, during a series of sharp exchanges with Flood, Winchester testified to Briggs's high character, and insisted that he would not have abandoned the ship except in extremity. Flood's theories of mutiny and murder received significant setbacks when scientific analysis of the stains found on the sword and elsewhere on the ship showed that they were not blood. A second blow to Flood followed in a report commissioned by Horatio Sprague, the American consul in Gibraltar, from Captain Shufeldt of the US Navy. In Shufeldt's view the marks on the bow were not man-made, but came from the natural actions of the sea on the ship's timbers.

With nothing concrete to support his suspicions, Flood reluctantly released Mary Celeste from the court's jurisdiction on February 25. Two weeks later, with a locally raised crew headed by Captain George Blatchford from Massachusetts, she left Gibraltar for Genoa. The question of the salvage payment was decided on April 8, when Cochrane announced the award: £1,700, or about one-fifth of the total value of ship and cargo. This was far lower than the general expectation—one authority thought that the award should have been twice or even three times that amount, given the level of hazard in bringing the derelict into port. Cochrane's final words were harshly critical of Morehouse for his decision, earlier in the hearing, to send Dei Gratia under Deveau to deliver its cargo of petroleum—although Morehouse had remained in Gibraltar at the disposal of the court. Cochrane's tone carried an implication of wrongdoing, which, says Hicks, ensured that Morehouse and his crew "...would be under suspicion in the court of public opinion forever."

Proposed solutions you can find at wikipedia


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1868 - The sailing ship Andrew Jackson, a 1,679-registered-ton medium clipper wrecked


The sailing ship Andrew Jackson, a 1,679-registered-ton medium clipper, was built by the firm of Irons & Grinnell in Mystic, Connecticut in 1855. The vessel was designed for the shipping firm of J.H. Brower & Co. to carry cargo intended for sale to participants in the California Gold Rush.


Sailing card for the clipper ship Andrew Jackson.

Construction
The ship's dimensions were: length 220 feet (67 m), beam 41 ft., 2 in., and draft 22 ft., 3 in. The vessel was described as "a very handsome, well-designed ship. She was heavily sparred and carried double topsails, skysails, and royal studdingsails."

Voyages
Andrew Jackson made seven passages from New York to San Francisco, with an average time of 1061⁄3 days. These times compare well with the passages of extreme clippers such as Flying Cloud and Flying Fish, which averaged 1055⁄7 days and 1031⁄3 days respectively, and the vessel was advertised as "The Fastest Ship in the World."



Record passage to San Francisco
Andrew Jackson is best known for her 1859–1860 run around Cape Horn from New York City to San Francisco, which the vessel performed in 89 days and 4 hours. The run began at noon on Christmas Day, 1859, and ended at 4 p.m. on 23 March 1860 at the Farallon Islands.

This was one of only three 89-day runs performed by square-rigged ships driving from New York City to California. The other two runs were both posted by Flying Cloud. Flying Cloud's fastest New York-to-California run had taken 89 days and 8 hours; Andrew Jackson's run was, by four hours, widely acclaimed in the newspapers as the fastest in history.

Andrew Jackson's run, as calculated above, was from New York City to the Farallon Islands, the pilot boat entry point to the harbor of San Francisco. Andrew Jackson did not get a pilot boat in a timely manner and did not actually tie up at a San Francisco wharf until the next day. Some clipper ship authorities, including Howe and Matthews, assert that Andrew Jackson did not actually set the record described above. They concede, however, that this medium clipper, perhaps not naturally as fast as Flying Cloud, achieved a remarkable passage as the result of a combination of hard driving by the captain and favorable winds.



Andrew Jackson vs. Flying Cloud
However, after careful scrutiny of the logbooks, one author, Carl C. Cutler, concludes that a case can be made for either Flying Cloud or Andrew Jackson holding the record. Some will consider the passage from pilot-to-pilot as the appropriate indicator of fastest sailing performance around Cape Horn. Flying Cloud holds the record time for a passage anchor-to-anchor from New York to San Francisco, of 89 days 8 hours, while Andrew Jackson's completed passage anchor-to-anchor may have been as long as 89 days 20 hours.

Loss
Andrew Jackson was lost on December 4, 1868, after going ashore on a reef in the Gaspar Strait.

Legacy
Andrew Jackson's 1859–1860 run was to be one of the final sailing-ship records posted by an American clipper ship. During the 1860s, the progress of colonialism led to the creation of a network of coaling stations worldwide to serve fast steamships with a reliable supply of fuel, and the market for clipper-ship freight collapsed.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson_(clipper)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1908 - USS Yankee was originally El Norte, a steamer launched 14 June 1892, sunk


USS Yankee was originally El Norte, a steamer launched 14 June 1892 and delivered 15 Augugust 1892 at Newport , Virginia, by the Newport Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. for the Southern Pacific Railroad's Morgan Line.[1][2] The ship was acquired by the United States Navy from the Southern Pacific Company on 6 April 1898. The ship was renamed and commissioned at New York on 14 April 1898, Commander Willard H. Brownson in command.


USS Yankee as a training ship, in peacetime white-and-buff and auxiliary sail rig, in the early 1900s. Her 5" battery is carried in broadside casemates.

Career
Spanish–American War
After fitting out as an auxiliary cruiser, the ship joined in the Spanish–American War and patrolled the coastal waters between Block Island and Cape Henlopen until 27 May. That day, Yankee stopped at Tompkinsville, New York to coal ship. On 29 May, she returned to sea and shaped a southerly course to join the fleet off Cuba. En route, she touched briefly at St. Nicholas Mole, Haiti, on the evening of 2 June and then continued on toward Cuba. Early the following morning, Yankee joined the blockade off Santiago de Cuba and conducted patrols there for the next five days.

Battle of Guantánamo Bay
On the morning of the 6 June, she dueled shore batteries briefly and, near Santiago and on 7 June, joined Marblehead and St. Louis for a cable cutting incursion into Guantanamo Bay. While St. Louis dragged for and cut the three cables, Yankee and Marblehead covered her activities by engaging the Spanish gunboats Alvarado and Sandoval. After putting the Spanish gunboats to flight, the two American warships turned their attention toward the fort at Caimanera which had been making a nuisance of itself with its single large-caliber gun—a venerable, smooth-bore muzzleloader. As Yankee and Marblehead silenced their last adversary, St. Louis completed her cable-cutting mission; and the three ships exited the bay.

Yankee then briefly resumed blockade duty off Santiago, but on the 8 June got underway for St. Nicholas Mole with dispatches. On 9 June, just before she arrived at her destination, the auxiliary cruiser stopped two merchantmen and inspected them. They turned out to be the Norwegian SS Norse and the British SS Ely, so Yankee allowed them to proceed on their way. She completed her mission at Haiti and returned to Santiago early the following morning. At about noon on 10 June, Yankee set a course for Port Antonio, Jamaica, to deliver dispatches and to search for the suspected blockade runner SS Purissima Concepcion. After delivering the dispatches at Port Antonio on 10 June. and visiting Montego Bay in search of Purissima Concepcion, the warship returned to the Santiago area on 12 June. However, that same day, she received orders to move again, this time to Cienfuegos, about halfway up the southern coast of Cuba from Santiago, to stand guard there against Purissima Concepcion's expected run.


An undated picture of the auxiliary cruiser USS Yankee. Note the 5" guns poking through gunports along the hull side.


USS Yankee photographed at New York on 9 May 1898 as an auxiliary cruiser. Eight of her 5"/40 guns were located behind ports in the hull and two were on the forecastle.

Action off Cienfuegos
The auxiliary cruiser arrived off Cienfuegos on 13 June and began patrolling the approaches to the harbor. At about 13:15 that afternoon, she spied a steamer standing out of the port toward her. Identifying the stranger as the Spanish gunboat Diego Velázquez, Yankee cleared for action and closed the enemy. At about 1,500 yd (1,400 m) range, the American ship put her helm over, unmasked her port battery, and opened fire. The Spanish gunboat, markedly inferior to Yankee in armament, opted for a running fight in which she presented the smallest possible target and in which Yankee could bring only one or two of her guns to bear without turning away from her target's course. Consequently, Diego Velázquez came about and headed back toward Cienfuegos, firing as she went. Yankee followed, shooting her port forecastle gun constantly and periodically turning to starboard to unmask her entire port battery. Ultimately, Diego Velázquez reached safety under the protection of Sabanilla Battery, and the gunboat Lince came out to join her in the fray. Yankee continued to fire her port battery as she passed the two gunboats and shore battery abeam at about 4,000 yd (3,700 m) range. She completed one pass and then put the helm to port and came about for another pass, this time bringing her starboard battery into action for the first time. During Yankee's second pass, Diego Velázquez and Lince abandoned the fight and sought refuge in Cienfuegos harbor. Yankee continued firing on Sabanilla Battery until 15:00 and then withdrew to her blockade station off the harbor.

Yankee remained off Cienfuegos for two days. On 14 June, there was a brief moment of anxiety when a large man-of-war started out of the harbor. Yankee cleared for action and stood in toward the warship, but all hands breathed a sigh of relief when the newcomer was identified as the neutral German SMS Geier. The following afternoon, the auxiliary cruiser gave up her vigil for Purissima Concepcion off Cienfuegos and set a course back to the eastern end of Cuba. She rejoined the Santiago blockade on 16 June but put into the anchorage at Guantanamo Bay the following day to take on coal. Late on the 18 June, the ship returned to sea bound once more for blockade duty off Cienfuegos. On the 19 June, during the passage from Guantanamo Bay to Cienfuegos, Yankee stopped and inspected two sailing vessels—a British schooner and a Norwegian bark—and a steamer, the British SS Adula. All three had their papers in order, and the auxiliary cruiser allowed them to proceed unmolested. That evening, she arrived off Cienfuegos and began cruising on blockade station between that port and Casilda.

Action off Casilda
At about 08:30 on the morning of 20 June, Yankee sighted a steamer lying in Casilda harbor closely fitting the description of Purissima Concepcion. The American ship stood in as close to the shoals as she dared and then fired a shot across the steamer's bow in an unsuccessful effort to make her show her colors. Instead, the merchantman began preparations for getting underway. Yankee responded by opening a steady fire at extreme range. As the supposed Spanish steamer moved farther into shoal water and disappeared behind some islets, Yankee shifted fire to an enemy gunboat and a floating battery, both of which had opened an ineffective fire upon her. The extreme range—in excess of 5,000 yd (4,600 m)—made the gunfire from both sides so ineffective that Yankee broke off the engagement and resumed her patrols between Casilda and Cienfuegos. The auxiliary cruiser continued her blockade of that stretch of the Cuban coast until 24 June, when her dwindling supply of coal forced her to head for Key West. En route to that base, she visited the Isle of Pines where she captured and destroyed five Spanish fishing vessels on the 25 June.

Blockade of Cuba
Yankee arrived in Key West on 27 June and began taking on coal. She completed her refueling operation and departed Key West on 3 July, bound for New York, where she arrived two days later. She remained at New York until the 12 July, taking on ammunition for transportation to the Eastern Squadron on the Cuban blockade. On 13 July, she reached Norfolk, where she spent another four days taking on additional ammunition for the ships of the blockading squadron. Yankee left Hampton Roads on 17 July and arrived in Guantanamo Bay four days later. There, she began the tedious but dangerous job of transferring her cargo of ammunition to the various warships in the anchorage. The ship remained at Guantanamo Bay until 11 August, when she resumed blockade duty, patrolling initially in search of the armed merchant ship Montserrat. Three days later, while she cruised the northern coast of Cuba, Yankee received word of the cessation of hostilities in response to Spain's suit for peace. She reentered Guantanamo Bay on the afternoon of 15 August and remained there until the 24 August when she headed home.

Training ship
Yankee stopped briefly at Tompkinsville at the end of August and then made a round-trip voyage to League Island, and back to Tompkinsville at the beginning of September. She returned to League Island on 19 September. There, her crew of New York Naval Militia reservists left the ship to return home via train for mustering out. Though she remained in commission technically until decommissioned on 16 March 1899, Yankee spent the interim at League Island. That location also remained her home for the more than three years she spent in reserve. Her inactivity ended when she was placed back in commission on 1 May 1903, Commander G. P. Colvocoressee in command.

Following recommissioning, Yankee served along the east coast between Chesapeake Bay and the Maine coast training landsmen in the ways of the sea. Early in December 1903, she headed south for winter maneuvers and gunnery drills with the North Atlantic Fleet in the gulf and the Caribbean around Hispaniola. Yankee served at Santo Domingo to help restore order and to straighten out the country's financial muddle. On 1 February, the ship was fired upon by rebel troops. In response, the United States sent the protected cruisers USS Columbia and USS Newark. In the Santo Domingo Affair, the two ships bombarded the city and sent a landing party ashore on 11 February.

After visiting a number of West Indian ports in conjunction with the exercises, she returned north late in March 1904, and on 6 April, was moored to a pier at League Island where she remained until October. On 16 October, she got underway for Newport to embark 400 landsmen there before resuming her training schedule.

In December, Yankee made a round-trip voyage to Panama to exchange marine garrisons in the Canal Zone. She disembarked some of the returning marines at Hampton Roads on 31 December 1904 and on New Year's Day 1905 pushed on toward Tompkinsville to deliver the remainder. After a return voyage to Newport , she headed for League Island where she entered the navy yard for repairs on 13 January.

Occupation of the Dominican Republic
The ship completed those repairs on 9 March and loaded men, stores, and ammunition at Tompkinsville from the 10 March to 12 March before getting underway for the West Indies. For the next seventeen months, the island of Hispaniola, Cuba's neighbor to the east, became her center of operations. Successive coups since assassination of the dictator Heureaux in 1899 had added civil strife and anarchy to the list of woes of a country already racked by desperate financial problems. Yankee spent most of her time in Dominican waters and ports, departing infrequently for replenishment stops at such American bases as Key West and Guantanamo Bay and made one voyage back to New York in July 1905 for repairs at the New York Navy Yard.

The ship, by then classified as a transport, left Santo Domingo on 21 August 1906 and after participating in the Presidential Naval Review held at Oyster Bay from 2 September to 4 September, she unloaded stores at New York in preparation for inactivation. On 25 September, Yankee was again placed out of commission at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Sometime during the next two years, she was moved to the Boston Navy Yard, for it was at that location that she was once again commissioned on 15 June 1908, Commander Charles C. Marsh in command.


USS Yankee shown soon after grounding near New Bedford, Mass., in September, 1908. She had again been re-rigged and rearmed, this time with ten 3" guns, and was serving as a torpedo supply ship and flagship for Naval Militia maneuvers.

Sinking
After shakedown early in July, the ship resumed a familiar duty—training. With naval militia reservists or Naval Academy midshipmen embarked, she spent the summer of 1908 cruising the Atlantic coast between Boston and Chesapeake Bay. On 23 September 1908, during one such training exercise, Yankee ran aground on Spindle Rock near Hen and Chickens lightship. She remained there until refloated on 4 December. Her reprieve however, was short-lived. While being towed to New Bedford on the day she was refloated, she sank in Buzzards Bay. Yankee's name was finally struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 April 1912.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yankee_(1892)
https://www.navsource.org/archives/04/yankee/yankee.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
4 December 1939 – World War II: HMS Nelson is struck by a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.


HMS Nelson (pennant number 28) was one of two Nelson-class battleships built for the Royal Navy between the two World Wars. She was named in honour of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson the victor at the Battle of Trafalgar. The Nelsons were unique in British battleship construction, being the only ships to carry a main armament of 16 inch (406mm) guns and the only ones to carry all the main armament forward of the superstructure. These were a result of the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty. Commissioned in 1927, Nelson served extensively in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian oceans during the Second World War. She was decommissioned soon after the end of the war and scrapped in 1949. She was nicknamed "Nels-ol" from the resemblance in her outline to RN oilers, whose names ended in "-ol".




Design


HMS Nelson firing her 16-inch (406 mm) guns during a practice shoot. The massive muzzle blast churns up water to starboard.


Profile drawing of HMS Nelson

HMS Nelson (as was her sister, Rodney) was essentially a cut-down version of the G3 battlecruiser cancelled under the constraints of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. The design was to carry a main armament of 16 in (410 mm) guns to match the firepower of the American Colorado and Japanese Nagato classes in a ship displacing no more than 35,000 tons. The main battery was mounted in three turrets, all placed forward, speed was reduced and maximum armour was limited to vital areas, to meet the tonnage limit.

Armament details


Sailors of the South African Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve sitting on one of the 16-inch gun barrels of HMS Nelson during the Second World War.


Nelson in Mers-el-Kebir during Operation Torch, November 20, 1942

The three turrets from forward to aft were "A", "B" and "X". The secondary armament was in turrets P1 to P3 on the port, S1 to S3 on the starboard. The six 4.7 in (119 mm) anti-aircraft mounts were named HA1 to HA6, the even numbers on the port side. The six pom-pom mounts were numbered from M1 (on top of B turret) to M7 at the extreme aft—there was no M2 position—the odd numbers 3 & 5 to the starboard with 4 & 6 to port to be consistent with the HA armament labels. From August 1940 until March 1942, Nelson was equipped with four 20-tube 7 in (178 mm) UP rocket launchers.

History
Nelson was laid down in December 1922 and built in the Hebburn, South Tyneside by Armstrong-Whitworth. Launched in September 1925, she was commissioned in August 1927 and joined by her sister ship HMS Rodney (built by Cammell Laird) in November. She cost £7,504,000 to build and made partial use of the material prepared for the cancelled Admiral-class battlecruisers HMS Anson and Howe, planned sister ships of HMS Hood.

She was the flagship of the Home Fleet from launch. On 29 March 1931, Nelson collided with the SS West Wales, of Cardiff, in foggy conditions off of Cape Gilano, Spain, although neither vessel was badly damaged. In 1931 the crews of both Nelson and Rodney took part in the Invergordon Mutiny. On 12 January 1934 she ran aground on Hamilton's Shoal, just outside Portsmouth, as she was about to depart with the Home Fleet for the West Indies.

Nelson was modified little during the 1930s and was with the Home Fleet when war broke out in September 1939. On 25 and 26 September she performed escort duty during the salvage and rescue operations of the submarine HMS Spearfish. Nelson was first deployed in the North Sea in October against a German formation of cruisers and destroyers, all of which easily evaded her. On 30 October she was unsuccessfully attacked by U-56 under the command of captain Wilhelm Zahn near the Orkney Islands and was hit by three torpedoes, none of which exploded. Later she was again shown up for pace in the futile pursuit of German battlecruisers. In December 1939 she struck a magnetic mine (laid by U-31) at the entrance to Loch Ewe on the Scottish coast and was laid up in Portsmouth for repairs until August 1940.

Upon return to service she went to Rosyth in case of invasion and was then deployed in the English Channel.[4] From April to June 1941 she was on convoy escort in the Atlantic. In late May she was in Freetownand was ordered to Gibraltar to stand by to take part in the chase of the German battleship Bismarck.

In June 1941 Nelson, then in Gibraltar, was assigned to Force H operating in the Mediterranean as an escort. On 27 September 1941 she was severely damaged by a Regia Aeronautica torpedo strike and was under repair in Britain until May 1942. She returned to Force H as the flagship in August 1942, performing escort duties for supply convoys running to Malta. She supported Operation Torch around Algeria in November 1942, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the Salerno operation (by coastal bombardment) in September 1943. The Italian long armistice was signed between General Dwight Eisenhower and Marshal Pietro Badoglio aboard HMS Nelson on 29 September.

HMS Nelson returned to England in November 1943 for a refit, including extensive additions to her anti-aircraft defences. Returning to action she supported the Normandy landings but hit two sea mines on 18 June 1944 and was sent to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania for repairs. She returned to Britain in January 1945 and was then deployed to the Indian Ocean, arriving in Colombo in July. She was used around the Malayan Peninsula for three months, taking part in Operation Livery. The Japanese forces there formally surrendered aboard her at George Town, Penang, on 2 September 1945.

Nelson returned home in November 1945 as the flagship of the Home Fleet until reassigned as a training ship in July 1946.

Decommissioning and disposal
Nelson was decommissioned in February 1948 and used as a target ship for aerial bombing exercises for several months. She was sold to Thos W Ward for scrapping, arriving at Inverkeithing on 15 March 1949.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nelson_(28)

 

[Uwek]

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


1691 – Launch of French Formidable 90 guns (designed and built by Étienne Hubac) at Brest – broken up 1714


1709 – Launch of French Junon, 36/40 guns, design by Philippe Cochois, at Le Havre – fate unknown.


1811 - Boats of HMS Sultan (74) captured two French national vessels off Bastia, a settee (8) and a brig (6).

HMS Sultan was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 September 1807 at Deptford Wharf.
On 10 October 1814 Sultan was escorting some transports when Baring wrecked at haven. Sultan's boats, and those of Shamrock, were able to rescue the crew and all the troops, save five men. The troops consisted of 200 men from the 40th Regiment of Foot.
Sultan became a receiving ship in 1860, and was broken up in 1864.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for 'Illustrious' (1803), 'Albion' (1802), 'Hero' (1803), 'Marlborough' (1807), 'York' (1807), 'Hannibal' (1810), 'Sultan' (1807), and 'Royal Oak' (1809), all 74-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. The alterations relating to the catheads and forecastle beams refer to 'Hannibal' (1810), and to 'Victorious' (1808) of the 'Swiftsure' class (1800). Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/80824.html#26VpS892pdkeFQ4U.99

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sultan_(1807)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-351393;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=S


1918 - President Woodrow Wilson sails on board the transport George Washington for the Paris Peace Conference.


1943 - TBF aircraft from USS Lexington (CV 16), USS Independence (CVL 22), and USS Yorktown (CV 10) attack Kwajalein Atoll and sink the Japanese vessels Asakaze Maru, Tateyama Maru, Takunan Maru, and Mikuni Maru.

Kwajalein raid

Chart room on board USS Lexington as the ship maneuvers into enemy waters during a strike on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, December 1943

Lexington sailed to raid Kwajalein on 4 December. Her morning strike destroyed the SS Kembu Maru, damaged two cruisers, and accounted for 30 enemy aircraft. Her gunners splashed two of the enemy torpedo planes that attacked at midday, but were ordered not to open fire at night as Admiral Charles Pownall then in command believed it would give their position away (he was later replaced).

At 19:20 that night, a major air attack began while the task force was under way off Kwajalein. At 23:22, parachute flares from Japanese planes silhouetted the carrier, and 10 minutes later, she was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side, knocking out her steering gear. Nine people were killed, two on the fantail and seven in the chief petty officers' mess room, which was a repair party station during general quarters. Four members of the affected repair party survived because they were sitting on a couch that apparently absorbed the shock of the explosion. Settling 5 feet (2 m) by the stern, the carrier began circling to port amidst dense clouds of smoke pouring from ruptured tanks aft. To maintain water-tight integrity, damage control crews were ordered to seal the damaged compartments and welded them shut, applying heavy steel plates where needed. An emergency hand-operated steering unit was quickly devised, and Lexington made Pearl Harbor for emergency repairs, arriving on 9 December. She reached Bremerton, Washington, on 22 December for full repairs, completed on 20 February 1944. The error in judgment concerning opening fire at night was never repeated, as thereafter gun crews were ordered to open fire anytime the ship came under attack. Following this attack, the ship was reported as sunk by Japan's Tokyo Rose, the first of several such assertions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(CV-16)


1943 - Japanese aircraft carrier Chūyō Sunk by the submarine USS Sailfish, 4 December 1943

Chūyō (冲鷹, "hawk which soars") was a Taiyō-class escort carrier originally built as Nitta Maru (新田 丸), the first of her class of three passenger-cargo liners built in Japan during the late 1930s. She was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy(IJN) in late 1941 and was converted into an escort carrier in 1942. She spent most of her service ferrying aircraft, cargo and passengers to Truk until she was torpedoed and sunk by an American submarine in late 1943 with heavy loss of life.



On 30 November, the carrier departed Truk in company with the light carrier Zuihō and her sister Un'yō; the carriers were escorted by the heavy cruiser Maya and four destroyers. Chūyō and Un'yō had aboard 21 and 20 captured crewmen from the sunken submarine USS Sculpin, respectively. At 10 minutes after midnight on 4 December, Chūyō was hit in the bow by a torpedo fired by USS Sailfish at 32°30′N 143°40′E. The detonation blew off her bow and caused the forward part of the flight deck to collapse. To reduce pressure on the interior bulkheads, the ship's captain began steaming in reverse at half speed towards Yokosuka. Nearly six hours later, she was again torpedoed by Sailfish at 05:55, this time twice in the port engine room, at 31°55′N 143°30′ECoordinates:

31°55′N 143°30′E. The hits disabled her engines and Maya and one destroyer came alongside to render assistance. Sailfish attacked again at 08:42 and hit the carrier with one or two torpedoes on the port side. The hits caused massive flooding and Chūyō capsized very quickly to port six minutes later. There were very few survivors because of the speed at which she sank. Only 161 crewmen and passengers were saved, including one American prisoner of war (PoW); 737 passengers and 513 crewmen were lost. She was stricken from the Navy List on 5 February 1944.

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


1944 - USS Flasher (SS 249) sinks Japanese destroyer Kishinami and damages a merchant ship in the South China Sea. Flasher is the only U.S. submarine to sink more than 100,000 tons of enemy shipping in World War II.

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

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



Fifth and sixth war patrols, November 1944 – April 1945
Heading the same attack group, Flasher now commanded by Lieutenant Commander G. W. Grider, sailed on her fifth war patrol 15 November 1944, bound for Cam Ranh Bay. On 4 December one of her companions reported a tanker convoy, and Flasher set a converging course. As she made her approach in a heavy downpour, a destroyer suddenly loomed up before her, and Flasher launched her first spread of torpedoes at this escort. The destroyer (Kishinami) was stopped by two hits, and began listing and smoking heavily. Flasher got a spread of torpedoes away at a tanker before she was forced deep by a second destroyer, which dropped 16 depth charges. Rising to periscope depth, Flasher located the tanker burning and covered by yet a third destroyer. Speedily reloading, she prepared to sink the destroyer and finish off the tanker, and though almost blinded by rainsqualls, she did so with a salvo of four torpedoes, two of which hit the destroyer (Iwanami), and two of which passed beneath her, as planned, to hit the tanker (Hakko Maru 10,022 tons). Once more, counter-attack forced Flasher down, and when she surfaced she found no trace of the two damaged destroyers. The tanker, blazing away, was still guarded by three escorts until abandoned at sunset, when Flasher sank her with one torpedo. The two destroyers, both found after the war to have been sunk, were Kishinami and Iwanami

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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 December 1691 – Launch of French Ambitieux, a First Rank three-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy.


The Ambitieux (1691 - 92) was a First Rank three-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was armed with 92 guns, comprising twenty-eight 36-pounder guns on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on the middle deck, and twenty-six 8-pounder guns on the upper deck, with ten 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck.



Designed and built by Honoré Malet, she was begun at Rochefort Dockyard in July 1691 and launched on December of the same year. On completion in April 1692, she joined the Ponant fleet and took part in the Battle of Barfleur on 29 May 1692. Following that action, she was destroyed by an English attack at La Hougue in June 1692. A replacement ship of the same name was promptly built at Rochefort.



Length of gundeck: 158 French feet - 51.3184m (168′ 4″ Imperial)
Length of keel: 135 French feet - 43.848m (143′ 10″ Imperial)
Beam: 44½ French feet - 14.2912m (46′ 10″ Imperial)
Draught: 24½ French feet
Draft: 20 French feet - 6.496m (21′ 3″ Imperial)
Depth of hold: 20 French feet - 6.496m (21′ 3″ Imperial)
Complement: 850 men (650 in peacetime), + 16 officers
Armament: 92 guns

according threedecks:
4.1692 Broadside Weight = 966 French Livre (1042.5072 lbs 472.857 kg)
Lower Gun Deck 28 French 36-Pounder
Middle Gun Deck 30 French 18-Pounder
Upper Gun Deck 26 French 12-Pounder
Quarterdeck/Forecastle 12 French 6-Pounder

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=1871


The successor built on the same drawings

The Ambitieux (1693 - 92) was a First Rank three-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was initially armed with 92 guns, comprising twenty-eight 36-pounder guns on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on the middle deck, and twenty-six 8-pounder guns on the upper deck, with ten 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck. By 1706 an additional pair of 8-pounders were added on the upper deck, and an extra pair of 6-pounders was added on the quarterdeck, raising the ship to 96 guns; she briefly received four 100-pounders to replace four 36-pounders, but the latter were restored soon after.

Designed and begun by Honoré Malet, and completed after Malet's death by Jean Guichard, she was begun at Rochefort Dockyard in June 1692 and launched on January 1693. She was a replacement for the previous ship of the same name, destroyed by an English attack at La Hougue in June 1692. She took part in the Battle of Lagos on 28 June 1693. She was sold and broken up at Brest in 1713.

Length of gundeck: 155 French feet - 50.344m (165′ 2″ Imperial)
Beam: 45 French feet 4 inches - 14.6377m (48′ 0″ Imperial)
Draught: 24½ French feet
Depth of hold: 20 French feet 2 inches - 6.5501m (21′ 5″ Imperial)
Complement: 850 men (650 in peacetime), + 11 officers
Armament: 92 (later 96) guns

according threedecks:
Broadside Weight = 890 French Livre (960.488 lbs 435.655 kg)
Gun Deck 28 French 36-Pounder
Gun Deck 28 French 18-Pounder
Gun Deck 26 French 8-Pounder
Gun Deck 10 French 6-Pounder

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=1870


There is a wonderful monographie from Jean Boudriot in scale 1:48 existing, which is describing these typical 3-decker ships of this time:



THE THREE-DECKER of the Chevalier DE TOURVILLE- 1680
available in french, english or italian language

https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/68-mo...ux-vaisseau-3-ponts-1680.html#/langue-anglais








https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Ambitieux_(1692)


and in Rochefort we had a wonderful scratch built based on the drawings of Jean Boudriot

Denis Desormiere showed his L´AMBITIEUX in scale 1:48

https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...-th-21-st-october-2018.2050/page-6#post-43345

and

Another model from Japan. It is the L´AMBITIEUX stern section in scale 1:72 built by Tetsuro Yoshida

https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...-th-21-st-october-2018.2050/page-6#post-43358

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 December 1758 – Birth of Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey GCB (5 December 1758 – 20 February 1830)


Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey GCB (5 December 1758 – 20 February 1830) was an eccentric and hot-tempered officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars who was as distinguished for his gambling and dueling as for his military record. Although Harvey was a significant naval figure for over twenty years, his martial reputation was largely based on his experiences at the Battle of Trafalgar, when he took his ship HMS Temeraire into the thick of the action. Harvey used Temeraire to force the surrender of two French ships of the line and later created his family motto from the names of his opponents in the engagement; "Redoutable et Fougueux".



In his civilian life, Harvey pursued political interests and spent three spells as a Member of Parliament for Maldon and later Essex. During this period he was also knighted. However, Harvey was not a peaceable man and his life both in and out of the Navy was frequently punctuated by disputes with fellow officers and politicians. One such dispute, a consequence of the Battle of Basque Roads, eventually cost Harvey his career; a bitter exchange with Lord Gambier forcing Harvey into early retirement in 1809. Although reinstated a year later, Harvey was never again employed in an official capacity and further promotions were only bestowed as a matter of seniority.

Harvey was also notable in his time for his extravagant lifestyle. The deaths of his father and elder brother while he was still a young man provided Harvey with a considerable fortune, much of which he squandered gambling in London. Harvey's exploits at the gaming tables became legendary, one story claiming that he once bet £100,000 on a single game of chance and lost, only to win most of it back on the following throw. Despite his dissolute lifestyle, Harvey was married and had numerous children; he was survived by six daughters and had three sons who predeceased him.

Early life
Eliab Harvey was born in Chigwell, Essex to William and Emma Harvey. His father William Harvey was a Member of Parliament for Essex, but died when Harvey was only five years old, in 1763. Until 1768, Harvey was raised at the family estate of Rolls Park in Chigwell, which had passed to his elder brother William on the death of their father. Harvey then attended Westminster School for two years before moving to Harrow School in 1770. At the age of thirteen in 1771, Harvey was entered onto the books of the naval schooner HMS Mary, although he did not actually serve aboard the ship. Utilising a standard legal fiction of the time, Harvey's name was entered on the ship's books without his actual presence, a ruse that would provide him with sufficient seniority to gain rapid promotion when he did enter the navy. In his summer holidays from school, Harvey served at sea, joining HMS Orpheus in 1773.

Entering the Navy fully in May 1774, Harvey became a midshipman aboard the sloop HMS Lynx and spent the next two years in the West Indies. Briefly returning to Britain at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Harvey returned to the eastern seaboard of North America late in 1776 aboard HMS Mermaid, before transferring to the flagship of the North America Station HMS Eagle. From there Harvey joined HMS Liverpool on temporary assignment, only to be wrecked on Long Islandaboard the frigate in 1778. Harvey rejoined Eagle after the wreck and returned to Britain in her. He was promoted to lieutenant on 25 February 1779.

Following his promotion, Harvey took a leave of absence from the Navy which would last three years. He took over the parliamentary seat for Maldon in Essex in 1780 on the death of Richard Savage Nassau and then won it again in the general election a few months later, holding the seat for the next four years. In 1781 Harvey briefly commanded HMS Dolphin, but took leave once again four months later. In 1782 Harvey again returned to the Navy just as peace was agreed and was promoted to commander on 21 March 1782, briefly taking over the sloop HMS Otter before rapidly making the jump to Post Captain less than a year later, on 20 January 1783.

Civilian life

Lady Louisa Harvey with two of her children (Thomas Lawrence)

With the peace of 1783, Harvey again took leave from the navy, seeing out his parliamentary term and continuing his notorious lifestyle of gambling and debauchery. The young death of Harvey's elder brother William Harvey, MP in April 1779 had provided Harvey with a substantial fortune, which he immediately began squandering in epic nights at London's fashionable drinking and gambling establishments. Harvey gained a reputation among this crowd for playing exceptionally high stakes; one often repeated story concerns his loss, on his 21st birthday in 1779, of over £100,000 in a single game of hazard to a Mr O'Byrne. O'Byrne, recognising that such a sum would bankrupt his opponent, refused to take more than £10,000, insisting that they roll the dice again to determine the fate of the remaining £90,000. Harvey won and kept his fortune, but reportedly still failed to pay the £10,000.

Despite this riotous lifestyle, Harvey married Lady Louisa Nugent in 1784. Louisa was a daughter of Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent and co-heir to his substantial wealth. The couple had nine children, eight of whom survived infancy and six of whom, all daughters, outlived their father. Harvey's eldest son was killed in action serving in the British Army under the Marquess of Wellington at the Siege of Burgos in 1812. Harvey remained in semi-retirement until 1790, dividing his time between London and Rolls Park.

Return to service
In 1790, Harvey was recalled up to the Navy during the Spanish armament and commanded the frigate HMS Hussar for six months, until the Navy returned to its peacetime complement. Three years later, Harvey was once again recalled to the Navy with the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Harvey would remain in service for the next 16 years, only briefly taking leave in 1802 during the Peace of Amiens. In 1793, Harvey became captain of the frigate HMS Santa Margarita in the West Indies. There he participated in the successful campaigns against the French colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique under Admiral John Jervis. In May 1794 Harvey returned to Britain and served in the squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren which raided the French coast with great success in 1794 and 1795.

In August 1795, Harvey took command of the ship of the line HMS Valiant, initially in the Channel Fleet and later in the West Indies under Sir Hyde Parker. In 1797 Harvey returned to Britain due to ill-health, and was given command of the Essex sea fencibles during the next year. In 1800 Harvey returned to sea in command of HMS Triumph, which he retained until the Peace of Amiens. During the peace he again dabbled in politics, becoming MP for Essex in 1802. Even after returning to the Navy in 1803 as captain of the second rate HMS Temeraire, Harvey remained in parliament, serving until 1812.

Trafalgar


Temeraire at the Battle of Trafalgarfrom a painting by J. M. W. Turner

With the resumption of the war against France, Temeraire was attached to the Channel Fleet and blockaded ports in eastern France until 1805, when Harvey was sent to join Horatio Nelson's blockade off Cadiz. When the Battle of Trafalgar was joined on 21 October, Harvey's Temeraire was the second ship in Nelson's division and was a faster and more agile ship than HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship. As a result, Temeraire began to pull ahead of Victory as the division closed on the Franco-Spanish fleet and Harvey was consequently reprimanded by Nelson, who hailed Temeraire: "I will thank you Captain Harvey, to keep your proper station which is astern of the Victory".



During the combat that followed, Harvey was heavily engaged with the enemy, passing behind Bucentaure and astern of Redoutable. The broadside fired into Redoutable reduced the French ship to a wreck and forced its surrender soon afterwards when it became tangled with Victory and Temeraire. The three ships then drifted into the following French Fougueux, British fire disabling her and giving cover to a boarding party led by Temeraire's first-lieutenant, Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, which forced the surrender of Fougueux's crew. In later years Harvey would use this incident for his personal motto "Redoutable et Fougueux".


The Battle of Trafalgar, 1836 oil on canvas by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield. Stanfield shows the damaged Redoutable caught between the Victory (foreground) and the Temeraire (seen bow on). The Fougueux, coming up on Temeraire's starboard side, has just received a broadside.

Once the fleet had returned to port, controversy erupted concerning Harvey's role in the battle. Although his bravery and skill were not questioned, his prominence in the dispatch sent home by Cuthbert Collingwood was. In the dispatch, Harvey was singled out over the other captains for his bravery, Collingwood writing: "I have not words in which I can sufficiently express my admiration of it". As a result of this special mention, Harvey was promoted to rear-admiral on 9 November 1805, and given the honour of being one of Nelson's pallbearers at the admiral's funeral despite their short acquaintance. Harvey's new motto and his penchant for "bragging" further alienated him from his fellow officers.

Retirement

Rolls Park, the Harvey family home ---- From Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Second Series, Volume III, by John Preston Neale, 1826.

Returning to naval service some months after the action, Harvey was given the 80-gun HMS Tonnant as his first flagship, in which he remained until 1809. Serving under Lord Gambier in the Channel Fleet, Harvey was outraged not to be given command of the British ships in action at the Battle of Basque Roads. Harvey expressed his disgust that command had been given to the more junior Lord Cochrane in no uncertain terms to Gambier, and was dismissed from the admiral's council as a result. When the operation was initially successful, Gambier refused to support Cochrane and as a result an opportunity to annihilate the French Atlantic Fleet was lost. The ensuing dispute lasted years and involved a court martial that eventually acquitted Gambier, and only ended with Cochrane's dismissal from the service five years later.

Harvey was not embroiled in the political arguments surrounding the action, as he had resigned his commission on 23 May 1809, before the attack went ahead, in protest at Cochrane's preferment. Returning to the Navy a year later on 21 March 1810, Harvey was never again called to active service, Gambier blocking his efforts to obtain gainful employment. Despite his failure to return to the sea, Harvey's seniority brought more promotions; he made vice-admiral in 1810 and finally became a full admiral in 1819. He was also made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1815 when the order was reformed, becoming a Knight Grand Cross in 1825. Harvey's retirement included a further period in politics, returning to his seat as MP for Essex between 1820 and 1830.

Harvey died in 1830 at his family estate of Rolls Park and was buried in the Harvey family crypt at St Andrews Church at Hempstead in Essex, which contains the remains of over 50 family members, including his ancestor's brother, Dr. William Harvey. His coffin is still in the crypt, and can be viewed on request. On the wall of church is a hatchment in his honour originally placed shortly after his death and restored in 1958 after it was destroyed in the partial collapse of the church in 1884. A large wall memorial to him is also visible in the church, which also commemorates his youngest son William, who died in 1823 aged 22.

The crest of the Harvey Grammar School of Folkestone bears Harvey's motto as well as his ship's name 'Temeraire'. The crest was designed by Eliab Harvey.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliab_Harvey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Temeraire_(1798)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 December 1763 – Launch of HMS Guadeloupe, a 28-gun sixth-rate Coventry-class frigate of the Royal Navy.


HMS Guadeloupe was a 28-gun sixth-rate Coventry-class frigate of the Royal Navy. The ship was designed by Sir Thomas Slade, and was initially contracted to be built with the Pembrokeshire shipwright John Williams of Neyland; however he became bankrupt and the Admiralty transferred the order to the Plymouth Naval Dockyard.




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

Guadeloupe served during the American War of Independence. At Yorktown her men, stores and guns were landed to support the British Army during the siege. When she came under fire from shore batteries the British scuttled her in the York River, Virginia, on 10 October 1781 to prevent the French capturing her.[2]

The French Navy subsequently salvaged her and then commissioned her in April 1783 after they had repaired her. She served until being deleted from their navy lists at Rochefort in 1786.

Class and type: Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate
Displacement: 850 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 586 30⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 118 ft 4 in (36.1 m) (gundeck)
• 97 ft 3 1⁄2 in (29.7 m) (keel)

Beam: 33 ft 8 in (10.3 m)
Depth of hold: 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement:

• British service:200
• French service:130 (peace) and 210 (war)

Armament:

• British service:
• Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
• QD: 4 × 3-pounder guns
• Also: 12 × ½-pdr swivel guns
• French service:
• Upperdeck: 20 x 8-pounder guns
• Spardeck:4 x 4-pounder guns

Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half breadth for Argo (1758), Active (1758), Aquilon (1758), Milfrord (1759), and later in 1758 for Guadeloupe (1763), and in 1764 for Carysfort (1766), then in 1782 for Laurel (cancelled 1783 and not built), and Hind (1785)a 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline with some detail, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Guadalupe (1763), a 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigate. note: see nalso ADMC 2450A, A reverse at Yarmouth 1066/21. DATE: possibly earlier like 1763? NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 361 states that 'Guadeloupe' was begun on 8 May 1759 and launched 5 December 1763. She was docked on 13 March 1764 and launched on 15 March 1764, sailing in July 1764 having been fitted. 'Guadeloupe later arrived at Plymouth Dockyard in 1769 [writing unclear] and was docked on 26 February 1770. She was undocked on 24 March 1770 and sailed on 29 March 1770 having been sheathed and refitted at the cost of £1,937.12s.7d. "Adm'y Order 19 Sept 1757 to Build in a Merchant Yard a new Ship of 20 Guns." "Mr Williams at Milford having failed the Board proposed to set her up at Plymouth. Adm'y Order 29th June 1758 to set her up accordingly."


Scale 1:96. Plan showing the quater deck, forecastle, upper deck and lower deck for deck Guadalupe (1763), a 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigate, as fitted at -?- Annotation: "NB: Bulkheads & c drawn in Green are as was first ordered." NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 361 states that 'Guadelupe' (1763) arrived at Plymouth Dockyard in 1769 [writing unclear] and was docked on 26 February 1770. She was undocked on 24 March 1770 and sailed on 29 March 1770 having been sheathed and refitted at the cost of £1,937.12.7.


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

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

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

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

• Coventry class 28-gun sixth rates 1757-85; designed by Thomas Slade based on the Tartar of Lowestoffe class above, so a further modification of the Lyme class.
  • HMS Coventry 1757 - taken by the French in the Bay of Bengal 1783.
  • HMS Lizard 1757 - hulked as hospital ship at Sheerness 1800, sold 1828.
  • HMS Liverpool 1758 - wrecked on Long Island 1778.
  • HMS Maidstone 1758 - broken up 1794.
  • HMS Active 1758 - taken by the French off San Domingo 1778.
  • HMS Levant 1758 - broken up 1780.
  • HMS Cerberus 1758 - abandoned and burnt at Rhode Island 1778.
  • HMS Aquilon 1758 - sold 1776.
  • HMS Griffin 1758 - wrecked on the shoals off Barbuda 1761.
  • HMS Argo 1758 - broken up 1776.
  • HMS Milford 1759 - sold 1785.
  • HMS Guadeloupe 1763 - scuttled at Yorktown to prevent capture 1781.
  • HMS Carysfort 1766 - sold 1813.
• fir built Coventry class - due to the nature of the pine wood (fir or pine cannot be bent in tight angles), the design had to be fitted with a square tuck (i.e. flat) stern.
  • HMS Boreas 1757 - sold 1770.
  • HMS Hussar 1757 - stranded on the south coast of Cuba and taken by France 1762.
  • HMS Shannon 1757 - broken up 1765.
  • HMS Trent 1757 - sold 1764.
  • HMS Actaeon 1757 - sold 1766.
• modified Coventry class slightly modified (8½ inch greater width) revival of the Coventry design.
  • HMS Hind 1785 - broken up 1811.
  • HMS Laurel - cancelled 1783.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Guadeloupe_(1763)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-316783;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=G
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry-class_frigate

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 December 1779 - HMS Roebuck (1774 - 44) took American privateer Lady Washington


HMS Roebuck was a 44-gun, fifth-rate ship of the Royal Navy which served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1769, to operate in the shallower waters of North America, she joined Lord Howe'ssquadron towards the end of 1775 and took part in operations against New York the following year, engaging the American gun batteries at Red Hook during the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, and forcing a passage up the Hudson River in October. On 25 August 1777, Roebuck escorted troopships to Turkey Point, Maryland, where an army was landed for an assault on Philadelphia. She was again called upon to accompany troopships in December 1779; this time for an attack on Charleston. When the ships-of-the-line, which were too large to enter the harbour, were sent back to New York, Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot made Roebuck his flagship. She was therefore at the front of the attack; leading the British squadron across the bar to engage Fort Moultrie and the American ships beyond.

In October 1783, Roebuck underwent repairs at Sheerness and was refitted as hospital ship. She served in this capacity during the capture of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Lucia by a British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis in 1794. Recommissioned as a troopship in July 1799, Roebuck was part of the fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell, to which the Dutch surrendered in the Vlieter Incident, on 30 August. Following the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, Roebuck was paid off and laid up in ordinary at Woolwich Dockyard. When hostilities resumed in May 1803, she was brought back into service as a guardship at Leith, flying the flags of Vice-Admiral Richard Rodney Bligh then Rear-Admiral James Vashon under whom she later transferred to Great Yarmouth. In March 1806, she became a receiving ship, and from some point in 1810, the flagship of Lord Gardner. Roebuck was broken up at Sheerness in July 1811.


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

Construction and armament
Roebuck was the prototype of the Roebuck-class ships; two-deck, fifth-rates designed to operate in the shallower waters of North America. She was designed by renowned naval architect, Sir Thomas Slade in 1769 as an improvement on his Phoenixdesign, and ordered by The Admiralty on 30 November. Her keel of 115 feet 9 inches (35.3 m), was laid down in October the following year at Chatham Dockyard.

As built, Roebuck was 140 feet 0 inches (42.7 m) long at the gundeck, had a beam of 37 feet 9 1⁄2 inches (11.5 m), and a depth in the hold of 16 feet 4 inches (5.0 m). She measured 879 26⁄94 tons burthen. Launched on 24 April 1774 and completed by the 4 August 1775, Roebuck cost £18,911.0.6d plus a further £1,749.5.5d for fitting.

Roebuck was built with two rows of windows in the stern, giving the illusion of an extra deck but behind was a single-level cabin. This design was eventually phased out, with most of the Roebuck-class, after HMS Dolphin, featuring a traditional frigate-style stern.

On her lower gun deck, Roebuck carried twenty 18-pounder (8.2 kg) guns. Her upper deck originally had twenty-two 9 pounders (4.1 kg) but these were later upgraded to 12 pounders (5.4 kg). There were two 6-pounder (2.7 kg) guns on the forecastle but the quarterdeck was devoid of armament. When fully manned, Roebuck had a complement of 280. This was increased to 300 in 1783

Class and type: fifth-rate
Tons burthen: 879 26⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 140 feet 0 inches (42.7 m) (gundeck)
• 115 feet 9 inches (35.3 m) (keel)

Beam: 37 feet 9 1⁄2 inches (11.5 m)
Depth of hold: 16 feet 4 inches (5.0 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Fully-rigged ship
Complement: 280–300
Armament:

• Lower deck: 20 x 18-pounder guns
• Upper deck: 22 × 9-pounder guns
• (later upgraded to 12-pounder guns)
• Quarterdeck: nil
• Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Phoenix, Roebuck and Tartar, accompanied by three smaller vessels, forcing their way through a cheval-de-frise on the Hudson River with the Forts Washington and Lee and several batteries on both sides. The painting is a copy by Thomas Mitchell after the original rendering of the subject, a scene from the American Revolutionary War, by Dominic Serres the Elder.

Siege of Charleston
Roebuck had returned to American waters by 5 December 1779, when she took the American privateer, Lady Washington. Then, with five ships-of-the-line, the 50-gun Renown, the 44-gun Romulus, four sixth-rate frigates and two 20-gun sloops, she accompanied transports, carrying 7,550 troops for an attack on Charleston. Under the command of Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot, the ships left New York on 26 December and in January 1780, in need of repairs, called in at Savannah, captured by the British the previous month. From there, the convoy proceeded to the North Edisto River where the army disembarked on 10 February. The troops marched the thirty miles overland and occupied James Island while the ships sailed to the entrance and effected a blockade of Charleston harbour. Some of Roebuck's company were among the 450 seamen and marines later sent to lay siege to the town. The 64 and 74-gun ships-of-the-line, being too large to be of any use in the shallow waters around the harbour, left for New York in March 1780, leaving Renown, Romulus, Blonde, Raleigh, Perseus, Camilla, and Roebuck, to which Arbuthnot moved his flag. These ships were lightened while they awaited a high enough tide and favourable conditions to carry them over the sandbank which lay across the entrance to the harbour.


Siege of Charleston

On 9 April Roebuck led the squadron across the bar. The British ships exchanged heavy fire with Fort Moultrie in passing and eventually anchored off James Island where they came under attack from the batteries at Charleston. Roebuck did not however return fire, even though the shot had passed right through her. Consequently, she was thought to be out of range and the bombardment soon stopped. An American naval force which included the frigates Providence, Boston and Queen of France, Bricole of 44-guns, a large polacca and two armed brigs were to oppose the British fleet at Fort Moultrie but instead retired to the Cooper River where some were scuttled. This action later denied the British control of the river and they instead, on 7 May, landed seamen and marines near Mount Pleasant, where they captured a battery and went on to force the surrender of Fort Moultrie. Some of Roebuck's crew were used in these land operations. The town soon after capitulated on 11 May and the remaining American ships were subsequently captured. The crew of Roebuck were awarded a share of the prize money for the frigates, USS Boston and USS Providence. Hammond was ordered to England with dispatches on 15 May 1780, and was succeeded in command of Roebuck by his nephew, Andrew Snape Douglas.


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

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

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

Those fifth rate ships were not frigates in a stricter sense, being two-deckers, but they were mostly used in the same way, e.g. convoy protection. In addition they were too small to sail in the line of battle. Thus they are listed here. In the middle of the 18th century, those ships had a more powerful armament than the frigates at that time (these were 9 and 12 pdr equipped), that consisted of 18 pdrs on the gun deck. Later in the century, with the advent of the 18 pdr frigate (the first British 18 pdr armed frigate, HMS Flora (36), was launched in 1780), those ships became obsolete and ceased to being built in 1787, when the last one, HMS Sheerness, was launched. Many continued to serve until after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, most of them as troop- or storeships.

Roebuck class 1774-83 (Thomas Slade)

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Roebuck_(1774)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roebuck-class_ship

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
5 December 1797 - Insurgente captured Prince Frederick


The Insurgente was a 40-gun Sémillante-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1793. USS Constellation, Captain Thomas Truxtun in command, captured her off the island of Nevis during the Quasi-War. After her capture she served in the US Navy, patrolling the waters in the West Indies. In September 1800 she was caught up in a severe storm and was presumed lost at sea

Type: Sémillante class frigate
Tons burthen: 600 (bm)
Length: 45.5 metres
Beam: 11.5 metres
Draft: 5.5 metres
Complement:

• French service:Officers + 278 men
• US Service: 340 officers and enlisted

Armament:

• French service (initially):
• 26 × 12-pounder long guns +
• 6 × 6-pounder long guns
• French service (1798–99):
• 2 × 18-pounder long guns + 24 × 12-pounder guns
• 8 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 36-pounder howitzers +
• 2 × 24-pounder carronades
• US service:
• 26 × 18-pounder + 10 × 12-pounder guns
• 4 × 36-pounder howitzers

French frigate Insurgente
Insurgente was built by Pierre-Joseph Pénétreau at Lorient and launched on 27 April 1793.

In January or February 1794, Insurgente captured Ann off Cape Clear Island as Ann was sailing from Newfoundland to Bristol. Insurgente put a prize crew aboard Ann, but left her mate and three other men on board. When Ann was in sight of the French coast, the British sailors succeeded in recapturing her from the prize crew; the British then took Ann into Vigo.

On 16 January 1794 Insurgente captured the American ship John and James and brought her into Brest. John and James had been built at Philadelphia for George Morrison of Petersburg, Virginia. She had left Petersburg with 450 hogsheads of tobacco and 12,000 staves. On 27 December 1794 the Tribunal of Commerce ordered John and James released to Captain James Johnson and the Committee of Public Safety awarded him a payment of 20,000 livres tournois.

On 25 April Insurgente captured Freundschaft Lourentz, Colandt, master, as Freundschaft Lourentz was sailing from Lisbon to London. However two "Scilly boats" (i.e., boats from the Isles of Scilly), recaptured her the next day and brought her into St Ives, Cornwall.

On 5 December 1797 Insurgente captured Prince Frederick as Prince Frederick was returning from Madras and Bengal. Prince Frederick was so badly damaged in the engagement that she sank soon afterwards. Her people, however, were saved. The EIC put a value of £59,981 on the cargo that it had lost.


Naval encounter during the Quasi-War between USS Constellation and French ship Insurgente (right) on 9 February 1799.

Battle with Constellation
Main article: USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente
On 9 February 1799, after being at sea for three days, the USS Constellation spotted Insurgente approximately six leagues northeast off Nevis. Insurgente, a fully rigged frigate, was considered one of the fastest sailing vessels in the world at the time; three weeks earlier she had encountered Constellation but was able to outrun her and escape. Shortly after being spotted by Constellation this second time the ships encountered a squall during which a violent gust of wind snapped Insurgente's topmast, impairing her speed. As Constellation approached, Captain Michael-Pierre Barreaut first attempted to seek haven by making for St. Eustatius, but to no avail, where Insurgente hauled wind and assumed a starboard tack. After being overtaken she hoisted American colors, at which time the Constellation hoisted the private signals. Unable to respond appropriately, she gave up her attempt at disguise and Captain Barreaut ordered the French tri-colors hoisted and a gun fired to windward to signal the challenge where Insurgente boldly sat in wait to be engaged. This was the first time since the American Revolution that a shot had been fired from an enemy vessel at an American ship. Truxtun gave the order to clear the deck of Constellationfor action and the boatswain sounded the whistle. Both ships bore up to take positions to engage. The Constellation fired the first broadside, double-shotted, inflicting much damage to the French vessel's hull and killing many in the first minute of the engagement. Insurgente responded and fired a broadside, inflicting much damage to Constellation's rigging and top foremast, which was almost cut off. At 3:30 PM after an hour and a half of running battle and several raking broadsides from the Constellation the Insurgente struck her colors. First Lieutenant John Rodgers, Midshipman David Porter along with eleven men were put on board the captured vessel to take possession and to secure the prisoners who were sent to the lower hold. She had lost 70 men from a crew of 409, while Constellation, badly damaged also, only lost three out of a complement of 309. This was the first post-Revolutionary War American victory against a foreign naval vessel.

There were no handcuffs to be found and the prisoners seem disposed to rebel. Accordingly, Rodgers placed sentries at the hatch, armed with blunderbusses and under orders to open fire should the prisoners attempt to breach the hatch way.


Scene depicting the action of 9 February 1799, when the USS Constellation (left), commanded by Captain Thomas Truxtun, captured the French frigate Insurgente (right)

Service in US Navy
The US Navy considered Insurgent a prize in the Quasi-War with France. The frigate was taken to the West Indies and refitted for service in the young American navy. She cruised under Lt. John Rodgers in company with Constellation until May 1799. Ordered back to the United States, Insurgent was purchased by the Navy for $84,500. Commissioned with Captain Alexander Murray in command, Insurgent sailed from Hampton Roads for Europe on 14 August 1799. Cruising in European waters during the winter of 1799–1800, the frigate captured the French ship Vendémiaire and recaptured the American ships Margaret, Angora, Commerce, and William and Mary. Insurgent returned to the United States in March 1800 via the West Indies.

Loss
On 29 April 1800 Patrick Fletcher assumed command and was ordered to cruise between the West Indies and the American coast to protect American shipping interests and to capture any enemy vessels he encountered. Insurgent departed Baltimore 22 July and after a brief stop at Hampton Roads sailed for her station 8 August 1800. She was never heard from again, and the frigate and her crew were presumed lost during the severe storm that struck the West Indies on 20 September 1800.


Prince Frederick was launched at Amsterdam in 1793 for the Dutch East India Company as Prinz Fredrik. Captain Daniel Correch stopped at Duins (The Downs), where the English detained her. In December 1795, the British Government confiscated the ship.

Tons burthen:

• Dutch: 1150 (Dutch)
• English: 916 (bm)

Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 173 seamen + 19 soldiers (Dutch)
Armament: 20 × 9-pounder + 2 × 4-pounder guns (British)

J. Scougall purchased her and anglicised her name. Prince Frederick appears in Lloyd's Register in 1796 with Ramage, master, J. Scougal, owner, and trade London–Cape of Good Hope.

Captain Peter Ramage sailed her to Bengal on a voyage as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). As Prince Frederick was returning from Madras and Bengal, the French frigate Insurgente captured her on 5 December 1797. Prince Frederick was so badly damaged in the engagement that she sank soon afterwards. Her people, however, were saved. The EIC put a value of £59,981 on the cargo that it had lost.



The Sémillante class was a type of 12-pounder 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, designed by Pierre-Joseph Pénétreau.

• Sémillante

Builder: Lorient
Ordered: 23 April 1790 (named)
Laid down: December 1790
Launched: 25 November 1791
Completed: May 1792
Fate: Given to Robert Surcouf at Mauritius in September 1808 and armed by him as a privateer, renamed Charles. Captured by the Royal Navy in December 1809 and broken up.

• Insurgente

Builder: Lorient
Ordered: 3 September 1790
Laid down: 5 November 1791
Launched: 27 April 1793
Completed: June 1793
Fate: Captured by the US Navy off Nevis on 8 February 1799, recommissioned as USS Insurgent, but lost at sea in a hurricane in September 1800.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Insurgent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Frederick_(1795_ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sémillante-class_frigate