Black Joke (ship)

Last updated March 31, 2024

Several ships have borne the name Black Joke, after an English song of the same name.

Slave ship

Black Joke (1720 ship), made three voyages as a slave ship between 1764 and 1767.

Naval vessels

HMS Black Joke (1827), the captured slave ship Henriquetta, commissioned in 1827, was employed in suppressing the slave trade and deliberately burnt as no longer serviceable in 1832 on orders from London.
Hired armed cutter Black Joke was a hired armed cutter of ten 6-pounder guns and 98+86⁄94 tons (bm) that served from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801.^[1] In 1799 she was renamed Suworow (or Suwarrow or Soworrow). Reportedly she burned in 1802.
Hired armed lugger Black Joke was a hired armed lugger of ten 12-pounder carronades and 108+92⁄94 tons (bm) that entered naval service on 22 May 1808.^[2] On 1 July 1810 the French captured Black Joke in the Channel.^[2]

These two hired vessels may have been the same. In his narrative of his voyages in the Mediterranean between 1810 and 1814, Charles Robert Cockerell reports that the lugger was an old vessel, having been at the Battle of Camperdown, which is consistent with the earliest mentions of the cutter.^[3]

Other ships

Burla Negra ("Black Joke") was the ship of the pirate Benito de Soto.
"Black Joke" was also a nickname for the English privateer Liverpool Packet, that operated during the War of 1812, capturing 50 American vessels.
Furthermore, there was a lugger Black Joke that received a letter of marque on 5 May 1801. She was of 25 tons burthen, had two 2-pounder guns and was under the command of Captain Phillip Dupont.^[4]

Citations

↑ Winfield (2008), p.388.
1 2 Winfield (2008), p.394.
↑ Cockerell (1903), p.2.
↑ "Register of Letters of Marque against France 1793-1815"; p.53 Archived July 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

Related Research Articles

The hired armed cutter Black Joke was a cutter that served the Royal Navy from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801. In 1799 she was renamed Suworow, and under that name she captured numerous prizes before she was paid off after the Treaty of Amiens.

His Majesty's hired armed lugger Black Joke was a lugger of ten 12-pounder carronades and 10892⁄94 tons burthen that entered into the service of the Royal Navy on 22 May 1808.

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty also made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Swan. Actually there were two such cutters, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one vessel under successive contracts. The vessel or vessels cruised, blockaded, carried despatches and performed reconnaissance.

During the period of the Napoleonic Wars, two vessels have served the British Royal Navy as His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Idas, named for Idas, a figure from Greek mythology.

Two vessels served the British Royal Navy as His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Hero. Under the command of Lieutenant John Reynolds, the second hired armed cutter Hero captured some 30 merchantmen during the Gunboat War before the Royal Navy returned her to her owners. She was so successful that the Norwegian merchants offered a considerable reward for Hero's capture.

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the Royal Navy used several vessels that bore the designation His Majesty's hired armed cutter Lord Nelson, all named for Lord Horatio Nelson.

The British Royal Navy employed two vessels described as His Majesty's hired armed cutter Kent, the first during the French Revolutionary Wars and the second during the Napoleonic Wars.

His Majesty's hired armed cutter Ann served the British Royal Navy from 9 May 1795 to 19 October 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars. She was of 10491⁄94 tons (bm) and carried twelve 3-pounder guns.

His Majesty's hired armed cutter Courier appears twice in the records of the British Royal Navy. The size and armament suggests that both contracts could represent the same vessel, but other information indicates that the second Courier had been captured from the French in the West Indies. On the first contract the captain and crew were awarded clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, one for a boat action and one for a single ship action in which they distinguished themselves.

At least two vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed lugger Nile served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. These may have been the same vessel on sequential contracts.

His Majesty's hired armed vessel Aristocrat served the Royal Navy, twice, as a lugger from 1794 to 1798, and as a brig from 1799 to 1801. She served with the Jersey-based Channel Islands flotilla under Commodore Philippe d'Auvergne, Prince of Bouillon. As a lugger she participated in two notable engagements, the second of which won for her crew the Naval General Service Medal, awarded some 50 years later. As a brig, she captured two privateers.

HMS Dolphin was 10-gun cutter that served the Royal Navy from 1793 to 1802, first as a hired armed cutter, and then after the Navy purchased her, as HMS Dolphin. During her almost decade of service Dolphin patrolled the English Channel protecting British trade by capturing French privateers and recapturing their prizes.

Two vessels have borne the designation, His Majesty's hired armed cutter Constitution. The first served the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The second served briefly at the start of the Napoleonic Wars and was sunk in 1804. The two cutters are similar enough that may have been the same vessel; at this juncture it is impossible to know.

His Majesty's Hired armed cutter George was a cutter that served the Royal Navy between 6 June 1798 and 12 November 1801 under contract. She had a burthen of 125 34⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed two 6-pounder guns and twelve 12-pounder carronades. She captured one French privateer. During the Napoleonic Wars the French captured her and she served the French Navy until September 1813; she was struck from the French Navy's lists ca. 1816.

His Majesty's hired armed schooner Lady Charlotte served the British Royal Navy on contract between 28 October 1799 and 28 October 1801. She had a burthen of 120 85⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with twelve 12-pounder carronades. As a hired armed vessel she captured several privateers and recaptured a number of British merchant vessels. After her service with the Royal Navy, she apparently sailed as a letter of marque until the French captured her in 1806.

Two vessels named His Majesty's hired armed lugger Sandwich served the British Royal Navy, one during the French Revolutionary Wars, and the other during the Napoleonic Wars.

Two vessels named His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Industry briefly served the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars as hired armed vessels.

His Majesty's hired armed cutter Nox served the British Royal Navy under contract from 17 April 1798 to 31 October 1801. She was of 10973⁄94 tons (bm), and carried twelve 12-pounder carronades.

Three hired armed cutters named Earl Spencer served the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary or Napoleonic Wars. Two, both cutters, served at the same time between 1799 and 1801. A third, variously referred to as a tender or cutter, served from 1803 to 1814.

Between 1793 and 1805, five cutters served the British Royal Navy as hired armed vessels under the designation HM hired cutter Rose:

References

Cockerell, Charles Robert (1903) Travels in southern Europe and the Levant, 1810-1817. The journal of C.R. Cockerell. (London, New York, Longmans, Green, and Co.).
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.

This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Winfield (2008), p.388.

[Winfield394-2] 1 2 Winfield (2008), p.394.

[3] Cockerell (1903), p.2.

[4] "Register of Letters of Marque against France 1793-1815"; p.53 Archived July 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]