Chesterfield (1806 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameChesterfield
Launched1806, Portland
Captured29 October 1811; later recaptured
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg France
NameL'Aigle
AcquiredOctober 1812 by capture
Captured10 May 1812
General characteristics
Tons burthen85 (bm)
Length58 ft 4 in (17.8 m)
Beam18 ft 11 in (5.8 m).

Chesterfield was launched in 1806 at Portland. She served from November 1806 to her capture in October 1811, as a Post Office Packet Service packet, sailing between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. A French privateer captured her at the end of October 1811 in "a spirited but ineffectual" single ship action. She then became a French privateer that made several captures before the Royal Navy recaptured her.

Contents

Career

Captain Starr Wood took command of Chesterfield. [lower-alpha 1] From November 1806 to her capture in October 1811, she sailed between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. [2]

On 17 June 1810, Chesterfield rescued five boys who were in a small boat that was drifting towards the rocks off Guernsey. [3] The boys had sailed to Herm. When they set out to return their boat was unable to handle the currents, which were carrying them towards rocks.

At about 11a.m. on 12 January 1811, Chesterfield sailed from Guernsey, bound for Weymouth. At about 6p.m. she encountered a French privateer that was cruising between Guernsey and Jersey. At 8:30 the privateer, which had 14 guns and a large complement, came within 50 yards. Wood fired a broadside, at which the privateer sheered off. [3] [lower-alpha 2]

Capture: Lloyd's List reported that a French privateer lugger had captured Earl of Chesterfield off Alderney as Earl of Chesterfield was sailing to Guernsey. [4] Other reports give the vessel's name as Chesterfield. [5] The privateer was Epruvier (Epervier), of 14 guns and 50 men, sailing out of Cherbourg. [3] [lower-alpha 3]

Wood succeeded in sinking Chesterfield's mails and dispatches before she was captured. In the engagement, one passenger was killed and several of her crew were wounded. The Post Office paid Wood £1,626 in compensation. He used the money to purchase another vessel, which he named Chesterfield. [3] [lower-alpha 4]

French privateer

Chesterfield became the Cherbourg privateer L'Aigle. She was commissioned in 1811. She was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 61 men under the command of Captain Alexandre William Black. [7]

In 1812, L'Aigle, Captain Black, captured the ships Beaver and Pivert.Beaver, Beveridge, master, had been sailing from Mogador to London when she was captured on 1 March. She arrived on 4 March at Cherbourg. [8] French sources report that the English vessel Peavert, of 130 tons (bm), arrived in Cherbourg in March. She was carrying a cargo of leather and sweet almonds. [9]

On 1 May L'Aigle captured Eliza, Cole, for the second time. The schooner Arrow later drove Eliza ashore on the French coast, where she was destroyed. [10]

On 7 May 1812, L'Aigle sailed from Bennodet, near Quimper.

On 10 May 1812 HMS Sybille captured Aigle at 49°6′N8°22′W / 49.100°N 8.367°W / 49.100; -8.367 . [11] Aigle had thrown eight of her 14 guns overboard while trying to escape Sybille. Aigle was three days out of Bennodet, near Quimper, and had earlier captured the brig Alicia Hill as Alicia was sailing from Bristol to Gibraltar. [12] Aigle had captured Alicia Hill, Le Brun, master, at 48°26′N9°58′W / 48.433°N 9.967°W / 48.433; -9.967 . [lower-alpha 5] Aigle arrived at Cork on 15 July. [13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Starr Wood was the son of Captain James Wood, who had been master of Earl of Chesterfield, which had just been sold at Weymouth. [1]
  2. ↑ The lugger may have been San Joseph, of 14 guns and 68 men. She was captured in October 1812.
  3. ↑ Épervier was probably the privateer commissioned at Dieppe in 1810 under Captain Bonamy. She was then sold and made another cruise in February with 55 men and 16 guns. [6]
  4. ↑ One passenger, a captain sailing to join his regiment in Jersey, died in Cherbourg. Two seamen may also have died there.
  5. ↑ HMS Rota recaptured Alicia Hill, which arrived on 19 July at Plymouth.

Citations

  1. ↑ Mayne (1971), p. 5.
  2. ↑ Lucking (1971), p. 229.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mayne (1971), p. 6.
  4. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4612. 5 November 1811. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105232920.
  5. ↑ "Letters have been received from some of the passengers taken in the Chesterfield packet, from Weymouth." Times, 25 November 1811, p. 3. The Times Digital Archive. Accessed 25 Oct. 2019.
  6. ↑ Demerliac (2003), p. 252, no1860.
  7. ↑ Demerliac (2003), p. 259, no.1954.
  8. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4649. 20 March 1812. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735025.
  9. ↑ Gallois (1847), p. 255.
  10. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4669. 29 May 1812. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735025.
  11. ↑ "No. 16624". The London Gazette . 18 July 1812. p. 1397.
  12. ↑ "No. 16624". The London Gazette . 18 July 1812. p. 1397.
  13. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4686. 21 July 1812. hdl:2027/mdp.39015005721405.

Related Research Articles

Phoenix was a vessel launched in France in 1809. After the frigate HMS Aigle captured her she was sold and her new owners employed her as whaler. She visited the Galapagos islands in July 1823. In 1824, while under the command of John Palmer, she discovered Phoenix Island, later known as Rawaki Island. She is last listed in 1829.

French frigate <i>Sibylle</i> (1791)

Sibylle was a 38-gun Hébé-class frigate of the French Navy. She was launched in 1791 at the dockyards in Toulon and placed in service in 1792. After the 50-gun fourth rate HMS Romney captured her in 1794, the British took her into service as HMS Sybille. She served in the Royal Navy until disposed of in 1833. While in British service Sybille participated in three notable single ship actions, in each case capturing a French vessel. On anti-slavery duties off West Africa from July 1827 to June 1830, Sybille captured many slavers and freed some 3,500 slaves. She was finally sold in 1833 in Portsmouth.

HMS Briseis was a 10-gun Cherokee- class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1808 at Upnor, on the River Medway. She participated in one notable single ship action before she wrecked in 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.

HMS Earnest was launched at Leith in 1805 as one of 48 later Archer-class gun brigs for the British Royal Navy. During her naval career Earnest captured five small privateers and numerous merchant vessels. In 1816 the Admiralty sold her and she became the merchantman Earnest. She continued to sail and was last listed in 1850.

Auguste was a French 14-gun privateer commissioned in Saint-Malo in November 1811 under Pierre Jean Marie Lepeltier. She captured numerous British merchant vessels before the Royal Navy forced her in January 1814 to run onshore and wreck.

Dame Ernouf first appears under that name in 1807. Her origins are currently obscure. She served as a privateer first under that name, and then under the name Diligent. As Diligent she not only capture several merchantmen but also two British Royal Navy vessels: a schooner and a brig. She continued to capture prizes until the end of 1813 and then disappears from online records.

<i>Babiole</i> (1811 ship)

Babiole was a French privateer launched at La Ciotat in 1811. She made four cruises between 1811 and 1813 in the Mediterranean as a privateer, capturing a number of prizes. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1815. She might have been a balaou, a type of schooner.

Benson was launched in 1794 in Liverpool as a West Indiaman. She sailed under a letter of marque and in December 1798 engaged in a notable single-ship action in which she repelled an attack by a French naval corvette of superior force. Benson was wrecked on 23 March 1811.

HMS <i>Parthian</i> (1808) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Parthian was launched at Deptford in 1808. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured one important French privateer, and several Danish, Dutch, and French merchantmen. After the war, Parthian captured a pirate schooner near Vera Cruz. Parthian was wrecked off Alexandria on 15 May 1828.

HMS Barbadoes was originally a French privateer and then slave ship named Brave or Braave. A British slave ship captured her in September 1803. In 1803–1804 she became the British privateer Barbadoes for a few months. In 1804 the inhabitants of Barbados purchased her and donated her to the Royal Navy, which took her into service as HMS Barbadoes. She wrecked on 27 September 1812.

HMS Favorite was an 18-gun Cormorant-class ship-sloop, launched in 1806 and broken up in 1821. In her career she sailed as far North America, the Caribbean, Africa, South America, and the Far East. She captured or recaptured several merchant ships and a handful of privateers.

HMS Avenger was the collier Thames, launched in 1803, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1804 and renamed. During her service she captured a number of prizes. She also captured one French privateer and participated in the capture of the Danish island of Anholt. She wrecked at St. John's, Newfoundland on 8 October 1812.

Sir Sidney Smith was a ship launched in 1802 at Dover. She was a West Indiaman. A United States privateer captured her in 1812. The valuable cargo on Sir Sidney Smith, which was totally lost, was the subject of cases in New York and London courts.

Alicia Hill was launched in 1807 in France under another name. She was taken in prize and entered British ownership in 1811. In 1812 a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She primarily traded with the Mediterranean. Still, pirates plundered her off the coast of Sierra Leone. She was wrecked at Odessa in the Black Sea in November 1820.

Ramoncita was launched at Shields in 1809. She was captured and recaptured in 1812, an event that gave rise to a case in insurance law and salvage. Then in 1813 she participated in a single ship action in which, despite heavy casualties, she was able to repel the attack of a US privateer. She capsized later in 1813 and was subsequently condemned.

General Doyle was launched at Looe in 1803, and registered in Guernsey later that year. Between January 1805 and September 1806 she sailed as a privateer. Between October 1806 to November 1809 she became a packet boat in the Post Office Packet Service, sailing between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. From 1810 she became a merchant ship. In August 1813, she survived a maritime incident. An American privateer captured and burnt her in 1814.

Several vessels have been named Chesterfield.

References

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.