Dispatch Packet (1808 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
BuilderFrance [1]
Launched1807 [1]
Acquired1808
FateWrecked 14 April 1812
General characteristics
Tons burthen180 [1] (bm)
Armament10 × 6-pounder guns [1]

Dispatch Packet (or Dispatch) was launched in France in 1807, probably under another name. She was taken in prize and from 1808 sailed from Falmouth, Cornwall, as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service. She sailed primarily to the Iberian peninsula, but also made voyages to North America, Suriname, and the Mediterranean. She was wrecked on 14 April 1812 while returning to Falmouth from Malta.

Contents

The following information is from Howat. [2]

CaptainDate of appointment
John Harris18 August 1808
Edward Vinscombe10 January 1810
John Parsons30 July 1810
William KirknessNovember 1810

Fate

Dispatch was wrecked on a shoal between Malta and Mazara del Vallo, Trapani. [2] All on board and the mails were rescued. [3] [2]

Captain Kirkness returned to England aboard the store ship HMS Abundance.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Register of shipping (1812), Seq.No.269.
  2. 1 2 3 Howat (1984), p. 24.
  3. "Marine List". Lloyd's List (4672). 9 June 1812. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105232920.

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Little Catherine was launched in 1801 at Bermuda, probably under another name. She was condemned in prize in May 1809 at Barbados and entered British registry that year. At that time she traded between Liverpool and Africa. In 1813 she became a temporary packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1813 the French Navy captured her and abandoned her after taking off her crew. The Royal Navy recovered her three days later. In 1814 an American privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her within two weeks. Her owner refused to pay salvage and turned her over to the Post Office which returned her to use as a Falmouth packet but renamed her Blucher, in honour of Prince Blucher who had helped defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The government sold Blucher in 1823. New owners returned her to the name Little Catherine and she continued to sail widely until she was last listed in 1845, having been sold to a Chinese owner. She was wrecked in October 1847.

<i>Walsingham</i> (1795 ship)

Walsingham, launched in 1795, was a Falmouth packet. Shortly after her launch a French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. Her recapture gave rise to a court case. In 1815 she successfully repelled an American privateer in a notable single-ship action. She continued to serve the Post Office until 1826 when she was sold. She was wrecked in 1828.

Queen Charlotte was a Falmouth packet boat, launched in 1807 at Falmouth. She was wrecked at Lisbon in 1814.

Windsor Castle was launched at Yarmouth in 1804. She spent her entire 11-year career as a Falmouth packet, primarily on the Falmouth–Halifax–New York–Halifax–Falmouth route and the Falmouth–Leeward Islands–Falmouth route. She also sailed on some other voyages. She was involved in two notable single-ship actions. In the first, in 1807, she captured her attacker, a French privateer schooner, in a sanguinary encounter. In the second, in 1815, an American privateer captured her. A prize crew took her into Norfolk, Virginia, where she was sold at auction.

Duke of Montrose was a Falmouth packet launched in 1804. She participated in six single-ship actions. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured a French naval schooner but a year or so later a French privateer captured her. She returned to British hands some nine months later. During the War of 1812 she was able to drive off American privateers twice. An American frigate captured her in 1813 but gave her up to her crew, also putting onboard the crews of other vessels the frigate had captured. Then a French frigate also captured her and gave her up after disarming her. She was wrecked at Barbados in 1815.

Hinchinbrook was built in America in 1812. By 1814 she was carrying mails for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In May 1814 she repelled an attack by an American privateer in a single-ship action. She was wrecked in May 1816.

Queen Charlotte was built in Emsworth in 1801. She was a regular packet ship for the Post Office Packet Service, sailing out of Falmouth. She made several voyages across the Atlantic between late 1802 and 16 May 1805 when she was captured. She came back into British hands around 1806. The Post Office took her into temporary service between 1812 and 1817. She then became a whaler off Peru in 1818. She remained in the Pacific Coast of South America until she was condemned there in 1820 as unseaworthy; she was last listed that same year. She may have been repaired and have continued to trade on the coast until 1822.

Townshend Packet was launched at Falmouth in 1800 as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service. She made numerous voyages between Falmouth and Lisbon and also sailed to the West Indies, Brazil, and the Mediterranean. She had two engagements with American privateers. In the first the Americans captured her, but then released her. In the second she repelled her attacker. A French frigate captured her in 1814 and then sank her.

Lady Mary Pelham was launched in 1811 as a packet based in Falmouth, Cornwall for the Post Office Packet Service. She repelled attack by privateers in 1812 and 1813, the latter being a notable and controversial engagement with an American privateer. Another American privateer captured her in February 1815 in the West Indies. New owners retained her name and between 1815 and at least 1824 she continued to sail to the Continent and South America.

Hinchinbroke, of 180 tons (bm), was a packet for the Post Office Packet Service, launched near Falmouth and operating out of Falmouth, Cornwall. She was launched on 6 November 1812 at Mr. Bligh's Yard, near Falmouth. She was under the command of Captain James, whom the Postmaster General had promoted for his "uniformly good and successful conduct while Master of the Marlborough."

Express Packet was built in France in 1807, probably under another name, and taken in prize circa 1808. From 1809 she sailed as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service out of Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1812 an American privateer captured here in a notable single ship action, but then returned her to her captain and crew after plundering her. Express stopped sailing as a packet in 1817 and then made one more voyage to Spain, after which she disappeared from online records.

Ann was launched in America in 1800, possibly under another name. She transferred to the United Kingdom in 1805. Between 1810 and 1813 she became a temporary packet operating out of Falmouth, Cornwall for the Post Office Packet Service. American privateers twice captured her in 1813 in single ship actions.

Several vessels have born the name Dispatch:

Several vessels have been named Prince Regent for George IV, of England, who was Prince regent from 1811 to his accession to the throne in 1826:

Prince Adolphus was launched in 1795 at Falmouth, Cornwall as a packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service. She was involved in two notable incidents. In 1798 a French privateer captured her, but Prince Adolphus was ransomed in a transaction that required an amendment to a Bill before Parliament. In 1805 her crew mutinied in Falmouth before she set off on a cruise. The mutiny, subsequently joined by the crew of another packet, led the Post Office temporarily to move the packet service from Falmouth to Plymouth. An American privateer captured Prince Adolphus in 1812.

References