![]() Nettuno/HMS Cretan. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheerlines with inboard detail and scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth, as taken off at Sheerness Dockyard. Drawing from August-early September 1809. | |
History | |
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Name | Nettuno |
Namesake | Neptune |
Builder | Venice |
Laid down | December 1806 |
Launched | 12 April 1807 |
Captured | 1 June 1808 |
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Name | Cretan |
Acquired | 1 June 1808 by capture |
Fate | Sold 29 September 1814 |
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Name | Cretan |
Owner | Alexander Birnie |
Acquired | 29 September 1814 by purchase |
Fate | Last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1834 |
General characteristics [1] [2] | |
Displacement | 360 tons |
Tons burthen | 34419⁄94, [2] or 356 [3] (bm) |
Length |
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Beam | 29 ft 1 in (8.86 m) |
Draught | 3.55 m (11.6 ft) (unloaded) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 11 in (4.24 m) |
Sail plan | Brig |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Nettuno was a French Illyrien or Friedland-class brig built at Venice and launched in June 1807. HMS Unite captured her a year later off Zara. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Cretan. She served in the Mediterranean. She was sold in 1814. Between 1815 and 1831 she made five voyages as a whaler.
Nettuno was launched in April 1807 with Eugène de Beauharnais in attendance. She was at Venice in November, and Lesina and Ancona in May 1808. [1]
Unite took shelter from a gale between 28 and 31 July under Lusin on the Dalmatian coast. Late in the afternoon of the 31st, near Premuda, she sighted three enemy naval brigs. Captain Campbell set out in chase and around 3am found himself with in two miles of two of the brigs. Suddenly he sighted he saw the third; Unite steered to pass by the third and while within pistol-shot, gave the brig a broadside, which caused the brig to surrender without a shot being fired, her crew having taken refuge below decks. Unite sent boats that secured the brig and then set out after her two companions. There was little wind so the brigs made use of their sweeps and it was only around 7a.m. that Unite was able to catch up with the larger, and more laggardly of the brigs. This vessel, seeing no chance to escape, fired a broadside, struck her colours, and ran onto the shore, where Unite took possession. The third brig escaped. The two captured brigs turned out to be Nettuno and Teulié, both of sixteen "Thirty-Two-Pounders, Brass Carronades", and 115 men each. The brigs had been sent to find and take Unite, the French having heard that she had so many men sick that she would be easy prey. Although Unite had no casualties, the two French brigs were less fortunate. Nettuno had seven men killed, two drowned, and 13 wounded; Teuliè had five men killed and 16 wounded. [4]
The Royal Navy commissioned Nettuno in the Mediterranean as Cretan, under Commander Charles F. Payne. He would remain her commander throughout her service. [2]
Between 13 July and 1 December 1809 Cretan was at Sheerness, undergoing repairs. [2]
Cretan participated in the unsuccessful Walcheren Campaign, a British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Around 40,000 soldiers, 15,000 horses together with field artillery and two siege trains crossed the North Sea and landed at Walcheren on 30 July. This was the largest British expedition of that year, larger than the army serving in the Peninsular War in Portugal. The campaign involved little fighting, but heavy losses from the sickness popularly dubbed "Walcheren Fever". Over 4,000 British troops died (only 106 in combat) and the rest withdrew on 9 December 1809. During the withdrawal operations, Commodore G.W.C.R. Owen, who was in actual command, shifted his pennant to Cretan the better to oversee the operations. [5]
After the Walcharen Campaign Cretan served in the North Sea and Baltic. [2]
On 28 October 1810 Cretan captured the Danish privateer Neptune. Neptune was armed with five guns, had a crew of 24 men, and had left Schelling the day before; she had taken no prizes before Cretan captured her. [6] Neptune arrived at Dover on 7 November. [7] Cretan and Desiree shared in the proceeds of the capture, on 25 December 1811, of the Vrow Alida. [8]
Between 29 July and 4 August 1812, Musquito captured several Dutch fishing boats: Gute Verwagting, Tobie Maria, Jonge Maria, Jeannette, Femme Elizabeth, Hoop (alias Esperance), and the Rondwich. By agreement, Musquito shared the prize money with Desiree, Banterer and Cretan. [9]
On 17 September Indefatigable, Hearty, Desiree, Drake, Primrose, and Cretan shared in the capture of the Dankbarheide. [10] When the gun-brig Hearty detained the Prussian vessel Friede on 29 September, Indefatigable, Desiree, Primrose, Cretan, Drake, were either in company or sharing by agreement. [11]
Cretan captured two fishing boats, Harmonie and Stadt Embden, on 16 January 1813. [lower-alpha 1]
Then on 28 February Cretan captured Erineron, Nessen, master, which had been sailing from Bergen to Stettin, and sent her into Yarmouth. [13] [14]
Cretan and Leveret were in company on 12 March and so shared in the proceeds of the capture of the Danish vessel Aurora. [15] Two days later, Cretan captured Anna Brauer. [16] That same day Prospero captured Najaden, and later Cretan and Raven shared in the proceeds by agreement. [17]
On 1 March 1814, Antelope and a Russian frigate forced the channel between Flushing and Cadsand, but Antelope then grounded off the Hoogplaat. She was stuck for 41 hours,. For 36 of those hours Nymphen, Banterer, and Cretan protected her and worked to free her. Eventually, a tide floated Antelope off. [18]
Commander Payne received promotion to post-captain on 7 June 1814. [19] The Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Navy offered the "Cretan sloop, of 344 tons", lying at Deptford for sale on 29 September 1814. [20] Cretan sold on that day for £1,020. [2]
Alexander Birnie purchased Cretan and she made five voyages between 1815 and 1831 as a whaler. [21] [lower-alpha 2]
Cretan first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1815. [3]
Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
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1815 | J.Moore | Burne | London–Port Jackson | LR |
For Cretan's first whaling voyage, Captain Joseph Moore left London on 18 April 1815 for New South Wales. She reached Port Jackson on 7 September, having sailed around the bottom of Tasmania. She left Sydney on 12 October to commence whaling around New Zealand. In December 1816 she was off the west coast of South America. She returned to Britain on 5 May 1817 with a full cargo of whale oil. [21]
Cretan, Samuel Shrewsbury, master, left Britain on 7 September 1817 on her second whaling voyage, bound for the Galapagos. She was reported there in November 1819. She returned to Britain on 21 July 1820. [21]
H. R. Gulliver (or Galloway) sailed Cretan on her third whaling voyage, leaving Britain on 13 January 1821. She was at Tahiti on 24 February 1822;, and Valparaiso on 14 October. She returned to Britain on 20 May 1823 with 500 casks of oil. [21]
Captain Gulliver was still master of Cretan on her fourth whaling voyage, sailing her on 3 September 1823 from Britain, bound for the "Japans". [lower-alpha 3] Cretan reached the Cape of Good Hope around 14 November. She was reported to be off the coast of Japan in June–July 1824 with 500 barrels. She returned to Britain on 18 December 1826 with 420 casks of oil. [21]
Cretan left Britain on 16 March 1827 on her fifth (and last recorded) whaling voyage with H. R. Gulliver, master, and destination the Sandwich Islands and Timor. Cretan was at Tahiti from 25 August to 21 September 1827. On 18 April 1828 she was at Oahu. Her master arrived at Singapore on 26 August 1828, accusing his chief mate and crew of having mutinied and dispossessed him of his vessel. (During her voyage Stephen Reynolds (or Samuel Reynolds) replaced Gulliver as master.) Cretan was at Honolulu from 29 October to 4 December 1829 with 1110 barrels. She returned to Britain on 29 July 1831 with 400 casks of oil. [21]
Lloyd's Register (1834) still listed Cretan but with no information beyond her burthen and location (London). [22] She was no longer listed in 1835.
The Impérieuse was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1793 and she served first as HMS Imperieuse and then from 1803 as HMS Unite. She became a hospital hulk in 1836 and was broken up in 1858.
HMS Eclipse was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1807. She served off Portugal and then in the Indian Ocean at the capture of the Île de France. Shortly thereafter she captured Tamatave. She was sold for mercantile service in 1815. She traded with India until 1823. Then between 1823 and 1845 she made seven voyages as a whaler.
HMS Lynx was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Gravesend. In 1795 she was the cause of an international incident when she fired on USRC Eagle. She was at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, and during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars took numerous prizes, mostly merchant vessels but also including some privateers. She was also at the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She was sold in April 1813. She then became the whaler Recovery. She made 12 whaling voyages in the southern whale fishery, the last one ending in 1843, at which time her owner had her broken up.
HMS Charybdis was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Mark Richards and John Davidson at Hythe, and launched in 1809. She captured two American prizes during the War of 1812 before she was laid up in 1815 and sold in 1819. She apparently then became the whaler Greenwich, which made three voyages for Samuel Enderby & Sons and one for Daniel Bennett & Son. She was wrecked in the Seychelles in 1833 on her fourth whaling voyage.
HMS Rover was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop laid down in 1804 but not launched until 1808. She served in the North Sea, off the north coast of Spain, in the Channel, and on the North American station. She captured two letters-of-marque and numerous merchant vessels before being laid-up in 1815. She then sat unused until she was sold in 1828. She became a whaler that made four voyages to the British southern whale fishery between 1830 and 1848. She was last listed in 1848.
Ronco was a French Illyrien or Friedland-class brig built at Venice and launched in April 1808. HMS Unite captured her less than two months later. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Tuscan. She served in the Mediterranean and participated in one action that earned her crew a Naval General Service Medal. She was first offered for sale in 1816 and sold in 1818. At that time mercantile interests purchased her and she became a whaler, making six voyages before being condemned as no longer seaworthy in March 1840 and sold in April during her seventh voyage.
Éole was an 18-gun corvette of the French Navy, launched, captured, and later commissioned in the Royal Navy in 1799 as HMS Nimrod after her capture by HMS Solebay. She was then "the finest and most handsome ship-sloop in the British navy". She was sold in 1811. Nimrod made three whaling voyages between 1811 and 1819. On her first she captured several American whalers. Nimrod was last listed in 1820.
HMS Thais was built for the British Royal Navy in 1806 and was the name-vessel of her class of fire ships. Between 1811 and 1813 she served in the West Africa Squadron, which was attempting to suppress the slave trade. During this service she captured several slave traders and an American privateer. She made one voyage to the East Indies. Thais was sold in 1818. She then became a merchantman. She was last listed in 1826.
HMS Indian was a Bermuda-built sloop launched in 1805. She captured several small privateers while on the West Indies and Halifax stations before the Royal Navy sold her in 1817. Her main claim to fame, however, is that she was the first command of future Rear-Admiral Charles Austen, who was also the brother of the famed novelist Jane Austen. After the Navy sold her she became a whaler for Samuel Enderby & Sons. She apparently sailed for them until the mid-1830s; she then sailed for other owners until mid-1847, for a total of nine whaling voyages since leaving naval service.
HMS Foxhound was the French Navy's brig Basque, launched in 1809, that the British Royal Navy captured in 1809 and took into service as a 16-gun sloop. She had a relatively brief naval career in which she captured a number of merchant vessels. After the Navy sold her in 1816, she made some 10 or 11 whaling voyages between 1817 and 1848.
Rifleman was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1809 for the Royal Navy. She served in the North Sea, on the Halifax and Jamaica stations, and in the Mediterranean Sea. During her service she recaptured a Royal Navy vessel in Danish service, and two privateers. The Navy sold her in 1836 and she proceed to sail as a merchantman and whaler between 1837 and 1856.
Serpent was a French navy brig of the Palinure class, launched in 1807 at Paimbeouf (Nantes) as Rivolli, but renamed. HMS Acasta captured her in 1808 in the Caribbean and the British Royal Navy took her into service there as HMS Pert but renamed her Asp. The navy disposed of her in 1814. She then made five voyages as a whaler, and wrecked in December 1828 on her sixth voyage.
Melantho was built in Philadelphia in 1812. The War of 1812 broke out as she was on her first voyage and the British captured her that September. She became a merchantman and then a whaler, making two whaling voyages to Timor before she was last listed in 1826.
HMS Coquette was launched in 1807 and spent her naval career patrolling in the Channel and escorting convoys. In 1813 she engaged an American privateer in a notable but inconclusive single-ship action. The Navy put Coquette in ordinary in 1814 and sold her in 1817. She became a whaler and made five whaling voyages to the British southern whale fishery before she was lost in 1835 on her sixth.
Royal George was launched in 1803 as a brig for the Revenue Service. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1806 and renamed her HMS Bustard. She served on active duty between 1808 and 1815, distinguishing herself in operations in the Mediterranean. She then sailed to the West Indies. The Royal Navy sold her in 1815 and she became the whaler Royal George. She made three whaling voyages and was lost in 1825 on her fourth.
Policy was launched at Dartmouth in 1801. She was a whaler that made seven whaling voyages between 1803 and 1823. On her second whaling voyage, in 1804, she was able to capture two Dutch vessels. On her fourth voyage the United States Navy captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She was lost at Tahiti in 1824 on her eighth whaling voyage.
HMS Royalist was launched in 1807. She captured many privateers and letters of marque, most French, but also some from Denmark and the United States. Her crew twice were awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was instrumental in the capture of a French frigate. The Royal Navy sold her in 1819. She then became a whaler, making three complete voyages. She was condemned after a mishap while on her fourth.
HMS Thrasher was launched in 1804 at Brightlingsea, or Colchester as the merchant vessel Adamant. The British Royal Navy purchased her in June 1804, renamed her, and fitted her out as a gunbrig. She captured numerous small merchant vessels, most of them Dutch or Danish. After the Navy sold her in 1814, she returned to mercantile service under her original name of Adamant. She made a voyage to Malta in 1815 and was wrecked as she was returning to London.
HMS Esk was a Cyrus-class ship-sloop launched at Ipswich in 1813. During the War of 1812 she captured one United States privateer, and fought an inconclusive action with another. Between 1825 and 1827 Esk was part of the West Africa Squadron, engaged in suppressing the trans-Atlantic slave trade, during which period she captured a number of slave ships. A prize she had taken also engaged in a notable single ship action. The Royal Navy sold Esk in 1829. Green, Wigram, and Green purchased her and between 1829 and 1845 she made four voyages in the British southern whale fishery as the whaler Matilda.
HMS Lyra was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop launched at Deptford in 1808 for the Royal Navy. In 1809 she was one of the vessels that participated in the Battle of Basque Roads. Thereafter, she captured numerous small prizes. Between 1812 and 1814 she served off the Spanish coast. In 1816 Lyra sailed to China as escort to a diplomatic mission. The Navy sold her in 1818. She then became a whaler. Between 1819 and 1833 she made five voyages in the southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1833.