| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Gallant Schemer |
| Namesake | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Builder | Falmouth |
| Launched | 1799 |
| Captured | 1813 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 188, [2] or 196, [3] or 197 [4] (bm) |
| Armament |
|
Gallant Schemer was launched in 1799 at Falmouth. A French privateer captured her in 1805, but she was back in British hands by 1808. She then traded with South America and the Mediterranean. A French privateer captured her in 1813.
Gallant Schemer came into Bristol in July 1801 from Nevis. Tobin, Pinney, and Tobin put her up for sale a month later, advertising her as having been "altered at Falmouth last year". She sailed to Nevis with Snow, master, and was again advertised for sale, this time being advertised as "built at Falmouth about two years ago." Thomas King purchased her and advertised her as sailing for Surinam with Williams, master, in July 1804, and for Jamaica, in August 1805 with Gardner, master. [4]
She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1803.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1803 | J. Snow | G. Webb | Falmouth–Nevis | LR |
| 1805 | T.King T. Gardner | T. King | Bristol–Surinam | LR |
| 1806 | Gardner | Captain & Co. | Bristol–Surinam | Register of Shipping (RS); annotated "captured" |
In February 1806 Lloyd's List reported that Gallant Schemer, Gardner, master, had been captured while sailing from Bristol to Jamaica. Her captor had carried her into Guadeloupe. [5] [4]
However, Gallant Schemer returned to British ownership. Although there is no mention in Lloyd's List or the London Gazette of a recapture of a vessel by that name, Lloyd's Register for 1808 showed Gallant Schemer with Reach, master, Bourgoyne, owner, and trade London–Gibraltar. [6] In December 1811, she was driven ashore at Sheerness, Kent, England, during a voyage from Smyrna, Greece, to London. [7]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1811 | J. Smith Worts | Burgoyne | London–Rio de Janeiro London–Malta | LR |
| 1812 | Worts | Bourgoyne | London–Smyrna | LR |
| 1814 | Worts | Bourgoyne | London–Malta | LR; damages repaired in 1812 [2] |
On 1 October 1813 the French privateer Babiole, after a brief exchange of gunfire, captured Gallant Schemer, Clement Worts, [8] master, which had been sailing from Smyrna. [9] She had been carrying silk, "Near eastern antiques", gaiac wood, and sponges. [8] Babiole brought her into Ajaccio, Corsica, on 11 November. [10]
Notes
Citations
References
| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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London Packet was a merchant vessel launched on the Thames in 1791. She served the Royal Navy as a Hired armed ship from 31 March 1793 to at least 30 September 1800, and despite some records, apparently for a year or more beyond that. She then returned to sailing as a merchant man until an American privateer captured her in May 1814.
Swiftsure was built in 1811 in France as Inconstant. In 1813 British owners purchased her and renamed her. An American privateer captured her in 1814 but she was quickly recaptured. Swiftsure was wrecked off the coast of Queensland in 1831.
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 Nimrod was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1812. She spent her war years in north American waters where she captured one small privateer, assisted in the capture of another, and captured or destroyed some 50 American vessels. After the war she captured smugglers and assisted the civil authorities in maintaining order in Tyne. She was wrecked in 1827 and so damaged that the Navy decided she was not worth repairing. A private ship-owner purchased Nimrod and repaired her. She then went on to spend some 20 years trading between Britain and Charleston, the Mediterranean, Australia, and India. She was last listed in 1851.
Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
Elizabeth was launched at Bermuda in 1786 or 1790. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1802. She then made four voyages as a slave ship, during the second of which a French privateer captured her. Next, she spent a little over a year as a hired armed tender under contract to the British Royal Navy. She returned to mercantile service trading with Madeira or Africa, until another French privateer captured her in early 1810.
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. 1814 an American privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her within two weeks. The Government Post Office purchased her to return 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.
Otter was launched in America in 1799. She appeared in the Register of Shipping in 1809, after she had already made the first of three voyages as a whaler. She then started trading with the Mediterranean where the French captured her in 1813.
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.
Ceres was launched at Kolkata in August 1793 as Lutchmy and renamed in 1794. She sailed to England in 1798 and became a West Indiaman. She was condemned at Barbados in 1806. New owners returned her to service, first as a West Indiaman and then as an East Indiaman. She was damaged at Mauritius in 1818 and although she was listed until 1824, it is not clear that she sailed again after the damage she sustained in Mauritius.
Falmouth was launched in 1806 at Liverpool as a slave ship. After the British slave trade ended in 1807, she became a West Indiaman until a privateer captured her in 1812.
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.
Argo was launched in 1802 in France, possibly under another name, and captured c.1804. She became a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery and made two complete whale hunting voyages. A US Navy frigate captured her on her third voyage.
Rachel was launched at Bristol in 1795. She spent most of her career as a constant trader, sailing to and from Nevis. A French privateer captured her in 1803 but a Liverpool letter of marque quickly recaptured her. She was wrecked in July 1811.
Barrosa was launched at Nantes in 1810 under another name. She was purchased in 1811 as a prize, renamed, and her new owners sailed her as a West Indiaman. A French privateer captured and released her, and a year later an American privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her.
HMS Albacore was launched in 1804 in Bristol. She participated in two notable actions. The British Royal Navy sold her in 1815 and she became a merchantman, sailing out of Guernsey. She was lost on 12 October 1821 while sailing from Buenos Aires to Barbados.
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.
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.
John Tobin was a ship launched in 1809 at Hull. In 1810 she recaptured a British vessel and in November 1812 she repelled an attack by an American privateer in a single ship action. From 1816 John Tobin made three voyages to India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then sailed to Calabar, West Africa. She left there on 28 November 1821 and was never heard of again.
