General Doyle (1803 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameGeneral Doyle
Namesake Sir John Doyle, 1st Baronet
Launched1803, Looe
CapturedAugust 1814
FateBurnt August 1814
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen83, [2] or 833794 [3] (bm)
Length57 ft 8 in (17.6 m)
Beam19 ft 3 in (5.9 m)
Depth of hold9 ft 0 in (2.7 m)
Sail plan Cutter
Complement
  • 1805: 40
  • 1806: 40
  • 1810: 9
Armament
  • 1805: 8 × 4&6-pounder guns
  • 1806: 8 × 4&6-pounder guns
  • 1810: 4 x 3-pounder guns
Notes Clinker-built

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.

Contents

Career

On 18 February 1804, General Doyle was in the Roads when she had to cut her cables in a storm. [3]

On 7 January 1805, Captain Samuel David acquired a letter of marque. [2] [3] The size of her crew indicates that she was sailing as a privateer. Later, as a packet or merchant vessel, she had a crew of fewer than 10 men. As a privateer, the extra men above the number required to sail her where there to act as prize crews on any vessels she would capture.

Captain William Tardiff acquired a letter of marque on 22 May 1806. He too had a large crew. [2] [3]

General Doyle, formerly under the command of Captain William Tardiff, was offered for sale on 18 September 1806. [4]

General Doyle became a packet, sailing between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. She served from October 1806 to November 1809. [5] Once she joined the Weymouth Packet Service, first under Captain Ed Billot and then later Captain Pipon, she permitted the service to make two voyages per week. [6] General Doyle sailed every Wednesday. The fare from Weymouth to Guernsey was £1 6s 6d. [3]

On 6 June 1807, General Doyle closed out her Guernsey registry and was re-registered at Weymouth. [3] She first appeared in the Weymouth register in June 1807, with Pipon as owner and Isaac Malzard as master, but the only master mentioned in the Post Office records is Charles Pipon. [7]

After November 1809 she was withdrawn from service. [8] The Gazette de Guernesey carried the advertisement: "General Doyle packet, built 1803, copper fastened, 83 tons. The hull to be sold December, 1809 in consequence of a late Post Office regulation not allowing clinker built vessels to be employed in the service on account of the Smuggling Act. Apply Captain Pipon, Weymouth, Francis Janvrin of Jersey, or Messrs. Cary and Macullock of Guernsey". [lower-alpha 1]

Captain Charles Hocquart acquired a letter of marque on 21 August 1810. [2] Her owner was David King. Under Captain C. Hocquard she traded between Guernsey and Lisbon, and with St Michaels.

Her owner sold General Doyle in 1813, and she began trading between Bristol and Bermuda.

On 4 August over 50 vessels were damaged in a hurricane at Bermuda. Among them was the cutter, General Doyle, from Bristol, which was full of water. [9]

Fate

In August 1814, Lloyd's List reported that the United States privateer Neuchatel had captured General Doyle and burnt her, after taking out the most valuable part of her cargo. [10] General Doyle had been sailing from Leghorn to Bristol with a cargo of oil. [11]

Notes

  1. Several sources confuse the subsequent history of the General Doyle of this article with another General Doyle. Unfortunately for researchers, General Doyle was a common name at the time.

Citations

  1. Lucking (1980), p. 24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Letter of Marque, p.64 – Retrieved 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sarre (2007), p. 106.
  4. Gazette de Guernsey, 13 September 1806 (No. 36).
  5. Lucking (1971), p. 229.
  6. Lucking (1980), p. 7.
  7. Lucking (1980), pp. 9–10.
  8. Mayne (1971), p. 7.
  9. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4809. 1 October 1813. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735026.
  10. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. 19 August 1814. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735026.
  11. Good (2012), p. 75.

Related Research Articles

Sir John Sherbrooke was a successful and famous Nova Scotian privateer brig during the War of 1812, the largest privateer from Atlantic Canada during the war. In addition to preying on American merchant ships, she also defended Nova Scotian waters during the war. After her conversion to a merchantman she fell prey to an American privateer in 1814. She was burnt to prevent her reuse.

HMS <i>Surinam</i> (1805) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Surinam was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Obadiah Ayles at Topsham, Exeter and launched in 1805. She captured one privateer during her twenty-year career and took part in two campaigns before she was broken up in 1825.

<i>General Armstrong</i>

General Armstrong was an American brig built for privateering in the Atlantic Ocean theater of the War of 1812. She was named for Brigadier General John Armstrong, Sr., who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

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

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.

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.

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.

Antelope was launched at Nantes in 1804 under another name. The British captured her and the High Court of Admiralty condemned her on 1 June 1807. She sailed to the Pacific, possibly as a whaler, where she captured a Spanish vessels. In 1811 she made one voyage to India for the British East India Company. She next traded with South America and the Mediterranean. A United States privateer captured her in 1814, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She was probably broken up circa 1824.

Barton was launched in 1794 as a West Indiaman, sailing primarily to Barbados. She was of average size for vessels launched at Liverpool at that time. She sailed under letters of marque and several times repelled attacks by French and Spanish privateers in single ship actions. Still, the Americans captured and burnt her in 1814.

HMS <i>Albacore</i> (1804) Sloop of the Royal Navy

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.

HMS Bramble was launched in Bermuda in 1809. She had a relatively brief and uneventful career before the Royal Navy sold her in December 1815. She became the mercantile Bramble, and was last listed in 1824.

Tartar was launched in France in 1802, or Spain in 1805, almost certainly under another name. In 1806 she sailed under the flag of the United Kingdom on a voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her return she started trading between Liverpool and Brazil and Africa. A French frigate captured her in 1813, but then released her. She was wrecked early in 1815.

Harriot was launched in 1784 on the Thames as a West Indiaman. Her owners may have intended to send her to the South Seas as a whaler in 1786, but there is no evidence that she actually made such a voyage. A new owner renamed her Dominica Packet around 1787. She then spent her career primarily sailing between Britain and the West Indies. During her career she, together with two other Liverpool letters of marque, captured a valuable Spanish merchantman. Later, Harriot captured a Dutch East Indiaman. A Baltimore privateer captured Dominica Packet in 1813, but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She foundered circa January 1821.

Thames was launched in New York in 1798, probably under another name. Bebby & Co., of Liverpool, acquired her circa 1807. An American privateer captured Thames in January 1813 as Thames was sailing back to Liverpool from Africa.

Nimble was built in Kingston upon Hull in 1802. She traded with Portugal, first from Hull and then from Liverpool. She was lengthened in 1806. Later, she traded between London and Brazil, and then London and the West Indies. An American privateer captured her in 1814. She was recaptured and then disappeared from ship arrival and departure (SAD) data.

Vittoria was a schooner launched at Baltimore in 1811 under another name. British owners acquired her in 1813, probably as a prize, and renamed her. She became a privateer sailing out of Guernsey and captured at least three vessels trading between the United States and France. She disappeared from online records circa 1814, though she remains listed to 1818 with data unchanged from 1813. A French privateer may have captured her in 1814.

Mary Ann was launched in 1807 at Liverpool. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then became a West Indiaman. From 1811 she became a Falmouth packet. In 1813 a United States privateer captured her.

Nelson was launched at Bristol in 1807 as a West Indiaman. In January 1813 a United States privateer captured her off Jamaica.

Several vessels have been named Chesterfield.

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.

References