HMS Admiral Rainier (1800)

Last updated

History
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svgGreat Britain
NameHMS Admiral Rainier
NamesakeAdmiral Peter Rainier
Launchedc.1800
Acquiredby capture, 23 August 1800
FateSold, September 1803
Flag of the Netherlands.svgBatavian Republic
NameAdmiraal Rainier
Acquired1804
FateCrew mutinied, April 1806
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameAdmiral Rainier
AcquiredBy seizure 1806
FateUnknown
General characteristics
Type Brig
Tons burthen150, [lower-alpha 1] or 250 [2] (bm)
Complement97 (Dutch)
Armament
  • Dutch service: 16 × 6-pounder & 4-pounder guns
  • British service: 14 × 6-pounder & 4-pounder guns

HMS Admiral Rainier was a Dutch 16-gun brig that the British captured on 23 August 1800 at Kuyper's Island, Java. [lower-alpha 2] They took her into service and named her after Admiral Peter Rainier, the leader of the British expedition. After the British sold her in 1803 apparently the French captured her in 1804 and sold her to the Dutch colonial government in Batavia for anti-piracy patrol. Her Javanese crew mutinied in 1806 and eventually sailed to Penang where vessels of the British East India Company (EIC) seized the vessel. She returned to British service, only to be captured and recaptured by vessels of the EIC. Her ultimate fate is unknown.

Contents

Capture and British service

On 23 August 1800 Sybille, Daedalus, Centurion, and Braave entered Batavia Roads and captured five Dutch armed vessels in all and destroyed 22 other vessels. [3] [lower-alpha 3] One of the vessels they captured was a newly built Dutch brig. [1] [lower-alpha 4]

Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball of Daedalus ordered her manned, armed, and equipped. [3] Admiral Rainier was commissioned under Lieutenant William Hugh Dobbie of Centurion. [4] She was armed with 14 guns, a mix of 6-pounders and 4-pounders. [5]

The British employed her in the blockade of Batavia. [4] On 28 October Admiral Rainier went up the Carawang river with seven armed boats of the squadron to destroy a depot of grain. [3] [6] She accomplished the task after destroying five proas protecting the place. [3] The British carried off three gunboats, together with the commandant's accommodation boat and three large proas laden with coffee. [3] British losses were two killed and six wounded. [6]

In 1802 Wellesley, the Governor-General of India, recalled the squadron. The vessels were needed in India for the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805). At the recall, Lieutenant Dobbie returned to Centurion; [4] By 26 February 1803 Dobbie was acting commander of the EIC's brig Ternate and about to attack pirates at "Baite Island" off the coast of Gujarat. [7] Admiral Rainier was sold in September 1803.

Franco-Dutch service

The French squadron operating in the Indian Ocean under the command of Rear Admiral Linois, captured two brigs in February 1804 and sent them in to Batavia: a 16-gun brig called Admiral Rainier (1 February), and the Henrietta of 12 guns and fourteen 24-pounder carronades (12 February ). [8] The two prizes arrived at Batavia where Linois was in a hurry to sell them. He therefore accepted a price from the "shabendar" of 133,000 piastres for both vessels and their cargoes. [9] Admiral Rainier was taken into local colonial service as Admiraal Rainier under Captain-lieutenant Etienne Couderc. [10] [lower-alpha 5]

The Dutch immediately put Admiraal Rainier to use patrolling off Batavia. Towards the end of May, under 1st Lieut. H.D. Andreae, she patrolled the Karimunjawa islands to suppress piracy. Her crew consisted of 24 European sailors, 15 marines and 58 Javanese. [10]

In January 1805 she was decommissioned due to a shortage of seamen. Between 20 and 28 October 1805 she sailed from Semarang to Batavia under command of lieutenant Louis Quarles van Ufford. On this short voyage she had a crew of 40 Europeans and 25 Javanese recruits. [11] In April 1806 she departed to patrol off the north coast of Java. Her commanding officer was Captain-lieutenant Christiaan Monkenberg. On board were 12 Europeans and 36 Javanese. During the night of 28–29 April the Javanese mutinied and murdered the Europeans, throwing their bodies overboard. A native quartermaster then took command and sailed Admiraal Rainier first to Borneo and then to the Riau Archipelago, now part of the Indonesia province of Riau Islands. Unable to join up with any pirates, and running out of stores, the brig sailed to Penang. Apparently, there the British seized her. [10]

Lloyd's List reported that the Indiaman Dover Castle had retaken Admiral Rainer, country-ship, at 3°N39°E / 3°N 39°E / 3; 39 , on 30 December 1806. According to the account, Admiral Rainer had been captured by a corvette. [12]

The officers and men of the EIC's ships Lord Keith and Dover Castle received salvage money in October 1810 for the recapture of Admiral Rainier on 31 December 1806, [13] as did the crew of Ocean. [14]

A vessel named Admiral Rainier, of 250 tons (bm), was still registered at Calcutta in 1809. [15]

Notes

  1. ↑ Winfield expresses skepticism that the brig's burthen was 150 tons, deeming it too low for a vessel of 16 guns. [1]
  2. ↑ Also referred to as Cooper's Island. This is one of a group of four islands that are themselves part of the 105 islands and over 200 islets that make up the Thousand Islands (Kepulauan Seribu). Kuyper's Island's name became Cipir Island (Pulau Cipir) and recently, Kahyangan Island (Pulau Kahyangan). It is a companion to Onrust Island (Palau Onrust or Palau Damar Besar), which was the site of a major shipyard and fort that had belonged to the by then defunct Dutch East India Company. At one point a narrow bridge linked the two islands.
  3. ↑ Some accounts place the captures at Onrust Island.
  4. ↑ Milo (June 1941) reports that the British captured the newly constructed brig Ajax. This would then probably be the vessel that became the Admiral Rainier.
  5. ↑ Roche (2005) has no mention of any such vessel in French service but that is not surprising as she was probably never in service before she was sold locally.

Citations

  1. 1 2 Winfield (2008), pp. 160–1.
  2. ↑ Phipps (1840), p. 138.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "No. 15427". The London Gazette . 14 November 1801. pp. 1372–1373.
  4. 1 2 3 The gentleman's magazine, and historical chronicle, Volume 100, Part 2, pp.181–2.
  5. ↑ Winfield (2008), p. 290.
  6. 1 2 Marshall (1827), pp. 142–143.
  7. ↑ Marshall (1827), pp. 144–145.
  8. ↑ Austen (1935), p. 115.
  9. ↑ Stewarton (1806), p. 242.
  10. 1 2 3 Milo (1942); van Maanen (2008)
  11. ↑ Nationaal Archief, Archief Louis Quarles van Ufford, 2.21.455, inv.nr. 4
  12. ↑ Lloyd's List №4180, - accessed 8 May February 2019.
  13. ↑ "No. 16409". The London Gazette . 29 September 1810. p. 1544.
  14. ↑ "No. 16410". The London Gazette . 2 October 1810. pp. 1568–1569.
  15. ↑ Reports... (1809), p. 240.

Related Research Articles

HMS Leda, launched in 1800, was the lead ship of a successful class of forty-seven British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates. Leda's design was based on the French Hébé, which the British had captured in 1782. Leda was wrecked at the mouth of Milford Haven in 1808, Captain Honeyman was exonerated of all blame, as it was a pilot error.

French frigate <i>Franchise</i> (1797)

Franchise was launched in 1798 as a 40-gun Coquille-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1803 and took her into the Royal Navy under her existing name. In the war on commerce during the Napoleonic Wars she was more protector than prize-taker, capturing many small privateers but few commercial prizes. She was also at the battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815.

HMS <i>Hindostan</i> (1804) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Hindostan was a 50-gun two-decker fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally a teak-built East Indiaman named Admiral Rainier launched at Calcutta in 1799 that the Royal Navy brought into service in May 1804. Before the Royal Navy purchased her, Admiral Rainier made two trips to England for the British East India Company (EIC), as an "extra ship", i.e., under charter. Perhaps her best known voyage was her trip to Australia in 1809 when she and Dromedary brought Governor Lachlan Macquarie to replace Governor William Bligh after the Rum Rebellion. In later years she became a store ship, and in 1819 was renamed Dolphin. She was hulked in 1824 to serve as a prison ship, and renamed Justitia in 1831. She was finally sold in 1855.

French ship <i>Jean-Jacques Rousseau</i> (1795) French Gunship

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, active during the French Directory, French Consulate and First French Empire. Renamed Marengo in 1802, she took part in Linois' operations in the Indian Ocean before her capture by the Royal Navy.

French frigate <i>Atalante</i> (1802)

The Atalante was a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1802.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 18 October 1806</span> Minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars

The action of 18 October 1806 was a minor naval engagement during the Napoleonic Wars, fought between the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Caroline and a Dutch squadron at the entrance to Batavia harbour on Java in the Dutch East Indies. During the battle the Dutch frigate Maria Riggersbergen was left unsupported by the remainder of the squadron and, isolated, was forced to surrender. Captain Peter Rainier, the British commander, was subsequently free to remove his prize from within sight of the Dutch port when the remainder of the Dutch squadron refused to engage Caroline and their crews deliberately grounded the ships to avoid capture. He also returned many prisoners taken previously in a captured brig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 26 July 1806</span> Minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars

The action of 26 July 1806 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars fought off the southern coast of the island of Celebes in the Dutch East Indies. During the battle, a small British squadron attacked and defeated a Dutch force defending a valuable convoy, which was also captured. The British force—consisting of the frigate HMS Greyhound and brig-sloop HMS Harrier under the command of Captain Edward Elphinstone—was initially wary of the Dutch, mistaking the Dutch East Indiaman merchant ship Victoria for a ship of the line. Closer observation revealed the identity of the Dutch vessels the following day and Elphinstone led his frigate against the leading Dutch warship Pallas while Harrier engaged the merchant vessels and forced them to surrender. Only the corvette William escaped, taking no part in the engagement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Java campaign of 1806–1807</span> Military campaign in Netherlands East Indies

The Java campaign of 1806–1807 was a minor campaign during the Napoleonic Wars by British Royal Navy forces against a naval squadron of the Kingdom of Holland, a client state of the French Empire, based on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. Seeking to eliminate any threat to valuable British merchant convoys passing through the Malacca Straits, Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew determined in early 1806 that the Dutch naval forces based at Java, which included several ships of the line and three frigates, had to be defeated to ensure British dominance in the region. Lacking the forces to effect an invasion of the Dutch colony, Pellew instead sought to isolate and blockade the Dutch squadron based at Batavia in preparation for raids specifically targeting the Dutch ships with his main force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raid on Batavia (1806)</span> Attack by British naval forces against Dutch naval forces at Batavia

The Raid on Batavia of 27 November 1806 was a successful attempt by a large British naval force to destroy the Dutch squadron based on Java in the Dutch East Indies that posed a threat to British shipping in the Straits of Malacca. The British admiral in command of the eastern Indian Ocean, Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, led a force of four ships of the line, two frigates and brig to the capital of Java at Batavia, in search of the squadron, which was reported to consist of a number of Dutch ships of the line and several smaller vessels. However the largest Dutch ships had already sailed eastwards towards Griessie over a month earlier, and Pellew only discovered the frigate Phoenix and a number of smaller warships in the bay, all of which were driven ashore by their crews rather than engage Pellew's force. The wrecks were subsequently burnt and Pellew, unaware of the whereabouts of the main Dutch squadron, returned to his base at Madras for the winter.

HMS <i>Scorpion</i> (1803) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Scorpion was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1803. She was the first of the class to be built since the launching of Cruizer in 1797. Scorpion had a long and active career during the Napoleonic Wars, earning her crews three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal when the Admiralty authorized it in 1847, two for single-ship actions. She also took a number of prizes. Scorpion was sold in 1819.

Bellona was a three-decker merchantman launched in 1782 at Limehouse by Woolcombe for Boyd & Co. She then traded for a decade before, in 1792, commencing a series of four voyages for the British East India Company as an "extra ship", that is, on a charter contract. During the first of these voyages she transported convicts from Britain to New South Wales. French privateers captured her and the British Royal Navy recaptured her, the Royal Navy seized her once, and then finally a French privateer captured her in February 1810 and scuttled her.

HMS Amboyna was the Dutch brig Harlingen, which the British captured in the East Indies in 1796. They renamed her Amboyna after their recent capture of Ambon Island. She then served briefly in the Royal Navy before she was broken up in 1802.

Atlas was built in Souths Shields by Temple and launched in 1801 for Temple. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland or England to Port Jackson. On the first voyage she carried cargo for the British East India Company (EIC). On the second she sailed to Bengal after delivering her convicts to New South Wales and was wrecked off India in 1820 while on her way back to Britain.

Indefatigable was a square-rigged, three-decked, three-masted merchant ship launched in 1799 at Whitby for James Atty & Co. for the West Indies trade. In 1804 she served as an armed defense ship and recaptured a merchantman that a privateer had captured. She was a transport in the 1805–1806 British invasion of the Dutch Cape colony. She twice transported convicts to Australia; on the first trip she was chartered to the British East India Company (EIC). She burned to the waterline in 1815.

Admiral Gardner was launched in 1797 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made five voyages for the EIC, during the fourth of which she participated in an inconclusive single-ship action with a French privateer. Admiral Gardner was wrecked in January 1809. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. She was named after Admiral Alan Gardner.

Union was launched at Calcutta in 1801. She sailed to England and then made five voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC), between 1805 and 1814. She was wrecked in late 1815 or early 1816.

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.

Havik was built in Batavia in 1808 or 1809. The Dutch government purchased her and had her fitted out in 1809; she then sailed for North America. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1810. She then sailed to Britain where new owners named her Peter Proctor, after the British officer who captured her. She then traded widely and was last listed in 1845. She brought the first group of coolies from India to Australia in 1837.

Forbes was launched at Calcutta in 1805. She was wrecked in the Billeton Straits in the southern part of the Karimata Strait on 11 September 1806.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Rainier (Royal Navy officer, born 1784)</span> Royal Navy officer

Captain Peter Rainier was a Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Due to the patronage of his uncle, Vice-Admiral Peter Rainier, he was promoted quickly through the ranks so that by the age of twenty he was already a captain. He was given command of the 36-gun frigate HMS Caroline and on 18 October 1806 he fought a successful action in her against the Dutch 36-gun frigate Maria Reijersbergen at Batavia. He captured the treasure ship St Raphael in January 1807 off the Philippines, which had on board £500,000 worth of bullion coin. He left Caroline later in the year and received his next command, the 38-gun frigate HMS Niger, in June 1813. In Niger he participated in the capture of the French 44-gun frigate Ceres off the Cape Verde Islands in January 1814. He left Niger at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and did not receive another command until 1831 when he was given the 120-gun ship of the line HMS Britannia, in which he served in the Mediterranean Fleet until 1835. He died on 13 April of the following year in Southampton after a short illness.

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.