Royal Navy
Commander Major Jacob Henniker commissioned Albacore in May 1804 for service in Home waters.
In 1804 Albacore and Henniker were under Sir James Saumarez, commander-in-chief at Guernsey.
Saumarez put Albacore under the orders of Commodore Philippe d'Auvergne, who directed Henniker to intercept French vessels passing along the Normandy coast. On 8 October 1804 Albacore chased five luggers armed with bow guns that then anchored under cover of a shore battery near Cape Gris Nez de Flamanville. The following day Henniker brought Albacore within two cables of the surf under the direction of the pilot, and opened fire with round and grape shot. The enemy vessels were driven ashore until they were covered in surf. Their crews then scrambled up the beach carrying their wounded. Albacore hauled off, hulled in several places and with her main and main-top-masts damaged; still, she had no casualties. [3] When he passed on the 16th., Captain Henniker saw that the five luggers were still there, breaking up under the heavy surf. [4]
On 26 March 1806, Margaretta, Smith, master, arrived at Portsmouth. She had been sailing to Bordeaux when Albicore detained her. [5]
By April Albicore was under the command of Commander John Burn on the Jersey station. On 7 April Albicore captured the Prussian galliot Beerbchen. Then one week later, on the 14th, Albicore captured Argo. [6] The Prussian ship Argo had been sailing from Liverpool to Riga when Albicore detained her. [7]
In May Albicore sent into Plymouth the American vessel Merchant, Casin, master, which had been sailing from Charleston. [8] Then Albicore and the privateer Hector sent into Falmouth the Danish vessel Graff Bernstorf, Bohlmann, master. She had been sailing from Charleston to Hambro when the British detained her. [9] [lower-alpha 1]
On 6 May 1807 the boats of Inconstant, the flagship of Vice-Admiral James Saumarez, captured the French ship Julia. Albacore and Jamaica shared in the proceeds of the capture. [11]
By some accounts, between 1809 and 1811 Albacore was on the Guernsey station under the command of Corbet James D'Auvergne. However, during that time he was captain of HMS Autumn. He was promoted to post-captain on 1 August 1811.
In August 1811, Commander Thomas Henry Davies was appointed to command Albacore on the Guernsey station. On 25 November 1812, Albicore recaptured the schooner Endeavour. [12]
At dawn on 19 December, Albacore, together with the 12-gun schooner Pickle and nine merchantmen found themselves becalmed off the Lizard in the presence of the French frigate Gloire, commanded by Captain Rousin, which had sailed from Le Havre the previous day. Albacore engaged as soon as there was some wind. In the exchange of fire Albacore suffered Lieutenant Harman killed and six or seven men wounded before she pulled back to repair damage. Gloire did not follow up her advantage and fled. Pickle then closed and at about 3pm the 12-gun brig-sloop Borer and the 4-gun cutter Landrail also came up and Albacore, having repaired her damage, joined them and opened fire with her bow-chasers at about 5pm. Gloire replied with her stern guns but continued to run until by midnight she was out of sight.
On 2 June 1813 Davies sailed Albacore to West Africa. Commander Davies was promoted to post-captain on 19 February 1814.
Commander James Boxer assumed command of Albacore on 15 February 1814 at Rio Janeiro. However, on 21 April he became acting captain of HMS Aquilon. Not long thereafter he sailed Aquilon to England and there was promoted to post-captain. Lieutenant Joseph Patey assumed command as captain pro-tempore. In December 1814 Albacore chased the American privateer True Blooded Yankee into Salvador.
On 20 December 1814 Manchester Packet repelled an attack by an American privateer at 17°9′S35°50′W / 17.150°S 35.833°W / -17.150; -35.833 , but had to put into Salvador to repair. [lower-alpha 2] She left on 3 January 1815 under convoy by Albacore. True Blooded Yankey was sold at Salvador to defray the expenses of her stay.
On 18 March 1815, HMS Inconstant and Albacore recaptured the brig Acorn and her cargo. [17]
Patey was superseded in July 1815 when Albacore returned to England. Two days after his supersession, on 18 July he was promoted to the rank of Commander.
On 20 June 1815 Commander William Wolrige was appointed to command Albacore, and he recommissioned her.
Disposal: The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the "Albicore sloop of 370 tons", lying at Plymouth, for sale on 14 December 1815. [18] Albacore was sold for £1,900 at Plymouth on that day.
Admiral James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez, GCB was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, notable for his victory at the Second Battle of Algeciras.
HMS Tonnant was an 80-gun ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had previously been Tonnant of the French Navy and the lead ship of the Tonnant class. The British captured her in August 1793 during the Siege of Toulon but the French recaptured her when the siege was broken in December. Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson captured her at Aboukir Bay off the coast of Egypt at the Battle of the Nile on 1 August 1798. She was taken into British service as HMS Tonnant. She went on to fight at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Hannibal was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1786, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal. She is best known for having taken part in the Algeciras Campaign, and for having run aground during the First Battle of Algeciras on 5 July 1801, which resulted in her capture. She then served in the French Navy until she was broken up in 1824.
HMS Hydra launched in 1797 was a fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. From 1813 to 1817 she served as a troopship. She was sold in 1820.
HMS Centaur was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 March 1797 at Woolwich. She served as Sir Samuel Hood's flagship in the Leeward Islands and the Channel. During her 22-year career Centaur saw action in the Mediterranean, the Channel, the West Indies, and the Baltic, fighting the French, the Dutch, the Danes, and the Russians. She was broken up in 1819.
HMS Inconstant was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had a successful career serving in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing three French warships during the French Revolutionary naval campaigns, Curieux, Unité, and the former British ship HMS Speedy.
HMS Santa Margarita was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built for service with the Spanish Navy, but was captured after five years in service, eventually spending nearly 60 years with the British.
HMS Eurydice was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1781 and broken up in 1834. During her long career she saw service in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She captured a number of enemy privateers and served in the East and West Indies, the Mediterranean and British and American waters.
HMS Druid was a 32-gun Hermione-class fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1783 at Bristol. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous small prizes. One of her commanders, Captain Philip Broke, described Druid as a "point of honour ship", i.e., a ship too large to run but too small to fight. He and his biographer's view was that it was a disgrace to use a ship like her as a warship. She was broken up in 1813, after a thirty-year career.
HMS Spitfire was a Tisiphone-class fireship of the Royal Navy. She served during the years of peace following the end of the American War of Independence, and by the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, had been reclassified as a 14-gun sloop-of-war. Spitfire went on to serve under a number of notable commanders during a successful career that saw her capture a considerable number of French privateers and small naval vessels. She spent most of her career in Home waters, though during the later part of her life she sailed further afield, to the British stations in North America and West Africa. She survived the Napoleonic Wars and was eventually sold in 1825 after a period spent laid up.
Armide was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, and launched in 1804 at Rochefort. She served briefly in the French Navy before the Royal Navy captured her in 1806. She went on to serve in the Royal Navy until 1815 when she was broken up.
HMS Persian was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Daniel List and launched at Cowes in 1809. She captured two privateers before she wrecked in 1813.
HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801 and that the British government purchased in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.
HMS Clyde was a Royal Navy Artois-class frigate built at Chatham Dockyard of fir, and launched in 1796. In 1797, she was one of only two ships whose captains were able to maintain some control over their vessels during the Nore mutiny. In 1805, HMS Clyde was dismantled and rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard; she was relaunched on 23 February 1806. She was ultimately sold in August 1814.
His Majesty's hired armed schooner Lady Charlotte served the British Royal Navy on contract between 28 October 1799 and 28 October 1801. She had a burthen of 120 85⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with twelve 12-pounder carronades. As a hired armed vessel she captured several privateers and recaptured a number of British merchant vessels. After her service with the Royal Navy, she apparently sailed as a letter of marque until the French captured her in 1806.
Sorcière was the name of several privateers that sailed during the Napoleonic Wars. Three were French vessels, but one was British, though the British Sorciere was probably the Sorcière launched in 1803 at Saint-Malo that the British Royal Navy captured in April 1806.
Proserpine was launched at Amsterdam in 1801 as a 32-gun frigate. The Royal Navy captured her in May 1804 at the capture of Surinam and took her into service as HMS Amsterdam. She sailed to England where she became a guard and storeship at Cork. She was sold in 1815.
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 Albacore was launched in 1793 at Rotherhithe. She captured several privateers ad a French Navy corvette before she was sold in 1802.
The Thames-class frigate was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate class of eight ships of the Royal Navy based on the Richmond-class frigate designed by William Bately. The ships were ordered to the older design, which was of a smaller type of ship compared to more modern designs, so that they could be built quickly and cheaply in time to assist in defending against Napoleon's expected invasion of Britain. The class received several design changes to the Richmond class, being built of fir instead of oak, with these changes making the class generally slower and less weatherly than their predecessors, especially when in heavy weather conditions. The first two ships of the class, Pallas and Circe, were ordered on 16 March 1804 with two more ordered on 1 May and the final four on 12 July. The final ship of the class, Medea, was cancelled on 22 October before construction could begin but the other seven ships of the class were commissioned between 1804 and 1806.
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