Drawing showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth used to build Albatross and the other ships of her class
HMS Albatross was the name vessel of her class of brig-sloops. She was built of fir and launched in 1796. She captured two privateers in the North Sea. She then sailed to the Far East. There she captured two French privateers in single-ship actions. She was sold in the Far East in 1807 and broken up in 1810.
Commander George Scott commissioned Albatross in January 1796, for the North Sea[2]
On 8 September 1797, Albatross 28 leagues south-west of the Naze of Norway when she encountered and captured the Dutch privateer Brave. Brave was armed with five carriage guns, eight swivel guns, and a complement of 40 men, of whom only 25 were board. She was under the command of Hendrick Meyer Ditless. She had left Egeroe, Norway on 2 September and had not captured anything.[3]
On 14 November 1797, Albatross captured the French privateer Emouchet, of eight guns and 55 men.[lower-alpha 1]
Commander Scott was promoted to post captain on 15 June 1798.[5] Commander Charles Adam recommissioned Albatross and sailed her to the East Indies.[1] In March–June 1799, she was in the Red Sea. The British received information that the French had transferred warship frames to Suez to build some warships for the Red Sea. HMSCenturion sailed to Mocha, where she met up with Albatross and sailed with her to Suez.[6][lower-alpha 2]
Commander Scott was promoted to post captain on 12 June 1799.[7] Commander William Waller assumed command in 1800.[1] Waller had been appointed in June 1799 to command Albatross, but had to wait until she returned from the Red Sea before he could replace Scott.[8]
Albatross on 13 November 1800, captured the privateer brig Adèle, (or Adel), at 18°N91°E / 18°N 91°E / 18; 91. Adèle was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 60 men.[9]Adèle initially assumed that Albatross was a merchantman. When the two met, Adèle attempted to board Albatross. When Albatross repelled the attempt, Adèle attempted to escape, with Albatross sailing in chase. A close-quarters engagement ensued and eventually Adèlestruck, and a British boarding party took possession of her.[10]
Adèle had lost six men killed and 13 wounded. Albatross had lost one marine and one seaman (from HMSBraave) killed, and six men wounded (one of whom belonged to Braave and one to HMSCenturion). Nicholas Surcouf, Adèle's captain, surrendered to Waller and offered him his sword, which Waller, as a sign of respect, declined to take.[11]
Albatross had captured Adèle some 90 leagues south of the Sandheads (at the mouth of the Ganges River). Adèle arrived at Kedgeree on 25 November.[12]
On 23 March 1801 Albatross captured Gloire, Étienne Bourgoin, master, at 15°17′N87°0′E / 15.283°N 87.000°E / 15.283; 87.000. Albatross had chased Gloire and had finally caught up with her around noon. After a close and severe action that lasted about 20 minutes Bourgoin struck. Gloire had lost five men killed and 12 wounded, Bourgoin and some of his officers being among the wounded; Albatross had no casualties.[13]
At the time of her capture Gloire was armed with 10 guns, though she was pierced for 18, and had a crew of 111 men. She had left Mauritius with 183 men, but had taken six prizes requiring prize crews; she had also sunk several other prizes that were not worth putting a prize crew aboard.[9]
Shortly after Albatross arrived at MadrasRoads, the New Madras Insurance Company presented Waller with an honour sword, and the Old Madras Insurance Company presented him with a piece of plate, each worth £200, as a reward for the service he had rendered by capturing Adèle andGloire.[13][14]
Waller was promoted to post-captain on 8 January 1801.[8]
In August 1801, Lieutenant Charles Malcolm, of HMSSuffolk, was promoted to the rank of Commander, in Albatross.[15]
On 24 April 1802, Commander J. G. Vashon was promoted from command of Albatross to be captain of Fox. His replacement, c.May 1802, was Lord George Stuart, who was promoted to Commander into Albatross. He was promoted to post captain on 3 March 1804. In June Lieutenant John Batt took command of Albatross.[1] His replacement, in January 1807, was Commander John Bastard, who was promoted to captain on 12 October 1807.
Fate
Albatross was condemned at Bombay and was sold in April 1807. She was broken up in 1810.[16]
Notes
↑ Emouchet, Tourneux, master was a 10-gun lugger, built by Michel Colin-Olivier between 1795 and 1796, and commissioned in Dieppe in April 1796. Her first cruise took place between April 1796 and March 1797 under François Clémence. For her second cruise, in 1797, she was under the command of Captain Tourneux.[4]Emouchet had earlier captured the merchantman Air Balloon. An Emouchet is a small falcon, or hawk.
↑ These may have been the first British warships ever to sail in the Red Sea.[6]
HMS Galatea was a fifth-rate 32-gun sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy that George Parsons built at Bursledon and launched in 1794. Before she was broken up in 1809 she captured numerous prizes and participated in a number of actions, first in the Channel and off Ireland (1794–1803), and then in the Caribbean (1802–1809), including one that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal.
HMS Astraea was a 32-gun fifth rate Active-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Fabian at E. Cowes launched her in 1781, and she saw action in the American War of Independence as well as during the Napoleonic Wars. She is best known for her capture of the larger French frigate Gloire in a battle on 10 April 1795, while under the command of Captain Lord Henry Paulet. She was wrecked on 23 March 1808 off the coast of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.
HMS Gaiete was a French Bonne Citoyenne-class corvette that the British frigate HMS Arethusa captured off Bermuda in 1797. She then served the Royal Navy until she was sold in 1808.
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.
Captain Sir Thomas Staines was an officer in the Royal Navy.
Bonne Citoyenne was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy launched in 1794, the name ship of a four-vessel class. She was part of the French fleet active in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796, commissioning her as the sloop-of-war HMS Bonne Citoyenne.
HMS Favourite was a 16-gun Cormorant-class sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe. The French captured her in 1806 and renamed her Favorite. However, the British recaptured her in 1807 and renamed her HMS Goree. She became a prison ship in 1810 and was broken up in Bermuda in 1817.
HMS Hornet was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, ordered 18 February 1793, built by Marmaduke Stalkart and launched 3 February 1794 at Rotherhithe. Hornet saw most of her active duty during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Napoleonic Wars she served for about six years as a hospital ship before being laid up in 1811 and sold in 1817.
HMS Peterel was a 16-gun Pylades-class ship-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794 and was in active service until 1811. Her most famous action was the capture of the French brig Ligurienne when shortly after Peterel captured two merchant ships and sent them off with prize crews, three French ships attacked her. She drove two on shore and captured the largest, the 14-gun Ligurienne. The Navy converted Peterel to a receiving ship at Plymouth in 1811 and sold her in 1827.
The Dutch brig Komeet was launched in 1789 at Amsterdam. HMS Unicorn captured her on the Irish station in 1795. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Comeet; it renamed her HMS Penguin in 1798. It sold her in 1808.
HMS Racoon was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.
Salamine was originally the Spanish Navy's Infante 18-gun brig, built in 1787 at Cadiz. The French Navy captured her at Toulon in December 1793 and recommissioned her; they renamed her on 10 May 1798 as Salamine, for the battle of Salamis. On 18 June 1799, HMS Emerald captured her and she was brought into Royal Navy service as HMS Salamine. She served briefly in the Mediterranean, where she captured two French privateers and several merchant vessels before the Royal Navy sold her at Malta in 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens ended the war with France.
Perçante was a 20-gun ship-corvette of the French Navy, built at Bayonne and launched in 1795. The British captured her in 1796 and took her into the Royal Navy under the name HMS Jamaica. They rated her as a sixth-rate 26-gun frigate. She served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and part of the Napoleonic Wars, during which she captured some privateers and participated in a boat attack. The Admiralty had her laid up in 1810 and sold her in 1814.
HMS Childers was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, initially armed with 10 carriage guns which were later increased to 14 guns. The first brig-sloop to be built for the Navy, she was ordered from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. She had an active career in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous French privateers and during the Gunboat War participated in a noteworthy single-ship action. The navy withdrew her from service at the beginning of 1811, at which time she was broken up.
Prince William was built in Newcastle in 1788. She then traded between England and the Baltic. The Royal Navy first hired her in 1797. His Majesty's hired armed ship Prince William served on two contracts, one during the French Revolutionary Wars and one during the Napoleonic Wars. The Admiralty returned her to her owners at the end of each contract.
HMS Harpy was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1796 and sold in 1817. She was the longest lived vessel of her class, and the most widely travelled. She served in both the battle of Copenhagen and the British invasion of Java, took part in several actions, one of which won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured numerous privateers. The Navy sold her in 1817.
HMS Dart was one of two sloops built to an experimental design by Sir Samuel Bentham and launched in 1796. She served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary wars and the early part of the Napoleonic wars before being sold in 1809 for breaking up.
The French brig Suffisante was launched in 1793 for the French Navy. In 1795 the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service under her existing name. HMS Suffisante captured seven privateers during her career, as well as recapturing some British merchantmen and capturing a number of prizes, some of them valuable. She was lost in December 1803 when she grounded in poor weather in Cork harbour.
Adèle was a French privateer brig commissioned in 1800 that the British Royal Navy captured later that year. The British East India Company's government in India purchased her in 1801 for service as an armed brig in the Bay of Bengal and along the Coromandel Coast. In 1804 she sailed to Britain where the Admiralty purchased her for use as a fire ship, and named her HMS Firebrand. She was wrecked in 1804.
Gloire was a ship launched at Bayonne in 1799 as an armed merchantman. She became a privateer in the Indian Ocean that the British captured in 1801 in a notable single-ship action. The Royal Navy commissioned her as HMS Trincomalee, but then sold her in 1803. The French recaptured her in 1803 and recommissioned her as the privateer Émilien, but the British recaptured her in 1807 and recommissioned her as HMS Emilien, before selling her in 1808.
References
Demerliac, Alain (1999). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 à 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN9782906381247. OCLC492783890.
Seton-Karr, Walter Scott (1868). Selections from Calcutta Gazettes: Showing the Political and Social Condition of the English in India. Vol.3. Printed at the Military Orphan Press by O. T. Cutter.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates (2nded.). Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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