The original Amazon-class were 32-gun, 12-pounder, frigates of 677 tons (bm), designed by Sir John Williams and built between 1771 and 1782.[4] These were outgunned by the French however, and after that point the British had tended towards a larger and more heavily-armed frigate.[5] Those of 36 or 38 guns with a main armament of 18-pounder long guns, became the standard in the Royal Navy and by 1793, when the French Revolutionary War began, it was not unusual for them to be close to 1000 tons burthen (bm).[5] In 1794 therefore, the Admiralty asked Rule to design a 36-gun, 18-pounder, Amazon-class frigate.[lower-alpha 1][6]
Amazon and her sister ship HMSEmerald were ordered on 24 May 1794 and built to the same dimensions: 143feet 2+1⁄2inches (43.6m) along the gun deck with a beam of 38feet 4inches (11.7m) and a depth in hold of 13feet 6inches (4.1m). They were 933 67⁄94 tons (bm) a piece.[8]
Work began in June at Rotherhithe by John and William Wells & Co, when the 119feet 5+1⁄2inches (36.4m)keel was laid down. Launched on 4 July 1795, Amazon was taken to Deptford where she was completed between 3–25 September. Including fitting, her construction had cost £24,681.[8] Unladen, Amazondrew betweem 10feet 3inches (3.1m) at the bow, and 15feet 3inches (4.6m) at the stern.[8]
Amazon was built to carry a main battery of twenty-six 18-pounder (8.2-kilogram)long guns on her gun deck, eight 9-pounder (4.1kg) guns on the quarterdeck and two on the forecastle. She additionally carried eight 32-pounder (15kg)carronades, six on the quarterdeck and two on the forecastle.[lower-alpha 2] Carronades were lighter so could be manoeuvred with fewer men, and had a faster rate of fire but had a much shorter range than the long gun.[11] When fully manned, Amazon-class frigates had a complement of 264.[8]
The Admiralty ordered a second pair of Amazon-class ships on 24 January 1795. They were marginally smaller at 92587⁄94 tons (bm) and were built from pitch pine.[6][lower-alpha 3]
Service
Sir Edward Pellew; whose frigate squadron Amazon spent her entire career in.
On 20 March 1796, Amazon and Pellew's ship, the 44-gun Indefatigable, pursued three French corvettes in the Bay of Biscay. Two escaped into the Loire at Saint-Nazaire, the third was dismasted and beached at the mouth of the river. Here she was protected by the shore batteries and her crew were later able to get her off. She was the 26-gun Volage. Amazon had four of her crew wounded in the affair.[13] In his report, written on 9 April, Pellew revealed that his squadron had also captured seven enemy brigs and two chasse-marees.[13]
Amazon, Indefatigable, the 44-gun Argo, the 38-gun Révolutionnaire and the 36-gun Concorde[12] were cruising off Ushant, late in the afternoon of 13 April, when a ship was seen to windward. Pellew ordered Révolutionnaire to sail an intercepting course while the rest of the squadron gave chase. Révolutionnaire eventually cut off the quarry, which turned out to be the French 32-gun frigate, Unité, and after a brief exchange of fire, forced her to surrender.[12] A week later, on 20 April, Amazon was again in pursuit of an enemy frigate. With Argo in Plymouth and Révolutionnaire on her way home with her prize, the three remaining British frigates were lying-to off The Lizard, when the 40-gun Virginie was spotted.[14]Indefatigable, being the best sailer, was first to engage, after a 168nmi (311km) chase, lasting 15 hours. When Amazon and Concorde caught up, the French ship surrendered.[15] She was taken into Plymouth where Indefatigable and Amazon, having been damaged in the engagement, underwent repairs.[16]
Two French navy corvettes were sighted about eight leagues off Ushant while Indefatigable, Amazon, Concorde, Revolutionaire, and the 36-gun Phoebe, were cruising on 12 June. After a 24-hour chase, the squadron succeeded in capturing both. One was Blonde, of ten guns and 95 men, and the other was Trois Couleurs, of ten guns and 75 men. They were provisioned for a six-week cruise, and two days out of Brest but had captured nothing.[8][17]Amazon shared the prize money with the rest of the squadron. The prize money notice referred to "La Blonde, alias Le Betsey".[18]Amazon, Phoebe, Revolutionaire and Indefatigable, intercepted and detained five Spanish ships in September.[19] The same ships made three more captures at the beginning of October.[20][21]
On 11 December, Amazon was despatched to England with news that seven French ships of the line had arrived in Brest, while Phoebe was sent to apprise Vice-Admiral John Colpoys.[22] The ships were part of the preparation for an invasion of Ireland, a joint plot between the French Directory and the Society of United Irishmen to establish a republic in the country.[23][24] The French fleet left harbour, evading the British blockading fleet, and sailed for Bantry Bay. However, storms scattered them and most returned to France having accomplished very little.[25] Early in January, Amazon and Indefatigable captured a French packet ship, Sangossee.[20]
Amazon (right) and Indefatigable (left) fighting the Droits de l'Homme (centre), by Léopold Le Guen (1853)
The 74-gun French ship Droits de l'Homme, was returning from the failed expedition to Ireland, and in the ensuing action of 13 January 1797, Amazon, in company with Pellew's ship Indefatigable, encountered her off the coast of Brittany.[26][27] Normally, frigates would not engage a ship of the line as they would be severely outgunned. However, there was a heavy sea and the French ship could not open her lower deck gunports for fear of flooding. This reduced her broadside considerably.[28]
Pellew was 7nmi (13km) ahead of Amazon when he first attacked the Droits de l'Homme. An hour-and-a-half later Amazon came up and poured a broadside into the Frenchman's quarter.[28] The two frigates attacked her from either side yawing to rake her while avoiding much of her return fire.[29] At 04:00 on 14 January, land was suddenly sighted ahead and the frigates broke off the attack and headed in opposite directions. Amazon, going north, and more severely damaged, was unable to wear and ran aground at Audierne Bay, Isle Bas.[30] Three crew had been killed during the battle and six more drowned, but the rest were able to reach shore. There the French captured them.[31] The heavy seas pounding her on the beach destroyed Amazon; the Droits de l'Homme, badly damaged in the battle, was also wrecked, with heavy casualties.[32]
The court martial on 29 September 1797, routinely held by the Navy after the loss of any vessel, honourably acquitted Reynolds and his officers of negligence in the loss of the ship.[33]
Notes
↑ Originally a series of four, by the time the first one had been launched, Rule had already drawn up plans for Naiad, an expanded version which was larger at 1,013 tons (bm), had a complement of 284 men and carried 38 guns.[6] A third design was unveiled in 1796, also with 38 guns but larger still at 1,038 tons (bm) and with a crew of 300 men. Two were ordered, one in April 1796 and a second in February 1797.[7]
↑ The gun-rating of a vessel was the number of long guns it was designed to carry and did not always match its actual armament. Before 1817, carronades were not counted at all unless they were direct replacements for long guns.[9][10]
↑ The second pair of Amazons were named Trent and Glenmore and were launched in 1796 on 24 February and 24 March, respectively.[6]
Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother Israel Pellew also pursued a naval career.
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 Indefatigable was one of the Ardent-class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in 1816.
HMS Naiad was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was built by Hall and Co. at Limehouse on the Thames, launched in 1797, and commissioned in 1798. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and her last actions occurred in 1824–5. She was paid off in 1826. She then served for many years in Latin America as a coal depot, first for the Royal Navy and then for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. She was broken up in 1898, 101 years after her launching.
HMS Arethusa was a 38-gun Minerva-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built at Bristol in 1781. She served in three wars and made a number of notable captures before she was broken up in 1815.
Droits de l'Homme was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. Launched in 1794, the ship saw service in the Atlantic against the British Royal Navy.
Révolutionnaire, was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.
America was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1794 at the Battle of the Glorious First of June. She then served with the British under the name HMS Impetueux until she was broken up in 1813. She became the prototype for the Royal Navy America-class ship of the line.
The action of 13 January 1797 was a minor naval battle fought between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the action the frigates outmanoeuvred the much larger French vessel and drove it onto shore in heavy seas, resulting in the deaths of between 400 and 1,000 of the 1,300 persons aboard. One of the British frigates was also lost in the engagement with six sailors drowned after running onto a sandbank while failing to escape a lee shore.
The French expedition to Ireland, known in French as the Expédition d'Irlande, was an unsuccessful attempt by the French Republic to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French intended to land a large expeditionary force in Ireland during the winter of 1796–1797 which would join with the United Irishmen and drive the British out of Ireland. The French anticipated that this would be a major blow to British morale, prestige and military effectiveness, and was also intended to possibly be the first stage of an eventual invasion of Great Britain itself. To this end, the Directory gathered a force of approximately 15,000 soldiers at Brest under General Lazare Hoche during late 1796, in readiness for a major landing at Bantry Bay in December.
His Majesty's Hired armed lugger Duke of York served the Royal Navy from 14 October 1794 to 2 January 1799 when she foundered in the North Sea.
Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité in 1793, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796 off Île d'Yeu and brought her into British service as HMS Unite. She was sold in 1802
The action of 21 October 1794 was a minor naval engagement between Great Britain and France fought off the Breton coast of France during the second year of the French Revolutionary Wars. French frigates had been raiding British Atlantic trade routes with considerable success since the outbreak of the war, and in response the Admiralty had formed a frigate squadron to patrol the French Channel and Atlantic coasts in search of French raiders. On 13 October 1794, the large, modern and powerful 40-gun French frigate Révolutionnaire under the command of Captain Antoine René Thévenard sailed from Le Havre for a raiding cruise against British trade routes in the Atlantic. Eight days later, while rounding the Breton headland of Ushant about 25–30 nautical miles (56 km) out to sea, Révolutionnaire encountered the British frigate squadron, commanded by Commodore Sir Edward Pellew, which had secured a number of victories over French raiding frigates during the previous two years.
HMSEmerald was a 36-gun Amazon-class fifth rate frigate that Sir William Rule designed in 1794 for the Royal Navy. The Admiralty ordered her construction towards the end of May 1794 and work began the following month at Northfleet dockyard. She was completed on 12 October 1795 and joined Admiral John Jervis's fleet in the Mediterranean.
HMS Glenmore was a 36-gun Amazon-class frigate designed by William Rule for the Royal Navy. Tweed had been the intended name when she was laid down in March of 1795 but this was changed before her launch in March 1796. A fifth rate, the ship carried a main battery of twenty-six 18-pounder (8.2-kilogram) long guns on her gun deck.
HMS Artois was a fifth-rate Artois-class frigate of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir John Henslow and launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe as the lead ship of her class. She served for the majority of her career in the English Channel under the command of Edmund Nagle in the squadrons of Edward Pellew and John Borlase Warren, notably taking part in the action of 21 October 1794 where she captured the 44-gun frigate La Révolutionnaire almost singlehandedly. She participated in a number of other actions and events including the attempted invasion of France in 1795. Artois continued to serve actively on the coast of France in blockade and patrolling roles, taking a large number of ships as prizes, until she was wrecked with no loss of life off Île de Ré on 31 July 1797 while attempting to reconnoitre the harbour of La Rochelle.
Betzy was the Channel Islands brig Betsey that the French frigate Sémillante captured in May 1793, that the French Navy took into service, and that the Royal Navy recaptured in 1796.
HMS Hussar was a 38-gun fifth-rate Amazon-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched at the end of 1799, the entirety of the frigate's career was spent serving in the English Channel and off the coast of Spain. Hussar primarily served as a convoy escort and cruiser, in which occupation the frigate took several prizes, including the French privateer Le General Bessieres. Towards the end of 1803 Hussar was sent to serve in Sir Edward Pellew's Ferrol squadron. On 8 February 1804 Hussar was returning to England with dispatches when the ship was wrecked off the coast of Île de Sein. The crew attempted to sail for home in a fleet of commandeered boats, but the majority were forced to go into Brest to avoid sinking in bad weather, where they were made prisoners of war.
HMS Trent was a fifth-rate sailing frigate of 36 guns, built for the Royal Navy and launched in February 1796. She carried a main battery of twenty-six 18-pounder (8.2-kilogram) long guns. She and her sister ship HMS Glenmore were constructed from pitch pine rather than oak.
The Amazon-class frigates of 1795 were a set of four 36-gun sailing frigates built for the Royal Navy and designed by William Rule. The first pair were constructed from oak and launched in July 1795. A second pair had already been ordered in January that year, to be made from pitch pine, one launched in February and the other in March of 1796. All four carried a main battery of twenty-six 18-pounder (8.2 kg) long guns. They served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars although the first of the class, HMS Amazon, only lasted until 1796, being sank in an action on 13 January with the French ship-of-the-line, Droits de l'Homme. HMS Emerald on the other hand was not broken up until 1836.
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