Ambuscade fighting Bayonnaise, by Jean-François Hue | |
History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Ambuscade |
Ordered | 25 December 1770 |
Builder | Adams & Barnard, Deptford |
Laid down | April 1771 |
Launched | 17 September 1773 |
Commissioned | January 1776 |
Captured | 14 December 1798 |
France | |
Name | Embuscade |
Acquired | 14 December 1798 |
Captured | 28 May 1803 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Ambuscade |
Acquired | 28 May 1803 |
Fate | Broken up in 1810 |
General characteristics as built | |
Class and type | 32-gun fifth-rate Amazon-class frigate (1773) frigate |
Length |
|
Beam | 35 ft 1.75 in (10.7125 m) |
Draught |
|
Depth of hold | 12 ft 2 in (3.71 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement | 220 |
Armament |
|
HMS Ambuscade was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, built in the Grove Street shipyard of Adams & Barnard at Deptford in 1773. The French captured her in 1798 but the British recaptured her in 1803. She was broken up in 1810.
Sometime in June, 177 she captured the sloops 2 Brothers and Succsess in Massachusetts Bay. On 3 June she captured Swallow in Casco Bay, Massachusetts. [1] On 18 June, 1777 she captured Hope in Boston Bay. [2] Sometime in September, 1777 she recaptured Restoration in Boston Bay. [3] On 1 October, 1777 she captured S. W. Erskine. [4] On 19 May 1778 she recaptured the brig Mary. [5] On 31 May 1778 she captured the American brig Charming Sally near Cape Sambro. [6]
On 22 June 1779, after a short action, Ambuscade captured the French brig Hélene, which was the former Royal Navy 14-gun sloop HMS Helena. The Royal Navy took her back into service under her original name. [7] [8] Six days later Ambuscade captured the French privateer Prince de Montbray. [8] The privateer was possibly out of Granville and under the command of Captain Boisnard-Maisonneuve. [9]
HMS Prudente captured the private man of war Américaine on 26 January 1781. She was armed with 32 guns and carried a crew of 245. Ambuscade shared in the proceeds of the capture. [lower-alpha 1]
Circa June 1797, in the Caribbean, Ambuscade captured the 32-ton, 3-gun privateer cutter Buonaparte, from Saint-Malo. She had a crew of 32 men under Captain F. Roussel. [11]
In August 1798 Ambuscade, commanded by Captain Henry Jenkins, [12] with Stag and the hired armed cutter Nimrod captured the chasse maree Francine . [13] Then Ambuscade shared with Phaeton and Stag, in the capture on 20 November of the Hirondelle. [14]
On 13 December 1798, Ambuscade captured a French merchantman, Faucon, with a cargo of sugar and coffee bound for Bordeaux. [15]
Disaster struck the following day. Ambuscade was blockading Rochefort, when the smaller French corvette Bayonnaise captured her at the action of 14 December 1798. The court martial exonerated Captain Henry Jenkins of Ambuscade, though a good case could be made that he exhibited poor leadership and ship handling. [16] The French brought her into service as Embuscade.
On 28 May 1803, HMS Victory recaptured her. She had a crew of 187 men under the command of capitaine de vaisseau Fradin, and was 30 days out of Cap Francais, bound for Rochefort. [17] The Royal Navy took her back into service as Ambuscade.
In March 1805, she was attached to Sir James Craig's military expedition to Italy. Along with Dragon, Craig's flagship, and Lively, Ambuscade escorted a fleet of transports to Malta. [18]
On 4 March 1807, Ambuscade captured the ship Istria. Unité, Melpomene, Bittern and Weazel (or Weazle) were in company and shared in the prize money. [19]
Ambuscade was broken up in 1810.
The second USS Revenge was a cutter in the Continental Navy and later a privateer.
The fourth HMS Diamond was a modified Lowestoffe-class fifth-rate frigate ordered in 1770, launched in 1774, but did not begin service until 1776. Diamond served off the eastern North American coast and shared in the capture at least one brig during the American Revolutionary War. The frigate was paid off in 1779, but returned to service the same year after being coppered. Diamond sailed to the West Indies in 1780, was paid off a final time in 1783 and sold in 1784.
HMS St Albans was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 September 1764 by Perry, Wells & Green at their Blackwall Yard, London.
HMS Nonsuch was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Israel Pownoll and launched on 17 December 1774 at Plymouth. She was broken up in 1802.
HMS Badger was a brig rigged Sloop-of-War in service with the Royal Navy in the late eighteenth century. Badger is notable as being the first Royal Navy ship to be commanded by Horatio Nelson.
HMS Antigua was a 14-gun sloop that served in the British Royal Navy from 1779 to 1792. In contemporary records she is sometimes referred to as "His Majesty's armed brig Antigua".
HMS Carysfort was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned over forty years.
HMS Lapwing was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Mermaid was a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in April 1761 under Captain George Watson and built in Blaydes Yard in Kingston-Upon-Hull.
HMS Solebay was a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy which saw active service between 1766 and 1782, during the latter part of the Seven Years' War and throughout the American Revolutionary War. After a successful career in which she captured seven enemy vessels, she was wrecked ashore on the Caribbean Island of Nevis.
HMS Juno was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served throughout the American Revolutionary War until scuttled in 1778 to avoid capture. On 5 June, 1777 she, HMS Juno, and HMS Orpheus recaptured privateer brig "Lucy" 15 Leagues off Nantucket. On 9 July, 1777 she captured Betsy in Boston Bay. On 9 January, 1778 she captured French snow David 3-4 miles off the north east tip of Block Island. She engaged USS Providence during Providence's escape from Providence, Rhode Island 30 April 1778.
HMS Richmond was the name ship of the six-vessel, 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served throughout the American Revolutionary War. She and HMS Emerald captured French brig Alexandrine in Chesapeake Bay off the mouth of the Rappahannock River 3 January, 1778. She captured 1 prize off Cape Charles in February, 1778. On 5 February a sloop ran aground off Cherry Point while being pursued by Richmond and HMS Solebay and was burned. On 9 February Richmond and HMS Solebay captured Maryland State Govt. trading vessel Lydia off St. Mary's River, later ruled a recapture. On 28 February she captured Danish flagged, American owned ship Good Hope off Cape Henry. She was captured by the French 74-gun Bourgogne and the frigate Aigrette on 11 September 1781 in the Chesapeake. She then served as Richemont under Lieutenant Mortemart.
HMS Southampton was the name ship of the 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served for more than half a century until wrecked in 1812.
HMS Milford was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at Milford by Richard Chitty and launched in 1759. She was sold for breaking at Woolwich on 17 May 1785.
HMS Blonde was a 32-gun fifth-rate warship of the British Royal Navy captured from the French in 1760. The ship wrecked on Blonde Rock with American prisoners on board. An American privateer captain, Daniel Adams, rescued the American prisoners and let the British go free. The captain's decision created an international stir. Upon returning to Boston, the American privateer was banished for letting go the British crew and he and his family became Loyalist refugees in Nova Scotia.
HMS Ceres was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1777 for the British Royal Navy that the French captured in December 1778 off Saint Lucia. The French Navy took her into service as Cérès. The British recaptured her in 1782 and renamed her HMS Raven, only to have the French recapture her again early in 1783. The French returned her name to Cérès, and she then served in the French Navy until sold at Brest in 1791.
Experiment was a 50-gun ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. Captured by Sagittaire during the War of American Independence, she was recommissioned in the French Navy, where she served into the 1800s.
HMS Glory was a 32-gun fifth-rate Niger-class frigate of the Royal Navy, and was the second Royal Navy ship to bear this name.
HMS Aeolus (1758) was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. In 1800, she renamed as HMS Guernsey.